Wicked Lovely

Wicked Lovely, a 2007 young adult novel by Melissa Marr, is an urban fantasy that unfolds in a town somewhere outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Featuring mischievous faeries, blossoming romance and an evil Queen, it has the basic elements of a traditional fairy tale, but the protagonist, Aislinn Foy, scraps any trappings of the damsel in distress. A bright, courageous young woman, she matches wits with those who would upend her world and derail her destiny, and in so doing, discovers inner strength, along with true love.

Seventeen-year-old Aislinn lives with her grandmother (Grams) in the town of Huntsdale where she attends Bishop O’Connell High School. With her tattoos and piercings and college plans, she appears to be an average high school senior, but, unbeknownst to all but Grams, Aislinn has the “Sight,” or the ability to see faeries moving about in the mortal world. Invisible to everyone else, these are not friendly faeries, but rather hooligans who enjoy persecuting unsuspecting humans. Grams also has the Sight, and has warned Aislinn to hide her ability from the faeries by following three rules: never stare at the faeries, never speak to them, and never attract their attention.

But then a pair of faeries, or fey, begin to follow Aislinn. The dazzling fey man and the frozen girl have clearly taken an interest in Aislinn, which unnerves her. Then the fey man assumes the guise of a mortal boy and enrolls in Aislinn’s school, where he pursues her romantically. Unaware she knows he’s a faery, he’s surprised she resists his powerful otherworldly charms. Frightened by this surprising development, Aislinn seeks help from her close friend Seth, who lives in an iron train car. As folklore would have it, iron is toxic to faeries. Aislinn shares the secret of her Sight with Seth. He loves her but has not divulged his feelings.



Aislinn overhears other faeries refer to the golden man pursuing her as the Summer King. When he invites her to a carnival, she agrees to go, hoping to discover the reason for his attentions. As it turns out, he’s searching for the mortal girl who will be his Summer Queen, and has been, without luck, for the past 900 years. When he was born, his evil mother, the Winter Queen Beira, cursed him with limited powers, which can only be restored to their full force when he unites with the true Summer Queen. To this end, Keenan targets promising mortal girls, transforming them into faeries. Then they have a choice. They can remain in his court forever as Summer girls, or they can submit to the Winter Staff test, which is risky. When the right girl lifts the Winter Staff, she will become the Summer Queen. But if she’s the wrong candidate, as has always been the case, she turns into the Winter Girl, condemned to suffer relentless cold until the next girl fails the test and takes her place. Donia, the frozen girl perpetually by Keenan’s side, is the last mortal whose love for Keenan led her to lift the sword unsuccessfully.

Aislinn, who has always feared and loathed the malicious fey, does not love Keenan, but she’s attracted to him against her will. At the carnival, she drinks to much faery wine, and indiscreetly admits to Keenan that she has the Sight. They kiss, and the next morning, when Aislinn wakes without much memory of the night, she worries their flirting went beyond kissing. She’s relieved to learn otherwise, as she’s guarding her virginity. While visiting Seth, Aislinn discovers she can become invisible, and realizes she’s morphing into a faery. Her feelings for Seth have grown romantic, but their future together is doomed unless she faces the challenge Keenan has set for her.

After Aislinn heals the frost wounds Beira deals to Keenan, he’s convinced she’s the rightful Summer Queen. During the centuries Keenan has vainly sought his Queen, his mother has consolidated her power, putting much of the faery world into a deep chill and wantonly torturing those who cross her. She will kill to prevent her son from warming the world, but if he doesn’t, his own Summer Court will perish. Following a confrontation between Grams and Keenan, Aislinn agrees to become the Summer Queen with the caveat that she will not live with Keenan, and she’ll be allowed to finish her education. She grasps the Winter Staff, and the flood of light confirms she is the Queen.



Enraged by Aislinn’s success, Beira has already harmed Grams, and now she captures Seth. She also abducts Donia, whom Keenan loves, and prepares to kill her. Seth defends Donia by stabbing Beira with an iron cross, which provokes Beira to turn her wrath on Seth. As she claws at Seth, Aislinn and Keenan arrive, having been alerted that Beira was taking revenge on their loved ones. With their united strength, the Summer Monarchs destroy the Winter Queen. Donia succeeds Beira as the new Winter Queen. Although Aislinn is no longer mortal, she and Seth commit to a relationship together. Keenan, the King of Summer, and Donia, the Queen of Winter, are finally free to act on their mutual attraction, and peace prevails between their respective faery courts.

Wicked Lovely is in many ways a coming-of-age story. For most of her young life, Aislinn has tried to simply sidestep the dangerous forces she can see at work in the world around her. But over the course of the book, she grows into a self-assured woman who finally confronts these forces and holds her own against them. She eschews life as the Summer King’s Queen, preferring to pursue her mortal dreams. She chooses life as a student, and love with Seth. Indeed, the power of choice is hers at last, after having no choice but to endure the Sight she did not want, and the role of Summer Queen that fate imposed on her. Wicked Lovely is the first of five primary novels in a series by that name.