Format: E-Galley, 304 pages
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
The sequel to the chilling Winter People returns to the world of Faerie, and is a romantic and enchanting follow-up.
Salome left humankind behind to be with her boyfriend, Gareth, in the Kingdom of Summer. But now forces of darkness are rising. Her happily-ever-after is coming apart, and the Kingdom is on the brink of war.
Newly-single Kadie Byers is on her way home for Thanksgiving, imagining a visit filled with hot chocolate, a hot guy for a little rebound action, and some girl time with her bestie, Salome. Except she receives a message from Salome with two important words: PLEASE HURRY.
When Kadie rushes to help Salome, she’s ripped from the human world and pulled into the kingdoms of Faerie, where she's shocked to learn that Salome's monsters are real, and that she's now at the mercy of one extremely vengeful Winter Queen...
Now both Salome and Kadie must find a way to survive the deadly chaos...or lose themselves to Winter's deadly, icy grasp.
The Summer Marked is the second installment in The Winter People series by author Rebekah L. Purdy. The story picks up not long after Salome Montgomery left the human world to travel to Faerie with her betrothed Gavin. While The Winter People was mostly about Salome, this time her best friend Kadie gets a turn to either put up or fade away into the background. And, put up she does. I never thought I would see the day where the Prologue and Epilogue were more informative than the rest of the story. If you miss certain facets of each, you will totally be in the dark as to what is happens to Salome in this book, and why.
We really get a better look at the war between the Winter and Summer Courts almost right from the beginning. We get to meet the nasty evil queen Grisselle who embraced darkness, and destroyed the courts of Spring and Autumn, and now wants to wrap her hands around Salome's throat and squeeze. The court of Winter is a dark, nasty place with creatures right out of the Brothers Grimm. There was a particular question about a character that went missing in the previous book after he became someone not recognized by his family. No worries readers. Purdy actually ties up that loose end rather nicely.
I didn't care all that much for Nevin no matter how hard he tries to say that everything he's done, including lying and betraying Salone, was for the good of his people, the Summer Court. Nevin is a controlling, manipulative, arrogant, and puzzling character who continues to interfere in Salome's relationship with Gavin. A relationship, I must say, that Salome CHOOSE after being kept in the dark for almost 11 years by Nevin and others in her own family. A relationship that truly bears no resemblance to what happened in the previous installment thanks to the Winter Queen's antics, and some difficult challenges facing Salome.
Salome isn't the same character that she was in The Winter People. She's growing into some wondrous and unknown powers. She's finding allies and goes on a search for answers to what is happening to her. She continues to try to remain faithful to Gareth, but Nevin is just as thick as they come and refuses to let go. While Salome is finding her own path and hopefully a happy ending, Kadie keeps being thick headed. I wasn't a fan of Kadie's in the first book. Although she was Salome's best friend who put a whole lot of time into their friendship, she makes bad choices. Bad choices that get worse by the chapter until you no longer recognize her at all.
Readers will get a whole new cast of characters this time around. There's Dorsinae, Griselle, Lachlin, Etienne, Teodor, and Lord Darach of the Autumn kingdom who becomes friends and perhaps a guiding force as well. As for Kadie, the old saying of you can't always get what you want, must have not sunk into her thick head. I did like the possibility of Etienne and Kadie however. Guess we shall see what the next installment brings. I have to ask Purdy if Kadie's actions were because of the Queen's actions, or was this actually in her heart all the time?
**I received this book for free from (Publisher) via (NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**
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