#Author: Melissa Marr

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Seth never expected he would want to settle down with anyone - but that was before Aislinn. She is everything he'd ever dreamed of, and he wants to be with her forever. Forever takes on new meaning, though, when your girlfriend is an immortal faery queen. Aislinn never expected to rule the very creatures who'd always terrified her - but that was before Keenan. He stole her mortality to make her a monarch, and now she faces challenges and enticements beyond any she'd ever imagined. In Melissa Marr's third mesmerizing tale of Faerie, Seth and Aislinn struggle to stay true to themselves and each other in a milieu of shadowy rules and shifting allegiances, where old friends become new enemies and one wrong move could plunge the Earth into chaos.

[geekcavepodcast]

DC Comics Announces Publication Date for "The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley and "Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story"

DC Comic's young adult original graphic novels The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley and Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story will publish in 2024.

The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley from author Melissa Marr, artist Jenn St-Onge, colorist Jeremy Lawson, and letterer Lucas Gattoni will go in sale on September 3, 2024.

Harleen and her girlfriend Pamelia sign up to participate in a clinical research trial. For Harleen it sounds like a good way to make some extra cash and maybe help control her anxiety. Instead, Harleen end s up with "increasingly larger gaps in her memory and stolen mementos from some guy named Jack. Soon Harleen discovers she’s sharing her life with Harley—a take-no-prisoners, who-cares-about-attendance, maybe-we-oughta-save-the-bunnies kind of girl. She is the opposite of Harleen in every way. And although she’s throwing Harleen’s life completely off track, maybe she ain’t so bad either…" (DC Comics)

Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story from author Nicole Maines, artist Rye Hickman, colorist Bex Glendining, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, goes on sale on April 2, 2024.

"Nia’s spent her whole life taking a back seat to her older sister, Maeve, who was expected to inherit their mother’s Seer powers: the ability to see the future through dreams, passed down to one woman in each generation. But when Nia, a trans girl, starts having visions of the future, she must suppress her powers to protect her relationship with her sister.

Soon Nia’s dreams become impossible to ignore, and she has no choice but to distance herself as she navigates her new reality. Taking off for Metropolis, Nia is quickly swept up in the bustling city and, guided by her dreams, connects with a group of queer girls who feel more like sisters than her own. As Nia starts to discover her powers may be more than just a burden, she’s given a choice: accept her new responsibility as a Seer or give it all up for a chance at normalcy." (DC Comics)

(Images via DC Comics - Jenn St-Onge's Cover of The Strange Case of Harleen and Harley and Rye Hickman and Bex Glendining's Cover of Bad Dream: A Dreamer Story)

[ultrameganicolaokay]

The Strange Case of Harleen & Harley by Melissa Marr and Jenn St-Onge. Cover by St-Onge. Out in September.

"A new YA take on how Harleen became Harley!

When Harleen signs up to participate in a clinical research trial with her girlfriend, Pamela, her only goals are extra cash and a chance to control her anxiety. But what she gets instead are increasingly larger gaps in her memory and stolen mementos from some guy named Jack. Soon, Harleen discovers she’s sharing her life with Harley—a take-no-prisoners, who-cares-about-attendance, maybe-we-oughtasave- the-bunnies kind of girl. She is the opposite of Harleen in every way. And although she’s throwing Harleen’s life completely off track, maybe she ain’t so bad either…

New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely) and celebrated artist Jenn St-Onge (Bingo Love) explore the twisted transformation from Harleen to Harley in this compelling YA graphic novel!"

[magixfairyix]

Ink Exchange (and the rest of the Wicked Lovely book series by Melissa Marr) definitely impacted me on a psychological level.

Read it when I was just starting to form my own opinions and did I understand all the topics in it such as trauma and SA? No. And also effing hell in one of the later books of the series it made a comment about how SA to males exists as well.

Also the first LGBTQIAS2+ characters I had read. Like, bisexual Niall and Irial (aka the one man my lesbianism excuses) and the cannon Nial X Irial X Leslie.

Didn't know what any of it was when read it but I liked the ship so lol character development.

The first book honestly will seem like oh urban fey king tries to romance human girl (not Irial or Niall or Leslie those three are in book 2) but it's done in a really good way.

Also, urban fey book.

And along with the main series the author wrote a prequel book, short stories taking place before and after the main series (that introduces such a big plot twist) and a book that takes place afterwards (I haven't read it yet but yes). So there's a lot of lore.

Also, I would let myself get spirited away by the Dark Court. Irial is the one man I would marry for tax benefits like effin hell, because the terms of endearment he uses are "love" and "shadow girl" like congrats Irial for making a lesbian disaster straight panic.

Ink Exchange can also just be read on its on so slay cause its honestly the best book in the series in my opinion.

[howlsmovinglibrary]

24 in 2024

Thank you @logarithmicpanda

Book TBR for the year time, I suppose

Physical backlog

New releases

Library books

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett (I've just finished and it was the 1st 5 star book of the year)

The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Funny Story by Emily Henry

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr

The Bridges of High Hill by Nghi Vo

A Sorceress Comes To Call by T Kingfisher

To Cage a God by Elizabeth May

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan (I can't believe my favourite author is essentially publishing an isekai I'm lowkey feral bc I *know* it'll be hilarious)

Alecto the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandana

...Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros :')))) (I've had it on hold since Sept and I'm still like 15th in the queue, scared tbh... I don't think itll be good)

The Hacienda by Isabel Canas

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canas

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

Gwen and Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon (I've heard it's Reylo coded, so I might not last long)

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

Tagging: @eldritchcow, @vagabondly, @books-are-portals, and anyone else xx

[thebestestbat]

im rereading the ya book wicked lovely by melissa marr and im so few pages into it and im already in such relief at her fairies. vs acotar's fairies. like thank youuuuuuu. ya authors understand. actually holly black understands, and ya authors who copy her also understand.

there was a wolf fairy with crystalline fur that chimed in an entrancing song as she chases you......

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Loki's Wolves | Author: K.L. Armstrong / Melissa Marr | Publisher: Little, Brown Books (2013)

[sapphicomics]

the strange case of harleen and harley

When Harleen signs up to participate in a clinical research trial with her girlfriend, Pamela, her only goals are extra cash and a chance to control her anxiety. But what she gets instead are increasingly larger gaps in her memory and stolen mementos from some guy named Jack. Soon Harleen discovers she’s sharing her life with Harley—a take-no-prisoners, who-cares-about-attendance, maybe-we-oughta-save-the-bunnies kind of girl. She is the opposite of Harleen in every way. And although she’s throwing Harleen’s life completely off track, maybe she ain’t so bad either…

New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely) and celebrated artist Jenn St-Onge (Bingo Love), with color by Jeremy Lawson and lettering by Lucas Gattoni, explore the twisted transformation from Harleen to Harley in this compelling new YA original graphic novel on sale beginning September 3!

[draftmare]

Summer is here which means that reading always falls a bit by the wayside. There are just sooooo many things taking up my time, and not many of them are sitting in a chair for very long. So, the last time I read anything was on my honeymoon, however I did devour two books while I was there. We did a lot of excursions in Mexico, which meant a lot of time on buses. Once I saw the sights to and from the excursions locations a couple of times, an hour on the bus was the perfect time to dive into a book.

I blasted through Salt by Liz Shipton pretty fast.

It takes place in a dystopian future post pandemic, and post extreme climate change. So you know, basically where we are heading. It’s the slowest of slow burn romances. The book throws some weird left turns at you then wraps up quick to get you on to book two (which I haven’t read yet). It was basically a quick, easy read to pass the time. I don’t know if I’ll pick up the rest of the series or not.

The second book I read was Heavenbreaker.

I bought a physical copy of this book on our way down to Mexico because it was just so pretty without really knowing anything about it. I ended up absolutely loving it. I’m disappointed that this genre type seems to be a one off for this author. Did you grow up watching Neon Genesis Evangelion? Did you love Gundam Wing as a kid? This is the book for you. 10/10 would recommend.

I currently have two unfinished books sitting by my bed. A Remedial Magic by Melissa Marr and A Day of Fallen Night, still. A Remedial Magic I was initially super excited about because it has magic and LGBTQ+ representation, but it just…hasn’t really pulled me in. It feels very much like the author wanted to set up a grungy sex filled Hogwarts for adults, and I dunno. I’m just not feeling it.

A Day of Fallen Night is just….long. I will finish it at some point, it’s just long…

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 1/5

Book Blurb: “No one builds worlds like Melissa Marr.” ―Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author The Magicians meets One Last Stop in this brand-new fantasy romance Remedial Magic, about an unassuming librarian who 1) has fallen in love with a powerful witch; 2) has discovered that she is a witch; and 3) must attend magical community college to learn how to save her new world from complete destruction by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr!

Ellie loves working in her local library in the small town of Ligonier. She loves baking scones and investigating the mysterious and captivating in her spare time. And there is nothing more mysterious and captivating than the intriguingly beautiful, too properly dressed woman sipping tea in her library who has appeared as if out of nowhere. The pull between them is undeniable, and Ellie is not sure that she wants to resist.

Prospero, a powerful witch from the magical land of Crenshaw, is often accused of being… ruthless in her goals and ambitions. But she is driven to save her dying homeland, and a prophecy tells her that Ellie is the key. Unbeknownst to Ellie, her powers have not yet awakened. But all of that is about to change.

Review:

Three people, thrown into a world of magic and forced to go to witch college all the while deal with relationship drama, new powers, and no escape. This story is told in about 6 POVS and the three main characters are Ellie ( a local librarian who lives a cozy life), Maggie (a lawyer who is trying to escape her abusive ex and save her son), and Dan (a guy who went hiking and was dying of cancer but has a second chance at life). Ellie meets Prospero, a mysterious woman who kisses her ( Prospero was going to kill her but decided not to, she was sent to retrieve Ellie because there was a prophecy about Ellie saving the magic world). Maggie gets into a car crash that was planned by her husband that would have killed her and her son but her magic awakened when she saved them both only for her to be whisked away by the handsome Sondre, the headmaster of the witch college, and Dan awakens after a hiking accident at the witch college. Ellie is excited about the prospect of having magic and falling for the beautiful woman who kissed her. Maggie wants nothing more than to escape and go back to her son, but that wont stop her from sleeping with Sondre. Dan refuses to leave, he wants to stay at witch college forever. All the while witches are dying from a mysterious disease and the Ellie has to solve the prophecy. This book was a if you took three drops of paint and put it into water, muddy, all over the place, and lacking any clear distinction and the end product is just something that is unclear and not pretty. Initially I was so excited to read this book but it immediately fell flat, and I kept pushing myself to finish it and the fact that this is the first book in the series is a big no thank you, especially with how this book went. I definitely will not be continuing this series. This book starts off abruptly and is all over the place, the characters all lacked depth and actual interesting aspects to them, the world building felt nonexistent, and cohesive story where? The book doesn't really feel like much is happening and for a book that was advertised as The Magicians meets One Last Stop, it gave neither to me and I enjoyed both of those books. This book was not for me, and unfortunately I should have DNF'ed by the second chapter because it just kept dragging on and I just was left disappointed by the end. This one is not for me and if you like magic school and relationship drama then give it a go, I guess, maybe you'll have a better time with it than I did.

*SPOILER* The ending itself was just not it ( the fact that Maggie is forced into a marriage and to have her and her sons minds warped and she has to obey Sondre while Ellie is forced into marriage and mindwipe by Prospero all the while Dan ( who barely even had any personality or characterization throughout the book and really did NOTHING, seriously go on Dan, give me nothing) gets to just enjoy life. I felt ick, just so much ick,

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group, Bramble for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: Wicked Lovely

Author: Melissa Marr

Series or standalone: series

Publication year: 2007

Genres: fiction, fantasy, romance, paranormal

Blurb: Aislinn has always seen faeries; powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in the mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty, especially if they learn of her Sight, and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens. Now, faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer. Keenan is the Summer King, who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost, regardless of her plans or desires. Suddenly, none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom, her best friend Seth, her life...everything.

[alrederedmixedmedia]

Alredered Remembers Melissa Marr, American author of young-adult/urban fantasy novels, on her birthday.

"He was an answer to a question she’d forgotten to ask."

[sarahbethdurst]

My Phoenix Fan Fusion 2024 Schedule

I'll be one of the Guest Authors at Phoenix Fan Fusion convention this weekend! So excited!!! Hope to see you there!

My Phoenix Fan Fusion schedule:

Fri 5/24 at 3pm Author Signing (B927S)

Fri 5/24 at 4:30pm Panel: "Choose Your Own Adventure Live!" with Robert Jackson Bennett, Soman Chainani, Ryan Dalton, Sarah Beth Durst, Todd Fahnestock, and Robin Hobb (North 226BC)

Fri 5/24 at 6pm Panel: "Fireside Chat at the Prancing Pony" with Peter V. Brett, Sarah Beth Durst, Sara Ella, Todd Fahnestock, and Aiden Thomas (North 226BC)

Sat 5/25 at 10:30am Panel: "Women Writers of Speculative Fiction" with Katherine Arden, Gwenda Bond, Sarah Beth Dust, Micaiah Johnson, and Lilliam Rivera (North 227B)

Sat 5/25 at 12pm Author Signing (B929S)

Sat 5/25 at 4:30pm Panel: "Everything You Wanted to Know About Being an Author But Were Afraid to Ask Part 2" with Gwenda Bond, Peter V. Brett, Ryan Dalton, Sarah Beth Durst, Sara Ella, and Micaiah Johnson (North 227B)

Sat 5/25 at 6pm Panel: "Defeating Writer's Block" with Sarah Beth Durst, Fonda Lee, and Gene Luen Yang (North 226BC)

Sun 5/26 at 10:30am Author Signing (B931S)

Sun 5/26 at 12pm Panel: "Creating Strange New Worlds" with Robert Jackson Bennett, Sarah Beth Durst, Fonda Lee, Melissa Marr, and Aiden Thomas (North 227B)

Sun 5/26 at 3pm Panel: "The Rise of Cozy Fantasy" with Sarah Beth Durst (North 227C)

https://www.phoenixfanfusion.com/authors

[yoko-kurama-the-sex-god]

I was tagged by @rouge-the-bat! Thank you for the tag!

nickname: [not including nicknames based on my irl name for obvious reasons] Sinnel is my typical alias, though I’ve also gone by Rani and Lyember

sign: Aquarius (western), Dog (Chinese), Cat (Irish) :p

height: 5′4″

last thing i googled: history channel (I wasn’t sure of the web address)

amount of sleep: don’t even talk to me about sleep

dream job: Nothing! That’s right, I don’t want to work for a living! I would much rather spend my time gardening and living that cottagecore life

wearing: a “to write love on her arms” tank and primrose colored shorts. It’s hot :(

media that summarizes me: This is so vague. I’m going to go with the ones I would recommend to people to understand me better. Movies: Mirrormask and Spirited Away. Songs: Her Name is Alice by Shinedown, Winter Born by The Cruxshadows, Born at the Wrong Time by Abney Park, The Story that Never Starts by Abney Park, Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men, really too many to remember... Books: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

favourite songs: Winter Born by The Cruxshadows, Out of the Darkness by Abney Park, Monsters by All Time Low, What I’ve Done by Linkin Park, Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men, Shallow Grave by The Birthday Massacre, Helios by The Cruxshadows, Singularities by The Cruxshadows, Icarus by Bastille, and so many more

instruments: My top three faves are piano, violin, and cello, though I have a special place in my heart for the hurdygurdy. I played clarinet for two years in school, piano for about five years before I had to stop due to living circumstances, and have messed around with the ocarina.

aesthetic: Everything, lol. No, but seriously, it’s like the song The Traveler’s Curse by Abney Park. Essentially there’s so many different things that feel right, I couldn’t even begin to list them all. It would be easier to tell you what isn’t my aesthetic.

favourite author: Melissa Marr and J.R. Ward

random fun fact: I’m actually a goblin masquerading as a human. You can tell by the boxes of rusted metal, broken glass, and animal bones I have.

some mutuals to tag: As always, anyone who wants to.

[hoarding-books]

Book Review- Faeries, Elves & goblins The Old Stories

By Rosalind Kerven

I picked this one up knowing faery stories date back centuries, that there were probably stories from all over Britain, but I'd only ever read anything about them in children's and YA fiction- there may have been more lore in Melissa Marr's series than Julie Kagawa's, but they still include a couple of things mentioned in the stories in what will be referred to, from here on, as simply 'Faeries'.

The book itself contains 25 individual stories, generally between 6-8 pages long, split into 5 sections ('Of Faeries, Elves and Goblins', 'Sightings', 'Some Faery Tribes', 'Dealings Between Faeries and Mortals' and 'Spells') accompanied by illustrations. Besides this, there are 39 pages of notes on the stories themselves, 6 of sources/consulted works, and obviously picture credits

The stories themselves were pretty short and interesting, even if a few felt pretty similar, but it didn't feel like there was much point to dividing them into sections, besides maybe adding a more comprehensive summary of lore and variations, and some of the introductions to each section felt a bit tedious to read

In addition, I didn't always feel like the illustrations, beautiful though some may be (and ugly when the sprites were) actually fit the tales they were paired with

Overall, though, this was a pretty pleasant reading experience, and I managed to finish it within a month- start to finish. It's one of those books where, once you've read through the sections at least once, you can just pick it up, open to a random story, and that's it

I will say, however, that certain tales directly reference abductions, an almost-execution, child abuse (beating one for losing his sister to the faeries') and other violence (non-descript, but apparently some of the mortals in the stories aren't against treating the Fae roughly to try and get what they want and underage drinking. There's also mentions of slavery, mostly in terms of the Fair Folk claiming mortals as such, along with a woman being pressured into sex, so I would personally be wary about the idea of reading very many of the tales to very young children, no matter how whimsical the cover*

Overall, certainly not a bad book. It was interesting enough, and if you're bored of the same old myths, wanting to branch out into something more like folklore, it could be a good starting point (Kerner is said to have published plenty of other books, including one on Arthurian legends, in the Author's summary)

*Edit made the morning after: This is totally up to any parents, but there is rarely a 'happy' ending, end no-one is really depicted as a 'good' guy, but maybe I'm underestimating these things, considering there used to be nursery rhymes about serial killers, or how the rumours about the origins started circulating around the schoolyard when I was maybe 7, at most. Or Hansel and Gretel, in general. Children can still like darker stories, as fairy tales show. Besides, according to the notes, there are variations of some of these stories dating back to the middle ages- even to Celtic mythology, supposedly. Just bear in mind how children love copying things

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Wicked Mercy | Author: Melissa Marr | Publisher: MM Ink (2022)