Fair Game and Wicked Lovely - A Review (-ish)

I've read two books recently that I want to talk about. Well, I read one and listened to one.

The first is Fair Game by Jasmine Haynes. I asked Maria for the book after reading a review on Dear Author. Jane had said that she thought the book was really well written, but it made her uncomfortable. Since I'm always looking for a good erotic romance author, I decided to give it a read. Josie Tybrook is an up and comer at her company, Castle Heavy Mining, where she is a project manager. On her way to a meeting, she gets crushed up against a man in an overcrowded elevator. Given that Josie is a bit of a danger-girl, and because of her close proximity to the man, and she can tell that he's quite enjoying her being pressed up against him, she cops a bit of a feel before sashaying off the elevator and out of his life (she thinks) forever. That man is Kyle Perry and it turns out he's Josie's client. And he is wildly attracted to her. He wants desperately to see her again and is delighted by the turn of events that has brought her back into his life. He proposes that they begin seeing each other, a proposition which she promptly refuses. He raises the stakes by challenging her to a sexual encounter while returning from a business trip. She agrees, but indicates that this is a one time thing. He knows it won't be. They begin a game of sexual one-up-manship, where each of them is in total control of an encounter. Each time, they raise the stakes, making each encounter more daring, and pushing the other farther and farther. But everything changes when Kyle is offered a job at Castle. Will Josie agree to continue their relationship if he is her boss?

I found Fair Game to be an entertaining and fun read. The encounters between Josie and Kyle are heated and hot and very sexy. That being said, here I am presented yet again with a heroine whose motivations I don't understand. I didn't understand where her constant, never wavering need for total control came from. I didn't understand why when Kyle was clearly in pursuit and wanted to please her, she pushed him away. It confounded me. Here's a guy who has given her the best sex of her life, and still, she just can't commit. We're told that she was screwed over by an ex-boyfriend, but the backstory was never fleshed out to a point where I understood her motivations. We're told the ex is a dirt-bag and that he did her wrong, but never really understand why it is she's turned into this total control freak. I enjoyed the story, but never really connected with the heroine.

Final Grade: C

The second book is one I listened to. It is the Young Adult book, Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.

Background: I bought Wicked Lovely last year after reading review after gushing review of it. I started it, and just found I wasn't drawn in, and put it aside. I decided to give listening to it a try, given that I'm generally much more patient with audiobooks than I am with print.

By now, probably pretty much everyone has read this book, so I'll give a super brief overview of the story. Aislinn, a high school senior, can see the fae. She's always been able to and has had a true and proper terror of them instilled by her grandmother, who can also see them. She is horrified one day to have a fae boy approach her and try to chat her up. She's drawn to him, but truly wants nothing to do with him, and definitely doesn't want to hear his reasons for approaching her. In the mean time, Aislinn's relationship with her friend Seth is deepening. He's been her sole support and friend during this most recent turn of events. Aislinn comes to find out that she is likely the Summer Queen, consort to Keenan, the fae boy who approached her, who is, in fact, the Summer King. How will Aislinn conduct her relationship with Seth when she's supposed to be the savior of the Summer Fae?

So. My impressions. This book, even in audioform took me a long time to get into. Partially because of the in depth world building that Melissa Marr undertakes. There are copius rules and backstories being created. The tension between Aislinn's mortal life and the fae roel she is being asked to fulfill is at the crux of the story. But it takes some time to develop. The creatures in the story are vividly drawn. So vivid in fact that I truly believe a screenplay could be created from the book. The other thing I really enjoyed about the book was the reality of the teenagers. They're not all chaste and sweet and totally straight. They drink, they smoke, they get tattoos and act up. It's refreshing to read a book that draws such real kids, even in the imagined world Marr has drawn.

I found Aislinn to be eminently likeable. She's smart, and tough, and terrified all at once. And I appreciated that everything wasn't cut and dried for her. She evolves throughout the story, becoming stronger, sticking up for herself and for what she wants. She becomes, in effect, more royal. I also enjoyed the depiction of Keenan, the Summer King. While he looks young, he's world weary from searching for years and years for his Queen. He's jaded and selfish. But still, Marr draws him with enough humanity and unner monologue that you can't help but understand his desperation and the lengths that he will go to make Aislinn accept her inevitable fate.

Seth, Aislinn's boyfriend, is less realistically drawn. He was a little too perfect for me. No temper, no shock, no awe. Just a constant, steadfast, supporting presence in Aislinn's life. It didn't ring true for me. But it's a small nit to pick. But my favorite character in the story, the one who intrigued me most was Donia, the Winter Girl. She was the last mortal who Keenan asked to be the Summer Queen. Indeed, she was not, but she was brave enough to risk the cold for Keenan's love. That risk was not fulfilled and she had to absorb the Winter Queen (Keenan's mother and the Big Bad of the story)'s cold. Doomed to never feel the touch of Keenan again, Donia is stuck until the next mortal girl agrees to test the staff and attempt to fulfill Keenan's wish and become the Summer Queen. She loves Keenan beyond anything else, but understands that she can not only never be with him, but must do her best to disuade Aislinn from taking the test and fulfilling what Donia knows is Aislinn's destiny. Her life is at risk from the Winter Queen who will do anything to ensure that Aislinn not become the Summer Queen. Donia is a complex, tragic and fascinating character.

As I said, the story unfolds slowly with incredible detail. But once the action picks up, it does so very quickly. My only other complaint would be that the final scenes unfolded too quickly, with the amount of build up involved, I'd have liked to have seen the final battle be more vivid, more intense, especially with the stakes involved. All of that being said, I can't wait to dive into Ink Exchange and Fragile Eternity.

Final grade: B+