This book is exactly what it says on the tin: a fairytale. I'm a sucker for faerie stories, especially when they're simple and sweet and make me sigh with contentment when I close the back cover. Wings starts out a bit slow, as if it took the author awhile to warm up (or was even bored with the necessary set-up...she wanted to get to the good stuff), but once the "wings" of the title appear, the story redeems itself and more very quickly. The protaganist is actually likeable, the love interests are evenly balanced so you don't find yourself rooting very strongly for one or the other, and Pike has developed her own unique (and very intriguing) lore for the purposes of her story without being campy or ridiculous. My one complaint is that she seems to have completely avoided the traditional idea of the dangerous/bad faerie, setting up her faeries as the absolute good guys against outside evils. I'd really like to see Ms. Pike explore that side of the mythology a bit, because it would give added depth to a story that is already beautiful but in danger of becoming too simplistic over the course of two or three books. But still...I'm looking forward to the sequel, as giddy as an inner child.Absolutely lovely.
