Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales - Sanctuary (by Melissa Marr)

Desert Tales is a companion story to Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely novels.  In this literary universe, faeries are real, but only appear to those whom they choose to.  They are mischievous and often spiteful, best not tangled with.  Marr's stories all involve troubled romances between mortal humans and immortal faeries.  I enjoyed reading the first in the series which is one of this year's YRCA nominees, but I was less intrigued by the follow-up efforts as their character arcs were too similar to the first.

Fairies (or faeries) are second only to vampires when it comes to popular tropes in the teen urban fantasy / surreal romance genre.  Generally, I prefer Holly Black (Tithe, Valiant) to Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange), as I find Black's characters are richer, and Marr's stories are more formulaic.  This graphic/manga adaptation will probably be popular, but it's too slow and fluffy for me.  This volume introduces the primary romance and potential conflict, but so little happens that it may take several volumes to reach any satisfactory story development.  I'd been hoping for something different; perhaps a stronger lead character, but Rika seems just like all the others in Melissa Marr's stories.  I'll leave this for the real romance junkies.