Wings Quartet

A series of New York Times bestselling fantasy books by Aprilynne Pike, featuring a young homeschooled girl named Laurel Sewell who transfers to public school, finds out she's actually a faerie changeling, falls in love with two boys, and fights trolls. The first three books are titled Wings, Spells and Illusions; the fourth one, Destined, will be released in 2012.


 * Aesop Amnesia: Laurel is unfortunately prone to this. She ignores her mentor Jamison's warning not to get complacent - twice - and Shar's warning (see What the Hell, Hero? below) has no effect on her actions whatsoever.
 * All Myths Are True: Laurel is constantly finding faerie history behind various legends: A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Arthur, even Genesis.
 * Almost Kiss: Laurel and Tamani are prone to these.
 * Exclusively Evil: Trolls. Laurel points out conscientiously that there might be good trolls, but neither she nor the reader has met one yet.
 * Arcadia: Avalon.
 * Ascended Fangirl: Laurel's friend Chelsea.
 * Betty and Veronica: David, Laurel's human classmate, and Tamani, her faerie childhood friend.
 * Big Brother Mentor: Shar to Tamani.
 * Bodyguard Crush: Tamani appoints himself Laurel's fear-gleididh, or protector for life.
 * But Your Wings Are Beautiful: David calls Laurel's blossom "sexy".
 * Changeling Fantasy: Laurel finds out she is a "scion", selected to inherit her foster-parents' land and bring it into faerie posession.
 * Charm Person: The Spring faeries' only power, which only works on humans.
 * Chekhov's Gun: "How long can you hold your breath?"
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Klea.
 * Dance of Romance: Laurel and Tamani in Spells.
 * Dances and Balls: A lot of the action seems to happen coming home from them.
 * Deus Ex Machina: Klea, twice.
 * Does Not Like Guns: Laurel.
 * Does Not Like Shoes: Faeries don't like any kind of clothes which are constricting or cover too much, since it cuts them off from the sunlight.
 * Enemy Mine:
 * Extranormal Institute: The Fall Faerie Academy, though of course it's quite normal in Avalon.
 * Fantastic Caste System: Faeries are divided according to the season of their birth: Winter (the ruling class, extremely powerful and rare); Fall (healers and scientists, including Laurel); Summer (entertainers, illusionists) and Spring (the working class, including Tamani). Unlike some examples, the Spring faeries are still very well off -- no unemployment, poverty, etc. -- but the protocol still grates on Laurel's democratic nerves.
 * For Halloween I Am Going as Myself: Laurel and David's inside joke.
 * Forceful Kiss: Tamani does this to Laurel several times.
 * Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: Mara, a classmate of Laurel's at the Academy who holds a grudge against her for winning the position of the scion over her head.
 * Granola Girl: Laurel is a vegan raised by hippie parents who believe in natural medicine. Justified, as she's a sentient plant and can't even digest animal foods.
 * Gratuitious Foreign Language: Faeries speaking Gaelic; their closest connection to the human world is a manor in Scotland.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: David and Tamani are fiercely jealous of each other, as are Laurel and Yuki in the third book.
 * Hair of Gold: Laurel.
 * He Knows Too Much: The reason why Barnes, the Big Bad of the first two books, has thrown in the river.
 * Hell-Bent for Leather: Klea.
 * Hold Your Hippogriffs: Plant-related faerie idioms such as "same fruit, different bough".
 * I Have a Family: Shar, admonishing Laurel to take her mission seriously: "I have a daughter, did you know that? (...) And I'd like her to have a father for at least the next hundred years, thank you very much."
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Chelsea to David when he falls in love with Laurel.
 * Internal Categorization: Tamani internalizes his Spring faerie status, much to Laurel's annoyance.
 * Love Dodecahedron: Ryan/Chelsea/David/Laurel/Tamani/Yuki.
 * Memento MacGuffin: The baby ring Tamani gives Laurel.
 * The Mole:
 * Muggle Foster Parents: The Sewells.
 * Nerds Are Sexy: David.
 * Neutral Female: Subverted.
 * No Periods, Period: Laurel never does get a human period, but the faerie equivalent - growing a blossom out of her back - is discussed in detail.
 * Not-So-Harmless Villain:
 * The Obi-Wan: Jamison, parables and all.
 * Older Than They Look: Faeries can reach up to two hundred years in age.
 * Our Fairies Are Different
 * Pet Monstrosity: Bess.
 * Plant Person: Faeries.
 * Ship-to-Ship Combat: Laurel/David vs. Laurel/Tamani.
 * Shirtless Scene: Tamani and David each get at least one.
 * Single-Target Sexuality: Tamani feels this way about Laurel.
 * Suetopia: Subverted. Avalon may seem like one at first, but that's because.
 * Test Kiss: Laurel shares a literal, scientific test kiss with each of her boys: David, to find out if she exhales oxygen like a plant, and later Tamani, to see if she can "sense" him with her Fall faerie powers.
 * Took a Level In Badass: In Spells, David starts bodybuilding and reveals his skill with a gun in order to be more helpful to Laurel.
 * Those Two Bad Guys: Red and Scarface.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Shar delivers a stinging speech to Laurel about the way she's been flirting with Tamani while still dating David.
 * Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Laurel's foster-mother struggles with the idea of Laurel being a faerie, although she does come to accept it later on.