THE IRON KING: Hard hitting awesome

My name is Meghan Chase. In less than twenty-four hours I'll be sixteen. Countless stories, songs, and poems have been written about this wonderful age, when a girl finds true love and the stars shine for her and the handsome prince carries her off into the sunset. I don't think it will be that way for me.

I know, I know... I'm late to the Julie Kagawa party. The important thing is, I got there. I'd seen the covers for the Iron Fae series and the craziness surrounding Team Ash during the YA Crush Tourney, but hadn't read the books. I picked up THE IRON KING several months ago and finally sat down to read.

And I didn't stop until I finished the book.

Good GAWD it was non-stop!

Meghan Chase just wants to turn 16 and get her learners permit. Then maybe, just maybe, she can get out of the sticks and do something, anything, that doesn't have to do with her parents pig farm. Of course, the story doesn't end there. Meghan is central to a centuries long battle between the Summer and Winter Courts of Nevernever, the Fae world. The Fae know she exists, but no one knew where she was, until now. After jumping ship with her best friend, Robbie, to go find her 4 year-old little brother, Ethan, Meghan discovers just how wrong the fairy-tales are.

From the very beginning, THE IRON KING was just punch after punch. Some Faery books start off slow with a lot of back story or world building, but not so here. Miss Julie grabs you by the bottom lip and pulls you through to the very end. From strange disappearances of Meghan's dad, a horribly stale existence for a 16 year old girl, a torturous and humiliating experience with the 'hot guy' at school, things she should not be seeing, a brother who sees too much, a best friend who has secrets of his own, and an evil little changeling that takes her brother's place... And all that before she even discovers Nevernever!

Once Meghan crosses the line over to CRAZY, she discovers the truth of her friend, Robbie. She also discovers that her life will never be the same. The Fae will use her as a pawn, the Wyldwood will eat her alive (literally), her step-mom wants her dead, he father doesn't trust her, the disturbingly hot Winter prince wants her dead, a mysterious Iron King may be the cause of the rapidly deteriorating Nevernever, and saying 'thank you' is equivalent to sealing your own coffin. Words are binding and contracts cannot be broken.

The characters were great! Meghan was adorable. She may be of noble blood, if only half, but she is so not the noble type. She really is just your average teen trying to save her little brother. She makes some grave mistakes, but shows a ton of courage when it counts.

Robbie, or should we say Robin Goodfellow (snicker), is HIGHlarious! True to form, Miss Julie places Puck as the comic relief, but he's just as dangerous as the rest of the Fae. As Oberon's fave lackey, his job is to protect Meghan, and he takes that job seriously.

Ash... Okay, so now I understand the fuss over this Winter prince. Sure he's hot and dangerous and wickedly evil with that icy blade of his, but he is stocked FULL of determination and loyalty it makes my palms sweat. Even when faced with his own death, he pushes on to honor his contracts. There is just something so shmexy about a guy who's true to his word...

THE IRON KING was beyond awesome for me. Like I said, this puppy was full of action and did not let up for a SECOND! Miss Julie racked my socks with this book and I am soooo itchin' to get my hands on the next book, or all of them... *wink*

Through the entire book, there were only two things that really bugged me. Toward the end, Meghan is given a choice (I will not give any spoilers here, if you've read it, you know what I'm talking about). This is pretty standard stuff, but Meghan actually entertains part of the choice that didn't feel in-line with her character. It kind of set me back a bit and I wondered why Meghan suddenly showed this sort of shallow side. She didn't show that before. Maybe I just read too much into it. Who knows.

I also questioned, just a little bit, the connection between Meghan and Ash. She is a Summer princess. He is a Winter prince. Being of the Summer court, she is sensitive to overly cold things. Being of the Winter courts, Ash IS an overly cold thing, complete with cool skin. How are they able to kiss and not cause some major complications? Not sure. Maybe this will be addressed in other books or, again, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

All is all, I loved the book. THE IRON KING is a definite read!!

Feeling a bit....Fever-ish!

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...

When I picked up Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning I was not sure what I was expecting, but I think I got something else. I do not mean that in a bad way at all so please don’t take me wrong. I had seen a few of the Fever Series books at Costco and was intrigued. I hunted down Darkfever (since Coscto did not have Book #1) and started reading. I think I was under the impression it was your typical YA fantasy goodie…well it’s not. It was definitely a little more…er…*blush*…mature.

Miss K.M. opens Darkfever with a huge bomb that rocks the world, and planet for that matter, for our main chick MacKayla (Mac). Her older sister, and BFF, is brutally killed while studying abroad in Ireland. After some mourning Mac get’s it in her head to go to the Emerald Isle to bring justice to her sister, Alina. The local investigation was cut off way too quick for Mac’s satisfaction and she wants to avenger her beloved sister by finding her killer and bringing him down in the most satisfying way possible.

This would have been a great plan, but when do things ever work out like you plan? Same deal for little Barbie-doll Mac. She quickly finds herself plunged to her pink lacy bra in a world that is upside-down and inside out from the norm of Southern USA. The world of Fae is quite real and quite deadly, Mac has firsthand experience in this now. Mac's pretty world of sparkly nail polish and lip gloss in suddenly consumed with the hideous Grey Man, the many-mouth-thing, shades that thankfully stick to the darkest shadows, the beautifully deadly V’lane (death-by-sex Fae), and guess what….she is one of the rare few who can see them all! That’s’ right, Mac finds out she is from a long line of folk who are impervious to the glamour’s set by the Fae.

Mac ends up joining forces with the darkly mysterious Jericho Barrons, but she is not sure she can trust him with anything other than maybe helping her to stay alive. He wants the Sinsar Dubh (aka evil dark magic book everyone and their mama is willing to kill for) more than he wants Mac around, but as she is the only one who can sense the tome, he keeps her around. On the side Barrons even starts to teach Ms. Lane how to possibly protect herself from the darker Fae.

I thought this book was really great! It was fairly well paced and I was quickly lost in the world of Fae Miss K.M. spilled out for me. The darker elements of the Faery world have always fascinated me so I found the world of Darkfever easy to escape into.

Mac is your typical pampered little princess type, which actually kinda pissed me off to be honest. Through most of the book she was a permanent resident of Denial Way and it began to get old. Toward the end she started coming around and grew some figurative juevos. I am really interested to see how she evolves in future books. 

Jericho Barrons is hiding something…okay so he is hiding a LOT. I am dying to find out what. He is dark, mysterious, and really bad-ass. Three of my favorite ingredients for a hot guy by the way. There is more to him than what Miss K.M. has let on so far and will keep me reading.

The overall content was not too adult, but there were a few scenes with the aforementioned “death-by-sex” Fae, V’lane, that took me off guard. Made me blush fuchsia to my hairline it did! Anyway, you will just have to read to find out what I mean…*wink*.

Did Darkfever rock my world? A really good tremble with hopes of “the big one”…7.5 on Richter scale.