‘Wings’ a match for ‘Twilight’

  At 15, Laurel is fairly normal. Well, normal except for being found as a toddler in a basket on her adoptive parents’ doorstep. Oh, and aside from being home-schooled until recently. Uh, and never having been to see a doctor. And then there are her unusual eating habits.
  OK, maybe Laurel isn’t your typical teenager, and a little bump she finds on her back soon sets her even further apart from her peers.
  She didn’t even have to turn to see the new development. Long, bluish-white forms rose over both shoulders. For a moment Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful — almost too beautiful for words.
  She turned slowly so she could see them better. Petal-like strips sprouted from where the bump had been, making a gently curved four-pointed star on her back. ... Laurel turned her front to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.
  Laurel is unsure what this flower growing out of her back means. She confides in her best friend, David, a classmate who clearly has a crush on her. After doing some tests, they discover that Laurel isn’t human at all but actually a plant.
  Laurel becomes even more confused, and during a visit with her parents to their old house, takes a walk in the woods to clear her head. It’s there she comes across a mysterious young man, Tamani.
  His hair was thick and black, matching the eyebrows and lashes framing his concerned eyes. It was rather long and damp — as though he hadn’t gone inside when it started raining — and somehow he’d managed to dye just the roots the same brilliant green as his eyes. He had a soft, gentle smile that made Laurel’s breath catch in her throat.
  While Laurel immediately becomes a bit smitten with Tamani, she remains wary, and becomes even more so after he tells her he has answers about her blossom. She’s stunned but listens as he tells her she is indeed a plant.
  “Not just any kind of plant, of course. The most highly evolved form of nature in the world.” He leaned forward, his green eyes sparkling. “Laurel, you’re a faerie.”
  And so the stage is set: a girl who must discover her faerie roots; a human boy who is her confidante and protector; a handsome male faerie with whom she feels a strange familiarity.
  “Twilight” anyone? 
  “Wings” by Aprilynne Pike could be the next big thing to hit young adult fiction since the vampire saga. In fact, the author thanks Stephenie Meyer for opening doors for her, and Meyer wrote a blurb for the cover of “Wings,” which says, “A remarkable debut.”
  I have to say that I agree with Meyer. “Wings” is fun and fanciful. The love triangle will have teen girls picking favorites. And as this is the first of four books, I feel sure that “Wings” will soar into the hole left by the end of Bella and Edward and Jacob’s story.
  Enter Laurel and David and Tamani ...
  (I think I’m picking Tamani!)