so long and goodnight: ONE BY ONE: Books - Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Hey people! It's Thursday, which means it's time for our very first time for OBO: Books series! Not... books series but... book//series... NEVERMIND!

Now I originally planned to talk about the WHOLE SERIES of this book but in the end I choose to pick my favorite which is Ink Exchange.

I know, I knoooww y'all bored already listening to me talking about Ink Exchange and Niall and Irial and Leslie and every other faeries in it but... well... that IS my favorite book after all, probably like, my ALL TIME favorite.

For those of you who don't know, Ink Exchange is the second book of the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr. Although there are five books in the series, the story didn't goes like continuous from the previous book to the next book unlike, let's say, the Divergent series. No. The story still takes place in the same world with same major character and there are also some minor character that becomes a major/main character and every book has different main character with different storyline and problems waiting to be solved. But I suggest you to read each book in order so that you know what's going on and who is who. Those are definitely NOT stand alones, so I guess that's why they are called a book series.

With Ink Exchange, there are three main protagonist: Leslie, a mortal; Niall, a Summer Court faery; and Irial, the Dark Court king.

Leslie is one that the Summer Queen, Aislinn (Ashling, main protagonist from previous book - see, that's why I told you to read the book in their orders!) consider her best friend. However, Aislinn doesn't trust her enough to tell Leslie about the faery world. Unlike her friend, Leslie doesn't have Sight aka the ability to see faeries and through their glamour. So Aislinn told some Summer Court fey to guard her, invisibly, wherever Leslie go. Niall happens to be one of those fey mostly because Aislinn trusts him.

I don't know how it began, I don't know since when, but Niall cares about Leslie. A lot. He cares about her so much it might considered as love, which cannot be closer to the truth. Every time it's his turn to watch on her, he accompanies her everywhere she goes like a friend, unlike other faeries who keep a safe distance. He will talk to her one sidedly - one sidedly, is that even a word? - and keeping himself invisible. But one day, in some art gallery, he finally shows himself up to her, and - finally - talk to each other.

Irial, on the other hand, doesn't care about Leslie - in the beginning. He and Niall do have a history together - one that Niall wants to leave behind but Irial won't let him - but Leslie, to him, was just another mortal. They - Leslie and Irial - first met at a tattoo and piercing shop which owned by Rabbit, a Halfling - half human, half faery - who also happens to be Gabriel's son, and Gabriel is Irial's right hand (there are soooo many character that it's kind of hard not to talk about one character without bring another character although s/he is only a minor character). But what I'm trying to say is, although Leslie is friends with Rabbit, she didn't know that the shop has a strong bound to one of four faery courts.

The main conflict of this book: Leslie.

She wants a tattoo, she wants a meaningful tattoo to her that says freedom - free from fear, hurts, and all those kind of stuff - and Rabbit shows her a book full of his tattoo designs, the ones that will be taken down once someone choose it as their tattoo (I don't know if real tattoo artists have books like Rabbit has, but if yes, it'll be VERY COOL). Irial's tattoo - eyes and wings - attracted her and so she chooses that one. Rabbit asks her if she's really sure on choosing that tattoo because that tattoo will bounds her to Irial (well yeah of course Rabbit doesn't say about the Irial part but he does telling Leslie that it could be bad for her). But the tattoo's calling for Leslie, and Leslie answers the call.

Then Irial gave his blood and tears to Rabbit for him to mix it with the ink so that Leslie is truly connected with Irial. Why Irial needs Leslie, you ask? Well.

The Dark Court is a court where the faeries feed with dark emotions like hate, anger, lust, and pain but only from other faeries. When the Winter Court was the most powerful court, the Dark Court was also strong. But when the new Winter Queen made a deal with Summer King and Queen and so made a truce, the Dark Court grows weaker and weaker every day. If Irial could feed his court with human emotions, it could restore their power. And that's why he needs Leslie.

Like I've said in every other posts where I talk about Ink Exchange (there's probably three or four), the love story didn't go as Irial loves Leslie, Leslie loves Niall, Irial and Niall competes with each other trying to win Leslie. That's not. How it goes.

Irial loves Niall, whatever happened between them, no matter how much Niall tries - and fails - to hate Irial, he still loves Niall. And so is Niall to Irial. Their love maybe not the kind of love with lust, but it's also more than just brother's love. So, yeah, they love each other, no matter how Niall tries do deny it.

Leslie is a newcomer. She is - was - a mortal thus making her weak in a world of faeries. It was Niall's job to protect her, but he fell in love. And Leslie was supposed to be just a tool for Irial, but he also fell in love with her. And Leslie, Leslie loves them both. And, yeah, I know I've said before that I'm a monogamist, but their love towards each other feels so pure I don't even know how to describe it. It's one thing that you have to see - or read - yourself.

And the tattoo!

I've always been attracted to tattoos and piercings since I was, probably in elementary school. And this book only made me liking them even more. Nooo I don't like when tattoos and piercings being overdone nor I like it when the tattoo's starting to fade away but the owner seems to careless about it. Stay classy, don't be trashy. Or was it stay classy keep it trashy? I don't know. POKOKNYA. Since I read this book I'm kind of getting obsessed with tattoos. I've had my ear pierced, two piercings, and planning on getting more. Tattoos? You guys might have already know that I'm allowed to get tattooed only when I'm twenty-one. That's how cool my mom is.

And I actually can't name things that I love about this book. I just know that I love it I love it I love it and I'm probably the worst person EVER to review books. But if you're thinking about whether you should read it or not, here's my recommendation on reading this book:

If you're a person that loves dark stories, this book's for you
Although there are SO MANY characters in this book, they're all written perfectly by Marr and they are memorable (so you don't have to go flipping through the pages again and again trying to remember who is who)
If you love urban fantasy novels, this book's for you
If you want to know more about tattoos, tattoo artists, and the process of making tattoo, you might want to give this book a shot
If you're a fan or Marr, I won't recommend this book for you because you clearly have read it

And the list goes on and on but I won't recommend this book for exactly EVERYONE because I think there is nothing that is made for everyone. So that's how our first book on the OBO series. I hope you like it. :)