Darkfever.

Title/Author: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning.

Genre: UF/PNR.

Publisher: Dell.

Source: Purchased.

Favorite character: none.

All in all: A few frustrations but mostly fun.

Synopsis:  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. ~Goodreads.com

My Thoughts: Okay, so...I felt like I was missing out for not reading these books.  People would refer to main male protagonist Jericho Barrons in conversations as if he is a figure everyone should know and I would get yelled at on Twitter for not reading these books.  I can't say I am absolutely in love with it like everyone else seems to be but it was a fun and enjoyable read. 

I did like the premise of the story and it included mythology that I enjoyed and mysteries that were intriguing.   Told in main female protagonist Mackayla Lane's viewpoint, the urgency of her mission to find her sister's killer is clear.  I like her spunk and her guts.  However, I didn't like her at first or rather I didn't like the way every outfit was described down to matching accessories.  Perhaps this is Mac's armor...her fashion and her clothes and dressing up helps her feel better and stronger.  However, toward the end she seems to truly get tougher and grow up a little.  What I also really enjoyed was the foreshadowing.  Mackayla would tell you things in retrospect...like had she known then what she knew now, she wouldn't have done the following...then the scene would play out.  These hints made me pay attention more closely and they served to create more tension. 

Unfortunately, the ending left me frustrated.  I closed the book feeling kind of confused.  Perhaps this is my fault and I was expecting something different.  I know I should keep reading, but it is also my belief that a book, whether it's the first or the third or the tenth in a series, should wrap up the main story.  Sure a few cliffhangers and dangling of fruit is fine, but I closed the book feeling "Huh?  That's it?" We found out who the killer is, (and I guess that is the main thing along with several other plot points,) but we don't really know who he is.  If that makes any sense.

I also think I have to trust in the fact that I should probably not read books from the Paranormal Romance section.  Or, I just need to adjust my thinking when doing so. While there is no romance in this per se...it reads like one.  Mackayla has to dress like a sex bomb to infiltrate Dublin's exclusive locations with Jericho.  Not my thing.  The way he controlled her from her hairstayle to her not leaving the country did not make me swoon.  I know he is trying to protect her and that a lot of his motives are hidden but he annoyed me.   But again to play devil's advocate, he also annoyed Mac.  So his character is well written.

Will I continue the series?  Probably.  I do kind of want to find out what happens so that is a testament to the story right there.  

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