Bloodfever is addictive…

Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning sure does pack a punch. I had to read this book twice because the first time I read it, the story gripped me so hard and so fast that I read it in practically all in one sitting, and at the end, my mind was in too much of a whirl to logically explain what had just happened!

As the second book in the “Fever” series, it delivers more of the harrowing adventures of Mac, an ex-“part-time bartender, part-time sun worshipper, on the quest to avenge her sister’s death.  The story continues in Ireland, which is quickly becoming an altered state of reality as her tenure under the mysterious and enigmatic Jericho Barrons continues to enlighten her to the world of the Fae.

This part of the story is more action-packed than the last. Mac and Jericho practically burn my pages with their wordless conversations, and V’lane, the death-by-sex Fae whom we met in Darkfever, is back with more tricks up his sleeve for Mac. It seems everyone wants Mac for something, and even though they aren’t showing their hands, knowing that since she is apparently part of the jack-pot, keeps the player in the game, ready to ante up and do what it takes to keep her alive.

Fortunately for Mac (aka MacKayla), she has discovered within herself a “bloodthirsty, primitive little savage” who could survive as a sidhe-seer (a person capable of seeing past the illusions cast by the Fae to the true nature of the Fae that lies beneath), something that is crucial as Jericho continues to cultivate her as his tool to search out the OOP’s (objects of power—Fae relics).

As I read on, I like Mac more and more for her plucky determination to make the most of her situation. Granted, she has had to give up a lot to gain this new identity inherent with problems and danger, but she still pursues the normalcy of routine in the bookstore that Barrons owns, and where she also lives. I like how her sunny personality is juxtaposed against the perpetual rain and gloom of the landscape where she resides.

What surprised me more was that as the story develops, the more I get to glimpse of Jericho’s character, and how little by little he reveals more of himself to Mac. Their chemistry is strong, but there is always that boundary that they knowingly maintain, but all the while denying that either one may possibly feel something for the other, underneath it all. I love it! Towards the end, as layers slip away between them, more complications arise, incidents that are undeniable and difficult to dismiss! They reach a point where they savagely encounter lust, but once the moment passes, it gets compartmentalized in the vagaries of their tenuous alliance. He remains as mysterious as ever, and I wonder if Mac will ever succeed in figuring out for sure whether Barron friend or foe?

Moning keeps the tension building, and even though for every question that is answered, about three rise up to take their place, and the book finishes leaving me wanting more, that is not a problem.

I know Faefever (book 3) is next on my “to read” list.