Bloodfever

Bloodfever - Karen Marie Moning

I used to think my sister and I were just two nice southern girls whod get married in a few years and settle down to a quiet life. Then I discovered that Alina and I descend, not from good wholesome southern stock, but from an ancient Celtic bloodline of powerful sidhe-seers, people who can see the Fae. Not only can I see the terrifying otherworldly race, but I can sense the sacred Fae relics that hold the deadliest of their magic.When my sister was found dead in a trash-filled alley in Dublin, I came over to get answers. Now all I want is revenge. And after everything Ive learned about myself, I know I have the power to get it.MacKayla Lanes ordinary life underwent a complete makeover when she landed on Irelands shores and was plunged into a world of deadly sorcery and ancient secrets. In her fight to stay alive, Mac must find the Sinsar Dubha million-year-old book of the blackest magic imaginable, which holds the key to power over both the worlds of the Fae and of Man. Pursued by Fae assassins, surrounded by mysterious figures she knows she cannot trust, Mac finds herself torn between two deadly and irresistible men: Vlane, the insatiable Fae who can turn sensual arousal into an obsession for any woman, and the ever-inscrutable Jericho Barrons, a man as alluring as he is mysterious. For centuries the shadowy realm of the Fae has coexisted with that of humans. Now the walls between the two are coming down, and Mac is the only thing that stands between them.

Published: 2007-10-16 (Delacorte Press)

ISBN: 9780385339162

Language: English

Format: Hardcover, 303 pages

Goodreads' rating: -

Reviews

Xena rated it

Possible minor spoilers if you haven't read the first book and if any of my random ramblings turn out to be true...At the beginning of the book, we join Mac just after she finds out that she was adopted. Immediately, she begins to act like her parents just dropped off the face of the earth, and she starts referring to her sister as her only real family. Her attitude instantly turned ungrateful. Yes, she was just being a drama queen, but I know for a fact that you can love someone who isn't related to you just as much as someone who is. The fact that she is not technically related to them doesn't mean that they are no longer her family. That's really my only gripe about Mac in this book. I still think she kicks ass, just give your parents some credit! She actually had the guts to say "He was lucky I was even calling him Dad at all!" Really? At least she recanted it fairly quickly when he shows up all worried about her. After that, she seems mostly back to normal with them again.I'm starting to feel bad for Mac, though. I mean she's been mystically undressed and nearly performing involuntary sex acts in public (who hasn't?), rape-kissed by a drunken Irish man (uh, ditto), hit on by two seemingly normal history nerds (I persist, who hasn't?) and she's also teased inexorably, and now kissed and dry-humped, by the hot man she spends 90% of her time with (who wouldn't want to be?) yet she STILL isn't getting any.I'll warn you now that when i start to think about Jericho, my mind goes into a mixed state of paranoia and reckless abandon. It's no secret how I feel about Barron's name. But the way I feel in general about Jericho Zigor Barrons, or as I like to call him, J-Ziggy, is best summed up with this redonkulously articulate rant: love love loooooove adore gaaaaawd hellaluyah ahgagwhjrhfjfjkd mothreffenyes ahhhhhhhh!! !#%@?!/%#+!)$: *confetti popping out of head*Barrons is standoff-ish, confident and snarky, yet endlessly intriguing. He is the kind of guy who can make you feel everything and nothing at the same damn time. Not to mention, he likes to chain up women while they are wearing skimpy bikinis. Cough*jabbathehutt*Cough. Except, I probably wouldn't mind being chained up by him. Barrons, I mean, not Jabba. Obviously.Oh shiz! Why does Barrons have chains readily available in his basement???? For chaining up people as he feeds on them? For chaining up the Seelie? What-the-fa??? Fuuuuuudgin Fudge! He's Unseelie, isn't he?!?! It's a rhetorical question! Dang it! I don't want to know, wait, yeah I do. No. No, I don't.Yeah, I'm going crazy and I tried to warn you. Uh. Now I'm freaked out. Anyway, sooooo, I was thinking about who could pull off playing him in a movie. It would have to be someone very good with the eyes. Jeric-- er, Barrons uses a lot of non-verbal communication, which I find very sexy. So it would have to be someone like Ian Somerhalder AKA 'Smolder'holder. He is really very good with the "looks" but I'm not sure he could pull off the really long hair that Barrons has. And he's awfully pale, so not necessarily him. Ideas, anyone? Ah who cares, I just wanted to think about him. *sigh*I also have to give a big "hell yeah" to Mac for not caving to the demands of any of the several groups of people vying for her servitude. She refuses to take the easy way out and be ordered around blindly for each one's "higher" purpose. Not even with Barrons. Proudly and unbiasedly, she chooses her own higher purpose, and I have to applaud her for that. Like she herself says, she is no one's puppet, which cannot be said for many heroes or heroines in fantasy novels. Normally, someone discovers them, tells them about their abilities, teaches them to harness their powers, and then tells them exactly what to do with them. She does her best to not let that happen and chooses what she thinks is best, not what the others tell her is.The author's knack for introducing small amounts of information at a time, interspersed amongst the action, leads to a captivating experience. Too much information is never given up. We the readers, like Mac, have to earn the privilege of learning more about this strange world. There are no info-dumps in this series. And I appreciate it.In short, I loved it. And Eeeep! There's the next one sitting on my shelf!! This one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I think I have to go now... Can't wait to get back to Barrons. *sigh*My review for the first book, Darkfever. Spoiler FREE.For the third book, Faefever. Spoiler FREE.The fourth book, Dreamfever. Spoiler FREE.The fifth and final book, Shadowfever. Spoiler alert!!!

Gabriello rated it

The second installment of Bloodfever is intense, powerful, dramatic and clever.We see a great deal of character growth from out favorite characters as well as a progression in the plot, albeit a small one.The writing is, as always, stylish and immersive. The world is complicated, mysterious and intriguing.Overall, this book is a fantastic second installment in what is an amazing, refreshing and enjoyable series.PS. I'm either going to kill Barrons sooner or later, or do very, very, very naughty things to him.

Ilaire rated it

Rereading with my buddies, edgy and sleepless. Bring on the Barrons!!New thoughts after reread: I was actually thinking that Mac was growing a bit in this story, and I was really proud of her for standing up to the Mob-guy... until she utters this ridiculousness:"Go ahead, O'Bannion, come and get it. I'm fed up with jack-petunias like you."Original review from 2014:So, in Georgia they call the hot lava game "don't touch the alligator"? That's just weird! Everyone knows that when you are kids, you pretend the floor is covered in HOT LAVA, and that is why you jump from beds to dressers to couches to tables, etc... There was even an epic episode of Community where Abed and Troy start a giant hot lava game at the school for Troy's last day. It was dean-tastic!But, it figures that Mac would have a stupid name for the game. She can't even swear like a normal person. Idiot!The action in this book does get better than the last and the dark characters are really interesting. I like the complexity of the story, and how it keeps growing as time goes on. Nothing ends too quickly or neatly, which is nice. And, Mac has gotten a tiny bit smarter, more so in the beginning of the book, but she has a long way to go to get to your average person's start point.It seems pretty obvious, though, that Mac is still making way too many stupid assumptions. And, her stubbornness combined with her stupidly false bravado is going to keep getting her almost killed and waiting for Jericho to save her every book.

Anissa rated it

4.5!!Done! I'm just ripping through this series, it's quite addicting! This one was just a little better than the fist book, they both ended too soon, but I like how satisfying it is to finish these short books. I'm having a lot of fun with this, just the right amount of action and plot but the romance is one slowwwwwww burn.

Byrle rated it

Updated 12/10/14Oh, poor me, drowning in mysteries. It's still fun to read, even knowing who is what and does what why. It actually shows how well planned this whole series had been.First I want to thank Kat for recommending this series to me. So far it's been exceeding my expectations and I hope it will continue doing so. In this installment MacKayla Lane continues her search for Sinsar Dubh, a powerful Unseelie artifact containing the deadliest Fae magic. She is recovering from the ordeal she experienced at the end of the previous book and at the same time has to face the aftermath of her actions - Inspector O'Daffy is getting very interested in finding out more about the Dark Zone and why Mac is not going back home; Malluce's death is still uncertain; Rocky O'Bannion's brother, Derek, surfaces to poke around in Mac's business; and finally, a mysterious specter keeps following MacKayla around giving her creeps...In my opinion, Bloodfever is even better than Darkfever. The Fae world is getting wider, Moning gets us deeper into the lore which is very exciting. We get to know Mac much better and I like her quite a bit. I like her humor and her upbeat personality, I enjoy seeing her grow and change and learn about her abilities. Death-by-sex Fae Prince V'lane is even more mysterious and his intentions toward Mac are unclear. Same applies to Barrons, who is a total enigma. The Mac/Jericho chemistry is off the charts! I simply LOVE these two. Jericho is slowly but surely climbing up the list of my favorite fictional hunks, but he'd better stop roughing up Mac if he ever wants to get to the top of it, because I don't care for this kind of thing. All in all, a great book. It doesn't have much of a resolution in terms of the main story arc (which is not a problem for me), but the minor story arc is as interesting, intense, dark and edgy. I am planning to get my hands on Faefever very soon.