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Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Summary

Aislinn is a human girl who can see faeries, inhuman creatures who exist in a world closely connected to ours but still separate. She understands faeries are not the cute, sweet creatures from fairytales, but are instead moody, sometimes selfish and cruel, and almost always thoughtless about the humans who can usually neither see or hear them. When Aislinn is chosen by the Summer King to be a tool in his centuries-old war against his mother, the Winter Queen, she is forced to choose between helping him stop his mother from creating an eternal winter that kills all living mortal creatures and giving up her human life, including her friends, family and her human love.

Booktalk

Keep your head down and your mouth closed. That’s a lesson Aislinn’s grandma taught her from birth. But Grams wasn’t being mean or cruel, she was trying to make sure that Aislinn lived past her first couple of birthdays. Because Aislinn has a special talent, something that makes her different from most other people, something that lets her see things others can’t, something that is definitely NOT a gift and could easily get her killed. And because Grams had the same problem? Curse? Whatever it is, Grams shared it, and so she created the rules. Rule #3: Don’t stare at invisible faeries – other people can’t see them, so if you pay attention to them, the fairies will know you can see them. Rule #2: Don’t answer invisible faeries – other people can’t hear them, so if you respond to them, they’ll know you can hear them. And you do NOT want these faeries to know you can see them and hear them, because these faeries are NOT like Tinkerbell or whatever cute, little, sparkly, friendly faeries Disney cartoons might have fooled you into thinking you knew. These are the real deal, with tongues as sharp as knives and reflexes as fast as a snake. They are cruel, inhuman and deadly. And Aislinn has broken the most important rule of all, Rule #1: Don’t ever attract faeries attention.

Discussion questions

Warning! Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!

  1. Many of the characters go through changes during the book. Did your opinions of Keenan change as you read the book? Did you end up finding him more appealing or less appealing at the end than at the beginning? What about Aislinn?
  2. This book is about choices and consequences. What characters made choices that affected the outcome of the story? How could the story have been different if those characters had chosen differently?
  3. Aislinn thinks she must choose between two difficult outcomes. Think of a time when you had to make a hard choice and share it if you want.
  4. Keenan and Seth see each other as rivals. What qualities does Keenan have that make him a good choice for Aislinn? What qualities does Seth have that make him a good choice for Aislinn?
  5. Many of the characters are shown to have strengths and weaknesses. Which character is your favorite? What characteristics do you like about them? What don’t you like?
  6. Aislinn and Keenan are working against the Winter Queen, but they receive help from several other characters. What other characters do you feel most strongly impacted the story?

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