Book Review – Blood Fever by Karen Marie Moning

Bloodfever: Fever Series Book 2
I am already on book four, and have conveniently found every excuse in the “book” to plow through the series, shunning my dutiful side. I’ve been ignoring the voice in the back of my head, reminding me that I should be reviewing as I read. It seems all responsibility goes out the window, with me, when it comes to more potential time with Barrons!

Ok so book #2….hrmmm…lotsa stuff happened… book was great! Ok off I go to finish book four, BYE! (haha!) Good joke huh!?

Mac continues to live and assist Barrons in his endeavors (and he helps protect her from those that pursue her). While she feels a slight attraction to him, his overbearing and serious nature keeps any stray thoughts at bay. I love her description of him:

Beneath the expensive clothes, unplaceable accent, the cultured veneer, there’s something that never crawled all the way out of the swamp. It didn’t want to. It likes it there.

In fact, she continues to mistrust him and his intentions for the ever important book, the “Sinsar Dubh” (one that everyone, Fae, artifact collector and mercenary alike, are after). The fact that she is the only one who can sense when it is in proximity, makes her a very valuable asset to those searching for it.

In one short month, I’ve managed to piss off virtually every being with magical power in this city. Half of those I’ve encountered want me dead; the other half want to use me to find the deadly, coveted Sinsar Dubh.

Feeling guilty over her potential role in the death of numerous hit men (that were actually coming to kill her and Barrons), she suspects her conscience is playing tricks on her, when she spots a “Grim Reaper” following around. Despite all of the supernatural that has been occurring, she concludes that the Grim Reaper is a figment of her imagination, considering nobody else can see him, and she can throw things right through him.

While she contends with the true evil in Dublin (including her sister’s ex, and probable murderer, the “Lord Master”), the police officer (Inspector O’Duffy) that was assigned to her sister’s murder case realizes that Dublin’s maps have changed significantly in the last few years. Streets, and neighborhoods once tended by the city, no longer appear on recent maps, as if they’ve suddenly just disappeared. While these issues have never been addressed in the past, the truth is, the streets do still exist, but essentially as “ghost towns”. Bit by bit, as the city lights burn out in certain areas, they are taken over by the most primitive of Fae (the “Shades”), who devour anyone to enter their “zone” during the dark night. For some “magical” reason, nobody notices, and the city drops the streets from their maintenance schedule. Finally realizing that there is more to Mac’s story about her sister, and suspicious about these “Dark Zones”, the officer confronts her.

“I thought there might be something else you wanted to tell me, Ms. Lane. Something that might sound…a bit…unusual?”

I saw it then, in his eyes. Something had happened to the inspector recently that had drastically changed his paradigm. I had no idea what had shaken the hard-boiled, overworked, fact-finding detective from his pragmatic view of the world but he, too, was now thinking outside the box.

I needed him inside his box – ASAP. Outside the box in this city was a dangerous place to be.

Her relationship with V’lane (a “good” Seelie Prince, aka “death-by-sex-fae”) takes an interesting turn, as he saves her from a deliberate attempt on her life (someone shut all the lights off in and around the bookstore, and opened a window), allowing the “Shades” to enter her abode. To thank him, she promises him an hour of her time. In that “hour”, V’lane presents her with a gift, an afternoon with her sister, on a beautiful beach. Playing volleyball, and knowing that what she sees should not be believed, she appreciates his attempt at easing her pain.

One of the sweetest and saddest moments in the book:

I rolled over and looked at her. “Is this a dream, Alina”

She turned toward me and smiled. “No.”

“Is it real?”

She smiled again, sadly. “No.”

“Then what is this?”

She bit her lip. “Don’t ask me, just enjoy the day.”

“I need to know.”

“It’s a gift from V’lane. A day on the beach with me.”

Unfortunately, upon her return to the bookstore, a furious Barrons is awaiting for her, having turned the bookstore and her room in shambles. While it felt like a simple afternoon to her, in human time, she has been missing for over a month.

As she continues to struggle with her trust issues between V’lane and Barron, and tries to balance out where her loyalties lie with either of them (they can’t stand each other)…

“You seem to have done well enough on your own. You had your new friend, V’lane, to assist you.” He said the name in a way that made the prince sound like a prancy little fairy, not the lethally seductive Fae he was.

…she also learns about her true lineage (great story line here), her loving family, more Irish lore, and the other sidhe -seers that she is inherently connected to.

I couldn’t believe I’d so completely lost track of time, but I’d had mosters to fight, a police interrogation to deal with, a graveyard to search, my dad to send home, a mobster’s brother’s death to avert, a new job to learn, and an illegal auction to end.

Oh and by the way…what is Barrons, really? While in a past review, I mentioned he was also a sidhe -seer, Mac learns something new, while she talks to a fellow sidhe -seer:

“Mac,” she shot over her shoulder, “one more thing, and if you tell Rowena I told you, I’ll lie. But you need to know. There are no males among us. Never have been. Whatever your employer is, he’s not one of us.”

Who to trust? Dependant on re-discovering the truth about herself through strangers, who is lying, and who is out to hurt her? Grappling with her unstable new world, she is suddenly kidnapped.

And this is where my synopsis of this book will end. Anything more, from her time in captivity will prove to spoil the story, and there is MUCH to learn about the Fae, their power, Mac’s character, and that of those she tries to trust. It is downright scary, exhilarating, and a twisted fun time!

As of this book, I was still undecided about which male I had a bigger crush on. Did I prefer V’lane, the gorgeous, sexual, powerful yet emotionally accessible Fae prince,

“Can I leave?”

“Yes.”

“Could I choose to stay?”

“And have anything you ever wanted, MacKayla. Forever.”

or did I like the shrewd, brooding, sexy, indestructible and emotionally INaccessible Barrons?

“Yes I have loved, Ms. Lane, and although it’s none of your business, I have lost. Many things. And no, I am not like any other player in this game and I will never be like V’lane, and I get a hard-on a great deal more often than occasionally.” He leaned fully against me and I gasped. “Sometimes it’s over a spoiled little girl, not a woman at all. And yes, I trashed the bookstore when I couldn’t find you.”

The author does well as she strings us along between the two. And again, in a different way, I get my beloved “angst-y triangle”. While romantic tension abounds throughout the series, we are only granted just a split-second of passion. You’ll find yourself just as grateful for it, as if it was an intensely lascivious love scene.

4.5 stars

Tagged as: 4.5 stars, Barrons, Fever Series, Karen Marie Moning, paranormal romance, V'lane