Wicked Lovely

By: Melissa Marr

Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan

Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the 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.

©2007 Melissa Marr (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"A fully imagined faery world which even non-fantasy (or faerie) lovers will want to delve into." ( Publishers Weekly)
"The fantasy of being pursued by two young men is alluring in itself, but when one is a pierced and tattooed sexy outsider and the other is a blindingly beautiful King of Faery, how much better can it get?" ( The Washington Post's Book World)

So I learned something from this...

I love this book. I have since high school when I first picked up a physical copy. It's a fantastic story, the first that truly drew me into the world of the Fae. The characters are brilliant, and show true depth and growth throughout the storyline. The plot is phenomenal and as enthralling as it is easy to follow, but that doesn't make it predictable. I devoured the series as fast as I was able, and it was one of the first I ever purchased the entirety of (including the spin off novels and Nightmares and Fairy Tales).

BUT... I was doubtful of purchasing this audio book due to the reviews of the narration. While I believe that the narrator actually did a really good job of bringing the characters to life, and that her voice was perfect for Aislinn, there were two things that irked me about her performance. One was that from about halfway through the book until the end you can hear a soft smacking sound. Another commenter likened it to the sound of gum being chewed. But if your paying attention you can sometimes hear the noise even while she is speaking, and it doesn't effect the quality of her sound. It doesn't change anything about her pronunciation or her tone, which suggests to me (as a singer) that her mouth shape isn't being changed by whatever this smacking noise is. It would be if she were chewing gum. I think it's more likely that it's a glass of water being swirled or picked up a little too close to the microphone as she's recording. And while this sound was a bit distracting, I've listened to worse and it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

The thing that drove me truly crazy as I listened was the pronunciation of the mc's name. As a fan of the paperback copies of the books, I've always read the name Aislinn and pronounced it (mentally and verbally) as "Az-lin". So hearing her called "Ash-ling" throughout the narration about drove me mad. When I finished the book, it had bugged me to the point I went to my physical copies to look for a pronunciation guide. And much to my shock and chagrin I found I was wrong. So the only issue there was a personal misconception.

Returning to a Wonderful World

I used to read all the time, and Wicked Lovely was one of my favorite books. I read the first three books, and then I just kind of stopped reading for a few years.

Recently, at the age of 28, I had been thinking of the books I have loved when I was younger and wanted to get back into reading. I decided to go ahead and give this audiobook performance a chance, returning to this book after 12 years.

The story is just as captivating as I remember. The relationship between Aislinn and Seth feels so genuine and true for that age. I remember being that age and feeling a love like that. Sure, they’re young but at those ages that is how it felt.

Another highlight is the pacing. Many people seem to think the pacing is off, but I feel like the odds of the outcome after everything is set into motion lend themself to that.

Another thing people seem to dislike is the performance of the Narrator. I feel like her nearly posh style fits the story well. There were some moments where you could hear some mouthy sounds, for lack of a better term, that could detract, but overall I enjoyed it.

This experience was very enjoyable for me. If you are wondering if this book is worth the time, I HIGHLY recommend it.

WONDERFUL

This series is awesome, each book is a treat, hard to not listen to it ALL THE TIME! You will love it.

Good take

I always thought as fairy's as creatures at the bottom of your garden,but in this wicked offering the world of fairy is anything but sweet and gentle in fact these mischief's and some times cruel foke make our heroins life a misery . I found this refreshing and quietly strong in it's narrative,something of which I found quit likeable I never thought I'd like a book about fairy's but I did and this led me to other novels that I have also enjoyed so,for a good heroin who finds her true self and a bunch of pissed of far foke I say go crazy.

It’s a great story but the narrator could have done a little better 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s a great book but in some parts of the narration was like listening to some bad asmr. From her swallowing in between words, hearing faint barking from dogs to her stomach growling. Like guuurrrrl go and eat something lol don’t read on an empty stomach. I’m surprised they don’t listen to the recordings and try to fix these issues before making them available 🤷🏻‍♀️

I didn’t love it

The story itself was fine. It felt a bit rushed toward the end, so I didn’t feel as satisfied as I loved.
The narrator’s voice is fine, but not fitting to the main character in my opinion. She sounds more regal than a modern day teenager should.
I’m going to try reading it to see if that makes it better.

Loved it.

Enjoyed getting lost in the story. Really looking forward to the next book. Thank You.

Wickedly Weak

While I did enjoy listening to the book, I feel that there were so many details that weren't developed or explained as well as they should have been. The storyline was great and the characters all were interesting. But I felt that they weren't developed as fully as they could have been and should have been. I finished listening to the book but it's not one of those that I feel compelled to listen to again nor have the desire to pick up its sequels. It's sad really. I had hoped for more potential.

Great read!

Really enjoyed this book - the plot was excellent and kept me surprised throughout, I did not expect things to end how they did. I liked all of the characters and felt the author did a great job avoiding a lot of the creepy tropes and clichés that often end up in YA romance. I liked how she talked about consent & showed an awesome, respectful, and non-pushy guy as a romance interest. The narrator was great, but the recording wasn't as great lol. You could hear a lot of awkward noisy swallowing happening, as well as her stomach growling, what sounded like a lawnmower going at one point and a dog barking lol. It's not throughout the entire thing but certain points it's like dang yall should edit that out.

love

I adore this story line and LOVE the Author.... I would most definitely recommend this series to anyone who likes gritty magical characters that are seeded in dystopian societies. . not the fluffy sparkle fairytale or boring run of the mill story of future societies.... it's different not just another way to tell the story of hunger games