Fangirl Friday - The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning

Why does Fever STILL have a hold on me?

Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m as fickle as the day is long. I will love, love, love something one day, gorge on it, obsess about it, tell everyone *they* must have this too!, and then eventually, I’m done. Over it. Finished. Kaput. You get the picture. The list is long of the foods, products, television shows, and books that I’ve been this way with. Only one thing has stood the test of my obsessive tendencies over time. After three years of adoration, obsession (with healthy breaks in between, haha), and shouting to the world that they, too, need the Fever series in their life, I am still utterly in love with this series. Join me after the jump for some (non-spoilery) reasons why I just Can’t.Let.Go!

I am currently re-reading the Fever series, and it just feels like I've come home. I can’t believe a book series has had this effect on me, and what’s more, STILL has this effect on me after three years! I can pick up this series, anywhere in the series, and just start reading from there. I’ve technically only read this series through one time. I’ve read many different scenes again and again, though. And still, having only officially read them one time, these books are ingrained in my soul.

• I truly believe that the biggest reason Fever still means so much to me is because of the real world truths in this book series. I have never seen a series impact my life like this. Flip to almost any page in any of the books, and you can find a quote that you can (and should) actually live by. I wonder how Karen Marie Moning knows so much about life? It’s like she’s in my head and my heart. 

• The heroine: MacKayla Lane, aka. Mac. I feel like Mac is me sometimes. I mean, I was never and am never going to be either Pink Mac or Black Mac (maybe somewhere in between), but the way she thinks sometimes, just seems like how I would think too. I would have been just as confused between V’lane and Barrons as she was. Just like Mac, I would have stubbornly needed to make my own conclusions and learn my lessons my own way, the hard way. Oh, and Mac is SO funny. All her little thoughts, and things she says out loud, just crack me up! It's more of a sarcastic type of humor. And sometimes hilariously inappropriate. 

"Flattered as I am that you count me among the beautiful people, Barrons, allow me to point out that I'm still alive. I encountered the Gray Man and I'm still here, just as pretty as always, dickhead."

• The antihero: Jericho Z. Barrons. If there’s another “Barrons” in literature, I haven’t seen him yet. Quite simply, there is nobody like him. He is the biggest, baddest alpha male I have ever read. He’s smoking hot, brilliant, cunning, ruthless, undefeatable, and then…he found Mac. While falling in love with Mac did not make him less alpha, he did change in some amazing ways. He laughed. He bent for her. He reconsidered his lifelong (and what a long life it has been!) ambition for her because: “You choose what you can live with. And what you can't live without.”  He knew before she did that she was the one. He had to wait a bit for her to figure it out, and you could tell that he was struggling with his patience in waiting. His mask would slip, and the readers could see it, but Mac was terribly in denial. It was driving him crazy that she was in denial of what they had between them, and it was really hurting him. And I love him for that too. Barrons is still the best. There may never be anyone else for me in literature. (To my fickle sensibilities, that just blows my mind!) 

This scene between Mac & Barrons is one of the most powerful scenes in the series.
Barrons shows his hand here. He's done waiting for her to figure it out. My heart is aching as I reread this scene.  

• However, don't be fooled by my romanticism of Mac and Barrons' relationship! This is no fluffy romance, people! Yet it has some sexy scenes, and the romance created within the story is a slow burn that is worth the wait. Moning once said that her goal was to have a romance in which the two main characters never said the words, “I love you.” She succeeded here, once again proving her brilliance as a writer.

• The sheer brilliance and complexity of the storyline. It is categorized as Urban Fantasy. During my current reread of the series, I’m amazed at the details that I had forgotten. This world that KMM creates is so complex! So many original characters and concepts. So many intricacies of how it all comes together. So many deceptions along the way. So many gray characters! (And one truly evil character.) As the reader, we don’t know who to trust! I mean, who Mac should trust. ;) The action is so exciting too. The cliffhangers will nearly kill you. I promise you, your mind will be blown *at least* three times throughout this series.

Now, I know that I may sound like some overzealous nut, and hey, I’ll own that. For the things I love, I know I *can* be! All I can do is implore you to read this series too. I can count on two hands the number of people that I have turned onto this series and LOVED them! It makes me happy to make other people happy, and reading a book or book series you love, is so fulfilling!

One more thing before I go. I've noticed that I usually get the "Fever bug" around this time every year. I first discovered this series in the fall, three years ago, so maybe that's why? Coincidentally, October 31 is Barrons' birthday, and a major plot point occurred on Halloween in book #3, Faefever. To me, it's just not this time of year without celebrating my favorite book series of all time, so:  

Only a pink cake will do for Barrons! haha Read them to find out why. ;)
(from Facebook page: Karen Marie Moning [Fans Francophones])

Karen Marie Moning's FEVER Book Series List In Recommended Reading Order:
Darkfever
Bloodfever
Faefever 
Dreamfever
Shadowfever
Iced
Burned (expected publication January 20, 2015)