Gr 9 Up-This urban fairy tale, a sequel to Wicked Lovely (HarperTeen, 2007), is impossible to put down. Leslie lives with a father who has given up on life, a drug-abusing brother who allowed his dealer to rape Leslie in lieu of payment, and a burning desire to banish pain and fear from her life. Unable to confide in her best friend, Aislinn, she devotes herself to working to pay the family bills and to get the tattoo she believes will help her reclaim her body. What she doesn't know is that the art she has selected will bind her to Irial, the king of the Dark Court of Fairy. He removes her emotions like fear, panic, or anger, and uses them to nourish the fairies of his court. What Irial doesn't expect is his growing love for Leslie and her desire to make her own choices. In Leslie, Marr has created a damaged, wounded character who still comes across as being incredibly strong. Irial needs to care for his court, knowing them too weak to win a war, but his feelings for Leslie make him unwilling to do what needs to be done. The lesser characters are also well drawn: Rabbit the tattoo artist, his father, Gabriel, and also Aislinn, Keenan, and Seth from Wicked Lovely . While reading that book first would give more shades to some of the characters, it isn't necessary to appreciate the intricate world that Marr creates. Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA

Returning to the faery world of <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Wicked Lovely, Marr serves up another highly addictive read, this time centering on Leslie, a mortal girl who made a cameo appearance in that earlier work as a friend of its protagonist, Aislinn. Broken by terrible trauma, Leslie seeks to anchor her mind from slipping into oblivion. She finds salvation—or so it seems—in a strange tattoo that gives her power and strength like she's never felt before. But Leslie's euphoria is short-lived, and the tattoo comes with a shocking price. Its ink has been laced with the blood of Irial, king of the fey's Dark Court. Upon the tattoo's completion, Leslie will be bound to Irial as if a slave, with Court rules forbidding even Aislinn, the new Summer Queen, and Summer King Keenan's guard, the handsome Niall, to sever this dark attachment. Once again readers will find a love triangle that simmers, this time among Leslie, Irial and Niall—all of whom face choices that could cost them everything they prize. Compulsive enough to give the Twilight series a run for its money, and dizzyingly more sinister. Ages 12–up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(May)

Newcomers and returning readers alike will devour this companion novel to Marr's ragingly popular Wicked Lovely (2007). The new peace between the Summer King and the Winter Queen isn't good for everyone: those of the Dark Court, who feed on faeries' destructive emotions, are dangerously weakened. Irial, King of the Dark Court, needs a solution, and he finds one in the Summer Queen's mortal friend Leslie. Tormented by memories of abuse, Leslie wants nothing more than to reclaim her body by getting a tattoo, but the enchanted design she selects provides Irial with a direct link to mortals' emotions. The tattoo binds Leslie and Irial together even as a third faerie works to prevent their destructive yet seductive connection. All of Marr's characters are complex, defying easy description and evoking sympathy and horror in equal measures, and all cast a thrall that will leave readers willing to forgive plotting that can be difficult to follow. This dark fantasy about survival and transformation is as mesmerizing as its urban faery subjects.

Leslie is a broken teenager who has dealt with difficult circumstances since her mother left, mainly trying to avoid her druggie brother and his friends and taking up the responsibilities her alcoholic father has shirked. She yearns to take control of her life and have something of her own. Determined to express her identity, Leslie chooses to get a tattoo-a simple inking that changes her forever. The world Marr creates is filled with faeries that walk amongst mortals, only being seen when they chose to show themselves and even then they wear a "glamour" that hides their appearance. The reader is taken into the thoughts of a few of these creatures and experiences life from their points of view, particularly as it relates to their interactions with Leslie. This approach also allows the reader to understand Leslie's struggle to fight the fear that lives within her. This style, however, is a possible obstacle for readers in the early part of the story as it is difficult to understand who the main characters are and how they relate to each other because the point of view shifts often. Reading Marr's earlier book Wicked Lovely (HarperTeen, 2007/VOYA June 2007), which takes place in the same setting, may help relieve this confusion. Overall the novel is well written, with a fresh, intriguing plot, and if readers can maintain their bearings in the early stages, they will experience the story of a girl who fights to maintain power over her life and becomes stronger for it.-Dawn Talbott.

This sequel to Wicked Lovely (2007) focuses on a damaged mortal girl who unknowingly becomes the property of a dark faerie king. An abuse survivor, Leslie wants to take control of her body by getting a tattoo. What she doesn't know is that her tattoo will bind her to the iniquitous Irial, who plans to take enough of her mortality to enable him to feed on both mortals and faeries. Niall, a servant assigned to protect Leslie, finds himself falling for her despite an injunction against romancing mortals. Unfortunately, the intrigue and themes of physical and sexual autonomy get lost in the bloated writing; the speech of the teen characters is archaic and ridiculous. Rather than stimulate the senses, the overwrought descriptions only serve to confuse the reader and slow down the plot. Too many throwaway characters make up the periphery of this meandering, cluttered book. Despite its many shortcomings, however, this title is likely to be just as popular as its bestselling predecessor. (Fantasy. YA)