Pike's debut novel-a faerie story with a touch of Arthurian legend-offers a botanical twist on the genre. Laurel Sewell, the new girl in town, discovers a strange "zit" on her back, which blooms into a flower. With the help of her friend and growing love interest, David, with whom she entrusts this information, Laurel finds out that she is a faerie, and that faeries are really highly evolved plants (Pike gives readers hints: Laurel prefers to have lunch outside and eats little besides vegetables and Sprite). Tamani, her sexy faerie guardian, completes the love triangle, as he protects Laurel from encroaching dark forces and fills in the blanks about her past. As Laurel and David never muster much chemistry, her rocky journey of self-discovery is the main draw ("It makes me want to go home and go to sleep and wake up to find that all of this is a dream. That the flower, the bump, even public school never happened"). Pike's novel mythology should win fans for this book, billed as the first in a series. Ages 12-up. (May)
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Laurel grew up in a beautiful forest area; she was homeschooled by her parents and spent all of her spare time in the forest or by the river. When she was fifteen, her parents decided to move into town and enroll her in high school. She has trouble getting used to being surrounded by people and being cooped up inside. Her new life is not at all what she expected. She feels as though she is completely different from the kids around her. In fact, she felt different even before she grew wings. David, one of the few friends she does make, discovers that her cells are more plantlike than human. Laurel returns to the forest where she feels safe and meets the mysterious Tamani, who tells her she isn't human at all; she's a faerie. Laurel must not only choose between David and Tamani, she must also save her forest from the trolls. Reviewer: Melanie Hundley
Natalie always knew she was a little different. She never went to the doctor, she never had acne or any other sign of physical maturity, and she ate nothing but fruit. But she did not know her history; she was left on her parent's doorstep when she was two. She never thought much about her differences, though, until something happened that she could not ignore. She started blooming. Not in the "young woman" kind of way. Rather, a giant flower literally bloomed on her back. This was worse than acne. Only one other person knew about the flower, her maybe-boyfriend David. Together, the two of them seek to discover who she really is and where she came from. Unfortunately for Natalie, this means meeting faeries in the woods, conquering trolls and finding some way to keep the family homestead from being sold. This is a book ready-made for fans of faeries. It is romantic, mysterious, adventurous, and magical. The storyline makes sense and while it does not rely on faery tricks to push the story along, it does not ignore the things that make fairies so special, either. However, there is not anything about this book that would turn a non-faery lover into one. Although the book is designed for older readers, there is nothing in it that would be offensive to middle-grade readers. So if you love faeries, strap on a pair of wings (or, in this case, a big flower) and dive in. Reviewer: Heather Robertson Mason
Children's Literature - Heather Robertson Mason
Wings is about a girl with strange habits in the beginning but whose world gets turned upside-down as she is torn between two worlds. This book captivated me from beginning to end. The elements of imagination, romance, and suspense came together to make the book mesmerizing and entertaining. I quickly fell in love with the characters and soon felt like I was actually part of their world. There were times when I forgot I was at home sitting on my couch simply reading a book! This book is more than just another fairy-tale story. Reviewer: Anna Toegel, Teen Reviewer
Although new to Crescent City, Laurel's first day as a sophomore at Del Norte High School is not that bad, when David, a (cute) boy in her biology class, befriends her. David's interest for biology—and his steadfast care for Laurel—turn out to be critically important as Laurel discovers that the move from the family property in tiny Orick is not her last or most important change. Stunned to find a blossom sprouting from between her shoulder blades, Laurel is even more dazed to learn that she is blossoming because she is faerie. On a final visit back to the Orick property, she meets Tam, a sentry guarding the faerie gateway on the property and events begin to spiral out of control as Laurel's father suddenly becomes dangerously ill and her mother listlessly agrees to sell the land to the mysterious and rather sinister Jeremiah Barnes. With everything to lose and no time to waste, Laurel uses every ounce of her resourcefulness, David's steadfast willingness, and Tam's connections to the realm to save more than a couple lives, including her own. Replete with budding romance, teen heroics, a good smattering of evil individuals, and an ending that serves up a ready sequel, this novel nonetheless provides an unusual approach to middle level fantasy through its startlingly creative premise that faeries are of the plant world and not the animal world. Inventive and unexpected plot twists carry the book despite limited character development. Both male and female fantasy readers will enjoy this fast-paced action fantasy. Reviewer: Kim Carter
Gr 7-10–Homeschooled Laurel begins public high school as a tenth grader when her adoptive parents move to LA., leaving behind the land that has been in her mother’s family since the Gold Rush days. The many clues that Laurel is different (she is strictly vegan; sunlight seems to shine through her fair skin; she never gets cold; she craves the outdoors; she doesn’t menstruate) culminate in a bump on her back growing to the size of a softball and blooming into a flower that has foot-long petals. Returning to her parents’ land, she meets Tamini, a faerie to whom she is attracted, who tells her that she is not human, but rather is a plant or, more specifically, a faerie. David, her accepting and supportive classmate, tests her tissue and confirms that Tamini is right. When a creepy alleged realtor pressures the family to sell the land, the teens become suspicious, and they are soon fighting for their lives in a centuries-old battle between faeries and trolls. Laurel’s struggles to figure out what it means to be human are matched by her struggles to determine what it means to be a faerie, and she is torn between love for David and love for Tamini. The ending allows for many possibilities in the upcoming sequels. The book has a nice mix of danger and romance, the world of magic and the world of high school, with well-developed characters and a quick-moving plot.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
In the current crop of supernatural romances, this one stands out for pleasant, non-angsty prose but also for a blunt, archaic equation of physical beauty with moral goodness. Tropes fulfilled-new school: check; hidden ancestry: check; mysterious hottie knowing more about the heroine than she does: check-never encumber the silky narration as 15-year-old Laurel finds a blossom growing from her back. Scientific experiments with cute mortal David and explanations from steamy faerie Tamani reveal that Laurel's a faerie-and faeries are plants. She was placed with unknowing human parents to inherit the land that holds the faerie gates to Avalon. Overly idealized physical descriptions smack of wish-fulfillment (flawless, zit-less Laurel needs no shampoo to keep her blond hair perfect) and over-ripen into absurdity when the text insists that (light-skinned) beauty embodies goodness. Glimpses of Avalon are painfully cliched but short ("an emerald-green tree, a sliver of cerulean sky, rays of sunshine that sparkled like diamonds"). Woe unto readers with facial or bodily asymmetry, but the overwritten passages pass quickly and the rest is delicious escapism. (Fantasy. YA)
