Deborah Cooke: Author

Why is it that no matter how extensive your T.B.R. (To Be Read) pile is, no matter how high and how wide, it always seems deficient once you dig into it?

I had a great reading month in December, and made a serious dent in my T.B.R. pile, but still. There was a lot left – there still is – but by mid-month, I was itchy for new stock. I just happened to stumble into a bookstore in the midst of my festive shopping (funny how that happens) and played my usual game of buying books by authors I’d never read before, simply on the basis of the cover art.

One of the biggest gems was this book – WICKED LOVELY by Melissa Marr. Wow. I loved this book. It’s been so long since I read a book that conflicted me so – I couldn’t leave it alone, but I didn’t want to finish it too quickly. The worldbuilding was wonderful and intricate, tying into human mythology in the way I just adore. The alternate world in this book is that of Faerie, but these fey are exactly as they should be – they’re both beautiful and cruel, outside our frame of morality yet tied to the earth. Their world overlaps that of the mortal world and is entwined with it in a plausible and interesting way. The characters were crisply drawn and sympathetic. It was emotionally engaging and unpredictable, yet a satisfying read. Everything in the story was resolved so beautifully by the end, yet there were lots of other alleys to explore in subsequent books.

It was the best book I’ve read in a long while. Go get a copy and see if you agree with me.