Review: Karen Marie Moning - Darkfever

Fever Series:

Book 1:


Darkfever: MacKayla Lane and Jericho Barrons




Summary:

MacKayla is an ordinary girl living an ordinary life in Georgia. Her life consists of: bartending, the occasional college course, friends and shopping. Her biggest worry is which nail polish to wear with her latest outfit; at least until “The Call”. One day Mac is sitting poolside working on her tan when the phone call that changes her life forever comes in…

MacKayla’s sister and best friend who was studying abroad in Ireland is dead. Murdered, by who the Irish police don’t know and aren’t willing to waste more man power on discovering. Enraged MacKayla goes to Ireland to do... something… anything to bring justice to her sister. What she finds is that she is not who or what she seems and that her parents may have been lying to her and her sister their whole lives. And now it seems MacKayla’s life may just be in the hands of Jericho Barrons a dark brooding man who is a book store owner and more than what he seems…

Review:

I’ve had the Fever Series on my TBR mountain list for about a year now, ever since I found and enjoyed Karen Marie Monings Highlander Series. But month after month this series has been sitting on my virtual “bookshelf”. Each time I was like “ok I’m going to start the Fever series now” something replaced it. So finally finally with the 2012 TBR challenge in mind I determined that I would start this series and for once I followed through. So was it worth the wait you ask?

This is a good book. I enjoyed it all the way through. From the opening line “My philosophy is pretty simple – any day nobody’s trying to kill me is a good day in my book. I haven’t been having many good days lately.” You are pulled into this story. It starts simple enough, a 22 year old pretty young woman tanning poolside without a worry. When she receives a phone call, her entire life is changed in the matter of seconds. Determined to see justice she goes to Ireland. I’d have to say that took some balls. Mac had never really been outside the south and has been sheltered her entire life. So to just pick up defy her parents and leave says a lot about her character; she’s stubborn as hell and a more than a little reckless is what it says.

When she gets to Ireland, nothing is what it seems. On the first day she “seeing things” and gets threatened by Barrons. But she sticks it out. I gotta say I’d have high-tailed it home. When things get stranger and stranger it becomes clearer that Barrons is going to end up being her navigator through this new world that Mac has unwillingly found herself in the middle of. I saw some reviews where people said that they found Mac annoying and whiny. I have to disagree; now Merit from the Chicagoland Vampire series, now she got whiny and annoying at times, Mac, I’d have to say she took it as well as could be expected especially for as young as she is. I think I’d rather go into denial and think I was crazy rather than face an Unseelie fae as well. And as soon as she gets with the program, she goes all in facing vampires, fae princes and all. By the end of the book she was kicking some serious butt. I think her distrust of anyone and everyone was pretty healthy. I’d be the same in her situation and her only being 22 is more astonishing. At times she was definitely her age and others just as jaded as someone twice her age as she has had her life turned upside down. But if she isn’t just a bit immature in the first books how is she going to grow as the books continue. I personally like to see growth in my heroine.

Barrons, what to say about him… Well he is definitely dark and brooding with more than his fair share of secrets. He’s exactly who you should never get involved in but women will always ignore that and get involved anyway. He’s not particularly nice and has no problem in using people to get what he wants. Really, Mac is just another tool for him to use and she knows that, but at least she’s using him back. For now, it’s mutually beneficial. I can’t wait to learn more about Barrons because he is keeping some major secrets from us!

The books itself moves right along. You are emerged in this strange underworld in Ireland right along with Mac and it’s a sink or swim world. The action picks up quick as Mac’s life is threatened at all turns. Before you know you are at the end of the book and ready to pick up the next one. Is this book my favorite book of all time? No. Although, I know that this series is only going to get more intense as it moves along, typically the first book in a series is never my favorite as it is generally the book that builds the world in which the rest of the books are set off of. I am now going to end this review so that I can get started on the second book; Bloodfever.

Rating: