Product Description

You know me. I am Meredith Gentry, princess and heir apparent to the throne in the realm of Faerie; one-time private investigator in the mortal world. To be crowned queen, I must continue the royal bloodline - I must produce an heir. To fail would allow my aunt, Queen Andais, do what she most desires: to place her twisted son, Cel, upon the throne of Faerie...and kill me. I am surrounded by loyal guards, my best loved - sworn to protect and to love me - yet for all our eager efforts, I remain childless. My sinister Queen and her confederates conspire against me and so my bodyguards and I have slipped back into Los Angeles. But it seems exile is not enough to escape those with dark designs upon us.King Taranis, vainglorious ruler of Faerie's Seelie court, has accused my guards of a heinous crime and asked the mortal authorities to pursue them. If he succeeds, my men will face a hideous fate. I know Taranis' charges are baseless - for his true target is me. He tried to kill me when I was a child. Now I fear his intentions are far more terrifying.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #876948 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 350 pages

Review
Praise for Laurell K. Hamilton
A Kiss of Shadows
"I've never read a writer with a more fertile imagination."
-Diana Gabaldon
A Caress of Twilight
"Sensual, without a doubt . . . This book moves like a whirlwind."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Seduced by Moonlight
"This [faerie] society is one of the most detailed, imaginative, and lovingly drawn in all fantastic fiction, and the Meredith Gentry series has become something special."
-San Jose Mercury News
A Stroke of Midnight
"Nonstop action . . . This book will leave you breathless."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Mistral's Kiss
"Steamy . . . will have Hamilton's fans panting for more."
-Publishers Weekly

From the Inside Flap
You know me. I am Meredith Gentry, princess and heir apparent to the throne in the realm of Faerie. Once I was a private investigator in the mortal world...

You also know my circumstances: to be crowned queen, I must first continue the royal bloodline, and give birth to an heir of my own. And if I fail? Then my aunt, Queen Andais, will be free to do what she most desires: to place her twisted son, Cel, upon the throne of Faerie...and kill me.

I am surrounded by loyal guards, and my best loved - my Darkness and my Killing Frost - are sworn to protect me and to make love to me. Yet for all our eager carnal efforts, I remain childless...while the machinations of my sinister, sadistic Queen and her confederates remain tireless. So my bodyguards and I, hoping to outrun the gathering shadows of court intrigue, have slipped back into Los Angeles. But it seems exile is not enough to escape those with dark designs upon us.

Now King Taranis, powerful and vainglorious ruler of Faerie's Seelie court, has accused my guards of a heinous crime and asked the mortal authorities to prosecute them. If he succeeds, my men face extradition to Faerie - and a hideous fate. But I know Taranis's charges are baseless. His true target is me. He tried to kill me when I was a child. And now I fear his intentions are far more terrifying...

From the Back Cover
Meet Merry Gentry: exotic, decadent, deadly.

Private investigator, princess-in-hiding

Threatened with a fate worse than death, Merry’s on the run – but who’s a friend and who’s the foe?

Princess Merry and her loyal bodyguards flee to LA to escape the malign attentions of the faerie court. She's being pursued by someone who tried to kill her once before and whose intentions are now far more terrifying…

A Lick of Frost will make you shiver with pleasure.

Customer Reviews

Frosty receptions
A shred of plot returns to Merryville in the sixth book, after five books of Laurell K. Hamilton's boring sex and amazing fairy superpowers.

But unfortunately "A Lick of Frost" still has little substance to make it a really enjoyable book -- for every page of plot, there are five of Sparkly Super Merry, and rambling discussions about sex, relationships, and all the men who want to have sex with the heroine.

Merry and three of her guards are in a lawyer's office, squabbling about whether some of her OTHER guards could have raped a Seelie woman. Hamilton, of course, takes the time to lecture the world on how they should see sex. But things deteriorate when the lawyers contact King Taranis of the Seelie Court, to determine if he has cause to lie. Taranis goes berserk, leaving one of Merry's guards severely wounded, and possibly disfigured.

In the meantime, Merry finds that the Seelie nobles are sufficiently impressed by her sparkly goddess powers that they might be willing to dethrone Taranis, and make her queen. That doesn't sit too well with Merry's aunt Andais -- and dear Uncle Taranis, who is creepily interested in Merry's magic nethers, is still waiting in the wings. What's more, Merry's claim to the Unseelie Throne might just become a reality.

It must be admitted, "A Lick of Frost" is way above the all-sex-no-plot books that preceded it. Hamilton really seems to be trying to tone down the sex, and emphasize political machinations and plotting. Too bad it still reads like a personal fantasy, although more about becoming Queen of the Universe than orgies.

Part of this is because the political situations are staggeringly dull, and very simple. Additionally, most of the book is a mass of legal wrangling, sex negotiations, and familial squabbling on the magic mirror. The whole rape plotline is explored and then dropped without resolution. And a major turning point in the series -- Merry's potential pregnancy -- is turning into a melodramatic farce, complete with meiotic impossibilities that are explained away with "oh, it's magic." Sorry, not good enough.

And in the meantime, many of Hamilton's biggest faults are firmly in place. Rambling dialogue, religious bigotry, child-men, and endless miles of multicoloured hair and designer clothes. One character's rippling flamelike hair is even even described in the middle of explosive emergencies -- you'd think Merry would be more concerned with not being killed than with an acquaintance's highlights.

Then again, that attitude fits the main character. Merry remains a bland Mary Sue without much motivation for anything she does, except to tell us that sexual restraint is bad, that she loves all her boytoys, and to ruminate endlessly on sex, love, sex, high-heels, and her own self-conscious angst about her sparkly magic powers.

Of course, this doesn't prevent every man in the world from wanting magic sex with her -- Taranis, the Redcaps, Cel, the goblins, the lawyers. Her assorted boytoys are only slightly thinner than the book's individual pages, with the exception of the tragic Frost. He alone gets some fleshing out, complete with a sorrowful history and fate, rendered in the most inspired, delicate prose Hamilton has written in ages.

Though it has some sweet moments, "Lick of Frost" is bogged down by poorly-written politics and relationship angst. Try again, Ms. Hamilton.

Bravo Laurell!!!
I loved it. I made the mistake of starting to read it late at night, and ended up staying awake until I finished it - just over 3 hours of racing reading because I wanted to know what was going to happen.

The plotline has steamed along, the characters are expanding and growing and the magic is still magic - bravo Laurell!

YES!! LKH wrote an actual book again
I've always liked the Merry series but had become quite tired of LKH never moving the plot ahead and the book-length 0rgies. Well - she finally wrote something....and it was good! In Lick of Frost we see Merry and her lovrs advance the plot, have real character growth and real emotion. What a relief!! I encourage failing fans to read this one and renew your faith in LKH as an author.