Wicked Lovely

Starred review from April 30, 2007
First-time novelist Marr gives the oft-tried modern faerie story a fresh infusion of glamour, thanks to a likable pair of protagonists, a page-turning plot and an ample dose of sexual tension. Seventeen-year-old Aislinn has a secret; she sees fairies everywhere—working their mischief and doggedly following her for reasons she does not understand. “Even when she looked away, she heard them: laughing and squealing, gnashing teeth and beating wings.... They were out in droves now, freer somehow as evening fell, invading her space, ending any chance of the peace she’d sought.” One of them, the handsome Keenan, takes a particular interest in her. He is the Summer King, on a centuries-long quest for his queen, the one person who will be able to help him unseat his vicious mother, Beira, the Winter Queen. Keenan has chosen incorrectly over the years; the latest to accept his offer is Donia, who now lives in Beira’s icy thrall. Beira offers Donia a deal: prevent Keenan from finding his proper queen, and Beira will release her spell over her soul. Aislinn confides her secret to her friend Seth, whose steel-walled home (an abandoned train) protects her from the fey. As Keenan pursues Aislinn, convinced she is his true mate, secrets emerge about Aislinn’s family history and she wrestles with the decision to become the Summer Queen. Aislinn and Seth are a smart and compelling couple who must make tough choices throughout. Marr offers readers a fully imagined faery world that runs alongside an everyday world, which even non-fantasy (or faerie) lovers will want to delve into. Ages 12-up.

Like a fairy weaving a glamour in order to spellbind humans, Alyssa Bresnahan casts a mesmerizing spell with her voice in this urban fantasy. Aislinn has always been able to see fairies, but the fey folk have had no interest in her. Until now. Bresnahan's voice drips with honey as the Summer King trying to woo Aislinn to be his Summer Queen. Bresnahan's voice turns to hard ice when portraying the manipulative Snow Queen, who works to thwart the courtship. A brittle cold is reflected in the voice of Donia, the Winter Girl, who wants to help Aislinn, even though doing so may cost her her life. This wicked lovely story is a bewitching audio. M.M.O. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine