Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Leslie is trapped. Her dad lost his job and turned into an alcoholic seemingly overnight, and her brother is a junkie who wants nothing more than to sell her to his drug dealer friends for some free drugs. And even her former and hopefully still best friend Aislinn has drifted away from her, seeming more concerned with Keenan, the boy who had been pursuing her, and her boyfriend, Seth.

Leslie wants to feel something, anything. She wants to change herself, and she's been saving up for a tattoo from her friend, Rabbit. But the tattoo she picks is a very special one, and will link her forever to Irial, Prince of the Dark Court.

Irial wants someone with strong emotions- and Leslie has them in plenty. with the war between the Summer Court and Winter Court over, the Fae of the Shadow Court are no longer as strong as they used to be, and they blame Irial. But if Irial can get a link to Leslie's emotions, he can use her to feed from and strengthen his whole court without bringing them to the attention of the humans, who could kill all three courts.

But too many of the Shadow Fae believe Irial is weak, and are looking to bring him down, which means that Leslie herself is at risk from the Fae she will be linked to, and their King. Even as Aislinn and Keenan try to save her, Leslie must decide if she wants to be saved- or if she will be happy to lose herself in the calm that results from Irial stealing from her emotions- even if she ends up feeling less than human because of it?

As for Irial, he also gets linked with Leslie, and finds himself wanting to know her better, and even to take care of her, but his court views this as weakness. Soon, he finds himself wanting to spend less time with his own court and more with Leslie, who now despises him for using her, much as the other man in her life have been using her. But can there ever be a happy ending for Leslie and Irial, or will another man succeed in winning her heart?

This book only ever got to "Okay" for me. I felt terribly depressed by the story, and while Melissa Marr succeeded in making me identify with Leslie and her desire to escape, I felt angry on Leslie's behalf through much of the story. I ended up identifying with her so strongly that I disliked most of the other characters, especially Aslinn, who were lying to her by omission, even if they weren't already using her in some way.

In a way, it brought home the hopelessness of her position, but I found it too easy to find none of the characters worth redeeming- Leslie thinks a tattoo will change her life, but it's almost ironic that it actually does- she doesn't really seem to change that much on the inside, except to have her hopes rather cruelly dashed. The only character who I felt changed in an appreciable way was Irial, and his change actually *was* for the better, having found what seemed to be actual love for Leslie, even if she didn't return it.

I found this book depressing to read, and would have a hard time recommending it for just that reason. It's not a comfortable kind of book to read, and I have a hard time thinking who would actually enjoy reading this story. It's only okay, and I wouldn't recommend it, but YMMV.