Ink Exchange, Melissa Marr

I've already read one of the stories in the series by this author, which book I loved greatly. And it's a romance, which ends with people in love with each other and those people together. This is, after all, the standard pattern for romantic stories.

I was expecting the standard pattern again with Ink Exchange. I did not get it. This makes me very happy. ^_^ (You want a clearer description? READ THE BOOK. I'm totally serious.)

Okay, here is the plot. Leslie is- not in a good home situation. Really, really not. There's been trauma including family shattering, a totally absent father, and her brother selling her to be raped to pay off his drug debts. Really not a good home situation. She's counting the days till she can leave, and in the interim she's saving up her money for a tattoo, to take back her body and mark it as her own. Unfortunately for that plan, the pattern she chooses ties her to the king of the Dark Court, Irial. The Dark Court feeds off negative emotions- fear, anger, lust- which has interesting connections to her desire for freedom from pain. Also, Irial is having his own issues, chief among which is the fact that his court is starving to death because of the peace that was forged in the last book.

And, OMG, Gabriel and the Wild Hunt. I really shouldn't love them as much as I do, I'm pretty sure. Gabe, who leads the hunt, punches a MC in the face, for teh lolz, and walks away with his tattoos and his chains and bad-ass-etute. They're the WILD HUNT. They inspire terror and violence for kicks and giggles. And Gabe attacks the PERSONIFICATION OF CHAOS who is a female raven-headed war-monger who returns the fight by ripping a strip of skin off his arm- because Irial told him too. Also he has a fast, shiny car. *loves from a very far distance*

In my rambling tradition of book reviews, I will now talk about a part of the series so far that I really like! That is, obsession. Nowadays, to say to someone "I'm addicted to you," is regarded as really romantic. ("You are exactly my brand of heroin," anyone?) Melissa Marr turns this on its head, with getting characters addicted, and then showing exactly what that means. I'll try not to spoil it, but that part when Irial tells Leslie that it's been a week- I died inside. Just died. Characters do get addicted, are obsessed, and it's not a good thing. This was entirely unexpected, for me. I realized after the fact that I'd been reading an addiction as a romance, which, y'know, is not a good thing. I am VERY glad that Ms. Marr followed did this, even though it does make for some "Hey, what just happened there? I thought-" moments.

I gave it four stars out of five, I'm planning on getting the next book out of the library tomorrow.