Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

 4/5 stars

I really enjoyed reading the first book in the fever series. I'm glad I bought the five book bundle for very little money earlier this week. The series seems to be well worth it.

MacKayla's (Mac) sister is found murdered in an alley. In an attemp to get the police officers looking for her murderer again, she flies to dublin (Ireland) to persuade them. There, she discovers that Dublin is not what is seems.

 

I enjoyed Mac as a heroine. She's strong, self-sufficient and doesn't take no for an answer. She doesn't wait for the hero to swoop in, she goes out and looks for things on her own. She starts of as sweet and innocent and slowly develops into a stronger person. The Sidhe-seer she is supposed to be.

By coincidence she ends up in the book store or Jericho Barrons.

 Jericho is kind of an a-hole. But I found him fascinating from the beginning and I wondered who he was and what he is. He's not nice, patient and loving. He is hard, cold and interesting.

“Barrons laughed again. "And there, my dear Fio, you make one of Womankind's greatest mistakes: Falling in love with a man's potential. We so rarely share the same view of it, and even more rarely care to achieve it. Stop pining for the man you think I could be -- and take a good, long, hard look at the one I am.”

There is also V'lad. Who is a prince Fae and interesting, but I suspect will play a bigger role in the books to come. Not very much is known about him now, except being able to make women undress themselves and wanting to slepe with him without even noticing it.

I liked how the story developped, you learn to discover this new world with Mac. I enjoyed her journey and found the fae very interesting. Though I found all the different types of fae in this book a little confusing at first, I caught up to it eventually. But that could be because I'm new to the fae genre and haven't read fantasy in a while. Their discription is sometimes gross, for example:

"...gaunt, emaciated to the point of death, it was tall - and I'm talking like nine feet tall. It was gray and leprous from head to toe, covered with oozing, open sores. I was sort of human, by that I mean it had the basic parts: arms, legs and heads. But that was where the resemblace ended. Its face was twice as tall as a human head and squished thin, no wider than my palm. It's eyes were black with no irises or whites. When it spoke, I could see that its moth - which consumed the entire lower half of its hideous fase - wasn't pink inside, it had a tongue and gums that were the same gray color as the rest of its rotting flesh and covered with the same wet sores.."

Others were more funny:

"It stood on legs like tree trunks and its male sex organ was distended and grotesquely overzived. I mean, as big around as a baseball bat and hanging past its knees"

One thing I didn't like about the book was all the foreshadowing in it. It kind of ruined the suprise quite a lot of times in the book and I'm just not a big fan of that. A few examples:

"One day I would know that for the lie it was. But not before I'd been burned by the truth in it"

"By ommision or commision, one orange, two candy bars, a bag of pretzels, and 25 hours later, I had blood on my hands"

"I walked into what all sidhe-seers would one day be calling what I'd christened it, what would one day, and not too far off, begin showing up in cities scattered around the entire globe: a Dark Zone."

I just hate it when the suprises are ruined.

But that was really the only thing that troubled me about this book. I liked the writing, I liked the story, I liked the characters and I've already started the second book and that one is looking to be even better. So if you haven't read this book already and you like adult fantasy novels, you should really give it a try!


 Read in january, 2014

Other reviews in this series:
Moning, Karen Marie - Darkfever (The Fever series #1) 
Moning, Karen Marie - Bloodfever (The Fever Series #2)
Moning, Karen Marie - Faefever (The Fever Series #3)
Moning, Karen Marie - Dreamfever (The Fever Series #4)
Moning, Karen Marie - Shadowfever (The Fever Series #5) 

Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost (Night huntress #4)

4/5 Hearts

Will most likely contain spoilers if you haven't read the previous books.

This was not my favorite book of the series so far, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

Why do these crazy vampires keep trying to collect me?”

Why indeed, Cat. Why indeed?

“Movies. Drinks. Headless chickens. You know, girl stuff. ”

Just when you think Jeaniene Frost has done it all, she goes ahead and thinks of an entirely different storyline. It was a bit strange, but I still really liked it. Gregor makes for an interesting bad guy.


This book doesn’t differ that much from the other books in structures and characters. But there were a few things I wasn’t a big fan of in this book. Cat and Bones fight. And fight…..and fight…and fight and fight and fight. I don’t mind their playful banter or the occasional small bitch fight in between.
But they seriously fight a lot in this book and you can feel them grow apart and I just missed a bit of the fun and romance in this book. Bones turns into an a-hole for a while and Cat’s not always making the best decisions as well.
Bones just didn’t feel like our trusty old Bones and I found myself missing him a bit during this book. I also wasn’t a big fan of the fate of Cat’s mother. It seemed a bit too predictable.

I still really enjoyed the book, but these things bothered me enough to deduct a star. There were good points as well, Cat is ruthless in this book and we once again get a few visits from the entertaining Vlad.

“Slumber party with Dracula, all things considerd why not?”

It’s still a great story and a terrific book in this series. My favorite so far remains the third book in the series. I’m not sure Cat made the right decision in this book, but I can’t wait to find out about her possible future powers in the next book.

At Grave's End By Jeaniene Frost (The Night Huntress #3)

5/5 Hearts

This is the third book in the Night huntress series and this review will probably contain spoilers if you haven't read the first two.

“Slash was about my height, and he used the alignment of our bodies to his greatest advantage. I let it go on for a few minutes. Right up until he unzipped his leather pants and pulled out Mr. One Eye.”

This was my favorite book of the first three books. It had everything. Suspense, heartbreak, fun, laugther, kick ass fight and one big baddie.

I won't ruin the twists in the story, but Cat has a seriously hard time in this book. She gets physically and emotionally wrecked and as a reader you're right there with her. I love the humor in these books and I find myself smiling and laughing at it many times.

Bones and Cat are in great form in this book. They are together and strong and the two of them make this one of my favorite series of all time. The big baddie in this book is Perta - the one and only cleopatra from Egypt (I thought this was a bit too much, but still). She is after Bones and tries everything she can to hurt him. You'll have to read it for yourself to find out how, what and the ending - but it's a good and entertaining story.

One reason I love these books are the rich secondary characters. They are funny, cute, cruel, interesting and I'm just happy that they are there. The best one of all so far is introduced in this book. It's 'Vlad' or as he is better known: Dracula. He is funny and I liked his presence and the friendship he forms with Cat.

“Get stuffed, don't you have more publicity stunts to pull?" Bones shot back. "How about chatting with another writer who can smear your name into greater popularity?"
"What, did Anne Rice not return your calls, mate?" Vlad asked scathingly. "Jealousy is such an ugly trait.”

Great book, a must read if you've read the previous two books and loved them!

One foot in the Grave by Jeanine Frost

 4.5/5 Hearts.

This is the second book in the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost.

“Where are you, bloodsuckers? Here, fangy, fangy, fangy...”

              “You called her Kitten? And she let you? She put me in a coma for three days when     
                I called her that? My balls never recovered from her smashing them into my 
                spine?" 
              "And well she should have," Bones agreed. "She's my Kitten, and no one else's”

I'm really enjoying this book series so far. I was a little heart broken at the end of the first book, but I had high hopes that this one would redeem that tragic ending and it really did!

Cat is her butt-kicking self and I once again really liked her in this book. I still secretly hated her a little for walking out on Bones in the last book. Especially when I found out that about 6 years have gone by where they weren't together! It was only a question of when he would come back and I really loved how Jeaniene Frost did it.

Bones is still his usual arrogant, sexy and sarcastic self, and well.. you've got to love him. I loved that he came back, but didn't come crawling back and that he didn't change himself for Cat. He challenges her all the time, but is always there when necessary. They still have their playful banter and he is just one British alpha male hottie.

                      “Careful, luv. I might be angry with you, but that doesn't mean I don't
                       still want you. So if you do that again, I'll shag you right here, right now,
                       and sod anyone who wants to watch”

As in the first one, Cat and Bones work together to fight one big baddie. I love the world building and story in this book. I enjoyed the writing and found myself laughing out loud a few times. If you enjoyed the first one, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this one too.

 

Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

4/5 Hearts

I saw that the newest book in the series was about to come out, so I decided to start reading this series. This is the first book of the series that currently envolves 7 books in total.

This book is about Cat. Cat is half campire and half human. Her mother has always told her that vampires are the biggest evil in the world. So Cat spends her nights fighting the big baddies and kicking some serious butt.
One night, she thinks she's got an easy target. Unfortunately for Cat, her target is on to her and kidnaps her to find out who she is. They end up striking an agreement to help each other. But will Cat change her mind when Bones turns out to be nothing she thought vampires were?

I really enjoyed reading this book. You jump right into the story from page one. I had to warm up to the story a bit as I wondered if I was missing a portion of my ebook. But I didn't and I got used to it soon enough.

I thought Cat was a great main character. She's bad ass and not a push over and she is who she is and I just liked her. She's a strong character and she grew on me. She doesn't let Bones walk all over her and I liked that she knows how to take care of herself.

Enter Bones the Alpha male. You can tell Bones likes Cat and I really enjoy their playful banter. Bones is british, sarcastic and extremely hot.

Miss Frost knows how to built an interesting world that I found fascinating to read about.

One thing I really didn't like however was the ending of the book. I didn't hate it and I get that the story will continue in the next book, but this book does not contain a HFN. But it does make you very anxious to start reading the next book.

I enjoyed the writing style in this book and I immediately started reading the next book! I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves PNR.