Faery Tales & Nightmares by Melissa Marr: review

Goodreads rating: 3.89

Hardcover, 418 pages

Published February 21st 2012 by HarperCollins

Source: ARC tour

Dangerous promises and beguiling threats swirl together in a dozen stories of enchantments dark and light by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr. Uncanny and unexpected creatures appear from behind bushes, rise from beneath the seas, or manifest from seasonal storms to pursue the objects of their attention—with amorous or sinister intent—relentlessly.

From the gentle tones of a storyteller’s cadences to the terror of a blood sacrifice, tales of favorite characters from Marr’s Wicked Lovely novels mix with accounts of new characters for readers to fall in love with...or to fear.

Lush, seductive, and chilling, Melissa Marr’s stories revel in the unseen magic that infuses the world as we know it.

Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series is not one of my favorites. If we're talking fae lore, I'd rather have Kagawa's Iron Fey series or Aprilynne Pike's Wings series. I get that the fae are a blood-thirsty, chaos-seeking race, but sometimes I think Marr made them too cruel. But nonetheless, I enjoyed this compilation of short stories, mostly because they weren't all in her Wicked Lovely world. The longest ones were, but at least most of those had romance. There was one of them, called I think Old Habits that was all politics and I hated that most about the Wicked Lovely series.

Ones I did like: From the Wicked Lovely world, I really liked the story with Seth and his parents. We never got to meet his real parents in the series, but I can see why Seth has never brought them around to show people. But Niall gets to see them, and I think he understands more now why Seth doesn't live with his lowlife parents. The other one I enjoyed from the WL world is Stopping Time, which has the creepy love triangle between Niall, Irial and Leslie. This shed a whole new light on this strange yet enticing love triangle. You can tell how much both Niall and Irial love Leslie, and how much Leslie really does need them both. Still, it didn't cease to creep me out, and at the same time make me yearn for the same thing. Marr is good at making you feel something deep for her characters.

From the non-WL world, the one that really stood out as the best was called Love Struck. It's about these Selchies, which, to me, were like fae, but from the water. Not like mer-people, more like shapeshifters. But not. I don't know; maybe that's why I liked it so much. It was so different from any story I've read in a long time, and it was really beautiful. The romance between the two main characters was sweet, and there was even a vengeful brother out to sabotage their relationship. I think this is one of the most romantic stories Marr has ever written, and still there's a strong female character. Not a small feat. The one that weirded me out a whole lot was Transition, which is a short story about vampires. Let's just say Marr doesn't hold much back with this one. I'm surprised I don't have nightmares. Ha! Nightmares... Like Faery Tales & Nightmares...

If you fell in love with the Wicked Lovely series, definitely give this a try. I always love reading about new myths and legends, and Marr's writing style is easy to follow. I'm not sure if the hardcover is worth it to buy, so maybe get it from the library or borrow it or even wait for the paperback. It's worth the read though, if you enjoyed Marr's Wicked Lovely world or if you like random mythology.