Fever Series: Shadowfever

Whew! I am finally done with the Fever series... for now, anyway. 

I have to admit that I'm kinda glad. While it's an absolutely epic series, it's also absolutely exhausting! I'm not going to give a full recap because it would take me forever to get through everything. So, I'm just going to gloss over the important stuff, and then talk about the things I loved about the series and then the stuff that I wasn't overjoyed with.

The cliffhanger from Dreamfever was not dealt with fast enough for my liking. But that's probably because I'm waaaaay impatient. But it took about eight or nine chapters and by that time I was practically rabid.

Darroc, aka the Lord Master, is killed. I have to admit that it was pretty anti-climatic. I was hoping that this particular bad guy would go with more of a bang.   

We get to know Barrons' merry band of psychopaths better. It's the crazed fangirl in me that lets out a "squeee!" of delight whenever Ryodan or Lor is in a scene. These guys are so fine.

We find out who killed Mac's sister. I have to tell you, I did not see that coming. I felt so bad for Mac because she was totally blindsided.

We find out what happened to Fiona. I have two words to sum this up: not pretty. But she remains helplessly, hopelessly in love with Barrons and it still makes her a little insane. I want to quote Dr Sheldon Cooper here to sum up Fiona's character: Bitches be crazy.

Rowena gets her comeuppance for being such a deeply unpleasant woman. Quite frankly, given everything that happened, I still think they went too easy on her.

Mac and Dani have a bit of a fallout. This is unresolved by the end of the book and will probably pick up again in Dani's book, Iced. 

The sweet, sexy Scotsman Christian McKeltar is having some serious issues. From what I understand, Christian will be playing a key role in Iced.

We find out why Barrons wants the Sinsar-Dubh. It's actually really sad. He's not the selfish jackass we initially think he is. He's still a jackass but one with some serious baggage.  

We meet the Unseelie King, his concubine, the Seelie Queen, and Cruce (the Unseelie Prince, War, who's supposed to be dead). We meet some other fairies too, but they're not so important.

Hmmm... let me think... what else happened...?

Oh, right! Mac and Barrons finally stopped dancing around each other and are now a couple. Again, given their stormy relationship, I thought their coming together would have happened with more of a bang (no pun intended).

I loved this series from beginning to end. It's actually quicker for me to go through what I didn't like about the series than what I loved. Judging by the way I gushed about this series in older posts, it's obvious that I'm a huge fan. 

The twist and turns were dizzying. I was hard pressed to keep up sometimes. I actually think Ms Moning should have slowed things down slightly. Just to give Mac- and the reader- a chance to catch their breath. Then there's Barrons and Mac's relationship. When they finally got together, they could be really sweet. But the events leading up to it sort of reminded me of that song by Pink, You Make Me Sick. They were always fighting! They even did that pushy, shovey thing and, to be honest, it made me uncomfortable. My last little issue is that the story was told in first person. I don't normally have an issue with that but it bugged me a little towards the end of the series. I've heard about people complaining that some of the characters (ie. Barrons) didn't show a whole lot of growth during the series. And that's because we were never in their heads. And I don't think that I'm alone in wondering what was going through Barrons' head at certain points. Like when Mac bought him a birthday cake and he then smashed it into the ceiling. Why did he do that?! I just think it would have added more to the story if we could have had a chance to look from everyone's perspective. 

Just want to share two of my favourite scenes with you:

This is the scene where the Lord Master has his head ripped off. I know it's inappropriate, but I found this inexplicably hilarious. I think it shows how far Mac has come from being spoiled Pink Mac to ruthless Black Mac.

He stumbles and collapses to the ground. Somewhere nearby, I hear garbled sounds. Oh, God, his head is still talking. 

Good! Can he form sentences? I'm in a strong bargaining position. Tell me what I want, and I'll put your head back on. 

A scene between Barrons and Mac after they've hooked up and they're going to go after the Sinsar Dubh.

"Jericho, I feel like my whole life has been pushing me toward this moment."

"That's it. Fate's a fickle whore. We're not going. Take your clothes off and get back in my bed."

And that's it for me on the Fever front until I get my hands on Iced. 

Fever Series: Dreamfever

Wow. This book was quite intense. I just want to warn anybody who might be reading this series and happens to be on Dreamfever: Get Shadowfever and have it on hand before you finish Dreamfever. The cliffhanger for this book will have you going crazy if you don't have the next book. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Right, on to the story. At the end of Faefever, Mac was captured by the evil, pretentious Lord Master and three of the four Unseelie Princes (Death, Famine and Pestilence), who turned her Pri-ya. Being Pri-ya is basically a state where a human becomes addicted to sex with Fae and anytime they're not having sex, they're in agony. They basically lose their minds and all memory of who they are. So, for obvious reasons, this is a hectically bad thing to happen to Mac. Because Mac is so out of it, we have the story told from Dani's perspective for a chapter or two (testing the waters for Iced?). 

You know what I really like about this series? It doesn't let the guys do all the swooping and rescuing. Case in point: it isn't V'lane or Barrons who rescues Mac from the LM and the Unseelie Princes. It's Dani.  

In any case, Mac is now Pri-ya and is in a whole world of trouble. It takes Barrons to sort of... snap her out of it. I have to confess that I am insanely jealous of Mac, given how he accomplishes this. We also see a side to Barrons which was almost, dare I say it, sweet. He was singing and dancing to "Tub Thumping" with her. I know Barrons can be a jackass but his willingness to even listen to that aggravating song to help jolt Mac's memory makes him far nicer than I would have given him credit for. 

Mac does eventually snap out of her nympho state and when she does, man, is she pissed! From here what was left of Pink Mac dies and she becomes Black Mac, who likes leather and guns. 

This book is quite fast paced. Mac has a huge confrontation with Rowena and the other sidhe-seers. She and Barrons go from not being to be able to keep their hands off of each other to being stiff (a poor word choice?) and formal again. We see V'lane and Barrons posturing at each other and learn why V'lane, an immortal Fae, would be so scared of Barrons. Which leads to the burning question: what the heck is Barrons? We still have no clue and it's beginning to bug me. We do see a few little tidbits from Barrons' past but nothing to really explain what he is, why he can be such a jerk, and what his real motives are for wanting the sinsar bubh. 

We are also introduced to Barrons' merry band of psychopaths. I am very interested to learn more about these guys. The only one we've really dealt with is Ryodan, and he seems... I don't know. He's a very mysterious, shady character and from what I've read, he's going to play a major role in Iced, book 6 in the Fever series. 

I just want to throw out a few of my favourite scenes from this book. They all pretty much had me laughing like a loon.

Here Mac has just snapped out of being Pri-ya and is remembering some of what she and Barrons were doing for the past few weeks.

. If I know Jericho Barrons, he was walking around feeling like his dick was the most huge, magnificent, perfect, important creation under the sun.

Which -I winced- I vaguely recalled telling him a time or two.

Well... maybe several times.

Mac and Barrons have had a huge argument and Mac is sitting on the floor. V'lane comes in and sees this, which leads to him and Barrons beating their chests at one another:

   "Did he strike you MacKayla? Say the word and I'll kill him."

"As if you could," said Barrons.

"Perhaps not. But I do enjoy thinking about it."

"Bring it on, Tinker Bell."

And lastly, a little snippet from yet another argument between Barrons and Mac. He's being a pig and I think this is one of the few cases where she gets the upper hand. 

"I'm trying to arm myself so I can fight like I fuck," I snapped. "But you refuse to help."

"I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to say that word again, Ms Lane. Time was, you had no reservations. 'Fuck me, Jericho Barrons,' you'd say. Morning, noon and night."

"I didn't know getting you to talk was so easy, or I'd have said it five minutes ago. Fuck you, Jericho Barrons."

Just one book left to go in the Fever series. I won't lie, I'll be sad to finish it

Fever Series: Faefever

I love this series so much! Faefever was so good. 

 Mac is one seriously awesome heroine. And the stuff she has to put up with! "Pink Mac" as she refers to her younger, clueless self is slowly being replaced by a darker Mac. She struggles to deal with the nasty habit she picked up from Malluce and, what's worse, she teaches it to Inspector Jayne. I understand why she did it but still... gross. 

Faefever sees Mac dealing with some serious trust issues and she thinks that it's past time to diversify. Who is she to trust? Barrons who tells her diddly squat? V'lane, the death-by-sex fae, who is by his very nature untrustworthy? She thinks she's been relying too heavily on Barrons for her survival and she doesn't quite trust V'lane. That's why she throws poor Inspector Jayne into the mix. 

Mac really is struggling with her relationship with Barrons. I think that to desribe it as "tense" would be an understatement. He teaches her to resist Voice (a little like Harry Potter's imperius curse) and they go after the Sinsar Dubh. I don't think I've mentioned the Sinsar Dubh before. Sorry about that. In short, it's one seriously evil book, full of black magic, that corrupts whoever touches it. Barrons wants it but we don't know why. Mac also gets closer to V'lane, and he gives her a way for her to contact him whenever she needs him by placing his name on her tongue. It works like the mystical equivalent of a cell phone. 

We also deal more with the other sidhe-seers in this book. Rowena, the head of the sidhe-seer council, is a bitch. Dani, the fierce young sidhe-seer with a potty mouth, is awesome. 

Faefever centres around a huge problem: how to keep the walls between the human and fae worlds up. Because once the walls come down, all the creepy Unseelie come out and chaos will ensue. 

 As though all this wasn't bad enough, right at the end she gets captured by people that make Malluce look like the Easter Bunny. Ms Moning and her cliffhangers are a killer! Word to the wise: if you're reading this series get ALL of the books. You will die from not knowing. 

Just to share my favourite moments from the book. Interestingly enough, they all involve Barrons. Sigh... how the mighty have fallen.

After a hair raising run in with the Sinsar Dubh.

I began to cry.

Barrons looked horrified. "Stop that immediately, Ms Lane."

"I can't." I sniffled into my cup of cocoa so he wouldn't see my face.

"Try harder."

I think that may have been panic talking here.

Turns out Barrons is having a birthday soon. Mac decides to get him a birthday cake but, since she doesn't know how old he is, she puts Pi on the cake. It was during this scene that I wished this story was in third person so we could get the slightest clue what's going on in Barrons' head.

"Pi, Ms Lane? I'd pegged you for failing high school math."

"I got a D. The little stuff always trips me up. But the big stuff stuck with me."

"Why Pi?

""It's irrational and uncountable."

Funny girl, wasn't I?

"It's also a constant," he said dryly.

I don't want to spoil anything but, after having read Dreamfever and starting on Shadowfever, I no longer hate Barrons. Yes, he's a creep. But he's a nice creep, if that makes any sense.

Fever Series: Bloodfever

When I read a book I tend to weigh the heroine on the "Kick Ass Scale" from one to ten, with "one" being a Bella and "ten" being a Buffy. I think I'm going to have to label any heroine who goes to an eleven or something a Mac. She has this "never say die" attitude that I both admire and am totally freaked out by at the same time. 

Bloodfever wasn't quite as good as Darkfever, but it was still pretty effing awesome. Mac and Barrons are still doing that thing where they're all formal and stuff. The moments where they get all pissy with one another are too funny! They've each always got some smart ass comment ready and I have to admit, Barrons makes me roll around laughing. I know I said that Barrons is an ass and I stand by that...

But he's so funny! And despite his bad behaviour, I really wish he and Mac would just go there already. I think this little tidbit is a good example of the tension between these two. It also raises the question which will plague the rest of the series (I'm on Dreamfever now and we still have no idea): What the heck is Jericho Barrons?

"I've heard there are no male sidhe-seers."
"Where did you hear that?
"Around?"
"And which one of those are you in doubt about, Ms Lane?"
"Which one of what?"
"Whether I see the Fae, or whether I'm a man. I believe I've laid your mind to rest on the former; shall I relieve it on the latter?"
He reached for his belt.

I was torn between rolling my eyes and rolling around on the floor laughing. He is so obnoxious but so damn sexy, all at once.
We also had more interaction with the characters we met in Darkfever and we were introduced to new characters too.
Let me start with the familiar faces. V'lane, the death-by-sex Fae, still gives me the heeby-jeebies. He's up to something, besides getting into Mac's pants, and he has no damn scruples. Fiona is still crazy in love with Barrons, although at this point she is leaning heavily towards being bat-shit crazy. Rowena, the aging sidhe-seer, is one deeply unpleasant old bat. I don't like her one little bit. The "Lord Master" (pretentious, much?) is still running around causing trouble, although this happens mostly in the background. Malluce, the vampire, is falling apart. When you get to what's going on with him, you will cringe.
Now for the newbies. My favourite new character is Dani. She's a precocious thirteen year old sidhe-seer with super speed, a bad attitude and a potty mouth. Judging by the fact that book six in the Fever Series, Iced, will be told from Dani's perspective, I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of her. Inspector Jayne is a member of Ireland's Garda and is being a major pain in Mac's butt. Lastly, we meet Christopher MacKeltar. He seems like your average, everyday guy but he knows a thing or two that Mac finds herself wanting to hear more about.
Last thing before I stop jabbering about this book. Mac and Barrons do kiss. And I couldn't even yell "FINALLY!" because Mac had kinda- who am I kidding?- really freaked me out a few pages before. Let me just say that Mac picked up on a nasty habit of Malluce's and leave it at that.
Ooooh, wait! I lied. This is the last thing:
"What are you Barrons?"
"The one who will never let you die, and that's more, Ms Lane, than anyone in your life has ever been able to say to you. More than anyone else can do."

Fever Series: Darkfever

Oh my stars. Wow. I loved this book to pieces! It was absolutely flippin' amazing. I cannot even begin to tell you how good this book is! Ms Moning is an evil genius. Even though most of the characters kinda pissed me off, I couldn't stop reading. As soon as I even thought about taking a little break from this book, just to catch my breath, this little voice in my head would scream, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!?!" 

I had to know what was going to happen next.

The story is told from the perspective of MacKayla Lane. She is a girly girl who lives in a small town in Georgia. She is pretty happy with her lot in life. She is super-cute, she has parents who adore her, and she and her sister are thisclose. But then things start to go badly awry. Her sister goes to Dublin to study and she dies there under mysterious circumstances. The police close the investigation due to a lack of new evidence. Mac's whole world falls apart, so she goes to Dublin to put pressure on the police to continue their investigation. 

This is where things start getting weird. Mac meets the mysterious, arrogant, condescending and sarcastic Jericho Barrons and starts to see the Fae. The fae are uber creepy. They are not at all like Disney's Tinkerbell would like you to believe. And Barrons, while smoking hot, is a jerk. I really did not like this man. He was so mean to Mac that I often found myself yelling at my book (don't look at me like that! I know I'm not the only one who does stuff like that). I just want to give you a few examples of why I was acting like a crazy.

His gaze dropped from my face to my toes and back again. Apparently unimpressed by what he saw. "Go home, Ms Lane. Be young. Be pretty. Get married. Have babies. Grow old with your pretty husband."

Condescending, much?!

Mac has long, pretty blonde hair which she loves. For her own safety though, she has to dye it and cut it short. Being attached to my own hair, I wanted to slap Barrons for this.

"When you've finished cutting and coloring your hair, return to me. Short and dark, Ms Lane. Lose the Barbie look."

He gave me a brief glance. "Go put on something more... womanly. 

My eyes narrowed. "You mean sleazy."

"I mean the kind of woman others are accustomed to seeing me with. A grown one, if you think you can manage that, Ms Lane. Black might make you look old enough to drive. The new hair is... better. But do something with it. Make it look like the night I woke you."

All I can say here is grrr...

Normally this type of, ahem, "hero" is the kind I rail against. And I still do. I wanted to hit him upside the head with a rock and that is still one of the kinder things I wanted to do to him. But even his general asshole-ishness kept me reading. I kept hoping that something would happen to soften him, or at least make him a teeny tiny bit nicer. And eventually, halle-freaking-lujah, it did. On page 332, the last chapter. Mac managed to talk Barrons into painting her nails since she couldn't. It doesn't change the fact that he's a creep but it does make him a little bit more human. 

Now, lets talk about Mac. She's normally the type of heroine that I wouldn't have patience for. Too much love for pink, too concerned about clothes and looking pretty, too little kick ass potential. Boy, was I wrong. I found that the meaner Barrons was to Mac, the more I liked her. She reminded me a little bit of Sookie Stackhouse in the beginning. You know, carrying on oblivious to all the freaky stuff around her and then being thrown in at the deep end. Whenever Mac managed to overcome some obstacle or managed to put Barrons in his place, the latter didn't happen too often, I did a little victory dance for her. What I also liked about Mac was that she didn't just jump into bed with Barrons. Not once in the entire book was there any sexy time with Barrons. Yes, she was definitely thinking about it. But because he was so deeply unpleasant, she knew going there would be a very bad idea. 

There weren't a whole lot of peripheral characters. We've met V'lane and Fiona. V'lane is a death-by-sex Fae. He is basically so inhumanly beautiful, and oozes these "jump-my-bones" pheromones, that humans can't resist him. I don't like him. He gives me the creeps. Fiona is Barrons' squeeze. She does not like Mac, not even a little. She has a bad case of the "love-is-blinds" for Barrons.  

I loved this book so much! I wish that I could read it again and get that feeling that you get the first time you read an amazing book. Yes, I know I ranted about Barrons but I'm halfway through the second book (Bloodfever) and he does get better. Slightly.

Seriously, if you read anything else this year, read this book!

And then read the rest of the series!