re

Khanh the Killjoy

Darkfever (Fever Series, Book 1)

Darkfever - Karen Marie Moning Buddy read with a TON of friends.This is how it feels right now: everyone is on Team Jericho: And then we have me: Pic courtesy of Cory. Thanks, Cory. You shouldn't have. No, really, you shouldn't have.This fucking book.I don't even know how to go about describing my love/hate relationship with this book. Actually, it is mostly hate. I hated every single character in this book, and yet I willingly read on anyway. I don't understand it at all. It is the equivalent of watching midget porn, not that I actually watch midget porn, it's just an example. WHATEVER. The point is, it's ugly, it is horrifying, it is disgusting, but you just can't bring yourself to look away.I give this book too little credit, I feel, in my rant over my hatred of Jericho and MacKayla. It truly is a well-written book. It is a testament to how good it is when the characters evoke such emotions within me, that I feel that they are realistic, complex, believable characters. The mythology is based upon the fae, the Tuatha de Danaan. It is beautifully written and a credit to the author that I loved it this much despite how much I disliked the main characters.Praises over, it's time for me to go off on how much I HATE JERICHO AND MAC.I hated MacKayla's immaturity and prissiness, improbable action and TSTL behavior. I don't care if you're a Southern Miss. You are a grown-ass woman. You can fucking curse when you want to. I was raised to be a lady by my mother, too, my very proper Asian mother who is as stringent (and astringent) on proper behavior as much as a Southern mom. I would die before I use bad language before my mother. Behind her back, I curse like a fucking sailor. I use language that would make the most hardened soul blush. Stupid little Mac with her "petunias" and her "fudge-buckets" and her multitude of platitudes for curses. Fuck you. You're an adult. Act like it."Because I was blonde, easy on the eyes, and guys had been snapping my bra strap since seventh grade, I'd been putting up with the Barbie stereotype for years."Guess what, honey? That's actually an accurate stereotype and a stupid statement to make because throughout the book, you act exactly like a brainless Barbie the majority of the time. I admire her initiative, she's out to solve her sister's murder. I get that, I sympathize, I absolutely do. I have a sister of my own, a little sister; I would jump through hellfire for her. I understand Mac's anger, her need for closure, and to an extent, her grief."Oh, go ahead," I hissed. "Just kill me and get it over with. Put me out of my misery!" Missing Alina was worse than a terminal illness. At least when you were terminal you knew the pain was going to end eventually. But there was no light at the end of my tunnel. Grief was going to devour me, day into night, night into day, and although I might feel like I was dying from it, might even wish I was, I never would.You can bet your petuniaass that I would damn well investigate my sister's mysterious death, if she were to die."I might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but I wasn't the dimmest, either."You sure about that, Mac?"He didn't just occupy space; he saturated it. About thirty, six foot two or three, he had dark hair, golden skin, and dark eyes. His features were strong, chiseled. He wasn't handsome. That was too calm a word. He was intensely masculine. He was sexual. He attracted. There was an omnipresent carnality about him, in his dark eyes, in his full mouth, in the way he stood."Ok, Jericho is supposed to be hot? You know who else is considered hot? Serial killers like Richard Ramirez and Jeffrey Dahmer. And as for stalkery behavior, he's got Edward Cullen beat. And Mr. Sparkles is less of an asshat."I am unaccustomed to asking for what I want. Nor am I accustomed to bartering with a woman," he said finally.I know there's a lot of people out there who find Jericho attractive; I can't comprehend it. He is larger-than-life, true, he has a magnetic presence, true. But I am the type who likes a gentleman, a gentle man, Jericho is not. There is rarely a moment of softness with him. He is the alpha male of alpha males. You know those monsters that jump out of a haunted house and goes BOO? That's Jericho. He constantly jumps close to Mac and scares the shit out of her. It gets old. Condescension, intimidation, and fear are tactics of interrogation, not seduction. I do not find him remotely romantic, it does not get my panties wet. Nope nope nope.Characters aside, this was a very well-written book. The description of the dark, damp, dreary environment of Ireland I did love the incorporation of Celtic myth, of the portrayal of the fae. They are not fairies, as initially believed by Mac. They are horrendous, rotting, foul creatures. Outwardly beautiful, like the spectacular LegolasV'lane, they are inwardly manipulative, and disgustingly sexually abusive. They literally suck the life out of a person, stealing their outward beauty and inner spirit. I loved the portrayal of the dark side, the horrifying side, of the world of fae. It is a complete 180 from the wonderfully bright and beautiful world of fairies about which I have read in the past.Reluctantly recommended by me.