"Shadowfever" by Karen Marie Moning

**NO SPOILERS - one excerpt


Title: Shadowfever
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Series: Fever series #5
Published: 2011
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Pages: 594

Synopsis: MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever.
Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals who have lived concealed among us for thousands of years.
What follows is a shocking chain of events with devastating consequences, and now Mac struggles to cope with grief while continuing her mission to acquire and control the Sinsar Dubh—a book of dark, forbidden magic scribed by the mythical Unseelie King, containing the power to create and destroy worlds.
In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves.
Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams? More important, who is Mac herself and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card?
From the luxury of the Lord Master’s penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac’s journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world . . . or destroy it.


In a word: PHENOMENAL!!!!!!


Oh my!! Where to start! I adored this book from the first page to the very last. The action, suspense, twists and turns are phenomenal! This books takes the reader up and down, around and back again so much it leaves your head spinning and your heart begging for more.

I was worried that this fantastic fantasy series might not deliver in the end and leave me disappointed, but I worried for naught. Master story teller Karen Marie Moning has delivered a superb fantasy fiction series and book five exceeds beyond my wildest hopes.

I don't want to give anything away, so I am not going to mention what actually occurs or doesn't occur in this book. I will only say that NOTHING is as it seems and MacKayla learns that lesson very well.

What I particularly adore about this series is the AMAZING growth of the heroine. In the first book she is young, naive and self absorbed with her looks and some very shallow things. As the series progresses that disappears and an amazing kickass heroine is born from the rubble. She is strong, determined to do good and help people, passionate, driven and compelling. To put it simply, she's everything a heroine should be.

I was cheering at most parts of this book, and near to tears at others. All the questions are answered and all but one situation is concluded. The hanging storyline is left for the NEW (squee!!), yes NEW storyline set in the same Fever world. I can't begin to express my joy at that little tidbit found at the end of the book!

One of my favorite passages in the book...

Excerpt (page 341-342)
"I was coming," I said irritably. Fingers handcuffed around my wrist Barrons dragged me toward the stairs.
"What part of 'directly' didn't you understand?"
"Same part of 'play well with others' you never understood, O cantankerous one," I muttered.
He laughed, surprising me. I never know what's going to make him laugh. At the oddest moments, he seems to find humor in his own bad temper.
"I'd be a lot less cantankerous if you admitted you want to fuck me and we got down to it."
Lust ripped through me. Barrons said 'fuck' and I was ready.
"That's all it would take to put you in good humor?"
"It'd go a long way."
"Are we having a conversation, Barrons? Where you actually express feelings?"
"If you want to call a hard dick feelings, Ms. Lane." [end]

I totally loved that exchange and many more like it! A fantastic series that I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy fiction and hot sexual chemistry between the heroine and her hero. This series and book delivers on ALL accounts.

If you haven't read this series GET IT NOW!!

5++++++ stars!!!!!




To buy it:

Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com