I used to think my
sister and I were just two nice southern girls who’d get married in a
few years and settle down to a quiet life. Then I discovered that Alina
and I descend, not from good wholesome southern stock, but from an
ancient Celtic bloodline of powerful sidhe-seers, people who can see the
Fae. Not only can I see the terrifying otherworldly race, but I can
sense the sacred Fae relics that hold the deadliest of their magic.
When my sister was found dead in a trash-filled alley in Dublin, I came over to get answers. Now all I want is revenge. And after everything I’ve learned about myself, I know I have the power to get it…. MacKayla Lane’s ordinary life underwent a complete makeover when she landed on Ireland’s shores and was plunged into a world of deadly sorcery and ancient secrets. In her fight to stay alive, Mac must find the Sinsar Dubh–a million-year-old book of the blackest magic imaginable, which holds the key to power over both the worlds of the Fae and of Man. Pursued by Fae assassins, surrounded by mysterious figures she knows she cannot trust, Mac finds herself torn between two deadly and irresistible men: V’lane, the insatiable Fae who can turn sensual arousal into an obsession for any woman, and the ever-inscrutable Jericho Barrons, a man as alluring as he is mysterious. For centuries the shadowy realm of the Fae has coexisted with that of humans. Now the walls between the two are coming down, and Mac is the only thing that stands between them.… |
“It's a strange new world out there and the rules have changed: It's every princess for herself.”
Reviewing after re-reading.
The story isn’t as complex as I remembered it to be, but this time around I enjoyed it more than the first book (although I loved that one too). Fast-paced, this was a breeze to fly through. Unlike the first book, the author has laid off the foreboding hints of that’s to come and stays in the present tense more.
Barrons goes from jerk you want to strangle to book boyfriend in a flash, then back and forth again. Mac’s tendency to overindulge in pink fashion and girly notions still amuses me, but she is mixing it now with the new and “toughened” Mac.
You don’t get a full force of plot progression with this one in the grand scheme of themes (understood once the full first five books are read and finished), but we do wrap up with one villain in particular, get a big scene with V’Lane, Fiona turns into an even bigger green-eyed monster than the first book showed, and there’s hints of future plot pieces to come (like that rumbling in the garage…)
Oh, and the bookstore gets some redecorating!
Mac learns more about who she is and some connections she has to other living sidhe-seers. There’s some tension with a detective trying to find out what happened to his brother, and Dani is actually still pretty likable by this point.
While it doesn’t move forward in the bigger scheme of things full-force, the tension and obstacles in this story were fascinating and kept me glued. Barrons and Mac’s relationship holds promise but is a confusing mess still. The shades are still creepy and the other dark fae still ugly. There was a beautiful story with Mac and her sister, even if it was fae influenced, that shows the author has a knack for creating very real imagery with her writing – I could almost smell out the salt from the sea and feel the sun on my skin myself.
The second book may have less action to a degree, but it holds more punch for the worldbuilding, fleshing out the characters, and upping the odds for things to come. Moning does a great job of having so many characters, worldbuilding, and small sub-plots to make this one sensationally layered, unique and addicting.
Book Quotes:
“One day you will kiss a man you can't breathe without, and find that breath is of little consequence.”
Cover Gallery:
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Visual Quote from Author's FB:
