Love Hurts: A Wicked Lovely story

Wicked Lovely #5.1

by Melissa Marr

Set after the end of the series, “Love Hurts” catches up with Irial, Niall, and Leslie—and offers clues about the upcoming Wicked Lovely prequel novel, Cold Iron Heart.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Fae, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Fairies, Short Stories

58 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 18, 2019

About the author

Melissa Marr writes fiction for adults, teens, and children. Her books have been translated into 28 languages and been bestsellers in the US (NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal) as well as overseas. Wicked Lovely, her debut novel, was an instant New York Times bestseller and evolved into an internationally bestselling multi-book series with a myriad of accolades.

In 2024 she released a queer fantasy (Remedial Magic via Bramble), a picturebook about a wee one and his two moms (Family is Family via Penguin), and a DC Comics graphic novel about teen Harley & Ivy (The Strange Adventures of Harleen & Harley).

An Illumicrate edition of 6 Wicked Lovely books will release in 2025.

If she's not writing, you can find her in a kayak or on a trail with her wife.

Reviews

[Shriji Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always ready for more stories about Irial, Niall and the other Dark Court fey. This short story kinda leads up to Melissa Marr's upcoming novel "Cold Iron Heart". It catches up with Niall, Irial and Leslie and their relationship while also bringing in a major plot twist I did definitely not see coming.

[Susan Sweat]

Ready for more

I love this series!! I do hope that Melissa will write more books about the life and times of my favourite fairies!!

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this was such a great story about this trio, and about Irial discovering about this family of his that he forgot from Cold Iron Heart! Such a great read!

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one goes with Cold Iron Heart, let's us see Irial finding out things that throw him and how Niall and Leslie are there for him.

[Analeise · Rating 3 out of 5]

thank god for short stories

[Lenore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed meeting up with some of my favorite characters from this series and finding out where they are at after the last books drama. I have to admit Ink Exchange and the Dark Court is my favorites in this wicked lovely world.

Irial was downright flighty in this story. He was insecure and hopeful; not very Chaos embodied. He was endearing though as always.
Niall was the perfect gentleman; always trying to do his duty and be a supportive lover. I enjoyed seeing Leslie but her real potential still untold. In this story, she is the embodiment of love and patience for the Dark Court Kings. Her future is hinted at, although I'm not sure what the loss of emotion will mean for her lovers or her Court. 🤔

Overall I enjoyed this story and would recommend to readers who have already read Wicked Lovely or new readers, before cold iron heart. There is something about the shadows and love that is interesting. Maybe how love is sweet yet can be so painful as well. Definitely romantic and filled with happiness one would not expect from the Dark Court.

I do wonder about how the letters appeared on Irial's doorway to begin with and how the second letter at the N.O. house is directly linked to the 1st set of letters....

I'm curious if there was a rewrite from the reviews. The one thing that irritated some others was Niall commenting about not telling Irial about moving in was only a couple lines away from the other mention which seemed more like an aside between Niall and Leslie and not a random mentioning. I'm also pretty sure Cam was in another story but its been awhile since I've read the whole series.

[Carla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should probably preface this by saying that a tiny mistake towards the end somehow ruined the whole story for me. Minor thing but Niall really shouldn't be asking Leslie if she's told Irial she's moving in when they were literally talking about it a few pages back. It bothered me way too much for such a small thing, but I don't know. It really ruined it for me.
I also have to say that seeing as my favourite in this trio is Niall, there wasn't enough of him in this. And no one ever promised me there was gonna be a ton of Niall, but I still had expectations.
Overall, it was a good distraction for not quite an hour in these weird times. There were just too many little mistakes overall though, for me to truly enjoy it.
It kind of made me sad actually.

[Just Poro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always ready for more stories about Irial, Niall and the other Dark Court fey. This short story kinda leads up to Melissa Marr's upcoming novel "Cold Iron Heart". It catches up with Niall, Irial and Leslie and their relationship while also bringing in a major plot twist I did definitely not see coming.

It's a short and fun read if you enjoyed the Wicked Lovely books so far. And it made me a lot more excited for more stories from the Wicked Lovely world!

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay, I kind of wanted more though as I read this after Cold Iron Heart I especially wanted to know about Irial's second child. He met Elena, even though he doesn't realise it, but Tam was also pregnant when she ran off with Elena to keep her safe, so what happened to that child?

[Shadi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pro tip, Leslie: don’t ask the DARK KING for help if you’re not ready to hear what he did to your brother 🙄

Also I would just like to point out that there’s a scene in radiant shadow (4th main book in the series)) where Ani daughter of Gabriel flirts with another hound. And here in this novella we see that the hounds consider each other brothers or something like that…
Does this mean Ani was flirting with someone who’s essentially an uncle to her? If so, that’s gross and incestuous.

[Michaela · Rating 1 out of 5]

My GOD, this was bad. I really think Marr should’ve stopped writing long ago. The dialogue is stiff as all hell, the characters aren’t even consistent and every time Leslie appears on screen, the other characters can’t stop singing her praises. Mary Sue alert 🚨

[Gen(Evieve) · Rating 1 out of 5]

These books are dreadful. I don’t care what anyone says. And the author had no idea how to continue this series properly—Irial has a long lost son, seriously? I’ve seen telenovelas with better written and more substantial plots than that.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow I so did not need to read about Leslie and Irial having sex. Maybe the fans would like that sort of thing but to me it was just gross. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more obnoxious and insufferable couple.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best read straight after cold iron heart

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet short story in the sparkling universe of Wicked Lovely.

[Donna Raley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful addition to the series

Absolutely love this series and the characters. Now have to wait for the next one, where Irial will obviously meet family and upset the Courts.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short story entirely about Leslie, Irial and Niall so, yeah, I loved it.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Didn't like it as well. It felt like a set up more than anything.

[Bailey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like making Irial Ash’s great grandfather was a haphazardly last minute plot to throw in tbh?

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would give this zero stars if I could. Truly awful.

[Jacob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jesus Christ, she’s STILL milking this series for its money.

[Helen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite dreadful. I really dislike the main character, Leslie.

[Beatrice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly don’t remember Leslie being this bad of a character.

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irial is going to be the best dad

[Dolly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn’t like the characters at all, the love triangle is pure cringe

[George · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow that was stupid 😒

[Tammy ~Witching Hour Reads~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful fantastic short story that is a wonderful tie in not only to the Wicked Lovely series but also a most read of you are going to be reading Cold Iron Heart.