Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning (Fever #1)

Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: October 26th 2006
POV: Female - First-person, Past tense
Smut-O-Meter: 3 out of 10
My Rating: 3 out of 5

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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 Vlane–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...

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This wasn't really what I had been expecting. Its way more Urban Fantasy than Paranormal Romance. The story was interesting and the world easy to get into and understand. But I can tell that it is merely the introduction. The story didn't get too deep and didn't progress too far. Really, I am disappointed by the fact that this had no conclusion whatsoever. I am always a little upset by books that don't have the five-stage story structure. This book didn't solve anything. They didn't find the Sinsar Dubh. They didn't find Alina's killer. We didn't even learn a single thing about Barron. I don't think a main character should remain a mystery past the first book. It makes it hard to really care when you don't know who it is you're supposed to care about.

I really enjoyed MacKayla's character. She was amusing and lively, fun, honest, loyal, brave, and a girl. A girlie-girl, and I liked that. I am a girlie-girl. I like to look nice and I like to wear pink. My friends even half-heartedly make fun of me for always making them look bad. I always dress up even when we aren't going anywhere. I love how MacKayla proved that just because you like to look nice does not mean that you are a damsel or a wuss. Barrons was ok. He was definitely domineering, but that in itself is not hot. I know I hardly know him at this point so I cannot judge until I have read the next book. But at this point he is pretty dull, and if I have to wait longer than two books to get to know a character I will most definitely hold it against the series. I have already ordered book 2 and then after I finish that one I will reassess whether or not I will continue the series.

The cover on this book is extremely misleading. There are two seemingly naked people on the cover but there was zero romance in this book. Z. E. R. O. I gave this a 3/10 on the Smut-O-Meter only because one of the fey tried to rape MacKayla, not because of anything that happened between her and Barrons. This book has an average rating of 4.19 out of 76 000 readers, and I know that they can't all be wrong, but at this point I am doubtful. I rated this 3/5 because it had an interesting Urban Fantasy type story, but I was disappointed in everything that I was led to expect it to be. If I had heard nothing about this series before reading this I don't think I would have bothered continuing it. Sure, book 1 was interesting, but I don't like things that are drawn out too much, and with no conclusion to this one I may not have bothered. It makes me wonder how this became popular when it was new and no one knew that it would be worth waiting for.

"Why, Ms. Lane, do you look like a perky rainbow?”