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![A Kiss Of Shadows: (Merry Gentry 1) (A Merry Gentry Novel) by [Laurell K. Hamilton]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Gi2haRWQL._SY346_.jpg)
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A Kiss Of Shadows: (Merry Gentry 1) (A Merry Gentry Novel) Kindle Edition
Laurell K. Hamilton
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Product description
Book Description
From the Inside Flap
Meredith Gentry, Princess of the high court of Faerie, is posing as a human in Los Angeles, living as a P.I. specializing in supernatural crime. But now the Queen's assassin has been dispatched to fetch her back-whether she likes it or not. Suddenly Meredith finds herself a pawn in her dreaded aunt's plans. The job that awaits her: enjoy the constant company of the most beautiful immortal men in the world. The reward: the crown-and the opportunity to continue to live. The penalty for failure: death.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Twenty-three stories up and all I could see out the window was grey smog. They could call it the City of Angels if they wanted to, but if there were angels out there, they had to be flying blind.
Los Angeles is a place where people, those with wings and without, come to hide. Hide from others, hide from themselves. I'd come to hide and I'd succeeded, but staring out at the thick, dirty air, I wanted to go home. Home where the air was blue most of the time and you didn't have to water the ground to get grass to grow. Home was Cahokia, Illinois, but I couldn't go back because they'd kill me if I did, my relatives and their allies. Everyone wants to grow up to be a faerie princess. Trust me. It's overrated.
There was a knock on the office door. It opened before I could say anything. My boss, Jeremy Grey, stood framed in the doorway. He was a short, grey man, four feet eleven inches, an inch shorter than me. He was grey from his dark Armani suit to his button-up shirt and silk tie. Only his shoes were black and shiny. Even his skin was a pale uniform grey. Not from illness or age. No, he was a trow in the prime of life, just a little over four hundred. There were some lines around his eyes, along the thin mouth, that made him appear mature, but he'd never be old. Without the aid of mortal blood and a pretty serious spell, Jeremy might live forever. Theoretically. Scientists say that in about five billion years the sun will expand and engulf the Earth. The fey won't survive that. They will die. Does five billion years count as forever? I don't think so. Though it's close enough to make the rest of us envious.
I leaned my back against the windows and the thick, hanging smog. The day was as grey as my boss, but his color was a cool, crisp grey, like clouds before a spring rain. What lay outside the window felt heavy and thick like something you would try to swallow, but you'd never get it down. It was a day to choke on, or maybe it was just my mood.
"You look gloomy, Merry," Jeremy said. "What's wrong?" He closed the door behind him, making sure it shut. Privacy, he was giving us privacy. Maybe it was for my benefit, but somehow I didn't think so. There was a tightness around his eyes, a set to his thin, well-tailored shoulders that said I wasn't the only one in a bad mood today. Maybe it was the weather or the lack of it. A good rain shower or even a good wind would have cleared out the smog and let the city breathe again.
"Homesick," I said. "What's wrong, Jeremy?"
He gave a small smile. "Can't fool you, can I, Merry?"
"No," I said.
"Nice outfit," he said.
I knew I looked hot when Jeremy complimented my clothes. He always looked impeccable even in jeans and T-shirt, which he only wore if he absolutely had to be undercover. I'd seen Jeremy do a three-minute mile in Gucci loafers once, chasing a suspect. Of course, it helped that his dexterity and speed were more than human. When I thought I might have to actually chase someone, a rare occasion, I got out the jogging shoes and left the high heels at home.
Jeremy put into his eyes that look a man gives you when he's appreciating the view. It wasn't personal, but among the fey it's an insult to ignore someone who's obviously trying to be attractive, a slap in the face telling them that they'd failed. Apparently, I hadn't failed. I'd woken up to the smog and dressed brighter than normal to try and cheer myself up. Royal blue suit jacket, double-breasted, silver buttons, a matching blue pleated skirt that was so short, it was only a fringe across my thighs underneath the jacket. The outfit was short enough that if I crossed my legs wrong, I'd flash the tops of my black thigh-highs. Two-inch patent leather high heels helped show off the legs. When you're as short as I am, you've got to do something to make your legs look long. Most days the heels were three inches.
My hair was a deep rich red in the reflections of the mirrors. A color more red than auburn, a color that had black highlights instead of the usual brown that most redheads had. It was as if someone had taken dark red rubies and spun them out into hair. It was a very popular color this year. Blood auburn it was called in the high court of the fey royalty. Faerie Red, Sidhe Scarlet, if you went to a good salon. It was actually my natural color. Until it became popular this year and they finally got the shade right, I'd had to hide my true color. I'd gone for black, because it looked more natural than human red with my skin tone. A lot of people getting the dye job made the mistake of thinking that Sidhe Scarlet complements a natural redhead's coloring. It doesn't. It's the only true red color I know of that matches a pale, pure white skin tone. It's the red hair for someone who looks great in black, true reds, royal blues.
The only things I still had to hide were the vibrant green and gold of my eyes and the luminosity of my skin. I used dark brown contacts for the eyes.
My skin-that I had to tone down using glamour, magic. Just a steady concentration like music in the back of my head, to never let down my guard and start to glow. Humans don't actually glow, no matter how luminous they may be. No glowing, which was why the contacts covered my eyes. I also wove a spell around myself like a long familiar coat, an illusion that I was just a human with lesser fey blood in my background who had some psychic and mystical abilities that made me a really excellent detective, but nothing too special.
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.Review
"One of the most inventive and exciting writers in the paranormal field."--Charlaine Harris "Sexy . . . Merry's adventures are engaging and keep the reader turning the pages."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Stunning . . . steamy . . . an exciting and original world."--San Jose Mercury News
"I've never read a writer with a more fertile imagination."--Diana Gabaldon --This text refers to the mass_market edition.
About the Author
From the Back Cover
Meredith Gentry, Princess of the high court of Faerie, is posing as a human in Los Angeles, living as a P.I. specializing in supernatural crime. But now the Queen's assassin has been dispatched to fetch her back-whether she likes it or not. Suddenly Meredith finds herself a pawn in her dreaded aunt's plans. The job that awaits her: enjoy the constant company of the most beautiful immortal men in the world. The reward: the crown-and the opportunity to continue to live. The penalty for failure: death.
--This text refers to the mass_market edition.
Product details
- ASIN : B003D87PMW
- Publisher : Transworld Digital (20 March 2010)
- Language : English
- File size : 1097 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 481 pages
-
Best Sellers Rank:
105,579 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 2,570 in Sword & Sorcery Fantasy (Books)
- 4,535 in Erotic Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 4,866 in Military Fantasy (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from Australia
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As for the story line ...read a sample and trust you will enjoy
Top reviews from other countries

I don't think i'll carrying this series on, but i still think Hamilton is a genius writer... Anita Blake is the best book series i've ever read and that will never change for me!

Once it got going the story is well written and captures your attention and imagination. The character are clever and believable. Merry is a good protagonist, likeable, nice without being weak or naive. The other far characters all are different enough to stand out in the mind. The action, mainly combat or political manoeuvring is well timed and we'll written. All in all I really enjoyed this, once I got into it.

Merry or Meredith is in hiding from the Unseelie Queen Andais after running away from the Court where she had been subjected to countless assassinations. She is also a Sidhe Princess in her own right.
She is now working as a sort of P.I. When two women come into the office to say they had both been abused by the same man...and violently too, something starts to worry Merry. The women by the way are the mans Wife and his Mistress who have banded together to get him caught out.
Merry gets herself wired up and then goes to meet the man. She soons finds herself in his bedroom where he produces a bottle of oil...........this is no ordinary oil, it is magical oil and has been pinched from The Queen herself. Soon Merry is at the mans mercy and it is only when she looks into a mirror above the bed that she sees a phantom figure. She yells for help and suddenly a spider drops onto the man then more and more of them appear. Eventually all that is left of him is a pulped mess. Merry is still covered with the magical oil so anyone that touches her will want to bed her. She must get the oil off before the consequences become dire. Someone evidently wants Merry very dead.
She also comes into her powers when the hags attack her and she turns one of them inside out......she can't die so if Merry didn't hack her to death she would be forever trapped inside out......Merry finally hacks what is left of the hag to death.
When she gets an invitation to the Unseelie Court, she is first frightened then eager to find out what Andais wants from her.
She is incredibly surprised when the Queen tells her what it is she will do if Merry gets pregnant by one of the Court Ravens or Body Guards. Up until this point, all the Ravens have been under a Geas to not have sex with anyone. Now the Geas is lifted but only Merry can sleep with the Ravens or Body Guards. The race is now on to see who can produce an heir first, Andais's son Cel or Merry herself. She also is having to dodge Court assassins all the time with the help of 'The Queen's Darkness' and others of his kind.
This certainly isn't a children's book as there is sex in abundance.........if Merry was human I'd say she was a tart but as she is part of the Unseelie then sleeping with loads of men doesn't qualify her for that title. She has also made a treaty with the Goblins and now has little Keelin to look after as well.
Well written and thoroughly enjoyable. I have just bought book 2.


The research is excellent, court intrigue completely intoxicating, the men, incredible, and the kingdom beautifully crafted.
Simply 10/10 writing from an incredible author