Review: Faefever by Karen Marie Moning

Title: Faefever
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Series: Fever #3
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 416 (Paperback)
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:
"He calls me his Queen of the Night. I’d die for him. I’d kill for him, too.'' When MacKayla Lane receives a torn page from her dead sister’s journal, she is stunned by Alina’s desperate words. And now MacKayla knows that her sister’s killer is close. But evil is closer. And suddenly the sidhe-seer is on the hunt: For answers. For revenge. And for an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it. Mac’s quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V’lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.

My Review:
Dreamfever continues the fascinating and captivating adventures of MacKayla "Mac" Lane as she searches for the Sinsar- Dubh all across Ireland, all while figuring out the mystery of her sister's murder. Though the first two books in the series, Darkfever and Bloodfever, were pretty good, I found myself completely wrapped up in this book. I spent like 4 hours just sitting on the couch reading the entire thing and ignoring everyone around me. With each succeeding novel, we delve deeper and deeper into the history of the fae, Mac's past, and the future of the two worlds. I love the feeling of being pulled into a story and that is exactly what this one does. Each book builds on the other and you would NOT want to read them out of order.

I am thoroughly conflicted about the two men in Mac's life. I want to love Barron's so much, but he is positively infuriating! He obviously has some fondness/attraction to Mac, but I can't tell if it is just sexual attraction combined with needing her to find the OOP's or if he truly cares about her. There was one moment when I swear he was into her...the invention of the Mac-Halo anyone? :)Which incidentally was probably one of the best scenes so far in the series. But then when Mac makes Barrons a birthday cake, he totally destroys it and yells at her and shuts her down. I am SO confused! Does he care about her? and most importantly...WHAT THE BLOODY EFFING HELL IS BARRONS???? Seriously...I figured by book 3 we would at least have a little bit of a hint as to what kind of life form Mr. Tall, Dark, (rude) and Handsome is. I've had like 8 theories and all of them were pretty much shot to shit after a few more chapters...I am now completely stumped and am conceding to Ms. Moning's powers of secrecy...I will now stop guessing and just read, no matter how much I just want to grab Barrons and scream at him to tell me what he is. Or grab Barrons for any reason...or have him grab me...

V'lane is another one I wouldn't mind getting a little handsy with me. At first he was an insufferable arrogant ass and when he does several unspeakable things that make you hate him. And yet, you can explain his behavior away because of who he is. You can't expect someone who is an entirely different species to act the way we mere mortals do. I think it's super hilarious that Mac literally can't keep her clothes on around him. Her frantic undressing and redressing makes me crack up every time. Also, you can see V'lane actually trying to make Mac comfortable and trying to learn about humans. I find him almost...endearing in these moments. I'm not sure if he is using Mac as well, but this golden fae has certainly grown on me to the point of actually liking him. Yeah V'lane!

I was absolutely horrified by the ending. I can't imagine anyone who wasn't. It was so violent, degrading, graphic...just terrible. I couldn't stand that something so horrible was happening to poor Mac, who I've come to really like, despite her pink girlyness. I didn't actually know that I liked her so much until something so horrible happened to her and all I wanted to do was run in and save her.  As much as I really loved the rest of the book, this cliffhanger left me with a really negative opinion of it. I guess it was left like that for shock value, but it would have been nice for that blow to be a little softened by an ending somewhere else. It is odd, because I've read more vivid and graphic sex scenes before, but this one almost traumatized me. I think it was just such a shock. I seriously had no idea it was coming and it left me feeling so cold inside...I really feel for the poor souls who had to deal with such an awful cliffhanger and had to wait months before continuing the story.

I give Faefever a solid 4 out of 5 Keys. It would have been higher without that ending. I guess I can understand where Moning is going with it and I commend her for being able to take her characters into the dark twisty depths of human depravity, but it left me feeling uncomfortable and sad. Not something you want from your reading experience. Otherwise it was fantastic. The characters have all grown on me and I love learning new things about them. I am totally hooked to the series and HAVE to get my hands on the next one ASAP!