When I read, I ask a LOT of questions. Here’s some stuff I searched or wondered about while reading The Wings Series by Aprilynne Pike (Read my reviews for: Wings, Spells, Illusions, and Destined.)

Book Cover for Illusions by Aprilynne Pike

Book Cover of Destined by Aprilynne Pike

Flowers Mentioned

In Wings:

African Violets (Image Source)

“The edges were ruffled and looked eerily like the African violets her mother painstakingly grew in their kitchen.” - Aprilynne Pike, Wings with Bonus Material (p. 38)

In Spells:

Blue Delphinium (Image Source)

Laurel walked down a few flights of stairs and took a slightly longer route so she could walk through a rounded, glass hallway lined with flowers in every color of the rainbow. … She knew them now, after almost a week of studying, and named them, instinctively, in her head. - Aprilynne Pike, Spells (p. 32)

Calla Lilies (Image Source)

Speckled Anthurium (Image Source)

Cymbidium Orchids (Image Source)

Purpurea -a type of Coneflower (Image Source)

“They were standing in a small clearing ringed by the very last of the autumn flowers—orange gloriosa daisies, touches of purple coneflowers, and some blue Russian sage.” - Aprilynne Pike, Spells (p. 242)

Orange Gloriosa Daisies (Image Source)

Blue Russian Sage (Image Source)

In Illusions:

Zantedeshia (Image Source)

Zinnia (Image Source)

“Laurel cautiously opened the front door to find David with a single zinnia in his hand.” - Aprilynne Pike, Illusions (p. 275)

Who is…

…Hecate?

“Hecate is an ancient goddess who is sometimes depicted as being a triple formed goddess. She has rulership over earth, sea and sky.” -Wiki

The fairies use her name when they are swearing.

…Ouranos?

“Is the same as the greek god Uranus In Ancient Greek literature, Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth.” – Wiki

The fairies also like to swear at him occasionally But why the obsession with gods of the sky???

…Mab?

“Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.” – Wiki

Mab is mentioned in the book Illusions. I love the Shakespeare references that she slips in there!

What is…

…Samhain?

Samhain is a festival that the fairies celebrate and it’s mentioned in Spells. It’s a Gaelic festival held from October 31-November 1 and is a precursor to our modern Halloween. So cool! I didn’t know that (Source)

…Amrita?

Amrita is mentioned in Illusions and is similar to the Greek food of the gods ambrosia. The word Amrita means “immortality.” (Source)

…Heliconia Nectar?

Helconia nectar is mentioned in Spells. Helconia is a flower that ofter attracts humming birds. (Image and info source)

Heliconia flower

The Setting

Crescent City, California (Image Source)

Crescent City, Klamath, Brookings and Orick are all located in Northwest California on the coast.

Music

After I finished Destined, “She Is Love” by Parachute was exactly what I was feeling. I listened to it on repeat to hold on to that romance from the book a little longer.

Lyrics that remind me of Destined:

I’ve been beaten down, I’ve been kicked around,
But she takes it all for me.

It was all the same, all my pride and shame,
And she put me on my feet.

They call her love, love, love, love, love.
She is love, and she is all I need. (I see the lyrics from Tamani’s perspective)

And speaking of Tamani…a lot of what he says when he meets Laurel for the first time in Wings is actually very bittersweet on re-reading it. Aww….

Questions

Can I buy the mini fairy ring that Laurel wears? No, but Aprilynne Pike made some pretty cute tattoo swag of Laurel’s fairy ring necklace. I have one these tattoos and I’m going to wear it when Aprilynne is here in July and take a picture

(Image Source)

Are these real science terms? Monastuolo receptors (no), eukaryotic resistance matrices (no), capryilic hleocraft vectors (no). Laurel mentions all of these science terms in Spells. Apparently, Aprilynne made up her own fairy science! Whuut

Does Nori seaweed have salt in it? In Illusions, someone who the characters think might be a fairy eats Nori seaweed. I’ve eaten seaweed and it’s very salty and salt is a big no-no for fairies. I couldn’t find for sure if Nori seaweed has a lot of salt in it, but it does have iodine. So…maybe if it does have salt it doesn’t have very much.

What does ikebana look like? One of the characters in Illusions likes to do ikebana, which is the Japanese art of flower arranging. Here’s an example of an ikebana flower arrangement.

(Image Source)

Is Am fear-faire a real Gaelic word? Yep (Source)

Shout-out

One of my favorite ways to grow my to-read list before blogging was to read books mentioned in other books. There was a great shout-out in Spells to Stardust by Neil Gaiman.