Book: Spells by Aprilynne Pike

Publishing Info: Published by Harper Teen; 359 pages; Hardcover

Goodreads Summary: Six months have passed since Laurel saved the gateway to the faerie realm of Avalon. Now she must spend her summer there, honing her skills as a Fall faerie. But her human family and friends are still in mortal danger–and the gateway to Avalon is more compromised than ever.
When it comes time to protect those she loves, will she depend on David, her human boyfriend, for help? Or will she turn to Tamani, the electrifying faerie with whom her connection is undeniable?

Spells is an interesting book.  It’s the sequel to Wings, and while it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, it wasn’t completely amazing either.

First of all, David and Tamani.  I don’t like either of them, and I have no clue why Laurel is interested in either of them.  Tamani and David not liking each other got old really fast, and by the end of the book, I totally hated both of them for forcing Laurel to choose between them.  Granted, she didn’t help either, because she kind of led Tamani on, and she wasn’t completely honest with David.  I think it’s cool that she wants to keep her life as a fairie and her life in the human separate, but at the same time, it wasn’t working.  Tamani seems to have some kind of plan…for something, and I’m curious about what this plan is.  I’m pretty sure it involves Laurel somehow.

Tamani and David were really irritating.  Tamani declares his love for Laurel, and it is a little unfair to Laurel, because she is (was?) with David.  She doesn’t remember the time when they were friends, but like I said, she wasn’t helping either.  But at least she realized what she was doing at the end- or least, she seemed to figure out.  For her, though, it meant David needing some time apart, because she snuck off to see a festival.

I liked Avalon.  It was mentioned in Wings that her old house was the gateway to Avalon, and in Spells, we actually get to see Avalon.  It’s not your traditional Avalon, but there are markets, an Academy, and all sorts of other things.  If Avalon were inhabited by fairies, you would end up with Pike’s version of Avalon.  She does incorporate Avalon as seen in Arthurian legend- I’m glad that she didn’t completely ignore it.

I loved the hierarchy of fairies in Avalon, and I really want Laurel to go back so we can see more of Avalon.  I loved the way Pike described it, and hopefully we’ll see more of it in the next book.  The customs, the way of life, and the fact that fairies bloom are really interesting.  She really does know how to make fairies interesting.

It gets a 3 out of 5.  I liked it, but it wasn’t spectacular.