Guess who no longer has to read books on her laptop screen?
My dad went out and bought me a Kobo E-Reader yesterday. That was very nice of him! Especially since he faced being told off by mum afterwards ("stop spoiling your daughters, you crazy old man! When's the last time you bought ME something?"). It's one of those six-inch, touch screen ones that weigh around 125-150 grams. I love it. It's so portable and cute. I have half a mind to bring it to school and whip it out during roll call just to see the expression on Metwally's face when he comes around to check if we're reading. But I won't do that because knowing me, I would probably lose it within the first three hours. Doesn't mean I'm not tempted though.
And speaking of reading, I have to introduce you guys to my favourite book series of 2012. (WARNING: Shameless gushing ahead)
(There are actually five books but I can only show you the four.)
Oh God - I don't even know where to start.
Guys, stop what you're doing. Like now. I mean it. And go pick up a copy of these books. Cause seriously:
These books.....
This series.....
IT IS SO F*CKING BRILLIANT.
During the first book, I was like, "Hmm this is pretty good"; during the second, I was like, "Oh wow, I can't believe how much I'm enjoying this" and then during the third, I was full like, "OMFG WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!? THIS SERIES IS BLOWING MY MIND!! KAREN MARIE MONING YOU ARE SUCH AN EVIL GENIUS!!"
It's like someone decided to mash up all that is awesome and wonderful from the worlds of urban fantasy, paranormal romance, crime and escapist fiction and then added an extra dose of magic just to kick everything up ten notches. I have read so many books this year (mostly to overcompensate for my lack of dramas) and believe me, nothing has managed to blow me away like this series has managed to do. I haven't loved a partnership so much since Cat and Bones from the Night Huntress series and even they have nothing on MacKayla and Barrons from the Fever series. I can't even -
Okay, let me try to explain this better. Here's my crappy outline (with no spoilers) which doesn't do the series justice at all.
THE PLOT:
The series revolves around 20-something year old MacKayla Lane, whose sister has just been murdered and found dead on the streets of Dublin. The police are doing nothing about it so MacKayla decides to fly over to Ireland (from America) to track down her sister's killer and avenge her.
But obviously, it's not as easy as that because in Dublin, far away from the comfort of her home in the American south, MacKayla is suddenly exposed to the world of the fae. (You all know what the fae are right? The seelie/unseelie, etc.) and she finds out that she is actually a sidhe-seer, a rare breed of human who can actually see the fae. On top of that, she is one of the rarest of the rare. MacKayla has the ability to "null" or "freeze" them with her touch alone and on top of that, she can sense dark fae objects.
This ability is what causes her to team up with the enigmatic Jericho Barrons - owner of Barrons' Books and Baubles - a man who wants to use her for her unique detecting powers to seek out something called the Dark Book. This ancient unseelie relic contains enormous power and may be the the only clue to help track down her sister's murderer. MacKayla's not sure why Barrons wants it but since finding it will also benefit her, she goes along with it and agrees to be trained by Barrons in fighting against the unseelie and thus becomes his personal OOP detector (OOP = objects of power). The two (Barrons and MacKayla) rarely get along though and when V'lane, a royal fae seelie prince also starts trying to recruit MacKayla's help, the tension skyrockets.
What you end up getting is an extremely well written, thrilling and unbelievably satisfying series of books. I haven't finished it yet (I'm up to the fourth one) but I can just tell that when the series ends, I'll be suffering massive withdrawal symptoms - something that only happens with books/dramas that I become unhealthily attached to.
Some of you may be thinking that the plot doesn't sound terribly original and I can understand why. The whole "girl-realises-she-sees-fairies" thing has been done quite a bit but Karen Marie Moning has such an amazing, evocative writing style that she manages to make the story seem like something really unique. The series was also voted Goodread's Best Paranormal Fantasy of 2011 in their Choice Awards so you can tell that it's immensely popular.
I honestly wasn't thinking that I would enjoy the series as much. I'd recently gotten sick of reading Paranormal Romances cause honestly, the only thing the characters in those books want to do is have sex... like all the time. Seriously - the people are more like rabbits than humans. I think the reason I was drawn to them though was because of the whole "magical powers/paranormal" aspects of those books so making the switch to urban fantasy (aka fever series) was much more enjoyable. Not saying that there's no romance in the Fever series though - it just isn't always the main focus of the story. By the way, I should probably still warn you that the book is classifed as "adult" not "young adult" so stuff is much more.... well graphic, if you know what I mean.
Also, the character of MacKayla Lane, in the first book especially, tends to come across as a bit of a blond barbie LOL. She's not stupid - it's just that her thoughts tend to drift towards fashion and pink nail polish a lot of the time and since the book is written in first person, I can see why some people might get annoyed with that. I didn't really care/notice it but some reviewers on goodreads made such a big deal about it. Obviously though she changes quite dramatically over the series, becoming a much tougher and meaner character so that's only a very minor gripe.
Ahem. Okay, I'm done. No more gushing from me. If you've managed to read all that above then you must be a really patient, tolerant person. I would give you a virtual cookie but I seem to have eaten them all :) I shall now go back to my reading. God, how I love my books.
Guys, stop what you're doing. Like now. I mean it. And go pick up a copy of these books. Cause seriously:
These books.....
This series.....
IT IS SO F*CKING BRILLIANT.
During the first book, I was like, "Hmm this is pretty good"; during the second, I was like, "Oh wow, I can't believe how much I'm enjoying this" and then during the third, I was full like, "OMFG WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!? THIS SERIES IS BLOWING MY MIND!! KAREN MARIE MONING YOU ARE SUCH AN EVIL GENIUS!!"
It's like someone decided to mash up all that is awesome and wonderful from the worlds of urban fantasy, paranormal romance, crime and escapist fiction and then added an extra dose of magic just to kick everything up ten notches. I have read so many books this year (mostly to overcompensate for my lack of dramas) and believe me, nothing has managed to blow me away like this series has managed to do. I haven't loved a partnership so much since Cat and Bones from the Night Huntress series and even they have nothing on MacKayla and Barrons from the Fever series. I can't even -
Okay, let me try to explain this better. Here's my crappy outline (with no spoilers) which doesn't do the series justice at all.
THE PLOT:
The series revolves around 20-something year old MacKayla Lane, whose sister has just been murdered and found dead on the streets of Dublin. The police are doing nothing about it so MacKayla decides to fly over to Ireland (from America) to track down her sister's killer and avenge her.
But obviously, it's not as easy as that because in Dublin, far away from the comfort of her home in the American south, MacKayla is suddenly exposed to the world of the fae. (You all know what the fae are right? The seelie/unseelie, etc.) and she finds out that she is actually a sidhe-seer, a rare breed of human who can actually see the fae. On top of that, she is one of the rarest of the rare. MacKayla has the ability to "null" or "freeze" them with her touch alone and on top of that, she can sense dark fae objects.
This ability is what causes her to team up with the enigmatic Jericho Barrons - owner of Barrons' Books and Baubles - a man who wants to use her for her unique detecting powers to seek out something called the Dark Book. This ancient unseelie relic contains enormous power and may be the the only clue to help track down her sister's murderer. MacKayla's not sure why Barrons wants it but since finding it will also benefit her, she goes along with it and agrees to be trained by Barrons in fighting against the unseelie and thus becomes his personal OOP detector (OOP = objects of power). The two (Barrons and MacKayla) rarely get along though and when V'lane, a royal fae seelie prince also starts trying to recruit MacKayla's help, the tension skyrockets.
What you end up getting is an extremely well written, thrilling and unbelievably satisfying series of books. I haven't finished it yet (I'm up to the fourth one) but I can just tell that when the series ends, I'll be suffering massive withdrawal symptoms - something that only happens with books/dramas that I become unhealthily attached to.
Some of you may be thinking that the plot doesn't sound terribly original and I can understand why. The whole "girl-realises-she-sees-fairies" thing has been done quite a bit but Karen Marie Moning has such an amazing, evocative writing style that she manages to make the story seem like something really unique. The series was also voted Goodread's Best Paranormal Fantasy of 2011 in their Choice Awards so you can tell that it's immensely popular.
I honestly wasn't thinking that I would enjoy the series as much. I'd recently gotten sick of reading Paranormal Romances cause honestly, the only thing the characters in those books want to do is have sex... like all the time. Seriously - the people are more like rabbits than humans. I think the reason I was drawn to them though was because of the whole "magical powers/paranormal" aspects of those books so making the switch to urban fantasy (aka fever series) was much more enjoyable. Not saying that there's no romance in the Fever series though - it just isn't always the main focus of the story. By the way, I should probably still warn you that the book is classifed as "adult" not "young adult" so stuff is much more.... well graphic, if you know what I mean.
Also, the character of MacKayla Lane, in the first book especially, tends to come across as a bit of a blond barbie LOL. She's not stupid - it's just that her thoughts tend to drift towards fashion and pink nail polish a lot of the time and since the book is written in first person, I can see why some people might get annoyed with that. I didn't really care/notice it but some reviewers on goodreads made such a big deal about it. Obviously though she changes quite dramatically over the series, becoming a much tougher and meaner character so that's only a very minor gripe.
Ahem. Okay, I'm done. No more gushing from me. If you've managed to read all that above then you must be a really patient, tolerant person. I would give you a virtual cookie but I seem to have eaten them all :) I shall now go back to my reading. God, how I love my books.
