Darkfever

Darfever (Fever, 1)
by Karen Moning
Rating: 4 Bows!

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…

I haven't read much Fae books and those that I have were nothing compared to this one. 

We start off with MacKayla, Mac for short, heading off to Dublin to figure out who killed her sister. In her search, Mac runs into all sorts of weird things, a man that turns into a monster, an old woman who threatens her, I mean how bizarre is that? 
Things don't get any better when she meets Jericho Barrons. This is where the books takes off. Mr. Barrons isn't just your average book store seller, he knows all about the secret world of the Fae and helps bring Mac into this world and teaches her everything about it. The story is full of action, mystery, and suspense and doesn't let up even on the last page.

Mac was an awesome heroine. She is willing to do anything to discover what happened to her sister, even entering the dangerous world of the Fae. I loved that she didn't let Barrons push her around and that she had a backbone. My only complaint is that when it came to her wardrobe, she was a child. I don't know if the author believes that the way Mac dresses is "grown up" but I, personally, did not like the way she dressed; Too much pink. 

Jericho Barrons was a mystery the entire book. We don't know what he is, if he is one of the good guys, or what his intentions really are. I liked that we didn't really get to trust him until halfway through the book, it gave us time to decide, by his actions, if he was really trying to help Mac. 
Is Jericho Barrons sexy? Controlling? Alpha Male? ABSOLUTELY! I loved his dominating attitude, it made me swoon every time he spoke! Ugh, love him!

Karen Moning built an excellent world of mythical Fae full of mystery and darkness. The world-builidng was awesome, the characters are perfect, and I seriously would recommend this book to anyone that's looking for a little paranormal mystery.

Black City

Black City (Black City, 1)
by Elizabeth Richards
Rating: 5 Bows!

A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war.

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

Wow. That's all I can say about this book because nothing I think of does it justice. I was not expecting this book to be this great and I was glad to be proven wrong. The story sorta reminded me of Darkness Before Dawn by J.A. London but it held its own.

A quick explanation of the story: The city is divided by a wall that keeps Darklings separated from humans and Darkling half-bloods. There is a law trying to be passed, Rose Law, to completely eliminate any half-bloods living with the humans and send them out with the Darklings. Natalie, the emissary's daughter, meets Ash, a twin-blood darkling, who happens to attend Natalie's new school. Natalie and Ash have a connection but exploring that connection leads to a ripple of events that have a catastrophic ending. 

Natalie, to me was the perfect heroine, she wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed, she wasn't discriminating, and she wasn't a pushover. Ash was a class-A jerk but given his circumstances, I wasn't too hard on him. I love that Ash and Natalie don't have an instant love connection and that they don't like each other at the beginning, this made their relationship feel more real. The concept was new to me and it was a little confusing as to how the Darklings came to be but I was grateful that the explanations were made simple and not overcomplicated; The most interesting explanation or "legend" was the blood mate story, it was beautiful. 

This novel pulled so many emotions out of me: I cried for Natalie and Ash, I screamed in frustration at the injustice of discrimination, and got angry of the unfairness of it all. 

Reading Black City, I experienced betrayal, lies, and shocking revelations that left me speechless but with a hint of hope as well. Black City is not a series to be missed!!

Sanctum

Sanctum (Guards of the Shadowlands, 1)
by Sarah Fine
Rating: 4 Bows!

“My plan: Get into the city. Get Nadia. Find a way out. Simple.”

A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos’s best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance—hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures. But Lela isn’t just anyone—she’s determined to save her best friend’s soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife.

As Lela struggles to find Nadia, she’s captured by the Guards, enormous, not-quite-human creatures that patrol the dark city’s endless streets. Their all-too-human leader, Malachi, is unlike them in every way except one: his deadly efficiency. When he meets Lela, Malachi forms his own plan: get her out of the city, even if it means she must leave Nadia behind. Malachi knows something Lela doesn’t—the dark city isn’t the worst place Lela could end up, and he will stop at nothing to keep her from that fate.

This book was so different from everything I've read lately. The world was new for me and I really liked it. I'm not gonna go into details about the world building because I'm not a professional but from my point a view, the world was original and very interesting. 

Lela was such a strong character. She was really tough... borderline manly in her fighting skills. But she was also girly when she had to deal with her feelings for Malachi. At times I did think she was really stubborn and it frustrated me but what girl isn't stubborn... Lela does so much for everyone especially her friend Nadia that I can't help but love her, she is the perfect mix of strength, loyalty, independence and vulnerability. 

Malachi was just perfection for me! He was a major bad ass, I mean common...he's the leader of the Guards and the most feared person in the land! I liked that he had a vulnerability and wasn't a macho about it. He didn't know how to handle his feelings for Lela and that made him more endearing to me.

This was a new world being introduced so it needed a lot of explaining to get readers to understand and what I loved about this book was that there was no useless information, no useless scenarios where people just talk with out there being a point. This was fantastic for me because it kept me interested made me want to keep reading. 

This was an interesting story and I got to say that I am really looking forward to the next book because I can't wait to see where Malachi and Lela are headed next!!