DARKFEVER
By Karen Marie Moning
Summary: 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….

My Review

I had been meaning to start this series for over a year now and boy am I glad that I finally bit the bullet and decided to read it. It was one of those books that was difficult to put down. Mac is one of the most interesting and relatable heroines that I've come across in awhile. She has no idea exactly how her life is going to change. Despite her barbie-doll looks she has the tenacity of the fiercest of warriors which is a good thing because that strength will come in handy. When we meet her she's a part-time student and bartender enjoying her lazy summer when her sisters death changes her life. She's transformed from an easy-going southern beauty to a sister bent on getting justice for her sister. Once she arrives in Ireland, she begins to realize that nothing is as it seems. The mysterious phone message her sister left is the only thing she really has to go on. But, from the moment she arrives in Dublin, she starts to see things that are out of the ordinary. 

Jerico Barrons is a wealthy owner of a rare bookstore who comes to her aide, but his gruff demeanor and intimidating nature irritates Mac and they spend most of the book butting heads. It's pretty obvious that something will eventually develop between these two, but I appreciate the slow approach that author has chosen to take. With Barrons help, Mac learns that she has special powers that give her the gift of seeing the Fae. The reader goes on a journey into a supernatural world with Seelie, Unseelie, and vampires. By the time the first book ends, the journey is only beginning. The strengths of this novel really lie in the writing style and how Moning helps the reader experience everything alongside Mac. Her exposition is so detailed that you can visualize creatures as if you are seeing them yourself. 

It's definitely a must-read.