Faery Tales & Nightmares

Salute Your Shorts is a weekly (ish) meme featured over at Bunbury in the Stacks highlighting and reviewing short stories and novellas.

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.

Full disclosure: I did not read the Wicked Lovely stories in this novel, I have never read the Wicked Lovely series so I didn't want to ruin anything for myself!

"Where Nightmares Walk," "Winter's Kiss" and "Transition" were all beautiful stories. I was especially interested in "Winter's Kiss" and found it to be truly fairy tale-esque with very sweet details. I thought Marr did a nice job with her vampire story, "Transition," vampires with attitude have a special place in my heart, especially snarky female ones!

The story "Love Struck" is where I fell in love with Marr's writing. Though I have been reading some mermaid books lately I was so interested in the way Marr twisted the traditional selchie tale into something different. I found myself wanting more and wishing that it was a full length novel and not just a short glimpse into the selchie world.

I also wanted more from "The Art of Waiting" and the messages of this and "Flesh for Comfort" were not lost on me. Both of these stories read like fairy tales but were also somewhat dark and twisted in a way that I really enjoyed.

Finally, "The Sleeping Girl and The Summer King" was the last story I read and I absolutely loved it. The descriptions of the winter world in contrast with the summer land were vibrant and gorgeous in my mind. This story has been described as a sort of sequel for Marr's Wicked Lovely series and I can assure you that after reading this short story I will definitley be picking up the series very soon.

The only book by Melissa Marr that I had read before this novel was Graveminder (which I loved) but it is not really a "fairy tale" and therefore I was wary that I was missing something by not reading her Wicked Lovely series. Reading this short story really made me understand how Marr weaves different elements into her story, she sets up a vibrant setting that really draws the reader in and makes you long for more.