Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr: Young Adult Fantasy Book Review

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Wickely Lovely by Melissa Marr is a young adult fantasy novel about the Faerie Court and a teenage high school girl named Aislinn. It is set in modern times and start from the last time the Summer King, Keenan, found a mortal girl who just might be the Summer Queen.

What first attracted me to this urban fantasy novel was the brilliant title "Wicked Lovely" and the pretty cover art. Check this out:

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

The synopsis at the back of the Wicked Lovely book was also very intriguing.

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty—especially if they learn of her Sight—and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.

Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.

Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.

Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost—regardless of her plans or desires.

Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

Faerie intrigue, mortal love, and the clash of ancient rules and modern expectations swirl together in Melissa Marr's stunning 21st century faery tale.

The book has several things going for it - good world-building, a very nice plot, sympathetic characters and nasty villains that you love to hate. The best part of it for me was the Faerie Court, Keenan, Seth and Donia. Although the main character is Aislinn, I found her to be rather boring. At least Seth has hobbies like music and tattoos plus he can actually do useful things like cooking, research and money management. It's mentioned that he lives alone and is good with his personal finances.

What about Aislinn? She is like a cardboard cutout of a girl who has no interests, hobbies or skills. I find it laughable that she had to have Seth do all the research in the library. Aislinn can't Google? *rolls eyes*

Nonetheless, despite all that Aislinn is still properly modern and independent. I loved how she is so active in the plot and doesn't do anything foolish. It's so completely refreshing when characters act grown up and don't whine, throw tantrums or rush in and mess things up.

Overall, Wicked Lovelywas great and I will be reading the other books in the series which are Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, Radiant Shadows and Darkest Mercy.

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole Book Review - Why Declan Chase is the Worst Hero Ever

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole is the ninth book of her popular Immortals After Dark Series. This paranormal romance series has a lot of humor in it and features various factions of the Lore or the world of the beings from myth and legend such as the vampires, Valkyries, shifters, succubi, witches, etc.

Take note that this is review of Dreams of a Dark Warrior is a spoiler review!

What's the use of a spoiler review, you ask? Well, some people may not mind spoilers. Some people have already read  Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole (and the other books in the Immortals After Dark series) so they may just want to see what other people think of the book.

Last warning - this review contains massive spoilers including the ending of  Dreams of a Dark Warrior.

Okay? Here we go!

Declan Chase is the worst hero in the Immortals After Dark series. Gaah, he is so awful that I feel bad for poor, poor Regin. What is wrong with him? Let me count the ways.

Top Ten Reasons Why Declan Chase is the Worst, Most Pathetic Excuse for a Hero Ever

1.) He is horrifically scarred. Of course, this is treated as not too bad and apparently women still want him but he is seriously ugly and mutilated all over his body. The scarring is quite severe.

2.) He is a drug addict who is willing to suck cock to get his fix.

3. ) In the world of the Lore where your word is a sacred bond, he casually breaks his promises. In this book and the previous book, Demon from the Dark, he promises a witch that he will free her and her child if she does something for him. When the witch returns after having finished her part of the deal, Chase refuses to honor his promise.

4.) His war on the Lore includes children. Yep, he is fine with killing, imprisoning and possibly "examining" children.

5.) He has no regrets about his men killing a mother in front of her seven-year-old child, in fact, he would have done it himself if he had been there.

6.) He is also okay with Thad being kidnapped and tortured.

7.) He is also perfectly fine with vivisection on sentient beings. In fact, he orders it done in Dreams of a Dark Warrior at least once (he orders it for spite) and it is being done all the time in the prison/research facility.

8.) He stabs Regin and twists the blade to make it hurt more.

9.) He tortures Regin and I don't mean sexually. He injects her with a very painful poison.

10.) While it is true he himself did not order the vivisection on Regin, he knew it was going to happen. 

"Though he'd been keeping Regin's exam off the log, he couldn't stall it indefinitely." (Quote from Chapter 23) 

He knew it was going to happen and did nothing permanent to stop it, therefore he is responsible for Regin's vivisection, especially since he was the one who captured Regin in the first place. It wouldn't be so bad if he had at least had a plan in place to spirit her away before she gets cut open but he is too much of a jerk to actually do something to stop Regin from being vivisected.

Declan Chase is a total asshole! Think of the other romantic lead in the Immortals After Dark series. Would Slaine take Carrow to a facility to have her vivisected? Would Lachlain MacRieve stand idly by while Emma was being held for torture? Would Garreth let Lucia be imprisoned and scheduled for open-heart surgery without anesthesia? Hell, no!

Those are the top ten reasons. There is also one last thing and it the most horrifying one of all -

Declan Chase is Lothaire's bitch! OMG, the horror, the horror of it all ...

I wish I was joking about that last one but sadly, I am not. He agrees to have Lothaire bite him whenever and however he wants. Regin saw them together. P.S. Lothaire had an erection! The vampire also told Chase to just go with the flow in case Lothaire called him by a female's name. *sigh*

Why Kresley Cole, why? Are you tired of having hot, protective alpha males as heroes now? Are we going to have assholes as romantic leads from now on?

Even if the hero was that bad, it would have been acceptable if he had redeemed himself somehow. That doesn't happen, IMO. To make it up to Regin, he promises to help her friends but he doesn't actually help them out, nor does he actually do anything else for her. Well, there is exactly one part where he does save her but that isn't much considering any other of her allies would have done the same. It doesn't really cost him anything.

A huge redemption scene with him actually doing something positive to make up for all his crimes or maybe sacrificing something to be with Regin would have been great but nooooo ... all we get is a hero who does monstrous things and it gets forgiven right away for no real reason except that Regin loves him.

The romance in Dreams of a Dark Warrior is a bit unsatisfying, too. Since Regin has already fallen in love with the berserker four times before in his previous reincarnations (Aidan, Treves, Gabriel and Edward) then she and we know that it's pretty much a given that she will fall in love with this one, too. It doesn't take much for her to fall for the guy at all.

Dreams of a Dark Warrior isn't actually too bad apart from Declan Chase, that lame and pathetic excuse for a hero. Regin is one of my favorite heroines. She is smart, brave and her mouth has no censor. I enjoyed reading about her although I am sad that her partner is a jerk.

The minor characters are amazing, as usual, and I was quite pleased to see three other pairings. I hope we learn more about them. Nix is as delightful as always. Lothaire was an absolute hoot. Apparently the next book will be his. I also look forward to learning what happened to Lanthe and Thronos.

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole - Book Review Final Thoughts

While the romance aspects of Dreams of a Dark Warrior were disappointing and the hero is the worst in the Immortals After Dark series, the book is still wonderfully humorous and overall it is worth reading. For fans Kresley Cole's Lore world, the book brings us closer to the Accession and we learn what the mortals are up to.

Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Dreams of a Dark Warrior (Immortals After Dark Series, Book 9)

Dreams of a Dark Warrior (Kindle Store)

I welcome any and all comments. Please let me know if you also think Declan Chase is the worst hero ever. Flame away if you like!

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Books Like Twilight (Young Adults)

Are you a fan of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer? Are you looking for books like Twilight? Here are some books that I think are very like Twilight.

The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith

The series is about Elena Gilbert, a human high school girl who is torn between two vampire brothers Stefan and Damon. Of all the vampire romances around, this is the one that is the most similar to Twilight, as they are both set in high school and have a love triangle with a vampire who refuses to drink human blood because of ethical reasons.

There is also a TV series based on these books but they are not entirely the same. In the books, Elena is a rather vain, beautiful girl while in the TV series she was made much more likeable. Elena is the "Queen Bee" of her school and she enjoys it. While she starts off as being very superficial, she does grow as a person and becomes much more worthy of love later on.

The series was written with young adults or teenagers in mind and will probably not be appealing to older readers.

(Amazon Link) Vampire Diaries #1: The Awakening
(Amazon Link) The Vampire Diaries #2: The Struggle
(Amazon Link) The Vampire Diaries #3 and #4: The Fury and Dark Reunion

Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber

This is an excellent and funny vampire romance series for young adults. It's really a laugh a minute and if you enjoy humorous paranormal romance, this is the YA vampire series for you!

Blurb:

In her small town, dubbed "Dullsville," sixteen-year-old Raven -- a vampire-crazed goth-girl -- is an outcast.

But not for long...

The intriguing and rumored-to-be haunted mansion on top of Benson Hill has stood vacant and boarded-up for years. That is, until its mysteriously strange new occupants move in. Who are these creepy people -- especially the handsome, dark, and elusive Alexander Sterling? Or rather, what are they? Could the town prattle actually ring true? Are they vampires? Raven, who secretly covets a vampire kiss, both at the risk of her own mortality and Alexander's loving trust, is dying to uncover the truth.

Ellen Schreiber's spooky and stirring romance tells the story of two outsiders who fall in love in a town where conformity reigns, and ends with a shocking surprise.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead is much more serious and dark. It is not wholly focused on romance but instead more on coming-of-age and teen issues in school. It is also more adult than the other series listed here.

For example, the Dhampir (half-human, half-vampire) Rose feels worried sometimes by the threat of being sent away to a "blood whore" village where Dhampir women who are not Guardians live. Women there have affairs with full vampires because this is the only way their race, the Dhampirs, can be made. Note that these women are not literally whores. I do not recommend this series for very young girls but there are no explicit sex scenes.

Blurb:

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger. . . .

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, Book 1)

Vampire Academy Collection (Books 1-3)

Blood Promise (Vampire Academy, Book 4)

Got Fangs? by Katie Maxwell

Hilarious and light-hearted fun, Got Fangs by Katie Maxwell is a winner when it comes to humorous young adult vampire romance.

Blurb:

All sixteen-year-old Francesca Getti wants to do is have a normal life where she's one of the crowd, blending in so no one will know just how much of a freak she is. Dragged to Europe by her mother to join GothFaire, a travelling band of psychics, magicians, and assorted other oddities, Fran has to cope with not only the normal angst of always being a fish out of water, but also with her own fate as a psychometrist.


Enter one Moravian Dark One (referred to by most people as vampires) named Benedikt who claims Fran is the key to redeeming his soul, a mysterious horse who seems to have an involved past, an immortal friend who remembers what Mozart was like, and a demonologist who thinks he's Elvis, and you can understand why Fran despairs of ever fitting in.

Got Fangs?

Morganville Vampires Series by Rachel Caine

Disclosure: I have not read this series yet but it is highly recommended by Twilight fans and it sounds very interesting. Customer reviews in Amazon are also very positive and this is one series I plan to read in the near future. Actual review to be posted later.

Blurb:

College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation, where the popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks in the school's social scene: somewhere less than zero.
When Claire heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don't show many signs of life. But they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood.

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires, Book 1)