Product Description

I am Meredith Gentry, PI and Princess Merry, heir to the throne of Fairie. I have departed the safe haven of Los Angeles to face the peril and deception of my first home, the Unseelie court. There, my enemies are many, and my guards may not be able to protect me from the treachery of the unseen foes that will stop at nothing to keep me from the throne. As for my quest to produce an heir and thereby save myself and all that is faerie from utter destruction - well, I am still trying. As pregnancy becomes ever more urgent, I must leave the protected beds of the Queen's Ravens and lie with other men, men whose designs and allegiances remain in question. And a night of delirious passion will transport me and my new lovers to another place, the mysterious dead gardens - an event that portends great unrest in the forces of magic. In order to save myself and those I love, I must walk into the very mouth of danger, and visit the Goblins in their lair - as well as the cunning King Taranis himself, who has an astonishing proposal for me. For I alone hold the power to rescue the universe, even if it requires aligning with my greatest and most dangerous of adversaries. But I'm running out of time...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31752 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

From the Back Cover
I am Meredith Gentry, PI. Others know me as Princess Meredith, heir to the darkest throne faerie has to offer. But at what price? To inherit a court that has ruled through bloodshed and violence for centuries, must I really become that which I dread most?

Enemies watch my every move. From his prison cell, my cousin strives to be rid of me while some amongst the Unseelie await the downfall of my aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness. And unforeseen others bide their time, poised to strike.

Such is the unease we feel that for the first time in our history we must allow human police into the world of faerie. And I confess I am in need of allies now more than ever – especially since fate will lead me into the arms of Mistral, Master of Storms and the new captain of the queen’s guard. Our desire will reawaken powers long forgotten among the warriors of the sidhe. Pain and pleasure await me. And danger too, but we are all running out of time…

So reader beware, for herein lies the twilight world of Meredith Gentry, where the erotic and the exotic, the decadent and the deadly come together.

Don’t miss first three Merry Gentry novels:
A KISS OF SHADOWS, A CARESS OF TWILIGHT and SEDUCED BY MOONLIGHT

About the Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is the New York Times bestselling author of the Meredith Gentry novels, A Kiss of Shadows, A Caress of Twilight and Seduced by Moonlight, which are also published by Bantam Books, as well as the acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novels. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Visit her official website at: www.laurellkhamilton.org

Customer Reviews

Trashy Faerie Fun
What can you say about Laurell K Hamilton that hasn't already been said? Yes, "A Stroke of Midnight" is full of graphic, gratuitous sex and yes, the plot crawls along to a rather unsatisfying climax (no pun intended) but in my opinion, the Merry Gentry novels are better than the recent Anita Blake efforts.

For one thing, there is a definite story arc here, whereas the last two of three Anita books have just gone through the motions, shoving a little plot where it'll fit around all the turgid bedroom scenes. Merry is still trying to get pregnant and her twisted cousin Cel is nearing the end of his imprisonment. Plot threads that began in earlier books are continued and expanded, and Hamilton has created a delicious world of faery magic and politics that will obviously continue to develop into the next book.

Secondly, the sex actually serves a purpose in the Merry Gentry novels. Whilst Anita becomes more of a Mary Sue/author surrogate with every man she beds, Merry must get pregnant to keep her life and save the lives of those she loves. Every time Merry does the nasty with another impossibly beautiful fey man, old magic is restored to the men and the sithen. Having said that, the sex scenes are far too long and a lot of the time they seem like filler rather than plot advancement.

Thirdly, Merry is a far more sympathetic character than Anita. She gets ahead by caring, first and foremost, and she wins more and more fey to her side in this book by being compassionate and willing to take risks for her people.

If you've read the first three books in this series, this one if worth picking up. I don't recommend it as a starting point for newcomers to either Merry or Hamilton; there's far too much you already need to know to understand the complex storylines. Overall, it's trashy fun and fills a few hours, which is really all I expect from this series.

Faith is restored!!
I read this book in less than three hours! I think that says it all really. I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!!!!! After the last book Hamilton put out I was a bit disillusioned with her writing but with Stroke of Midnight a lot of that faith was restored.

For once there seemed to be just the right mix of plot, sex, violence which is a refreshing change. In this book we learn a lot more about the court politics and the history of the fey which fascinated me. If you have not read any books by Laurell then this series would be an excellent one to start with. However I would advise to read them in order.

This book takes place in the unseelie sithen, unfortunately we don't go to the Seelie court or the Goblin court. In fact this entire book takes place over a day, we see a lot more of Queen Andais, showing another side of her, that although she is sadistic and mad she cares what happens to her court. There is also a mention of Cel and it becomes even clearer that he must not win the race to the thrown. From start to finish this book held my interest, it was almost like a race to get to the end of each page because I wanted to know what was going to happen next!

I cant recommend this book enough, if you were disappointed with Incubus dreams, as I was, then take heart, this is in a whole other league! The only down side is that now I have to wait for possible two years for another Merry Gentry book!

Erotic fun...
As with all her novels this is full of erotica but alas this time somewhat to the detriment of the storyline. The sex scenes are overly long which means that the plot is slow developing.
Good light fun and an easy book to read but sadly no more than that.