Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely #2)

First of all Ive read many reviews and comments about the book dealing with Rape, drugs and other dark issues, being a young adult book maybe its not suitable?

I don't feel this is the case... This book is dark but its dealing with the dark court of the fey. The issues that arise in this book are well placed and in context, its important to telling the story.

Books are for learning and I feel its important young people learn about such serious issues, and if more people wrote about them then maybe we wouldn't have as many young people committing suicide because of bullying etc.




Anyways on to the story!




Leslie is a strong character even though we see her depending on others through out the book we also see her make tough choices and survive time and again... with an absent mother, a drunk father and a druggie brother the mortals in this book seems as bad as the non humans.




Even the people who were supposed to be looking out for her I feel did it for there own manipulation. Keenan as a character Ive grown to detest!! hes sneaky and shady and not true to the person he portrays... it really made me so sad to see what he did to Niall in this book. At least with those in the dark court you know what they are they don't pretend to be anything else.




Aislinn I didn't feel was much better, yes she had her court try to protect Seth and Leslie but her lies but them in danger... she also knew how bad Leslie's life was, about the rape but at one point in the book practically called her easy! HORRIBLE!




Niall my heart broke for, he was so genuine and fought his own urges to try and keep Leslie safe I feel his love for her was real. He was a fabulous strong male character he didn't pretend he was perfect, he knew he had faults but he did his best to stay on the right track. I couldn't get enough of him in this story! I hope he stays the same..

Reader reviewed by Crimin

Melissa Marrs Ink Exchange shows the darker side of the Faerie Courts, one of shadows and nightmares, of night and of creatures that feed off the emotions of humans.   Leslie finds herself thrust into this world so unlike her own, as a dark and mysterious man seething power comes and takes her away.  She can only trust herself to get her away from the Court and the horrible duty thats been thrust upon her -- becoming a channel for all the human emotions the Dark Fey feed from.

Melissa Marrs writing style is wonderful and her storytelling is everything you could ask for and more.  You want a love story?  You got it.   You want a love triangle so bizarre that youll yank out your hair to try and guess whats going to happen?  You got it!    You want the girl to have a happy ending?  Well, youll have to find out with that one.  

Though I loved this sister novel to Wicked Lovely, I must confess that Ink Exchange wasnt as great as Wicked Lovely, as I enjoyed it far more than this dark tale.   But, to each their own.   This book was still fantastic.   There isnt a doubt in my mind about that!

Reader reviewed by fayeflame

synopsis


Unbeknownst to mortals, a power struggle is unfolding in a world of
shadows and danger. After centuries of stability, the balance among the
Faery Courts has altered, and Irial, ruler of the Dark Court, is
battling to hold his rebellious and newly vulnerable fey together. If
he fails, bloodshed and brutality will follow.

Seventeen-year-old
Leslie knows nothing of faeries or their intrigues. When she is
attracted to an eerily beautiful tattoo of eyes and wings, all she
knows is that she has to have it, convinced it is a tangible symbol of
changes she desperately craves for her own life.

The tattoo does
bring changes; not the kind Leslie has dreamed of, but sinister,
compelling changes that are more than symbolic. Those changes will bind
Leslie and Irial together, drawing Leslie deeper and deeper into the
faery world, unable to resist its allures, and helpless to withstand
its perils. . . .

my review

I read this one before
Wicked Lovely(oops), I loved the Dark king and Niall. I wished things
would end differently but it was a good read. I wonder how Niall will
rule as New Dark King. The story line was awesome. Leslie being tied to
The dark king by a tattoo, really cool. It was a whole new side of
fairies, the dark and creepy kind. I wonder how things will play out in
the next book....

Reader reviewed by MichieBee

So now I'm officially in love with Melissa Marr. While I didn't like this book as much as Wicked Lovely (though
by just a smidgen), it was still a great read, and I managed to
complete it in two sittings (but that's only because I had to go to
work, haha.)

This time around, we see from Aislinn's friend, Leslie's, point of view. It follows the events after Wicked Lovely
and Aislinn and Seth and the faeries still play a role (just a less
major one). Leslie is a girl who's struggling with her life after her
mother walks out and she's stuck with her negligent father, who's
hardly ever home, and her drug addict brother Ren, who's sold her body
to fulfill his cravings. In an attempt to reclaim her life and her
body, Leslie saves up to get a tattoo, When the tattoo parlour offers
her one of his special designs, Leslie knows it's the one for her, but
putting it on her skin will have more dire consequences than she could
imagine..

The story in this one follows up on the same theme as Wicked Lovely,
with almost all the characters having difficult choices to make. Again,
this is the driving force of the story and what kept me reading. This
time around though, there's some forbidden love thrown in the mix. The
mortal-faerie relationship wasn't really prevalent in Wicked Lovely,
so it was cool seeing it this time around. The reader also gets a
glimpse of one of the other faerie courts (the Dark court), which we
didn't get to see in the previous novel, so that was cool too. I'm not
going to say any more than that because I don't want to possibly ruin
or spoil anything.

As for the characters, they were great too. Aislinn is still the stubborn and steadfast character she was in Wicked Lovely,
who cares for her friends well-beings and will do anything for them to
not get sucked into her world. Leslie is a very strong character too,
but not in the same way that Aislinn is. She has different ways of
showing her strengths, which is nice, because Marr is obviously not
falling into the trap of making all her heroines the same. Niall (one
of faeries) plays a much more prominent role in this novel, as opposed
to Wicked Lovely, and his character development was great to read.

Overall, it was another great novel set in the faerie world that Marr has painted for us. I'm really excited about Fragile Eternity! I give Ink Exchange a 4/5 rating.

reprinted from my blog: http://michiebee.blogspot.com

Reader reviewed by Kayla (Midnight Twilight)

In Wicked Lovely the Faerie Courts are turned upside down with the new Summer and Winter Queens. The winter Queen is causing much less chaos, this is very bad for the Dark Court's king, Irial. Irial has to then find a new way to keep his dark fey alive.
Leslie wants a tattoo more than anything, she thinks it will change everything in her life, it does. Leslie chooses a dark tattoo with eyes and wings, it seems to call to her. This tattoo brings her and Irial closer, almost like their attached. Leslie is then drawn into the shadows, she becomes Irial's "Shadow Girl", the Dark Court's savior.
But instead of just having no bad emotions, she begins to have no emotions at all. She is beginning to lose her life and herself. Will she ever be able to leave the shadows?

Ink Exchange is the second book in the Wicked Lovely series. But the differences are huge. For one the narrators are different, though, like Wicked Lovely there are three. Also, while Wicked Lovely was about the seasonal courts, mostly the Summer Court, Ink Exchange is about the Dark Court and the shadows. In Wicked Lovely we learned a little about the Dark Court and Irial, but not much. I always love to see both sides to a story and Melissa Marr knows how to give all sides and still make it original. It's not often an author can do that and i think she has true talent. The only thing i didn't like about this series was the ending, I Want More!

Reader reviewed by graceface

Melissa Marr has done it again! I first fell in love with Marr's writing after reading Wicked Lovely, the prequel to Ink Exchange, and waited impatiently for the sequel. And I've got to tell you, I wasn't disappointed. In this book Melissa Marr brings the secondary characters of Wicked Lovely into light and so we get to learn more about them.
In this sequel to Wicked Lovely, 17 year old Leslie is about to be tossed into the middle of a power struggle between the Summer Court (ruled by Keenan and Aslinn) and the Dark Court (ruled by Irial). Will Leslie survive? Will light trump dark? Or will dark prevail? You gotta read it to find out!!