Wings

She started to turn, but before she could step away, Tamani grabbed her hand.  Without breaking eye contact, he raised her hand to his face and brushed his lips over her knuckles.  For just a second, his eyes were unguarded.  A spark went through Laurel at what she saw there: raw, unbridled desire...

Wings by Aprilynne Pike is a romantic YA about Laurel, a teenage fairy who comes of fairy-ness and falls in love.  But it's not really that simple, you see, because Laurel lives in the human world.  She loves her hippy parents, her devoted non-boyfriend David, and enjoys her normal life until suddenly wings begin growing out of her back!  Add to that a couple of scary trolls out to destroy both the world Laurel knows and the one she doesn't yet - but she will soon as her sole connection to the world of fairy, Tamani, becomes more than a friend.  What about David, you ask?  Well, you'll just have to read this fun little story to find out.

This book was a joy to read.  I loved Laurel, her relationship with David and the unfolding of the world of fairy.  However I don't think enough attention was paid to this last part, since the first half mostly focused on Laurel's discovery of her identity and her relationships with the humans in her life.  I guess that's what Ms. Pike's sequel Spells is for, which I'll be sure to pick up on my next splurge.