MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever. Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals who have lived concealed among us for thousands of years. What follows is a shocking chain of events with devastating consequences, and now Mac struggles to cope with grief while continuing her mission to acquire and control the Sinsar Dubh — a book of dark, forbidden magic scribed by the mythical Unseelie King, containing the power to create and destroy worlds. In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves. Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams? More important, who is Mac and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card? From the luxury of the Lord Master’s penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac’s journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world… or destroy it.

How does one even start to review what is easily the most anticipated book of the year among urban fantasy fans? I guess I will start by saying, if you want to read my reviews of the previous books go here. If you haven’t read the series, you might want to stop and start at book 1. I’m not going to be purposely spoilerly, but it is hard to be entirely vague.

I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with book choices lately. After reading almost nothing for the last few months because of school, all of a sudden I have a “to read” list that is crazy huge almost solely because of popular series books I have missed the release of. I pushed all of those aside and bought my kindle version of Shadowfever at midnight on release day. I read for about 2 hours for that night before I had to finally admit defeat and get some sleep.

Right out from the gate the book has you twittering “OMG! NOOOOOO”. There were several oh my god moments really. One thing Moning did incredibly well was keep us on our toes. There was not a single event in this story that I had guessed or seen suggested by anyone else. The twists and turns were thought provoking and frustrating all in one. In the end we get answers to some questions, but definitely not all. We get just enough about Barrons and his men to feel slightly satisfied, but still curious. We get in-depth history as well as out of nowhere curve balls regarding the Fae and Mac’s sidhe-seer heritage. We get the long awaited answer to Alina’s death and the future of Mac and Barrons.

Yet, I finished it was left feeling unsettled. Shadowfever is a lot of book, almost 600 pages, and honestly the first half it was a slow read. There was a great deal of emotional monologue and stubborn characters that dragged on the plot. Additionally, I’ve always adored Dani but I felt her character lacked growth in this installment and I can’t help but wonder whether or not the reveal we get was planned all along. I didn’t fully believe the events surrounding V’lane and I still don’t understand Christian’s progression. I almost think that the effort to create a story that lived up to expectation and defy all speculation may have led to an end result that lacked a certain amount of credibility. (I know that’s vauge, I’m sorry! lol).

My last complaint, too much of the finale was focused on the relationship between Barrons and Mac. Yes, their “happy ever after” chances are a huge draw to readers, but it is has never been the focus of the series. For me the series has always been about Mac and her search to find the truth about her sister, to find her place among this new world she has journeyed into. I needed a final scene between Mac and the killer.

I realize how one sided this review is. The truth is for all my complaints, it is an entertaining and good story. Mac 5.0 is broken down and then built up stronger and smarter than we have ever seen her. Barrons is everything we have come to expect from him and most people will be content with the series ending. Shadowfever may not have hit all the perfect buttons for me, but I enjoyed the creatively twisted story that kept me guessing and am sad to see the series come to an end.


Favorite Quote:

With Barrons, you aren’t sure if you’re going to get fucked or turned inside out and left a new, unrecognizable person, adrift with no moorings, on a sea with no bottom and no rules.

I was never immune to him. There were merely degrees of denial.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was purchased by me

Related posts:

• Review: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
• Review: The Fever Series
• Review: Beneath the Skin by Adrian Phoenix

Darkfever – 4 stars Goodreads entry here.	Bloodfever – 4 stars Goodreads entry here	Faefever – 5 stars Goodreads entry here	Dreamfever – 5 stars Goodreads entry here

You can find my review for book 1 of the series here. The plan was to review them all by themselves, but each book is so closely linked to each other, I think its impossible to do without spoiling things! Because of that I am going to be vague and hope you trust me that you absolutely must read this series if you haven’t!

Darkfever and Bloodfever were good. They weren’t OMG YOU HAVE TO READ THIS good for me, but I read them quickly and really enjoyed them. The same can not be said for book 3 and 4. Faefever and Dreamfever are OMG YOU HAVE TO READ THIS good. They are full of surprises, storyline, and action. A small warning, both do end with cliffhangers…. Dreamfever probably being one of the worst I have read…. EVER! It is going to be a long wait for book 5, Shadowfever.

There were things I absolutely loved about this series. There are also things that made me frown and things that disappointed me. Most importantly, this series grabs you by the shirt and drags you in, makes you care about the characters and what is going on in their world.

I love Mac, I especially love Mac version 4.0. Her character arc and the growth in her is captivating.

Barrons…. still an jerk. But book 4 warms me up to him and I can see all the soft goey nugget inside. I know I would happily volunteer to poke around with him and try to find more of it.

Barrons and Mac together…. they make me swear like a sailor. They are stubborn and pigheaded and I just want to hit both of them upside the head.

*sigh* How much longer until Shadowfever?

FTC Disclaimer: These books were purchased by me

Related posts:

• Review: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
• Review: Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
• Review: The Adrien English series by Josh Lanyon

I have been putting off reading this series. I have heard about its painful cliffhangers and I am generally not a fan of that sort of thing. My theory was… I can put it off until the last book comes out and just read them all at once. However, I am weak when it comes to peer pressure and I was pretty sure @smokinhotbooks was going to beat me up if I didn’t read it soon. So I gave in and dived in.

The synopsis above gives a pretty good teaser into what happens in this book so I won’t rehash it. I liked Darkfever enough to read it in 2 sessions… in one day. It was addictive, like those Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

I found Mac to be an interesting lead character, even if she does obsess about her nail polish and the color pink a bit much. She is stubborn, often to a fault. I like where the author is pushing her character by forcing her to change her appearance – I look forward to lots of growth of Mac as a person and woman.

Barrons just plain annoyed me in this book. He is obviously sexy, but I did not find him likable Instead I found him arrogant, selfish, and untrustworthy. I am curious as to what he is and where he goes from here considering all the crazy book bloggers who adore him as much as I adore Bones. Obviously he has to have some redeeming qualities and we just don’t get to see them yet.

All in all, I give Darkfever 4 stars. The writing was good and I enjoyed the first person narrative. My only gripe is I dislike the way foreshadowing done. Phrases like “I would come to know just how wrong I wass…blah blah blah” just irritate me. (BTW – not a direct quote). I get thats it is part of the cliffhangers, but argh. The book does end with things unresolved, but I was prepared for it and it seemed like a natural place for things to take a pause. Now, I must get started with book 2…. thankfully hubby is home today to feed me and the kids so I feel no shame in doing nothing but sitting on the couch in my pajamas with BloodFever.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was purchased by me.

Related posts:

• Review: Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
• Review: The Fever Series
• Review: Blood Vice by Keith Melton