NUMBER: 74TITLE: A Kiss of Shadows
AUTHOR: Laurell K. Hamilton
STARTED: October 27, 2005
FINISHED: November 3, 2005
PAGES: 468
GENRE: Romance
FIRST SENTENCE: Twenty-three stories up and all I could see out the windows was grey smog.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Here, the world is populated with various magical faerie races along with humans. The most supreme of the fey are the immortal sidhe, so beautiful and powerful they were once worshiped as gods. The fey are not only lusty but incredibly accomplished lovers; those of the royal sidhe bloodline are literally addictively sexy. Full-blooded fey are, for the most part, intolerant of cities, metal and technology. They seldom live for long among humans. Mixed-blood Princess Meredith NicEssus, however, has fled the faerie world to pass for three years as Merry Gentry, a human with some fey blood who works in Los Angeles with a detective agency that specializes in supernatural problems and magical solutions. Suddenly outed as the missing princess and fearing that her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, will kill her, she makes a desperate run aided by her detective pals. The queen does want her, but not in the way Merry expects. Ultimately, Meredith must fulfill the queen's designs for the future of her court, even if it means having to bed the most beautiful studs in the universe. Through constant danger and adventure, Meredith finds herself in a variety of sexual encounters that make it easy to see why her ancestors were so worthy of worship.
REASON FOR READING: Beth (one of my roomies) has been screaming at me to read it for weeks.
THOUGHTS: I was not enthralled with it until the end. In fact, I was bored by it. I thought the world was amazing and the characters interesting, but I was not wowed. Beth kept on telling me it was a fantastic book, but just wasn't seeing it. I can't say why I disliked the first 300 pages, I just did.
The ending, however, gives me hopes for the series. I finally became caught up in the characters and the story. The scene in the bathroom only helped matters.
But, and this is big thing for me, the rest of the series still leaves me worried. I don't like the idea of the male harem. For some reason it disturbs me.
MISCELLANEOUS: I won't buy the rest of the series, but I know Beth will. I will read them on her dime. Or, barring that, PBS them.
KEEP/SHARE/CRINGE(?): It's going back to Beth.
RATING: 5/10 [I didn't particularly like it or dislike it; mixed review]
CR: The Elements of Dramatism by David Blakesley
RN: Sweet Release by Pamela Clare
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