A Kiss of Shadows (Merry Gentry Book 1)

Synopsis   

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.

Review

I started to read these books as I’d finished the Anita Blake series of books, I really like Laurell as an author, and I really wanted a new series to get into. One thing that I’ll say from the start is this series like the Anita Blake series has a lot of sex in it, it isn’t gratuitous nor is it just sex fluffed out with a minimal story line. So if you’re a bit of a prude or don’t particularly like books with lots of it in, then I wouldn’t recommend reading this series. On the other hand if it doesn’t bother you then what your waiting for.

Merry Gentry is the  Sidhe princess Meredith NiCessus who is on the run from her Aunt Andais Queen of Air & Darkness, who wants her dead. She’s been working as a private investigator in Los Angeles where she’s been hiding for the past 3 years. when her family finally catch up with her, and force her back to the Unseelie court, escorted by the queens darkness Doyle. To Merry’s surprise the Queen wants her to bed as many gorgeous sidhe men as she can, to produce a child and win the throne for herself, but there is a twist to the tail, she is in competition with her sadistic cousin Cel, there is a time limit and the loser could loose their life.

Laurell’s description and characters that feature in the book are great including some extremely handsome, sex starved male warriors. She is one of the best authors for creativity & characterisation and has a very fertile imagination! There are some similarities to Anita Blake and lots that isn’t. This first book is really an introduction to the world of Merry and the Sidhe world she belongs to, there’s some humour and some gross parts but that’s what you’d expect from Laurell’s books. I really like Merry and felt sorry for her that she is mortal in a world of immortals, but this doesn’t stop her.

I like the courts political intrigue and the dark secrets wound through the story, you never know where the next threat will come from. These faeries and the Faery world are so far removed from children’s tails and myths, they are not cute and the book is defiantly not for children!! What I would say to readers who are considering reading this series is to keep an open mind and be aware this is erotic fiction. Also I can’t wait for the next book.

I rate this book