book review: wings by aprilynne pike

Kar-en  \ k(a)-ren\ – noun

1. A mother who can toe type at a whopping 5 WPM when required
2. An aspiring YA fantasy writer who somehow hasn’t quit yet
3. One who can’t possibly be a vampire because sunshine is an essential requirement for happiness

Archaic: A Southern girl, bless her heart, who studied English and editing at Brigham Young University.
Origin:  http://karenmkrueger.wordpress.com/

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Pike, Aprilynne. Wings. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.

(Quick Note: Check out my CONTEST where you can win a copy of SPELLS, the sequel to WINGS. –Chersti)

This was way more than some strange manifestation of puberty. Mood swings, disfiguring acne, even periods that went on for months were at least semi-normal. But growing oversized flower petals out of your back from a zit the size of a softball? This was something else entirely.

But what? This was the kind of stuff you saw in cheap horror movies. Even if she did decide to tell someone, who would believe her? Never, even in her worst nightmares, had she imagined something like this could happen to her.

This was going to ruin everything. Her life, her future. It was like everything was washed away in an instant.

Laurel is adjusting to her new home, her new school, her new friends, and her new growth — a giant flower growing in the middle of her back. With the help of a cute human guy, David, and a hot fairy guy, Tamani, she finds out about who and what she is, while also fighting off the mythical bad guys who are trying to break their way into the fairy realm.

The Review

Growing up, I loved fairies, so this story was one that naturally interested me. I liked how Pike shook up the mythology a little bit. I don’t want to give away details, but let’s just say that some of her changes made it easier to see the hot guy fairy as an actual hot guy and not a sissy fairy man.

And speaking of guys…I enjoyed the love triangle. I know that lots of YA novels are going with the “which one will she choose” thing, but let’s face it, it’s fun. This one was different for me though, because I didn’t end the book totally rooting for one or the other. I was right there with Laurel trying to figure out which one she should go for. For me, that took it from typical to refreshing.

I was glad for some of the atypical elements of the story, because there were a few of those same-old elements of paranormal/teen books. The story starts with Laurel being a new student, and she meets one of the cute boys, David, on her first day. The usual, you’ve heard it before.

And there’s also the problem of how easy other people believe and accept the weird things going on (another common problem I have with paranormal novels). I had a hard time believing that Laurel would be so willing to tell David that she had a weird flower growth on her back. She’d only known him for a few months, after all. I think there could have been a little more hesitation there. And when she did tell him (and showed him the undeniable proof), I could’ve had a more believable reaction from him.

That being said, I still enjoyed the book. Fun characters, great story, and one fabulous stop-my-heart, near-death experience. I’ll read the next one for sure.