Desert Tales: A Wicked Lovely Novel
Ever since Rika was removed as a Winter Girl, she has lived in the Mojave Desert, trying to forget the bitter cold life she was forced to endure when she gave up her mortality to be the Summer Queen. When Keenan, the Summer King, sweet-talked her into becoming his queen, he did not disclose her fate, a life of icy, bitter winter deep inside her body and her surroundings. Only when he convinces another mortal, Donia, to be the queen, is Rika free to shed her winter persona and flee to the desert. Here she hides in a cave, until Sionnach, the fox fairy and Alpha fey, befriends her. In a manipulative plan to bring Rika out of her cave and eventually into a co-Alpha status with him, Sionnach creates an encounter between Rika and Jayce, an 18-year-old mortal. Marr has expanded her Wicked Lovely world to tell the story of the Winter Girls and the fate of Keenan, their selfish, duplicitous Summer King. It&#x2019;s a fantasy of violence, power, and romance&#x2014;a tale in which a mortal&#x2019;s love can influence the trajectory of the fairy underworld.      HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A return to the world of Marr&#x2019;s best-selling Wicked Lovely series means legions of happy fans. Grades 7-12. --Frances Bradburn