Fancasts/Dreamcasts

My Fancast/Dreamcast: The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning

Image from @goodyreads, my bookstagram account!

***Fair Warning: This post will contain spoilers on the book series, read on at your own risk! You’ve officially been warned!***

The Fever series is one of my 2020 addictions as I’d discovered it thanks to the recommendation from a work friend, and I’ve devoured each book immediately after the next to see what happens with KMM’s masterful storytelling, and her ability to reveal valuable plot information at an achingly slow pace!

For those that don’t know already, this story revolves around a young, blonde party girl from Georgia named MacKayla Lane, and how she’s devastated when she discovers her older sister, Alina, was mysteriously murdered while studying at Trinity University over in Dublin, Ireland. Vengeful and seeking answers—along with retribution against her killer—Mac sets off for Dublin and discovers some even more shocking news…it turns out that she is a Sidhe-Seer: a person who can see past the glamours and illusions of the otherworldly race of creatures of the Fae, who have been living in the shadows of our world for longer than we’d ever realized.

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, she meets many different and mysterious characters along the way; two in particular are the rare and collectible bookstore owner, Jericho Barrons, along with the vicious and conniving Fae prince, V’lane. It turns out, they and a slew of other dangerous players are all searching for a dark, ancient, and powerful Fae artifact: the Sinsar Dubh. It’s an evil book that holds the power to create and destroy entire worlds, and Mac needs to find it before it gets into the wrong hands…

To see my review of book #1 – Darkfever – Click HERE

To see my review of book #2 – Bloodfever – Click HERE

To see my review of book #3 – Faefever – Click HERE

To see my review of book #4 – Dreamfever – Click HERE

To see my review of book #5 – Shadowfever – Click HERE

To see my review of book #6 – Iced – Click HERE

To see my review of book #7 – Burned – Click HERE

To see my review of book #8 – Feverborn – Click HERE

To see my review of book #9 – Feversong – Click HERE

To see my review of book #10 – High Voltage – Click HERE

To see my review of book #11 – A Kingdom of Shadow and Light – Click HERE

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Here is my official Fancast/Dreamcast:

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V’lane: Gabriel Aubry, or Jacey Elthalion

Gabriel Aubry, Image courtesy of gettyimages.com
Jacey Elthalion, Image courtesy of listal.com

V’lane is the Seelie Prince of the high court, and is the Queen’s consort, and apparently was so good looking that a human woman can reach climax just by being in his presence. He’s described as having long golden hair and hypnotic golden eyes that aren’t of this world, and these two male models came to mind when I had begun casting.

Alina Lane: Katheryn Winnick

Image courtesy of celebzz.com

Katheryn is most well known for her role in the hit TV show, Vikings, and has been seen in plenty of other fancastings of books/series I’ve read where there’s a blonde badass female lead. The role of Mac’s dead older sister isn’t a leading role, but I think she’d look the part, especially side by side with who I selected to play Mac.

Fiona Asheton: Lana Parilla

Image courtesy of coveteur.com

You may or may not have seen her play Regina, aka The Evil Queen in ABC’s Once Upon a Time, and I’ve loved her ever since those days. She has shown that she can play an incredibly complex role, and while that’s not really the case with Fiona’s role, I’d still think she’d play the irksome character just as well!

Inspector O’Duffy: Sean Bean

Image courtesy of bean-daily.livejournal.com

Sean Bean is known for many, many, many roles…For me, the most memorable are his times with Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. While I doubt he’d ever do a role like this for the Fever series if it were ever to get the green light, I’d still think he’d be an excellent choice! It would be…fitting.

Mallucé: Cody Fern

Image courtesy of popbuzz.com

I’d been introduced to Cody Fern when he’d been the Antichrist on American Horror Story, and I was blown away by his skill as an actor with that! He had the long, red hair and shortly after, I’d started reading the Fever series and got introduced to this interesting character who may or may not have been a vampire.

Roark “Rocky” O’Bannion: Manu Bennett

Image courtesy of the actor’s section on the CW’s Arrow wikia page

I know he may not exactly fit the physical description of the former boxer-turned-mob boss, but Manu has the physical presence in the roles he plays that match the intimidation the character gives off. If you don’t recognize this guy, he was in Spartacus, Arrow, and was the White orc in The Hobbit movies.

Derek O’Bannion: DJ Cotrona

Image courtesy of the actor’s IMDB profile

He’s an actor I like to look at, plain and simple. Despite the character, Mac did describe him as being pretty good looking, plus I’d believe it if he was casted as Manu Bennett’s on-screen younger brother. He was in the second GI Joe Movie, along with DC’s Shazam.

Dani O’Malley: Abigail Cowen

Image courtesy of chrislabadiephotography.com

This gorgeous actress is seen on Netflix shows like Stranger Things and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and has the perfect look for our younger cast member of the world of the Fever series!

Christian Mackeltar: Emilio Alcarez, Taylor Kitsch, or Andrew Biernat

Emilio, image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile
Taylor Kitsch, credit to owner
Andrew Biernat, image courtesy of the model/actor’s IMDB profile

Emilio is a model I’d found on Instagram, and I know he’s not technically from the same background as the member of the Druid’s that have helped the Seelie since ancient times, but I think he does fit the physical description pretty well. Another option is Taylor Kitsch, especially if he’d grow out his hair again like during his Friday Night Lights TV show days. Andrew is a model I found on Instagram who’s been on countless romance novel book covers, and is a more recent choice that would be a sexy male fae prince!

Ryodan: Ryan Paevey

Image courtesy of weareallsmith.com

What made this casting easy for me was Ryan’s eyes. They’re utterly mesmerizing and hypnotic, so this casting for me was almost instant once I’d finally met the Night Club owner in the books.

Jack Lane: Dennis Quaid

Image courtesy of People Magazine

Dennis Quaid, who doesn’t need any sort of reminder of who he is or what he’s been in, has been a favorite for fancasting Mac’s father, and I am completely on board with it!

Rainey Lane: Christie Brinkley

Image courtesy of wealthypersons.com

I’d watched Christie make a surprise appearance on Parks and Recreation as Jerry’s wife, and have known her since her Bowflex commercials with Chuck Norris. She’s a classic hollywood name, kind of up there with Pamela Anderson. She’d make a perfect casting for the Georgian southern belle of a mother, Rainey Lane.

Dreamy Eyed Guy: Nick Ayler

Image courtesy of the model’s Facebook page

Lord Master/Darroc: Sam Heughan

Credit to owner

Watch Outlander and know why everyone loves the TV version of Jamie Fraser, but I would be curious to see how he’d play a villain like the Lord Master in the Fever Series. He’s a terrific actor, and I’d know he’d absolutely crush it.

Inspector Jayne: Richard Armitage

Image courtesy of theonering.org

Inspector Duffy needs to look like a hero, like a Liam Neeson coming to find his daughter in Europe and somehow make more than one sequel on that…Well, At least KMM described him as a Liam Neeson type of character. Richard Armitage was Thorin in The Hobbit movies, and I think he’d be an excellent choice for Jayne!

Rowena O’Reilly: Miranda Otto

Image courtesy of BELLO Magazine

I’ve loved her ever since her days as Eowyn from the Lord of the Rings, but seeing her play aunt Zelda on the Netflix hit show, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, has made me think she’d be an amazing choice to play the role of the leader of the Sidhe Seers in the Fever Series!

Kat McLaughlin: Alexandra Daddario

Image courtesy hawtcelebs.com

Like a few guys on this casting, Alexandra’s eyes are truly magnificent! They’re utterly bewitching, and Kat’s eyes have been described as having a similar effect even though hers are gray instead of the light blue this actress’s are.

Jo Brennan: Hayley Marie Norman, or Jerrika Hinton

Image courtesy of essence.com
Image courtesy of hollywoodsblackrenaissance.com

Jo is described as being in her mid-twenties with dark, short & spiky hair, so these two actresses came to mind. Hayley was in the cheerleader movie, Fired Up, and was in the pilot episode of New Girl, while Jerrika was on Grey’s Anatomy for quite some time!

Isla O’Connor: Emily Blunt

Image courtesy of harpersbazaar.com

A lot of people are fancasting Charlize Theron as Isla O’Connor, and while I love Charlize and usually have her as a favorite for powerful blondes, I pictured Emily Blunt more as Mac’s biological mother because she’s also a beautiful woman, but in a different way than Charlize that I feel captures the essence of the character better.

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Updated: Here’s Part 2 of my Fancast/Dreamcast after reading past book #7: Burned

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Dancer: Ronen Rubinstein, David Corenswet, or Jonah Hauer-King

Ronen Rubinstein, image courtesy of notedames.com
David Corenswet, image courtesy of popbuzz.com
Jonah Hauer-King, image courtesy of 1883magazine.com

Dancer is quickly a favorite of mine, despite how he’s the character trope of being the cute & nerdy best friend who’s hopelessly in love with the protagonist, who was Dani when we met him in Book #6: Iced. Any of these actors could play our boy genius, they’re actually only 25 or 26, so they fit the age better than my other choice, who was Nicholas Hoult.

Lor: Kaman Sheldon, Philippe Leblond, or Steven Christensen

Kaman Sheldon, image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile
Philippe Leblond, image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile
Steven Christensen, image courtesy of the model’s Facebook page

I would go for Chris Hemsworth, who plays the lovable blond himbo role perfectly, I feel like he’s too easy of a choice, plus he’s way too big an actor to play him. Any of these models could be my pick, especially when we see sooooo much of Lor in Burned 😉

Fade: Joe Manganiello, or Casey Christopher

Joe Manganiello, image courtesy of thefashionisto.com
Casey Christopher, image courtesy of newzopedia.com

Both of these men have the Italian features of tan skin with dark hair and eyes, and both could be good choices to play the member of the pack of 9.

Jada: Miguelle Landry

Image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile

So she was originally my Dani O’Malley, and without giving much away except that I’ve read Burned by now, I had to make a switch on my casting!

Sean O’Bannion: Flamur Ukshini

Image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile

The O’Bannion family tree has a truly unique ethnic background: I believe they’re Black Irish with Arabian/Middle Eastern features as well… okay, well someone guide me to models/actors that fit that bill, but while I’m waiting, this Zayn Malik-lookalike model is my choice to play the last O’Bannion member who is betrothed to our Sidhe-Seer Empath, Kat.

Unseelie Prince Rath: Jay Byars

Credit to owner

Unseelie Prince Kiall: Alex Sewell

Image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile

Seelie Prince/King R’Jan: Rick Cosnett

Image courtesy of mixedarticle.com

You may or may not remember this guy making a short appearance in the fifth season of The Vampire Diaries where he played that professor that was much more than a pretentious jerk? I thought he’d play this part wonderfully!

Kasteo: Kenta Sakurai

Image courtesy of the model’s Instagram profile

I made Kasteo a POC, why not? Not much is known about this silent member of the pack of 9, except that he is incredibly justified in exacting revenge on Barrons and Ryodan at some point! This Mexican/Japanese model has such a beautiful face, he gives me major vibes of Kasteo!

Dageus Mackeltar: Colin O’Donoghue

Credit to owner

Drustan Mackeltar: Sean Maguire

Image courtesy of sean-maguire.net

Margery Bean-McLaughlin: Katharine McPhee, Camilla Luddington, or Odette Annable

Katharine Mcphee, image courtesy of last.fm
Camilla Luddington, image courtesy of 9gag.com
Odette Annable, image courtesy of theplace2.ru

Any three of these credible actress’s could play the conniving and backstabbing Sidhe-Seer who’s looking to take over from Kat’s position past Shadowfever! They all give me vibes of what I pictured Margery appearing as.

Seelie Queen Aoibheal: Rachel McAdams

Image courtesy of 9gag.com

That’s right, Ms. Regina George herself is my queen of the fae because she’s been my real life queen ever since she’s been Regina George in my favorite quotable movie of all time: Mean Girls. I’m making it happen, it’s GONNA happen!

Unseelie King: Gerard Butler

Credit to owner

Gerard is such a terrific actor who has such variety and range in whatever roles he takes on. He also has such a powerful and commanding presence on the big screen, I know he’d make an excellent king now that we’re starting to see him in his actual form!

Unseelie Princess: Zoe Saldana

Image courtesy of Chris M. on Instagram

Zoe Saldana is no stranger to playing these kinds of roles, from Avatar to Guardians of the Galaxy, I know she’d be absolutely wonderful at playing this character too!

Cruce: Sahib Faber

Image courtesy of malemodelscene.net

That’s right, Cruce gets his own casting because V’lane was merely a glamour that he’d placed upon himself for so many years to fool us all! This male model is a perfect choice to play our first and most powerful Unseelie Prince who’s not entirely out of the picture quite yet.

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And without further ado… here are the two fancastings I’m sure everyone has been waiting for…

Jericho Barrons and MacKayla Lane!

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Jericho Barrons: Marco Dapper, or Michele Morrone

Marco Dapper, image courtesy of the actor’s IMDB profile

He’s not a very well known actor, I can admit that. Not everyone has heard of him, but I’d discovered him many years ago because I’d casted him in another role from another book. Yeah…I’ve been fancasting for awhile! He may not have the shoulder length hair, but I do believe Marco could look the part of one of my preferred alphaholes. Here are some examples:

Exhibit A: He’s pretty much got that heated, smoldering gaze down pat that we all know Jericho is almost famous for. I can already see the mix of disapproval and barely contained lust like he was staring at Mac in their Bookstore now!

Exhibit B: He looks hella good with his shirt off…He’s even got that longer hair to resemble Barrons even further (for any doubters that may still be out there).

Michele Morrone, image courtesy of marieclaire.com

After watching the… interesting film 365 Days on Netflix, I discovered this beautiful 29 year old Italian man who starred in it, and the entire time I was thinking to myself how this man was giving off some HEAVY Jericho Barrons vibes… I definitely wouldn’t be disappointed with running into him at the bookstore!

MacKayla “Mac” Lane: Barbara Blank

Image courtesy of the actress’s Instagram profile

She’s a reality tv star/actress, but I know her more as a former WWE female wrestler who went under the stage name “Kelly Kelly.” She had a name so nice, they’d named her twice and she sometimes had the characterization as a sexy, playful, flirty, stereotypical blonde that seemed VERY similar to our star of the whole book series. If you have any other doubts, she’s even had a similar hair changing moment like Mac too:

She’s had a time when she’d gone brunette after being blonde her whole life, so I think that is what sold me to personally fancast her as MacKayla Lane. Plus, being a former WWE competitor, you know she’d be able to do the more physically demanding stunts involved like when she needs to kick some serious Unseelie ass!

Stay to the light, and Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

Fantasy, New Adult, New Adult Romance, Paranormal

My Review: Bloodfever (Fever series #2): by Karen Marie Moning

Publish Date: August 26th, 2008
Number of Pages: 349 Pages
Publisher: Gollancz
Genre(s): Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, New Adult

***Warning!! This review may contain spoilers from the previous title! Continue with caution, you’ve officially been warned!***

To see my review of book #1 – Darkfever – Click HERE

To see my Fancast/Dreamcast of the series – Click HERE

Total Star Rating: 3.75 Stars

You know when you want to give someone a big highfive?

Right in the face?

With a brick?

And repeat it over and over and over?

This was me to Karen Marie Moning after I’d finished this book…Like seriously, I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her yelling: “What the fuck?!?!”

Once again, I was shocked at how utterly absorbed into this series I’d become, but there I was reading this book into the next morning instead of getting a healthy amount of sleep. The Fever series just continues to add more and more mystery and intrigue to make readers literally addicted in wanting to find out what happens next. So many questions, but so few answered right away, but then more and more questions keep popping up and my anxiety can’t take it some of the time. I need to take breaks between these books for my own mental health…you laugh, but I’m actually serious.

This series gets deeper and deeper into the streets of Dublin, Ireland and deeper into whatever plot is going on in order for the Unseelie–the evil fae beings–are concocting in order to take over our world. We’re getting to see a different side of Mac, and her uneasy alliance with mysterious and temperamental bookstore owner, Jericho Barrons, reaches its boiling point at multiple times throughout, but the hunt is still on for that dang ancient and evil book, the Sinsar Dubh, that is the key to either our salvation or extermination…it all depends on who gets their hands on it first!

What It’s About:

So Mac had gone into the Dark Zone, discovered the Lord Master’s hideaway, battled it out with him and Mallucé with Jericho by her side, and the closing scene is her doubling over because that dang book, the Sinsar Dubh, had gotten close enough to have her blackout…

We continue into this next installment where Mac is alive and (not) well, but has a safe place to call her temporary home in Jericho’s bookstore, Barron’s Books and Baubles. That is, until a hoard of those nasty & shapeless Fae monsters called “Shades” somehow break in! Mac almost meets her gruesome end, when low and behold…V’lane, the Seelie Fae Prince, makes a surprise appearance and rescues her. Their….interesting relationships shifts into some new territory–one where maybe he doesn’t try to rape her in the middle of an art museum, but instead maybe they become tense allies, because it’s not like Mac doesn’t have enough of that with her current employer/landlord/co-hunter for Fae artifacts/lust muffin…

The hunt for the powerful and evil book, the Sinsar Dubh, continues with more adventures and tension between Mac and Jericho rise, both regular and sexual, and more players join the game of cat & mouse: we’ve got Dani O’Malley, a young sidh-seer like Mac, who discovers there’s a secret coven of seers who have similar abilities when it comes to dealing with the Fae. We’ve got Rowena, that crazy older lady we’d seen twice in the last book who turns out to be more important than some regular old batshit hag. We’ve also got the Dreamy Eyed Guy who’s shown up enough times to be considered an actual character without knowing his actual name, and we also have Christian Mackeltar, who works at the Ancient Languages Department of Trinity College, and is yet another alpha male that enters Mac’s life that is total eye-candy–with a sexy Scottish accent to boot!

The rest of the plot would reveal some major spoilers, so you’ll have to actually read the book to see what else happens!

What I Liked:

  1. Mac is Turning Into a Total Badass! The pink loving, Elle Woods-esque barbie doll is still inside her, but that era has been hidden behind a dark makeover, along with more of an edge to her usually bubbly demeanor. Tainted with the need for revenge on her sister, Mac continues to grow and become sharper along the edges as she gets closer to Jericho, and delves deeper into the many mysteries surrounding her, even some new ones that come to light within this title. However, she is still a young woman out in the world for the first time ever, and starts to realize she might be better off not trusting anyone, not even those she’s supposedly allied with. That part is probably the most anxiety inducing: when Mac is thinking inside her head and speculating about everyone and what their motives possibly are, how can she survive amongst all the dangerous players in this deadly game?
  2. There’s More Romance This Time! For a paranormal romance genre series, Darkfever didn’t include much romance, which was disappointing, but also made sense in the sense of setting the scene, plus Mac ain’t no chick that will just let some guy just get it. In this next title, there’s an ember that can quickly escalate into an entire raging storm of fire with the tension building between Mac and Jericho. They don’t trust each other, they keep secrets from each other, and nearly come to blows…but beneath all that lies something sensual and filled with complete unadulterated lust.
  3. V’lane (Again)! The Seelie–good guy Fae–Prince continues to make incredibly brief appearances, but they are filled with meaning and importance. V’lane helps Mac out of a dangerous situation early on, and afterwards their relationships shifts a little bit. She still can’t trust him, but he shows her that he is looking out for her well being…so long as it probably serves his own goals and motivations–which we are still not entirely sure about quite yet….more frustrating questions commence!
  4. The Worldbuilding Continues! Not a whole lot is actually added, but I’d say the foundation we were given in the previous book was just enhanced even further. The author continues by adding layers over everything to make it still feel so new and exciting, and creatures we’ve only heard about in passing may or may not make their first appearance!

What I Didn’t Like:

  1. Left with Even More Questions than Answers…We dive way deeper into the series and a whole lot happens, so much that more and more questions keep popping up, and very few actually get answered…It’s so frustrating!? Was Mallucé really a vampire? Who exactly is the Lord Master? What are everyone’s true intentions? What exactly is Jericho?…there’s plenty more where all of those come from, but that would reveal spoilers, so you get my point…

Conclusion:

This series is quickly becoming an addiction to me, curse my co-worker friend, Erika, who turned my attention onto this series! It’s weird, it’s different, and sounds kind of trashy when I try to explain the series to my other friends, but it’s becoming another one I’m incredibly invested in, both emotionally and financially, as in: I will have no hesitation in throwing some dollar bills someone’s way to keep finding these books and sinking my teeth into them!

The story continues at a slightly slower pace with what feels like some filler in there, most of it is Mac trying to organize her thoughts on everything and figure out what everyone else’s game-plan is exactly. It’s actually making me just as anxious and paranoid, and had started giving me some strange dreams…

These books are going to kill me…especially as I looked and there’s going to be, like 11 books total in this whole series.

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell