*SPOILERS INCLUDED* This book had an okay start and the middle was pretty good, though Laurel's back and forth between David and Tamani is getting a little bit repetitive, and I wish she would just choose Tam already. (This is not a spoiler, just what I want to happen.) I thought the ending was really good-(I'm happy Barnes died), and Tamani is awesome as ever. I really want to see what Tamani is going to do in the third book. YAY GO TAMANI!

I picked up this second installation in the series as soon as I was finished wings. i think this book was much better. more action, more Tamani-though not quite enough. the only criticism i have despite my 5 star rating is the David/Tamani love triangle. at first it's expected, but i got to the point where i had to put the book down for awhile because laurel's back and forth was getting old. there are times when you feel the things laurel thinks don't always match up with how she acts. It's almost as if the author sometimes forgets what she had written although i suspect thta's not the case. she probably likes to add some drama but like i said, it gets a little frustrating. in the end you never feel sorry for laurel despite her best intentions. i found myself feeling sorry for tamani. regardless, great book!

In the second book of this four-part series, Spells takes place a few months after where Wings left off. Once again, Aprilynne Pike encourages you to enter a world of faeries with that same writing style that's so easy to get into. After learning in the first novel that Laurel was a faerie and that she had an important role in protecting the faerie world from trolls, Laurel thought she might be able to return to a somewhat normal life in the human world with her human boyfriend, David. But no, she can't. Once again, Laurel is drawn into the faerie world after she's summoned to study at the Academy of Avalon to learn the skills of a Fall faerie and to better protect her family (and the rest of Avalon for that matter). There's a lot of weight on her shoulders, but there's still time for some play too, especially when faerie sentry Tamani is there to help show her around. Laurel comes to learn more about her birthplace and the lifestyles of faeries, but she also comes to realize her growing feelings for Tamani- feelings that might have already been there but she had chosen to ignore because she had David. Two boys from two different worlds- Laurel is caught in between. But how can she choose between them? There's more at stake than Laurel's love life though- the threat of incoming trolls who have been biding their time is looming. Spells was just as intriguing as the first novel, and if you enjoyed the first one, I'm sure you'll enjoy this one too.

The second by Pike about Laurel who was raised as a human only to find out that she's a fairy. This one was enjoyable like the first though I did find it a little thin in places, I would have liked more detail of the fairy school but other than that very good. 95/1000

A fun light read with a slightly different slant on the traditional "faerie tale"