Angieville

I have my sneaky friend Alicia to thank for slipping me her ARC of Darkest Mercy --the final installment in Melissa Marr 's Wicked Lovely series featuring the many wily courts of faerie. I've been looking forward to some desperately needed closure on this series for awhile now. I still remember running across Wicked Lovely what seems like so long ago and loving it. I fell even more in love with the darker   Ink Exchange , which cemented my fascination with and unhealthy  substantial interest in His Uber Dark Lordliness Irial. And the fabulous short story " Stopping Time " sort of pushed me over the edge as far as my admiration for Marr's storytelling skills and my love for some of these characters went. The other two installments in the series fell a bit flat for me for various reasons. And so I held my breath as I opened up the last one, hoping it would resolve things in both a satisfactory and suitably complex way. High expectations much? Who me? Nobody is w...

I know you've likely seen this cover already, but it's frankly too pretty not to post. Also, it's Donia. And I love Donia. This is the cover for Darkest Mercy --the fifth and final book in Melissa Marr 's Wicked Lovely series. And just for fun, I thought I'd post all five covers side by side here now, both to show the arc of truly lovely cover art for a series, and to try to determine which one is my favorite. First of all-- so pretty . This series has just had consistently gorgeous covers and I love seeing that, especially for a series I've followed and enjoyed (I should say that has inspired the full range of human emotions in me--which can only be a good thing--even when I'm railing against some bit of nonsense Keenan got himself up to). Second, as far as my favorite goes, it's definitely down to either the cover of Ink Exchange or the one for  Darkest Mercy . I love them both. But I think, I think , I'm gonna have to go with Ink Exchange . Bec...

And the winner is . . . Caitlin ! Congratulations! You know the drill. Shoot me a quick email with your mailing address and we'll get your copy of Radiant Shadows on its way. Thanks so much to Karen of Media Masters Publicity for providing the book for the giveaway and to all of you who entered and shared your favorite characters from the series and why you love them. In case you're interested, Niall was overwhelmingly the most beloved character and I fully support that call. As Michelle said, "I am in love with Niall. He is the Dark Lord and he owns it." Amen. Of course, Seth was no slouch in the fan department either. He's got his own set of loyal admirers. As Jen  (who also really loves Niall) says, "I have liked Seth from the start. You gotta love a regular mortal man who stands up to the immortal Fae for his woman." There are many things to love about Seth. But this is probably the best one. Niall and Seth were followed by Donia of whom Yan ha...

Well, guys, apparently my recent fangirling echoed throughout the blogosphere and reached a few powerful (and benevolent) ears. And wouldn't you know, something good has come of it. I'm delighted to be able to host a giveaway for you today. The winner will receive one copy of Melissa Marr 's fourth Wicked Lovely novel-- Radiant Shadows !   Ms. Marr is heading out soon on her nationwide tour to celebrate the book's release. Though she's sadly not coming anywhere near me, you might be in luck. So be sure to check out the schedule: DENVER ,  CO                          April 22, 2010 :  Tattered Cover Book Store;  7:00 pm LEXINGTON ,  KY                 April 23, 2010 :  Joseph-Beth Booksellers;  7:00 pm ST. LOUIS ,  MO          ...

Okay. I want you to prepare yourself for a bit of a déluge in the way of me describing to you just how ecstatically in love I am with this short story. Yes, you heard me right. Short story. What's that you say? You thought I already covered my love for Irial and Niall yesterday in my review of Radiant Shadows ? Well, I thought so too. But then I stumbled across a little thing called " Stopping Time " and it became clear that this kind of love cannot be "covered" in a single post. I'm afraid you may be subject to several. Consider this fair warning. I've never actually reviewed a short story here before. So here goes. This review will include a few unavoidable spoilers for Ink Exchange   and Fragile Eternity   if you haven't read them yet, but none at all for Radiant Shadows . So if you're up-to-date on the series, you're good to go as " Stopping Time " takes place in between Fragile Eternity and Radiant Shadows and is the absolute...

So I've been fairly itching to know where this series would go after the third book-- Fragile Eternity --came out last year and utterly realigned my loyalties as far as the faery courts go. Well, that's perhaps not entirely accurate. They were already leaning heavily in that direction after Ink Exchange . But the developments in Fragile Eternity cemented the shift so firmly, I wondered if I would ever recover my early fondness for some characters or if, alternately, anything on God's green earth would be able to uproot my newly acquired devotion to others. Where Fragile Eternity was a more direct sequel to Wicked Lovely , Radiant Shadows is a sequel to Ink Exchange . Given the way I loved Ink Exchange , I, for one, was definitely looking forward to a couple of fresh, new characters, a possible mention of how Leslie was doing, and being back in the Dark Court with less tiresome Keenan and Ash and more magnetic Irial and Niall. Ani is a halfling. Daughter of the Dark Ki...

And the winner is... robin_titan ! Please contact me with your mailing address and I'll get your copy of Fragile Eternity in the mail. You guys, I was completely delighted with the turnout and all of your awesome comments. It looks like many of you are already Marr fans and I was happy to see all the Holly Black and Robin McKinley shout-outs. Black's Modern Faerie Tales rock. And McKinley is the master. A ton of you love the Merry Gentry series as well and that is one I haven't dipped into yet. Thank you so much for the recommendations!

This week Shooting Stars Mag is hosting the first ever YA Book Carnival ! I'm delighted to be participating by giving away a brand spankin' new copy of Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr . This is the third book in Marr's Wicked Lovely series and a direct sequel to Wicked Lovely itself. You can check out my reviews of the series here: Wicked Lovely review Ink Exchange review Fragile Eternity review And all you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling me your favorite book or series involving faeries or your favorite classic fairy tale or fairy tale retelling. This giveaway is open worldwide and will run through Sunday June 28th. Make sure to leave me a way to contact you! Also don't forget to stop in at Shooting Stars Mag this week to check out all of the other fabulous giveaways going on as part of the YA Book Carnival .

For those unfamiliar with or new to the series, Fragile Eternity is the third book in Melissa Marr 's Wicked Lovely world and the long-awaited direct sequel to Wicked Lovely itself. The painful and beautiful Ink Exchange was more of a companion novel to Wicked Lovely and followed Aislinn's friend Leslie. Fragile Eternity picks up shortly after the end of Ink Exchange and divides its time between the four original principals--Aislinn, Seth, Keenan, and Donia. All of them are struggling to deal with the consequences of their actions (or, in a few key cases, inactions), which resulted in Leslie walking away from it all and Irial abdicating his throne, effectively forcing Niall to fill his deep, dark shoes. How they live now includes: 1. Aislinn working really hard not to touch Keenan with a ten-foot pole. Bad things happen in the castle when she does. Mostly for Seth. 2. Keenan working even harder to do a lot more than touch Aislinn. All in the name of his court, of course, ...

Phew, I'm back. Vegas was hot and windy, but the wedding we attended was lovely. Lots of yummy, yummy Thai food at the reception and many good people to visit with. A much-needed getaway. I just wanted to put up a reminder that Laurie R. King , author of the most wonderful if-you-haven't-read-them-yet-you-must Mary Russell series , will be guest blogging here on Wednesday. Laurie is promoting her latest and greatest Mary Russell-- The Language of Bees . You're in for a treat so don't miss it! I've also got several good reviews on their way up this week. Look out for my review of Fragile Eternity (much to say on that one), Dead and Gone (Sookie rules), and of course The Language of Bees .

I need your advice. I just finished Tamora Pierce 's Bloodhound (review forthcoming) and I've got such a lovely stack sitting next to me and no idea where to start. That's where you come in. Here are the options: So give me your input. Have you read any of these? What's it gonna be?

And here's the cover for Melissa Marr 's upcoming Fragile Eternity . Due out in April. I'm looking forward to getting some good Seth time in this one. Must be nice to get such lovely covers, musn't it? Thanks to Urban Fantasy Land for the heads up!

Wicked Lovely , Melissa Marr 's first novel, was on my Best of 2007 list and I've been very excited about the sequel, Ink Exchange . The storyline follows Aislinn's friend Leslie. Leslie is surrounded by a fog of secrets and unable to break through the fog because of something that happened to her while Aislinn was caught up in her own set of the tumultuous events in Wicked Lovely. The gulf between the two girls only grows wider as they find themselves unable to talk about how they have each been irrevocably altered. While Aislinn negotiates a tricky truce between Keenan and Seth, Leslie is left to fend for herself, waitressing tables to pay the bills and avoiding going home for any length of time. She is also storing away a little cash to get a tattoo as a symbol of taking her life back and escaping the terror that's dominated it for too long. Turns out she's not completely alone, though. Aislinn has commissioned Niall, Keenan's friend and right hand man, to w...

The best reads of the past month: Ninth Key , Reunion , Darkest Hour , Haunted , and Twilight by Meg Cabot I blew through this series and it was sort of a blast. The not-so-faint hint of menace in these books shows that Cabot can turn her hand to any genre she wants and still tickle her audience. The Suze/Jesse/Paul triangle worked for me and I liked how Paul inhabited the gray area between irredeemably vicious and uncertainly vulnerable. Happily, Cabot worked out the perfect ending. I've been on a real paranormal/urban fantasy jag lately and this series was just the thing for a lighter dark mood. The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares I haven't read any of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books and I haven't seen the movie. But when I read about Brashares' first adult foray, it sounded like the right time to give her a shot. The Last Summer is just lovely. The writing tripped along as pleasantly as waves washing up on Fire Island. Main trio Alice, Pau...