Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Darkfever (Fever Series #1)
Start Date: 6.11.11
Finish Date: 6.13.11

Brief Summary ...
MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman.

Or so she thinks ... until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae ...

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless V’lane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands ...

My Review ...

This book in 8 words or less ...
WONDEROUS MYSTICISM WITH A SPLASH OF DELICIOUS TENSION!

Where to begin ...
Let’s see ... I am probably the last person on the planet and quite possibly the next two or three planets down the line to read this series ... my fall from the turnip truck occurred very late. I was left in the wind with no chance of redeeming myself. But as you can see I have recovered from my unfortunate accident and through my love of Moning’s Highlander Series I stormed through the fog to continue my journey. From the very begining I was deeply pulled into her world of hunky Keltar highlanders and mystical Tuatha Dé (Fae). Enjoyment from the Highlander series caused me to continue on with Moning’s new (well … new for me) Fever series that continues the tale of the Tuatha Dé (from a more darkly view of both the Seelie and Unseelie) through the eyes of the book’s heroine MacKayla Lane.

At first I was a bit leery after reading the first few chapters because I felt that I wasn’t getting that pull that occurs. You know the pull that sucks you in and absorbs the world around you leaving you focused on nothing but the fantasy created in the magical pages of whatever great series you just happen to have fallen into. That my friends, just wasn’t happening for me … at first. My leeriness and disappointment was soon put to an end after the introduction of 3 characters ... the mysterious Jericho Barrons, the would be vampire Mallucé and of course the irresistible Seelie Prince V’lane.

The Characters ...

MacKayla Lane (Mac/Ms. Lane) – Unlike most people I like Mac. I feel she is a very interesting character once one looks past the shallowness and immaturity of which she isn’t and truly sees her for the strong and courageous woman that she is. Only being 22 years old and realizing that your world is nothing like you thought it was and having that thrown in your face after losing your older sister who was not just your sister but your best friend can be truly earth-shattering not to mention very confusing. She reminds me of Buffy in a way … having no clue as to who you can trust or why you were the chosen one to begin with but having to save the world from evil baddies while trying to save yourself and bring your murdered sister justice … it’s enough to make you want to crawl in a hole and hide hoping you can go back to the way life used to be ... fun and care free ... but in the end you just can’t. I commend Mac for her strength and bravery for avenging those she has lost while protecting the people she loves.

Jericho Barrons – Although at first I must admit that I thought you were an arrogant tool who was manipulative and acerbically sardonic. However, those feelings changed after I observed your character more thoroughly. From saving Mac’s life on several occasions to providing her with shelter while trying to not only help her adjust but assist her in better understanding what her destiny as a sidhe-seer is all about. So needlesstosay it is because of you that I continued to read this book. You are one mysterious character that is scholarly cultured, dangerously intelligent, insanely wealthy with exquisite taste and powerfully good-looking with a hard body that emanates a tingling constant charge that is undeniably delectable. With a hidden agenda and nature that has not only kept me intrigued but truly enthralled. You are the stuff that make men desirable heroes and quite possibly utterly deranged psychotic murderers. But let’s not forget to mention that the sexual tension between you and ‘Ms. Lane’ is beyond delish!

V’lane – Can be summed up in eight words or less … An insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes! Just like most people don’t like Mac most people think a death-by-sex fae is ridiculous but luckily for me I’m not most people. I think the idea of a death-by-sex fae is not only unique but utterly delicious. The first two scenes where Mac interacts with V’lane had me laughing my ass off and only made me look forward to more scenes with V’lane and Mac together. Granted I think V’lane may have his own secret agenda regarding Mac just like Barrons but maybe he just might be telling Mac the truth after all. Who knows for sure? No one can say but at the same time I also think he is hoping to gain her affection as well because he is not used to being ignored sexually and he finds the challenge interesting.

Final Thought ...

Once this book was finished two thoughts became absolutely obvious in my sometimes overly lust-filled mind ...

First ... I need to rob a bank or one of those nice red armored trunks so that I could dash over to the nearest airport and jump my happy ass on the next flight leaving for Ireland. And secondly I want to make a delicious sandwich with Jericho Barrons and V'lane preferably with me in the middle. Oddly I am have flashbacks to J.R. Ward’s motel scene in Lover Unleashed. LoL!

But for real this series offers everything. A crime mystery, a fantasy world steeped in history and folklore, and the kind of men that you would loath in real life but are the most erotic beings imaginable in literature. I can't believe I every questioned this book and waited so long to being this series.

Rating ...