Covers Around the World - Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr has such a beautiful cover I had to do this one next.

US edition

 

German edition

 

French edition

 

Indonesian edition

 

Spanish edition

 

another English language edition

 

Turkish edition

 

Romanian edition

 

Italian edition

 

Got a favorite?

Covers Around the World - Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

So in honor of me finally posting a review for Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr, I figured it should be the spotlight for this weeks CAW.

English language edition

another English language edition

Malaysian edition

German edition

French edition

Romanian edition

Turkish Edition

There you go. Which one is your favorite? 

Review - Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

I read this book some time ago, well... a few years now. It has two of my favorite things in the world in it. Fantasy and tattoos. Who wouldn't want to read it? And the covers to all of the novels in the Wicked Lovely series are so striking.

To 17-year-old Leslie, the tattoo is a thing of indescribable beauty, a captivating mark that she must make her own. But this subtle web of eyes and wings brings with it a transformation that no sweet young girl would ever imagine or welcome. Like its predecessor, this stand-alone sequel to Wicked Lovely plunges its youthful heroine into a faery world of almost constant peril. A tantalizing urban fantasy that won't let go.

Leslie has quite a home life. Only part of which holds a drug addicted brother who is completely fine trying to sell her to his friends so he can score in a different way. Poor Leslie can't really control this downward spiral, so she decides to try and find a foothold in the chaos. She wants a tattoo. A chance to dull the pain inside with a little pain on the outside.

Niall, right hand man to the king of the Summer Court, Keenan, has been selected to guard Leslie. Or to watch over her at least. To keep her safe from the Dark Court faeries. The only problem? He's falling in love with her. And he's not supposed to.

Leslie ends up choosing for her tattoo, the mark of the Dark Court king, Irial. A tattoo that binds her to him and allows him to, more or less, feed on her and sustain his fae. But instead of stronger, his bond with Leslie leaves him wondering if he's too weak for his court. On the bright side for Leslie, though, it leaves her numb to pain and sorrow.

But does she want to stay that way?

I loved Ink Exchange. I can't even tell you how much I loved it. Reading the first novel in the series, I disliked the Dark Court. Troublemakers. That's all they were to me. Trouble makers and just bad overall. This story told me how completely wrong I was. I completely fell for Irial and Niall.

Leslie was a strong character, even if she didn't feel that way most of the time. And I completely identify with her. The reason for her getting tattooed. WANTING to feel numb for a while. Leslie proves she's strongest though at the end.

I've seen a lot of reviews where this book fell flat for people. And a lot of reviews where this book was so much better than the first for others. It's a companion book to the first, not necessarily a sequel. And I think honestly, I fall in with the second lot. The first book made me angry. Which I suppose was the right reaction to have. But the second, like I said, had two of my favorite things. Tats and fantasy.

I will recommend this, to anyone who's read Wicked Lovely. If you haven't read that one, you probably won't understand what's going on in this one. I might recommend a minimum age of 15 or 16, because it is a darker book than the first, but other than that, everyone should go pick it up!

Check out a fan made trailer for the book:

Follow Friday #13

Hop on over to Parajunkee's View to check out this week's Follow Friday!

AHHHH. Another hard question!

Q. In light of the Summer Solstice. Also known as Midsummer...let's talk about fairies. What is your favorite fairy tale or story that revolves around the fae?


A. Grrrr... I really don't know. There are so many that I absolutely love. Like the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr. There were some books in that series that I enjoyed more than others, but it was the first series I'd read where the faeries weren't always the good guys. And then there's Lament by Maggie Stiefvater (I still haven't read Ballad yet.... but I've got it on my book shelf!). Tithe by Holly Black was a good book. I read it years and years and years ago... but I remember loving it.

Please don't ask what my favorite book about elves is. Or dragons. Because the list would be even LONGER. Oy. LoL.

*Interesting side note...

My youngest daughter was originally going to be named Oona. I got the name from the movie Legend... the fairy who helps Jack is named Oona. It's also an Irish name and means Faerie Queen. And being Irish, I loved it. However, my soon to be ex husband did not like it so I was made to change to something different. I refused, however, to change her middle name. Faye. Which means faerie. :-) HA. Take that STBEH.

Can't wait to see what you guys came up with!

Follow Friday #5

Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee over at Parajunkee's View every week.

This weeks FF question:

Q. Do you judge a book by it's cover?

A. Sad to say (for like the 5th time unfortunately) but I do. I know, I KNOW. "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and all that jazz. But come on, I'm not the only one that does it. Right? Right. Par example: I started reading the Wicked Lovely series (albeit in the wrong place) because of how beautiful I thought the cover for Fragile Eternity was. I mean look at it. It's absolutely GORGEOUS. Obviously once I started reading it I realized I'd started in the middle so I had to go pick up Wicked Lovely ASAP.

Now, on the flip side of that coin, I thought the cover for Tower of Change was pretty spiffy too. Kind of mysterious with the moss covering up the key and the scroll work around the outside edges. And the butterflies I thought added a nice touch. HOWEVER... I would not touch that book again with a 10 foot pole if you PAID me. I had to struggle my way over TONS of errors and just bad writing for 50 pages before I was ready to give up (see my review here). Apparently I was a glutton for punishment because I told myself that maybe it would get better if I kept reading. So I waded through the next 50 pages befoer giving up entirely. Lesson learned? Pretty cover is NOT equal to good book.

Now, another flip side (didn't you know coins had more than 2 sides? I did)... I DIDN'T pick up the hunger games because I thought the covers were plain. How awful is that? I passed them over time after time after TIME (see a pattern here?) because I looked and thought "Nah...". Here's your sign. The cover's aren't plain, they're simple. They don't need to be flashy and full of color and swirls and whatever else. The BOOKS had enough action and color and ALL OF THAT OTHER STUFF. To make the cover match the story itself would have done it a disservice. And once I knew the significance of the symbol on the cover, I never gave it a second thought. Phenomenal series.

I really should stop trying to pick my books based on what they look like... really. I probably won't though. Is that bad? Meh. At least I'm not alone in my snobbishness. :-)

Darkest Mercy - Melissa Marr

(possible spoilers!)

It took me a bit to get in to the story again, as it's been so long since I've read Radiant Shadows. I had to get reaquainted with all of the characters.

Darkest Mercy tied things up nicely. I would have liked to see Devlin and Ani play more of a role in this book than just being mentioned by characters, but you can't have everything can you? I loved how strong Aislinn became in this book. Less of the "oh crap I don't know what I'm doing" and more of the "I don't know what I'm doing but I'll fake it till I make it". She had really begun to irritate me in the other books. Keenan as well. Well, he irritated me from the beginning because of what he did to Ash, but I guess if he hadn't there wouldn't have been a series. So... moving on.

Donia had to have been my favorite in this book. She definitely became a force to be reckoned with (so did another regent, but I don't want to give away too much). And the pact that Keenan made with Innis reminds me of Aragorn and the undead army he recruited in Return of the King.

I am sad that the series ended but I am happy with the way it did. I always hate when a series I love comes to an end. It's like a good friend has moved away. But kudos to you Melissa Marr for writing such a remarkable tale of Faerie.