Wings - Aprilynne Banks

Mrs. Frisk invited me to go to the Supernatural Summer author visit at Barnes and Noble with her the other day, and Aprilynne Pike was one of the four authors speaking. It was a fun event, but it was kind of strange for me to hear four authors speak when I'd only read one of their books, this one.

This is a fairy (or faerie in this book) story, and you know fantasy is generally not my genre, but my general rule is that as long as there are more real people parts than fantasy parts, I'll give it a go. Such was the case with Wings, a story which I really enjoyed.

Fifteen year old Laurel is in her first year in public school, and she's pretty nervous about how things will go. Luckily, she meets some nice kids right off (not sure how realistic that is), including David. David's a super smarty in science, and it turns out Laurel really needs him as a friend because not too far into the book she begins blooming. For real. As in a giant flower is sprouting from the middle of her back. She has no idea what to do, but she decides, of all things, to tell David about it. Not her parents, but a boy she barely knows. Again, not too sure how realistic this is.

David, being the science guy that he is does a little investigating. And you know what he discovers? He discovers that Laurel, who is named after a plant, eats only vegetables and fruits and drinks only Sprite, is not actually a girl. she's actually a PLANT. Right down to the square cells and the clear "blood" and the lack of a heartbeat. Wow! that's kind of different...

There's a whole second layer of the story as well having to do with some property Laurel's family owns that's very important to the faerie world as well as a fairy who's got some romantic interest in Laurel and who, consequently, is not a big fan of David.

Although there were parts of the story that were not too realistic, the whole faerie thing notwithstanding, I found myself enjoying this story and looking forward to the sequel. I've ordered this book for the library so it will be available at WOMS in the fall.