
Fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black won't be able to resist the world of Melissa Marr's #1 New York Times bestselling series, full of faerie intrigue, mortal love, and courtly betrayal.Rule #3: Don't...
Fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black won't be able to resist the world of Melissa Marr's #1 New York Times bestselling series, full of faerie intrigue, mortal love, and courtly betrayal.Rule #3: Don't...
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ATOS™:4.7
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Lexile®:700
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Interest Level:UG
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Text Difficulty:3
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Description-
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Fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black won't be able to resist the world of Melissa Marr's #1 New York Times bestselling series, full of faerie intrigue, mortal love, and courtly betrayal.
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.
Excerpts-
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Chapter One
"Four-ball, side pocket." Aislinn pushed the cue forward with a short, quick thrust; the ball dropped into the pocket with a satisfying clack.
Her playing partner, Denny, motioned toward a harder shot, a bank shot.
She rolled her eyes. "What? You in a hurry?"
He pointed with the cue.
"Right." Focus and control, that's what it's all about. She sank the two.
He nodded once, as close as he got to praise.
Aislinn circled the table, paused, and chalked the cue. Around her the cracks of balls colliding, low laughter, even the endless stream of country and blues from the jukebox kept her grounded in the real world: the human world, the safe world. It wasn't the only world, no matter how much Aislinn wanted it to be. But it hid the other world — the ugly one — for brief moments.
"Three, corner pocket." She sighted down the cue. It was a good shot.
Focus. Control.
Then she felt it: warm air on her skin. A faery, its too-hot breath on her neck, sniffed her hair. His pointed chin pressed against her skin. All the focus in the world didn't make Pointy-Face's attention tolerable.
She scratched: the only ball that dropped was the cue ball.
Denny took the ball in hand. "What was that?"
"Weak-assed?" She forced a smile, looking at Denny, at the table, anywhere but at the horde coming in the door. Even when she looked away, she heard them: laughing and squealing, gnashing teeth and beating wings, a cacophony she couldn't escape. They were out in droves now, freer somehow as evening fell, invading her space, ending any chance of the peace she'd sought.
Denny didn't stare at her, didn't ask hard questions. He just motioned for her to step away from the table and called out, "Gracie, play something for Ash."
At the jukebox Grace keyed in one of the few not-country-or-blues songs: Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff."
As the oddly comforting lyrics in that gravelly voice took off, building to the inevitable stomach-tightening rage, Aislinn smiled. If I could let go like that, let the years of aggression spill out onto the fey . . . She slid her hand over the smooth wood of the cue, watching Pointy-Face gyrate beside Grace. I'd start with him. Right here, right now. She bit her lip. Of course, everyone would think she was utterly mad if she started swinging her cue at invisible bodies, everyone but the fey.
Before the song was over, Denny had cleared the table.
"Nice." Aislinn walked over to the wall rack and slid the cue back into an empty spot. Behind her, Pointy-Face giggled — high and shrill — and tore out a couple strands of her hair.
"Rack 'em again?" But Denny's tone said what he didn't: that he knew the answer before he asked. He didn't know why, but he could read the signs.
Pointy-Face slid the strands of her hair over his face.
Aislinn cleared her throat. "Rain check?"
"Sure." Denny began disassembling his cue. The regulars never commented on her odd mood swings or unexplainable habits.
She walked away from the table, murmuring good-byes as she went, consciously not staring at the faeries. They moved balls out of line, bumped into people — anything to cause trouble — but they hadn't stepped in her path tonight, not yet. At the table nearest the door, she paused. "I'm out of here."
One of the guys straightened up from a pretty combination shot. He rubbed his goatee, stroking the gray-shot hair. "Cinderella time?"
"You know how it is — got to get home before the shoe falls off." She lifted her foot, clad in a battered tennis shoe. "No sense tempting any princes."He snorted and turned back to the table.
A doe-eyed faery eased across the room; bone-thin with too many joints, she was vulgar and gorgeous all at once. Her eyes...
About the Author-
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Melissa Marr is the New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series as well as the adult fantasy novels Graveminder and The Arrivals. When not traveling, Melissa can be found in Phoenix or online at www.melissamarrbooks.com.
Reviews-
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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. -
July 1, 2007
Gr 7 Up-Aislinn knows that fairies are real and that they aren't the small, cute, winged beings that most people imagine. She has inherited the gift of Sight from her mother's family, allowing her to see them. She lives by rules that have kept her safe from their notice. All of that changes when Keenan, the Summer King, chooses her as his queen, involving Aislinn in a 900-year power struggle between him and his mother, the Winter Queen. If Aislinn refuses him, summer will cease to exist, killing both mortals and fairies alike. If she accepts, she loses her humanity and ties to the mortal worldas if life as a teenager isn't hard enough when you're "normal." This story explores the themes of love, commitment, and what it really means to give of oneself for the greater good to save everyone else. It is the unusual combination of past legends and modern-day life that gives a unique twist to this "fairy" tale."June H. Keuhn, Corning East High School, NY"Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A fully imagined faery world which even non-fantasy (or faerie) lovers will want to delve into." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Enjoyably sultry." — Kirkus Reviews
"Riveting and dark. I love this tale!" — Tamora Pierce
"A debut that reads like the work of a seasoned pro." — Charles deLint
"The unusual combination of past legends and modern-day life gives a unique twist to this "fairy" tale." — School Library Journal
"Melissa Marr adds elegantly to the sub-genre of Urban Faery with this enticing, well-researched fantasy for teens." — Annette Curtis Klause
"A modern-day fairy tale, wherein the girl saves herself. Many fantasy readers will find themselves happily at home here. — Library Journal
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