Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales- Sanctuary by Melissa Marr and the Xian Nu Studio

Rika used to be human, but became a Faerie when she tried to take the mantle of the Summer Queen and became a Winter girl instead. Now, she lives in the desert and focusses on her art, living alone in a cave, avoiding humans by appearing invisible to them.

But one young man has caught her eye- a fellow artist who seems to love the desert and its landscapes as much as she does, and she allows herself to dream of meeting him, and loving him.

But even for a solitary fairy like Rika, no longer tied to either of the courts, there are dangers. The other faeries in the desert don't like her. She only has one friend, a faerie named Sionnach. And her old beau Keenan wants her to join his court. But being a faerie of winter has destroyed the love she once bore Keenan. She is no longer human, and cannot even live in the cities: iron and steel make her sick. Actually physically ill. The fact she is no longer human and the torment of being unable to live in the city has added to her loss of love for Keenan, and when he asks her to join his court, she refuses. This irks him, but she no longer cares. Nor will she ask the other solitary Desert Fae to join his court.

He offers help when she needs it, she refuses for the strings such help would mean. But when the other desert fairies try to kill her artist by dumping him off a mountain, she can't help but throw herself beneath him to break his fall, which breaks her glamour, allowing him to see her.

He apologizes for falling on her and helps him bind his hurts. He finds her charming but shy, even as she protects him from the malice of the faeries (invisible to him) that tried to kill him. But when he asks her out on a date, she gets flustered and runs away, back to her cave home. There, she remembers becoming a fairy and carrying winter's chill, and how once she had failed the test, Keenan walked away and never looked back.

Sionnach shows up and tries to cheer her up with a little bullying. He also comforts her, then asks her to go out with him. When she refuses, he lets her know the boy artist she likes, Jayce, is being stalked by the same fairies she rescued him from earlier. She stays with him again, and when the fairies try to hurt him, she takes him inside a club built into a church. But the other fairies come inside too and try to hurt both her and Jayce with knives. Rika is able to keep him mostly safe, but the fight unnerves Jayce, and then Sionnach arrives, telling her to take Jayce back to her Den.

She does so, at faster that normal human speed. Jayce is aware that something is strange about Rika, but he's too fascinated by her to pull away. Little does she know that all this is being orchestrated by her "friend" Sionnach, but for what reason is unknown. She's breaking faerie taboos, and Shy is driving her to do so. But given that none of the solitary fairies really like her, why is Sionnach bringing her together with Jayce, and does he really have her best interests at heart?

I read both Melissa Marr's "Wicked Lovely" and "Ink Exchange", and this book ties into the first novel nicely. Rika was the holder of the Winter Queen's cold before Donia, the girl who is trying to warn off Aislinn. The problem is that even the summer fae, who seem to be the kindest of them, attatch strings to favors, so I got the feeling that Rika is being led to a fall.

And right behind the plot is Sionnach, her "friend", and even she isn't stupid enough to believe he is always her friend or has her best interests in mind. So why is he doing this, and does he want her to fall? Is he interested in Rika for herself? We get hints of all of these things, but nothing that says that any one of them is the right answer.

The character of Rika drew me quickly into the story. It only takes a few pages before you identify with Rika's anger and desire to withdraw into her shell out of anger and melancholy. And there's a handsome young boy she's attracted to, but let's face it- after her last brush with love, she isn't exactly without baggage. But so far we know very little about Jayce, also. He's more of an enigma- or as much as teenaged boys usually are. What is he bringing to the party here?

I'm sure we'll find out in coming volumes, and I do want to see more. I do think that tying it to Wicked Lovely especially is a little misleading- aside from the appearance of Keenan and some mention of the Summer Court, the story is about characters entirely peripheral to that book. But this may change in later volumes. Recommended.