Guest review: The Fever series by Karen Moning

I'm not quite sure where to begin with this review of The Fever-series by author Karen Marie Moning. When I finished the last book in the series – Shadowfever, I felt like a deflated balloon, why did it have to end?! 

About this guest review:
This review is written by Nina, Mari's younger sister(young as an old lady 27 year old lady can be ;). This is a review of a very hot, adult PNR series and we do not recommend this series to the younger crowd.

I found a light in the end of the tunnel of darkness that I was in, after finishing this series, when I visited Karen Monings' homepage. There I discovered that there will be two more books in the Fever series sometime in the future. Aaaaaaaand DreamWorks Studios has apparently opted for the movie rights! I'm dying a little on the inside just thinking about it. Yeeeeeeeaaaayh!!  In the meantime I'll read another trilogy by the same author. To give you inspiration to pick up this excellent series I'm going to start with the very beginning(as I should).

The Story
The adventure starts off in the first book, Darkfever, where we meet the colorful and vivacious southern girl MacKayla(Mac) Lane. Mac is 22 years old, living at home with her parents in a small town. In Ashford Mac works as a bartender and in her spare time she enjoys sunbathing and fun times with her friends. Life must be enjoyed, and that my friends is something Mac sure knows how to.

The good times cannot last and life takes a turn for the worse in the shape of a dramatic message on Mac's answering machine. The message is from her older sister Alina, Alina recently moved to Dublin to attend school there. Since Mac hasn't had a cell phone for the last couple of days(the phone, involuntary, took a dive in a pool) she didn't get the message until four days after Alina left it. Now it's too late... Alina is dead, indications points towards murder. Mac and her parents are devastated.

The police in Dublin haven't got a single lead and no resources to spend on the case. Mac is furious; she defies her parents and travels to Dublin to investigate the murder herself. Now in Dublin Mac gets a real eye opener, there is a whole other world out there. Through five action packed novels we get to know the Seelie & Unseelie Fae, Sidhe-seers, Inspector Jayne, Hunters, Keltar Druids, Mallucé, The Sinsar Dubh, Dani ”Mega” O’Malley, Jericho Barrons and his partners and several other characters.
I won't reveal anything else, it is difficult to tell you guys more without giving away too much of the plot.

My opinion:
I'm always being impressed by yet another book, and new favorites pops up all the time, but so far this is definitively the best Fae series I have ever read. Yaaaay! The story practically smells of sex! It's almost like you can feel it when the book lies next to you, it's just something seductive and alluring there. If you're not aroused one or five times during this read I have to inform you that there's something wrong with you.

Almost every chapter ends with a cliffhanger; the excitement was almost so bad it gave physical pain if you stopped reading. Unexpected turn of events threw me completely off the path every now and then; I can usually guess what happens next in a story. It's like author Karen Moning sat down and thought what will the readers guess as my next move and then she threw us something very different. Let me tell you that it works! I was like "What?" That CANNOT be. He/she cannot possibly do(or not do) that!?!", my eyes just got bigger by the second and I had to re-read the page. I came to work half asleep more than once during the period where I read the Fever-series, it was too hard to put down these novels and chose sleep over reading!

I didn't just fall in love with these books, I also fell in love with several of the characters;  especially the very erotic Seelie Prince, V’lane(death-by sex Fae), and the mysterious and enigmatic Jericho Barrons.

I had some minor issues with the series, but nothing so serious that it kept me from falling head over heels in love with this world. Moning loves to explain things eternally and to repeat incidents from the past. When I got to the fifth installment it kind of annoyed me that the author had to remind me of things I had been told through the first four installments. I never quite got the hang on all the Irish and Gaelic words, even not with a dictionary at the back of the book(s). I just gave up and read them like it suited me. Like I said these were all minor pet peeves for me, in my opinion this series is still epic!

I would have given this book a 1000 stars, possibly more, if that were possible! This series cannot be missed by readers of adult PNR!
For more information about the series check out Karen Moning's homepage.