I have to admit, I bought this book new, recently, from a Barnes and Noble, because of an odd controversy involving this author and and a not-yet-published book of hers. I suspected before having read this book, which was not particularly maligned but does constitute a ‘prequel’ to the maligned book, that the pseudo-review was completely in error. So far, I am correct — this book is absolutely nothing like Laurell K. Hamilton’s Fey series, and I’m willing to guess that neither is her forthcoming novel, but don’t quote me on that.

In any case, Wicked Lovely centers around Aislinn, a seventeen-year-old girl who sees dead people faeries. She’s so good at hiding it that most of them don’t know that she sees them, but one day, a faerie sees her. This faerie, Keenan, is the king of the Summer Court, and he’s been steadily losing ground since he cannot find the female who is strong enough to be his queen. He’s decided that Aislinn is his next choice, though. The only problem is, well, his mother — the queen of the Winter Court — who obviously doesn’t want him to gain power. On Aislinn’s side, the problems are a little different. First, she wants nothing to do with the fey, at all. Second, she’s just finally realized that she’s quite attracted to her friend Seth, and she’d rather explore that than date a faerie. Third, she’d rather not end up dead, maimed, or otherwise messed up. Consequently, there’s conflict.

Although the Summer and Winter courts are nothing new, Marr’s view of them is at least a bit refreshing. The method of the Summer King looking for his bride, and the potential brides ending up either as the Winter Girl or as Summer Girls, is at least new to me, although I am not perfectly versed in all faerie fiction. However, it does resonate with the mythology. I can probably sum this part of the discussion up by saying that nothing is NEW, but everything is GOOD.

One thing that struck me about the book is the strong morality, especially regarding sexual matters. Perhaps it isn’t ‘morality’ as a religious group might describe it, but it displayed a very twenty-first-century kind of morality. Aislinn is a virgin, and she’s OK with that — her virginity she regards as a gift that she will decide to give to the right person. Her friend, Seth — once he decided that he was going to court Aislinn, he ceased dating other women. He got a full battery of STD tests, and showed them to Aislinn before they did anything more than kiss. Aislinn was still a virgin by the end of the book — they didn’t fall into bed together and immediately go for home plate. Characters who act otherwise, regarding sex at least, are displayed in a negative light. Yeah, Seth has piercings and tattoos, and Aislinn wants more of both, but they’re Good Kids. Tattoos and piercings are so often shorthand for ‘rebel’, and here, they’re not particularly.

The strongest plot line, to me, was the interconnecting love stories. I wasn’t very worried about whether or not Aislinn was going to survive the book, but how her romantic life was going to work out really engaged me. I think, had the book been intended for slightly older audiences, it would have been classified more towards the ‘paranormal romance’ end than the ‘urban fantasy’ end. I don’t consider that a slight in the least; if a plot can keep me engaged, I don’t care if it’s romance or action or what. Because of that, though, I think the stereotypical male reader wouldn’t enjoy this book nearly as much as the stereotypical female reader.

Like Holly Black’s Tithe (reviewed here) I’d also like to recommend this book to readers who liked Twilight (sporked here) well enough, but would prefer something better written. With the amount of sexual discussion in the book (although very little overt sex), I’d say this book is better recommended to YAs and older. Still, I’ll give it 4.5/5 stars.