Spells

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A magical romance blossoms in the follow-up to WINGS, the bestselling novel described by Stephenie Meyer as "a remarkable debut".

"I can't just storm in and proclaim my intentions. I can't 'steal' you away. I just have to wait, and hope that someday you'll ask," Tamani said.

"And if I don't?" Laurel asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Then I guess I'll be waiting forever."



It's been almost a year since Laurel discovered that she is a faerie, placed with human parents as an infant to help protect the gateway to the faerie realm of Avalon. Although she's come to accept her true identity, Laurel refuses to turn her back on her human life-and especially her boyfriend, David-to return to the faerie world.

But when she is summoned to Avalon to relearn her long-forgotten faerie magic, Laurel must depend on the charismatic faerie sentry Tamani. Her feelings for him are undeniable, and she is forced to make a choice-a choice that could break her heart.

When a deadly enemy resurfaces and puts both Laurel's life and Avalon in danger, Laurel must draw on all her human strength as well as her faerie skills to save both of her worlds and all of those she holds dear.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

School Library Journal Review

Gr 7-10-After learning the previous year that she is a fall faerie, Laurel spends her summer vacation in Avalon, the home of the faeries in Aprilynne Pike's sequel (2010) to Wings (2009, both HarperTeen; Recorded Books, 2010). Laurel learns to defend against troll attacks, hoping to defeat Barnes, the troll who almost killed her and her friends the previous year. After leaving Avalon, Laurel begins to feel the conflict of being a faerie brought up in the human world and tries to decide between her human love, David, and the faerie sentry from her past, Tamani. She must also decide if she can trust the gun-toting Klea who offers her protection. Laurel's indecision may cost her friends' lives as Barnes stalks her for revenge. Pike accurately portrays the angst of growing up and the conflict of being part of two different cultures. Mandy Siegfried reads the parts with all the emotions the characters experience and brings Laurel to life, showing her neediness and her strength. The story includes an abundance of background information, and Laurel's relationships dominate much of the tale. The cliffhanger ending will leave those following the series anxious for the next book. Give this to those who enjoyed the love triangle in the Twilight series.-Sarah Flood, Breckinridge County Public Library, Hardinsburg, KY (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* In this second installment of a series that started with the best-selling Wings (2009), Laurel, who recently discovered she is a faerie, finds herself completely immersed in her new world when she begins studies at the Academy at Avalon. There she can spend more time with Tam, the faerie who is hopelessly in love with her, and also learn about the benefits and burdens her heritage entails. But the action really begins when she returns home. The trolls that stalked her in the previous book are more dangerous than ever, and this time Laurel is not the only one being targeted. Pike astutely mixes these breathtaking events with the real meat of the story: the angst and uncertainty Laurel feels as she tries to combine and sometimes keep separate her two lives. At the heart of that conundrum is the affection she feels for both her earthly love, David, and the deliciously different Tam. Mixing a little bit of Harry Potter and a lot of Twilight (Team David! Team Tam!), Pike has hit on a winning combination. Yet it is her own graceful take on life inside Avalon that adds a shimmering patina sure to enthrall readers. This book leaves them wanting more.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist

Horn Book Review

Laurel (Wings) is called to study magic at the Academy of Avalon. Her classes are overwhelming, as is the division she feels between her faerie and human lives. A showdown with trolls gives her temporary clarity about her preference for human over magical companions. The meandering story has many loose ends, but the romantic plot thread adds spice. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Book Review

In clean, fresh prose, never wilting in momentum as some middle volumes do, this second installment stays fragrant throughout. Laurel's a faerie, and faeries are plants. On her back, a blossom sprouts annually; she binds it down under her shirt to keep the secret. Briefly visiting magical Avalon, where she was born (but which she doesn't recall), she studies plant lore and faerie society. As is traditional in supernatural romance, two boys want her: human David, warm and devoted, and faerie sentry Tamani, sizzlingly attractive and pining for Laurel's return. Trolls stalk and entrap Laurel and her loved ones in the human world, seeking revenge and the gateway into Avalon, while a slick human woman with a special-ops team helps defeat trolls but rouses Laurel's suspicion. As in Wings (2009), Pike brazenly codes physical deformity and asymmetry as evil, and her engagingly clear prose sometimes blunders into floridness when describing Avalon. Among the current cornucopia of supernatural romances (and despite the presumably unintentional humor of a heroine who literally tastes like nectar), though, this one blooms. (Fantasy. YA)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.