Review of one of the nominated titles for the 2007 Cybils in Fantasy and Science Fiction

Tattoo by Jennifer Barnes.

This fluffy fantasy novel has the charm of a Buffy the Vampire combined with a dark fairy myth.  A normal day at the mall becomes a lot more when Bailey selects four strange temporary tattoos.  She and her three close friends apply the tattoos at the mall and then discover that they have special powers given to them by the tattoos.  Bailey begins to hear voices and dream vivid dreams of two fairies, which lead the four teens on a wild ride to save both their world and the connected fairy world.

These are not sweet Tinkerbell fairies with pixie dust, rather they are dark fairies with amazing powers.  The humor of the book is winning as are the four teen girls, who are each as unique as can be, though they verge on cardboard at times. 

The cover is a huge selling point of the book.  Teens looking for a book to escape into without working hard at it will enjoy this novel.