This book was by far - darker than the first one. Mucho darker! But all in all I loved the book. The first book followed Aislinn into the world of the Fey. This one followed her good friend, Leslie. Leslie comes from a very dysfunctional family, alcoholic father and druggie brother. A lot has happened to poor Leslie but she's trying to deal with it all. Now she has her sights on getting a tattoo to help make her feel stronger. Which it does more than that in the end. After getting started, she feels stronger right away, but then she starts to think that she's going crazy.

Irial wants to use Leslie to help feed his court, his is the King of the Dark Court and they need to feed off mortal emotions. Of course, Leslie doesn't know any of this yet, as Aislinn wanted to try to keep from the world that she had become of. Niall, part of the Summer Court has been assigned to watch over and protect Leslie, but when Irial, his former king starts lurking in the shadows and showing up in front of Leslie, alarms start going off.

This story has it all, many and different kinds of fey from hounds to creepy ones that kind of look like mortals when you glance at them really quick. Of course, mortals don't see the actual fey themselves, they see the glamour. They aren't like Tinkerbell, that's for sure. The characters are fascinating cause they take you with them as some of them try to fight the natures of their kind and be peaceful, while others seem downright evil. You can't help but feel for all of them, no matter whether they are from the dark court or the Summer Courts.

The talk of tattoos is also amazing. As behind every tattoo, there is a meaning. They can all mean something different to everyone, but the meanings are there none-the-less. Very deep and dark, there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.

I throuoghly enjoyed this book and can't wait to dig into Fragile Eternity! ( )

I did not enjoy this book at all. First, it was way too dark to be a teen book. The main character, Leslie, experiences situations that I don't think many teens (or adults for that matter) will be able to relate to. I never really connected to the characters like I did in "Wicked Lovely" and I found myself not liking the choices Leslie makes.And to top it all off, there was no happy ending! There was resolution, but nothing to make me feel better. I mean, I went through all that teenagy-angst stuff and nothing good came of it?! ARGH! ( )

In the second book of the Wicked Lovely series, Marr focuses on Leslie, a friend of Summer Queen Aislin and the Dark Fairies. Leslie is a compelling character, and her fight to reclaim her body and emotions makes for an engrossing read. However, Marr's convoluted plotting and cluttered cast dilute some of the power of this book. ( )

Reviewed by Mrs. Foley
From library record - Seventeen-year-old Leslie wants a tattoo as a way of reclaiming control of herself and her body, but the eerie image she selects pulls her into the dangerous Dark Court of the faeries, where she draws on inner strength to make a horrible choice.

This is a companion book to Wicked Lovely. I did enjoy reading about the Dark Court of Faeries, but did not like it as much as Wicked Lovely. I am looking forward to reading the sequel to Wicked Lovely, Fragile Eternity.

Review from Booklist (June 1, 2008 (Vol. 104, No. 19))
Grades 10-12. Newcomers and returning readers alike will devour this companion novel to Marr's ragingly popular Wicked Lovely (2007). The new peace between the Summer King and the Winter Queen isn’t good for everyone: those of the Dark Court, who feed on faeries’ destructive emotions, are dangerously weakened. Irial, King of the Dark Court, needs a solution, and he finds one in the Summer Queen’s mortal friend Leslie. Tormented by memories of abuse, Leslie wants nothing more than to reclaim her body by getting a tattoo, but the enchanted design she selects provides Irial with a direct link to mortals’ emotions. The tattoo binds Leslie and Irial together even as a third faerie works to prevent their destructive yet seductive connection. All of Marr’s characters are complex, defying easy description and evoking sympathy and horror in equal measures, and all cast a thrall that will leave readers willing to forgive plotting that can be difficult to follow. This dark fantasy about survival and transformation is as mesmerizing as its urban faery subjects. ( )

Review courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com

Wicked lovely was one of my favorite paranormal YA reads in recent years. I immediately connected with Aislinn and Seth, and was completely captivated by the Faerie world that Melissa Marr had created. So I fully expected to be equally enchanted by Ink Exchange. After all, it’s the same wonderful world, and some of the same wonderful characters. So why am I left feeling slightly disappointed?

A human girl is singled out by a faery ruler as the one who could save his court and slowly drawn into the invisible world of the Fey. Torn between two men, one of whom she is drawn to despite her better judgment, she struggles to maintain her sense of self, deal with past family issues, and perhaps find true love.

I just described the general plot of both Wicked Lovely AND Ink Exchange. Now do you see why I’m disappointed? Ink Exchange does tell a different story in the details: Leslie is the human in question this time (we met her briefly in Wicked), and Irial is of the Dark Court (as opposed to Keenan’s Summer Court). Leslie has spend her life oblivious of fey until she unwittingly chooses a tattoo that links her to Irial and allows him to siphon dark human emotions (fear, anger, lust, hate etc.) through her to feed all his fey and stave off starvation. The link is eventual fatal to humans and, in the meantime, Leslie lives as a junkie where her only fix is Irial’s touch. The love triangle is completed by Niall, Keenan’s guard who falls for Leslie while trying to protect her from all fey, including himself.

If I hadn’t read Wicked Lovely first, I probably wouldn’t be nit picking. The story is fascinating, but it is also familiar, too much so for me. And to be honest, Ink is not as strong as Wicked nor are the characters as compelling. The world of the fey even seems less vivid. Ink Exchange in not a bad book, quite the opposite. The only real criticism is that it doesn’t live up to its predecessor. And considering how lovely Wicked was, that is hardly a fault at all.

Caution: I had a difficult time reviewing Wicked Lovely as a YA book because of some of the subject matter. I’m faced with that same problem with Ink Exchange. There are a lot of subjects in this book that I would be cautious about introducing to a young audience: Rampant drug use and abuse; child abuse; gang rape, orgies, sex addiction, self-mutilation, etc. Some of these topics are only briefly touched on, while others are recurring features throughout the story. Something to think about before handing this book to a teen.

Sexual Content:

Several references to a past experience where a character was drugged and gang raped. The concept of sexual addiction is present. Sex is implied, but never described. Orgies are implied, but never described. ( )