Product Description

Meredith Gentry is a private investigator who specializes in supernatural crime. She has, however, a strange secret. She is in fact a faerie princess in hiding. Her aunt wants her back in the faerie world and the penalty for refusal is death.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53639 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 470 pages

Review
'A wonderful excursion into the magic of desire' Alice Borchardt author of Night of the Wolf; 'As wild as the novel's premise is, memorable characters and wicked wit make it all delicious, ribald fun' Publishers Weekly; 'An edgy story of sex, violence and magic that manages to be both disturbing and entertaining. Highly recommended' Library Journal

From the Back Cover
My name is Meredith Gentry, but of course it's not my real name. I dare not even whisper my true name after dark for fear that one hushed word will travel over the night winds to the soft ear of my aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness. She wants me dead. I don't even know why...

I fled the high court of Faerie three years ago and have been in hiding ever since. As Merry Gentry, I am a private investigator for the Grey Detective Agency: Supernatural Problems, Magical Solutions. My magical skills, scorned at the courts of Faerie, are valued in the human world. Even by human standards, my magic isn't flashy, which is fine by me. Flashy attracts attention and I can't afford that.

Rumour has it that I am dead. Not quite. I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. To speak that name after dark is to call down a knock upon your door from a hand that can kill you with a touch. I have been careful, but not careful enough. The shadows have found me, and they are going to take me back home, one way or another.

So the running is over. But the fighting has just begun...

Rich, sensual, brimming with dangerous magic, A Kiss of Shadows is a dazzling tour-de-force where folklore, fantasy and erotically charged adventure collide.

About the Author
Laurell K. Hamilton
Laurell K. Hamilton is the bestselling author of two Meredith Gentry novels - this one and its sequel, A CARESS OF TWILIGHT - and ten acclaimed Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novels. She lives in a suburb of St Louis with her family.

Customer Reviews

A KISS OF SHADOWS is hot, hot, hot!!!
A KISS OF SHADOWS is the first book in Laurell K. Hamilton's new series on the fey. It features Princess Meredith NicEssus, aka Merry Gentry, a politically-savvy, kick a** heroine. Merry, a mixed-blood, has been hiding in Los Angeles for three years, from her wicked Aunt Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After botching up a case at the Grey Detective Agency where she works, Merry is discovered and forced to go back to the Unseelie court at Cahokia, Illinois, accompanied by Andais's personal Darkness, Doyle. There, Merry discovers that times have changed at the court. The fey grows weak, and the Queen wants Merry to bed some of the most gorgeous sidhe men in the world. In a race for the throne against her sadistic cousin, Cel, Merry has to produce a child within three years. The loser will die...

I think that this book was even better than LKH's Anita Blake series. Why? Well, Ms. Hamilton introduces a bunch of gorgeous sidhe males, like Doyle, Frost, Rhys, Barinthus, Galen, etc. Most of the Ravens (Queen's Guards) lust after Merry badly, since the cruel Queen makes all of them celibate. My personal fave is Prince Cel, Andais's darkly handsome, evil son. I just LUV bad guys in black! However, this book is NOT for kiddies. Meredith seems to have sex or sexual activities with almost every male in the book. All in all, it is definitely much more erotic, much more sensual than the Anita Blake books. Merry is 33, and not shy at all with men in sexual matters, whereas Anita had been initially uncomfortable with her sexual status. Throughout this book, readers get a sense of Merry's growing powers, as the Princess of Flesh (just as Anita's power had grown). I can't wait to read CARESS OF TWILIGHT, the 2nd book in this fascinating series!!!

A brilliant, unputdownable read.
This is the first book by the author I've read. I intend to get as many more as possible. It's a thriller, part fantasy, but grounded in the world as we know it. It is extremely well plotted, in fact it has so many sub-plots going on you occassionally have to turn back a page, to make sure you haven't missed something. It also explores sex and sexuality and its politics and, refreshingly touches on some of the sides of sex that are generally not talked about.
Ms Hamilton also creates really great characters. Given she's already written a series, I do hope she feels another series coming on. Don't miss it.

How long 'till the sequel?
I couldn't put this book down from the moment I started it. I am a massive Anita Blake fan and LKH has now introduced us to a different world and a whole new set of characters in this book. The world is as enthralling as in the Anita Blake series and the characters just as strong. However, this book was obviously just an introduction, and the ending has left me screaming to read the next one....immensly frustrating and unsatisfying as the story only just seems to have started. Also, the book is very focused on sex, sex and yet more sex....something a little different from time to time might have been appreciated, but even so a cracking read.