[A Caress of Twilight] [by: Laurell K Hamilton]

Merry Gentry #2

by Laurell K. Hamilton

“I am Princess Meredith, heir to a throne—if I can stay alive long enough to claim it.”After eluding relentless assassination attempts by Prince Cel, her cousin and rival for the Faerie crown, Meredith Gentry, Los Angeles private eye, has a whole new set of problems. To become queen, she must bear a child before Cel can father one of his own. But havoc lies on the people are dying in mysterious, frightening ways, and suddenly the very existence of the place known as Faerie is at grave risk. So now, while she enjoys the greatest pleasures of her life attempting to conceive a baby with the warriors of her royal guard, she must fend off an ancient evil that could destroy the very fabric of reality. And that’s just her day job. . . .

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Fae, Fiction

Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

About the author

Laurell K. Hamilton is one of the leading writers of paranormal fiction. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Hamilton writes the popular Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels and the Meredith Gentry series. She is also the creator of a bestselling comic book series based on her Anita Blake novels and published by Marvel Comics. Hamilton is a full-time writer and lives in the suburbs of St. Louis with her family.

Reviews

[Emily Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A confession: When I tell you thatI'm doing something really interesting and intellectual (reading theory, writing something new, learning to cook Indian food), I'm probably lying. (Most of time.) What I am actually doing is reading one of these horrible books and eating pretzels, periodically cajoling Mark into bringing me drinks. This book, and the other five books in the series, are HORRIBLE. Really, really bad.

I love them.

Here's the story so far: Fabulous faerie princess Merry, despite being fabulous and awesome and great and having the biggest boobs in the kingdom (not a joke), is hated by lots of other nasty faeries. Despite this key fact, her aunt, the Dark Queen of Faeries, says that she, Merry, can be queen if she can get pregnant. Merry is then given the exclusive right to have lots and lots and lots of unprotected, hot and dirty magical sex with the formerly celibate royal guard, all of whom fall in love with her and her fancy magic boobies. In each book, she gains an amazing new magic power, bangs another unbelievably gorgeous man or six, and reels giddily off to another exciting adventure, still unimpregnated.

Did I mentiont that she's also a private detective? She is.

And the thing of it is, I'm not alone. These craptastic gothic wank-rags routinely top the New York Times bestseller list. They are hugely popular. The next one comes out in October. I've already pre-ordered it.

[Jilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh....
There are good and bad sides to being a very thorough and articulate writer. The good side is how very detailed the fictional creatures are. It is easy to get a good mental image on all of the amazing fae creatures that are described in the books. And, they are really intriguing.

But, the bad side is how detailed inconsequential things can be written. Such as a simple conversation that lasts for page after page. And, that's what happens here. Merry and her men talk with some guards outside a house, just trying to gain entry for so many pages in this book that it could be its own novel: "Merry Longtalking's Incredible Journey into the House." And, that is just one example of the page-filling that went on and on and on and on and.... oh, you get the point.

On the whole, not a lot happened in this book. It feels like a filler-book where the author desperately tried to draw things out by filling the pages with endless descriptions or conversations. But, having a filler-book at book number two is kind of a problem for me. I am not invested enough to continue reading a series when I don't like the second book. I'll pass.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who released Nameless and the Old Gods? Is it the same person?

We finally meet Conchenn, a huge diva and oddly lovable because of that.

People are dying at mysterious ways and wild magic seems to be the cause. But what is the purpose behind the attacks?

Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, ruler of the Seelie Court is the bigger asshole than the sadistic Queen of the Unseelie Court. Both Taranis and Cel are mad and infertile. Is there some kind of connection between that or just pure coincidence?

One thing I am not particularly fond of is the fact this all happens in a small period of time (the entire series, actually). While the author goes in the great detail at all scenes, I'd like it to be more of a pause.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Caress of Twilight

by Laurell K. Hamilton

Ballantine, 326 pages, hardback, 2002



I have to confess that, the last time I tried to read one of Ms Hamilton's many novels, I got about halfway through and then threw it across the room. The book in question was called Narcissus in Chains, and was the umpteenth volume featuring Ms Hamilton's series heroine Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. I had fought my way through about two hundred pages of badly written soft porn (I have no aversion at all to well written soft porn) and had come to a section where various of the loathsome characters were discussing the genital endowment of a particular historical vampire. This vampire, we were told salivatingly, had been the possessor of a penis so doughty that his erection was a full six inches thick.


That's right: thick. Not six inches long. Not even six inches in circumference. But thick.


This reviewer did not, as might have so many other men, rush straight to the nearest mirror to gaze at and weep over his own deficiencies. He did not even accidentally turn the ruler to the centimetre side while frantically checking. Instead he threw the book across the room and then, remembering the principles of academic rigour, asked a couple of congenital experts on matters penile if such a weapon might be of any practicable use other than being waved around proudly to impress the rest of the guys
in the locker room.


Gentle reader, they laughed so hard I wondered if I should call an ambulance. And the book stayed thrown.


A Caress of Twilight is not about Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. It is the second in a series of novels about Meredith Gentry, a princess of Fairyland who is also a private detective in our own world, it being the rather charming conceit of this series that the USA has offered a home to refugees from the Realm of Faerie. Meredith -- "Merry" -- is somewhat of a
fugitive from the politics of the royal courts of Fairyland, some of whom wish to murder her and with others of whom she maintains at best a relationship of mutual distrust, powerbroking chessplay and hostile alliance. She is guarded by a bunch of other elementals, all male and all of them possessed of six-inch . . .


Well, no, not quite. At the start of the book, Merry has just finished a threesome with two of the guards, and as the tale -- such as it is -- progresses she samples the rest of them, in each instance for several drooling pages. Two prove to be endowed with members of such enormity that, while not six inches thick (oddly, Ms Hamilton gives no precise dimensions
concerning such important attributes, neither in US Customary units nor in metric), our heroine has, to use technical phraseology, some considerable difficulty cramming the damn' things in.


Now, I wouldn't want to give the impression that this book is nothing but nonstop writhing. There's a plot as well. It's rather problematic to remember what the plot actually is, because it appears only intermittently among the couplings, among lengthy and tedious character descriptions, and among interminable scried conversations with various royals that seem to have little point except to show what complete bastards they all are except our Merry -- who might well be just as much a bastard if she could ever stay upright long enough, but that's only a wild speculation on this reviewer's part, you understand.


Lemme think, now. The plot has to do with a criminal investigation that Merry and her studs are attempting to carry out. There's this ex-goddess of Fairyland who decided years ago to come to Hollywood and be a screen goddess in the human world instead. Someone's out to get her. Someone's also mass-murdering people in all directions, and the police -- one of whom, the lieutenant in charge of the case, is really, really stupid and
doesn't think Merry and her pals will be at all helpful, whereas we wise readers know of course that she's the only hope -- the police, as I say, are getting nowhere. The screen goddess wants to have a baby by her mortal husband, but he's at death's door so Merry and one of her gang have to do some detailed proxy banging for the luckless couple. Someone in Fairyland has let loose an ancient terror which is responsible for all the bad
things that are going on.


Case solved, out with the measuring tape and back to the fun.


Merry is not the only fun- and dimension-lovin' female in the book's cast, although she's the only one whose fun is described in gratuitous detail. Here's a sample of one of the others being unusually subtle:

"I also never thought you'd be so blessed down below." [The Queen] sounded wistful now, like a child who hadn't gotten what she wanted for her birthday. "I mean, you are descended from dogs and phoukas, and they are not much in that way."


"Most phoukas have more than one shape, my Queen."


"Dog and horse, sometimes eagle, yes, I know all about that. What does that have to do . . ." She stopped in mid-sentence, and a smile crooked at the edges of her lipsticked mouth. "Are you saying that your grandfather could turn into a horse as well as a dog?"


He spoke softly. "Yes, my Queen."

That's in fact one of the better-written parts of the book; elsewhere we find such delights as "He had managed to keep just enough cover over his groin so that he was covered", to isolate just one. Late in the book we encounter the minor character Bucca, who is supposedly Cornish; in order to prove that he's Cornish his speech is rendered in dialect that veers excitingly between Irish, Scottish, Yorkshire/Lancashire and who knows what
else. And so on.


There are also, unless this reader is being even stupider than usual, some puzzling inconsistencies. To select a single example, on page 25 we're clearly told that the penalty for a Raven (a member of the Queen's personal guards) who touches -- I assume this is a euphemism -- any woman other than
the Queen is death by torture, yet this is clearly forgotten later on when there is no thought of making it secret from the Queen that our Merry discriminates not one whit against the Raven seconded to her personal entourage.


As stated at the outset, this reviewer has no particular prejudice against reading soft porn (so long as it's well or at least competently written). There is a point of unease, however, when one begins to sense -- probably completely incorrectly -- that a text has teetered from consciously created erotica (or attempted erotica) into the writer's personal masturbatory fantasies. Within fantasy, one strikes that point frequently when reading some of Anne Rice's early, pseudonymous, overtly erotic novels, such as her Sleeping Beauty sadomasochistic cycle;
one runs smack into it as into a brick wall in the works of John Norman; and one encounters it again here. It is almost certainly, as noted, a misleading sense, but that doesn't make the reading experience any more pleasurable: one squirms not with lasciviousness nor even a delectable feeling of minor guilt, but with sheer embarrassment, as if a stranger had just asked you to fumble through their used underwear.


What, leaving such considerations aside, of the status of A Caress of Shadows as a straightforward fantasy? Well, of course, there's not much room for yer actual non-erotic fantasy in among all the rest, and most of what there is is pretty mundane stuff: you've read these imaginings many times before, drawn as they are from the genre-fantasy writers' common
stockpot. That initial conceit, however -- that the denizens of Faerie are the new refugees in an alternate-reality USA -- is genuinely a pleasing one. It's a great pity the rest of the book can't live up to it.


But then that is perhaps not the purpose of Ms Hamilton or her publishers.





This review, first published by Infinity Plus, is excerpted from my ebook Warm Words and Otherwise: A Blizzard of Book Reviews, to be published on September 19 by Infinity Plus Ebooks.
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[★Tinja★✮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a little less than the first one. The ending was pretty fantastic though!

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously, I disliked the first one enough that I had to immediately read the second! ;) These are light, fluffy, and fun reads, albeit full of dark subject matter.

[CS · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Quit drawing out the story"

Merry Gentry is Princess of the Unseelie Court and co-heir to the throne--if she can get pregnant. Which she and her harem of interchangeable men are trying very hard to accomplish.

One fine day at the Detective Agency that Merry works (despite being royalty that attracts paparazzi easier than a bald Britney Spears), a man enters. After lots of hemming and hawing--a standard LKH practice to pad out the story and make her MC look supa amazing--Merry finds out the guy is representing Maeve Reeds, a Faerie super star who was banished from the courts 100 years ago.

One chapter is dedicated to Merry and her men driving to Maeve's house. (I would have thought that by going to her house, they had already decided to talk to her, but what do I know.)

Two chapters are dedicated to Merry and her men arguing with Maeve's bodyguards to be let in.

One chapter is dedicated to Merry and her men entering the house, meeting Maeve, who runs off to the backyard.

Another couple of chapters pass before Merry finally nails Maeve to the floor (figuratively), and they FINALLY talk about the whole point of Maeve's request. What is this request? Maeve wants children; problem is, her husband is dying. Also, Maeve believes the Seelie infertility is due to King Taranis' own infertility.

"It was dark by the time we arrived back to my apartment." Well, after how long it took to freakin' get INTO THE HOUSE and how much time you wasted tip-toeing around Maeve, I'm somehow not surprised. Actually, no, I am surprised: how did you get home IN THE SAME DAY?

Most of the actual solution to the mystery involves Merry turning to one of her guards and asking questions. Some of the questions include:

"What does that mean?"

"Are you saying...?"

"What?"

"Why?"

"How?"

I think Merry really should switch fields. She'd make a good investigative reporter.

But the job with Maeve takes a backseat. Merry and Doyle finally get their freak on--and fade-to-black. Yes, in a supposed erotica book, we get a fade-to-black between two of the characters. Lemme tell you, I wasn't happy. In fact, I was so surprised/shocked/horrified, that I checked with a print copy to make sure I hadn't somehow gotten a hold of an abridged audiobook.

In between lots and lots of flirtation, talking about her love with all her men, Merry has a few other things on her mind: repairing Galan's junk, having sex with a butterfly-like man, Sage (at least, I pictured him as a butterfly), arguing with her mother (whom she hates, of course), arguing with Nicoden, arguing with Rosmerta, arguing with a guy named Hedwig, arguing with King Taranis...actually, if there is someone Merry can argue with in this book, she does it.

FINALLY, after what seems like forever, Merry does end up doing something about Maeve's infertility (which produces the most AMAZING quote EVAH: "More sex. We must have more sex"). And she and her Deus Ex Machina bodyguards find the solution to a bunch of murders that abruptly appear halfway through the novel. Oh, and Merry and her men level up.

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Gratuitous cute cat image.

I'm really disappointed in this book for quite a few reasons:

1) For an erotica book, there is a severe lack of sex. There are maybe three sex scenes in this book--maybe. One sex scene is fade-to-black. Even Auel's "Plains of Passage", a historical fiction novel, had more sex than this book.

2) The sex scenes aren't sexy. If reading/hearing "spilling power" makes you all tingly, these are your books; otherwise, they are going to have you bored.

3) There is a ton of time wasting. It's like LKH knew she didn't have much of a story and included her characters arguing a lot to make up for the lack of pages. One of the more ridiculous cases is the beginning. The beginning interview with Maeve takes up a good half dozen chapters, which amounts to a couple of hours listening time. If there had been actual content to back up this usage, then maybe I wouldn't complain. But when Merry argues with her boys for a chapter over what they are going to do now that they are at Maeve's house, I can't see it as anything more than shameless padding.

4) The murders don't occur until about halfway through the book. How can you solve a mystery in half a book? And not make the solution sound cheap?

5) Merry's men know everything. Merry figures out who the murderer is by asking one of her men, who conveniently knows about the Elder Man. This is a guardsman she is talking to; not that he wouldn't know, but half the fun with the mystery is INVESTIGATING, not having solutions fall into the character's lap.

6) Merry comes off as an idiot. Merry will waste time by asking for clarification on the smallest things. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed; I've been called "gullible" and "dense" before. And yet *I* could figure out what was being said easier than Merry.

7) Political machinations r coolz. Well, they would be if they weren't intertwined with the 1 billion needless conversations that pad out this book.

8) Interchangeable men. There is little distinction between the men. Not that I exactly blame LKH: when you have 6 men, it's pretty hard to make each one a different unique character. So most of them are identifiable (if that) by one trait:
Galen -> Green eunuch *snipsnip*
Doyle -> Queen's "Darkness"
Frost -> Eyepatch
Nicca -> Long hair????
Kitto -> Small, childish, creepy goblin
Rhys -> Uhhhhhh...

9)

There are a few things that make this feel less like a sexy, erotica novel and more like the wet dreams of a 13 year old girl. The super long hair of the men. How every one is ripped and has a perfect body. Instead of reading this and being turned on, I feel like I'm walking in on...something...that...well...I think you get my point.

10) Show not Tell. Hand in hand with pretty much every point on this list is the "Show not tell" rule. In fact, if LKH had employed "Show not tell" more, I'll bet I wouldn't have 75% of the complaints. Because you can cut down on conversations, characters knowing things conveniently, etc. if you have your character DOING something, instead of sitting around talking about it.

11. Clothes porn. As with the Anita Blake series, the story stops to update the reader on what everyone is wearing. Apparently, this also includes hair and makeup now, because, in the beginning, we get a long explanation of what sort of makeup Merry is wearing :P

And because that has been a lot of negativity, let me tell you some things I DID like:

1) Merry is a much more likable character than Anita. She is still painfully similar to AB, but there were some significant differences. Merry isn't ashamed of sex; in fact, she enjoys it. She comes off commanding and powerful instead of b!tchy and belligerent. And I feel she has more respect for her clients and people around her, which in turn makes me respect her more.

2) Faerie. While the political machinations were tedious this time around, I am still impressed with how unique and varied they are. And I think, for the most part, they seem to be consistent and make sense.

While I am hugely disappointed in this particular entry, I am not abandoning Merry. She's a pretty decent character and the land of Faerie is pretty interesting. And I need to read that tentacle sex scene!

[Ayca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seri benim için burada bitti.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second book: still trashy bordering on decadent, still packed with flowery prose, still moving at a snails pace. I think the whole book moved ahead about five days.

Some of it I liked. Hamilton comes up with some beautiful descriptions, and the confrontations can be pretty satisfying (Meredith's mirror-argument with her bitch of a mother is a great example.)

But good God, things can get tedious. In the first book I thought it was the endless descriptions that were slowing things down. We've still got that here, but now it's the arguments. Everybody has to constantly DEBATE things. Meet a new person, get into an argument. Find some new information, get into an argument. It's as if Hamilton has exactly one tool for plot development, and that's to have the characters argue until the reader understands what's happening and wishes everyone would move the heck on.

The book also could have used a good editor to point out some overused phrases. Hamilton falls in love with the accusation "..and well you know it!" around the middle of the book, and uses about three times a chapter. And people are always giving someone "an unfriendly look", or they're all "exchanging looks". It got to the point where I would imagine everyone carrying around a sack of tokens labeled "looks", which they would trade back and forth during awkward pauses.

The worst part was how Hamilton handled the ending. We're at the climactic battle...and it's cleared up in a chapter. No, wait, it's cleared up in the space between two paragraphs. One minute we're in the aftermath, and then all of a sudden it's sum-it-up time for two pages til the end of the book. It's disappointing, because the author is talented enough that she doesn't need to fall into these same pitfalls over and over. And expect more reviews like this from me because the story itself is compelling enough that I'll probably keep reading just to find out what happens.

[Suzan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tek merak ettiğim kimden hamile kalacağı 🤷‍♀️

[The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears · Rating 5 out of 5]

Faerie Tales Finally Get Real

Before I get serious, I must say that Doyle would make the best consort for Meredith. He knows the Unsidhe Court better than anyone, and is intelligent enough to know when to use his power and when to use diplomacy. Frost is too much like the nickname bestowed upon him by Andais. Rhys still has issues with Goblins, and Galen, while cute, would be nothing more than a boy toy. And there's something rather cool about a dark-skinned fae character. Most writers (save Emma Bull), tend to stick closely with the typical Celtic-looking faerie folk.

I have to admit, Merry was hard to take in the first book, especially for those of us used to the kick-butt attitude of Ms. Hamilton's Anita Blake. However, Meredith has come into her own, and she is definitely not one to be tread upon lightly, as a few of her encounters with The Queen of Air and Darkness show.

What I really love about this series is that the fae are NOT these cute little people who help humans in need. In fact, these fae are rather dismissive (and in some cases hostile)to mankind. These fae are far closer literature-wise than the Disney-fied versions that we're familiar with. Some of their actions in the book definitely make one squirm. Even Doyle and Frost, as close to heroes as a character can be, remind the reader in some startling ways not to use human benchmarks to judge their actions.

And yes, there is sex in the book--but it does not detract from the gist of the story. After all, Merry does need to get an heir before her psychotic cousin Prince Cel does. However, just as she does in her characterizations of the fae, Ms. Hamilton is trying to get the reader to look beyond our notions of what sex is and isn't. She wants us to see it through the eyes of the fae, who lack all the cultural taboos that humans seem to possess.

I also like the subtle discussion of the attitudes of the Sidhe in regards to other faerie beings.

[Al *the semi serial series skipper* · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this series up because it had been tagged RH, I am at my RH phase so I went all for it. I didn't really enjoy this one, it felt real long but with nothing happening. It was basically maneuvering through the intricacies of politics between the two courts, lots of mirror talk and then sex, not even good sex, just plain old sex.

I wanted RH,where the characters show their commitment to the heroine but everyone seems to be on their own,they are all working towards their agenda and I did not like that.

At this point, i'm not sure if i'll continue.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

And here is where the pacing issues start.

Three months have passed since Merry was declared heir and started her journey to get pregnant. We get nothing of those three months - I for one, would have liked to see the guys first adjusting to life in LA. Instead, we fast forward ahead and become invested in the life of an exiled Seelie fey. Again, sure, why not?

While I do enjoy the characters and so far the sex isn't overpowering everything, I can't help but feel that Hamilton doesn't know how to give her females power unless they command sex. And another thing I've noticed in her books, there is never any female companionship. All females hate each other and are jealous and petty. Only guys can be supportive and there for our heroine. I'm sorry, but no.

Pettiness aside, I do like how we are coming to see more of the guys.I still have no idea who Nicca really is because he just showed up, but we are getting a little more backstory of everyone else to help round them out. I'm just hoping we don't end up with 20 more guys all involved to where everyone gets lost and I forget who people are...

Also, if she's descended from fertility gods, why is she not pregnant?

[Sara Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars.
Still thinking on how I feel about this series and if it's worth it to continue.

[Bárbara Morais · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eu amo como essa série é louca e divertida

Dito isso
Meu deus do céu não precisa ficar 70 páginas descrevendo o que todo mundo tá vestindo cara

[Naz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aksiyon yönünden sakin bir kitaptı..karekterlerin bir arada yaşamaya alışmaları yine peri dünyasına dair entrikalardan sıyrılma çabası ile ilerliyordu.. son otuz sayfada biraz aksiyon vardı ama oda çok çabuk geçiştirilmişti.. birde herkes bu seri çok smutt falan diye eleştirmiş arkadaş ben smut falan görmedim yani.. yazar şöyle ucundan gösteriyor ama yok yani gerisi.. çoğu konuşma zira kadın karekter meredity doğurganlık soyundan geldiği için güçleri cinsel yönden yükselip gelişiyor. Hareme gelince Doyle ve Buz hala favorim iki karekter de çok iyi bence keşke biraz daha detaylı yazsaydı yazar. Netice olarak serinin bu kitabı beklentimin bir tık altında kaldı bakalım şubatta üçüncü kitabı okuyunca neler hissedeceğim🫠

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, I read it. Almost didn't finish it as it was not nearly as intriguing as the previous book. But it wasn't bad after I got 1/3 of the way in.

[Tuğba Atıcı Coşar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olayların daha fazla olduğu bir kitaptı. Gerçi yine büyük olaylar hep seskle oluyor ama kitabın zaten ana olayı bu. Bir tık geçiş kitabı gibiydi. Sonuyla, devamında olacakların işaretini verdi. Ben ara vermeden devam ediyorum.

[Denisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I like this series.

I get why so many people don't like it and find it strange and odd, why they don't like the character and what and how she does stuff.
But I, for one, like plots that are a bit strange, those books that not everyone likes. The complex lore, the weird history, the logical-but-heartless kind of thinking.
This is that sort of series. If you like that, continue with the books. If not, well, there are a lot of books out there that you will love! :)

[MischaS_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merry mi přijde jako slabší verze Anity. Celkově se většinou celou dobu nic neděje a nakonci se to vyřeší běhěm pár stránek.
Jestli bych měla pro někoho "hlasovat" tak jsem Team Frost a asi i Team Doyle. :D

[Il confine dei libri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buonasera!
Eccomi qui per parlarvi de “Il tocco della notte”, secondo libro della serie Merry Gentry di Laurell K. Hamilton, edito Nord.
Dopo essere sopravvissuta agli schemi del cugino che la voleva morta, Meredith è tornata a L.A. insieme ai consorti scelti con il compito di dare un erede alla Corte Unseelie prima di suo cugino. Ma le avventure di Meredith non sono finite! La sua agenzia avrà come cliente una principessa della Corte Seelie che ha chiesto sia proprio Meredith ad occuparsi dell’incarico, ma i segreti che circondano il misterioso esilio di questa principessa metteranno la nostra protagonista alle prese con nuove sfide. È così che, in questo secondo romanzo, entreremo ancora più nel vivo dei giochi di potere delle fate di due corti rivali, intrighi e morti misteriose, per non parlare della personale situazione sentimentale. Meredith avrà un bel po’ da fare!

Come potete immaginare, anche questo libro mi è piaciuto un sacco!
La storia continua da dove eravamo rimasti in “Un bacio nell’ombra”.
Meredith è riuscita a sventare i piani del cugino di assassinarla, che inoltre era colui dietro gli incantesimi della sua cliente. Per la sua sicurezza ha stipulato un’alleanza di sei mesi con il re dei Goblin, aggiungendo nel suo harem Kitto (goblin scelto dal re) e ha dovuto scegliere alcuni dei Corvi, ovvero le Guardie della Regina, come componenti del suo Harem. E chi sarà padre del figlio che Meredith porterà in grembo, diventerà Re.
Tornata da tre mesi alla sua vita normale a LA insieme ai suoi “uomini” (Doyle, Rhys, Frost, Galen e Nicca), Merry non è ancora riuscita a rimanere incinta. Per mantenere il suo stile di vita è tornata a lavorare e con lei alcuni di loro, che hanno preso degli incarichi da bodyguard. Si può dire che questi tre mesi sono stati piene di sorprese e vivaci. Qualcosa però sta per accadere, quando accetta un incarico e si ritroverà ancora una volta nei giochi di potere della Corte, anche se questa volta si è aggiunta la Corte Seelie, a cui dove è legata da parte della madre.
Ma non solo questo! Qualcuno ha liberato un mostro che deve essere assolutamente fermato o entrambe le Corti pagheranno a caro prezzo qualsiasi danno commesso da esso, dovendo lasciare per sempre le loro case nel nuovo mondo. Anche Meredith verrà messa alla prova, ora che è una principessa ufficiale dovrà compiere decisioni difficili e farsi valere tra tutti quei maschi che abitano con lei, dovendosi anche far rispettare dalle altre creature che desidera rendere sue alleate. Più la storia prosegue, più la protagonista cresce, sia coi propri poteri che personalmente. Dopotutto, per colpa delle sue diversità, non ha mai avuto fiducia in se stessa, ma ora sta iniziando a farsi valere, a capire che lei non è ciò che le hanno sempre detto di essere. Certo, il cammino è ancora lungo, deve ancora migliorarsi e conoscersi, ma ce la può fare.
In questo libro non solo conosceremo altri aspetti del mondo delle corti e delle sue creature, ma inizieremo a conoscere gli uomini che circondano Merry. Può non sembrare, ma queste creature hanno vissuto per molto tempo e anche se hanno una posizione alta nella Corte Unseelie, hanno sofferto per colpa della Regina. Potete già capire che troveremo delle scene che spezzeranno il cuore, ma anche altre di estrema dolcezza e ovviamente scene molto bollenti. Come il libro precedente, è stata una lettura tutta d’un fiato. La trama è ben strutturata e si svolge in un mondo pieno di sfaccettature che scopriamo poco a poco. Le scene di sesso sono diverse, ma non così frequenti come potete immaginare vista la trama, soprattutto non sono il fulcro portante della storia. Non so se avete presenti le serie televisive HBO ambientate nel passato e molto spinte, ma che dietro hanno una trama così intricata che per quanto vediamo scene di nudo, presto vanno in secondo piano e lo spettatore rimane stregato dalla serie. La serie di Merry Gentry è così, il sesso non è così esageratamente protagonista.
In conclusione, questo secondo romanzo ci fa entrare ancora di più nel mondo delle creature fatate, di giochi di potere in atto da tanto tempo, segreti pericolosi e recite personali. Ma anche i sentimenti iniziano a far sentire la loro presenza non preoccupatevi!
Direi che possa bastare, quindi vi lascio alla lettura e ci vediamo al prossimo libro, “Sedotta dalla luna”.
Prima di salutarvi ditemi, chi preferite dei Corvi? Uno dei miei preferiti non può essere altri se non il tenebroso Doyle!
A presto.

[Megan (BookWifeReviews) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everyone I talked to recommends this series to me and I just can not get it for a couple of reasons. One: I do not like Merry.. like at all. Two: All the Fae(SP?) politics. It's boring as hell. Maybe it's because there is so much freaking detail with every aspect of each court and each character and why certain people can talk to others and how she has to act certain ways with each person. I just don't care. I also don't like Fae books in general. I don't like the casualness of sex. I mean casual sex is fine but there was a part in this book where one of the guards sleeping with Merry fooled around with someone else because it would have been rude not to. I just don't like that.

MEH

[Sharon ∞❥ is an emotional book junkie ❥∞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this book certainly sucked me in and I don't have a clue when it happened. A Kiss of Shadows, the first book, was good and definitely picked up after the first half but this book was good from the beginning. The only problems are getting used to all the descriptions and dealing with the ongoing "discussions" of everything!

Meredith is a stand up person. She is not swayed by good or evil but she does what is right and she takes care of her people. Her journey is very interesting, especially to see how she is coming into her powers and how she is learning to be a Queen.

All the guys are still intriguing. They are all good guys but enough different that there should be one you will like. I like how we are still learning bits and pieces of them too. Plus with what happened at the end, there will definitely be some changes.

The sex scenes weren't bad. I can see how Merry is developing stronger feelings for some of them but I still don't have a clue who she would pick if she had to pick just one. The scene with Kitto wasn't as bad as I thought. I think it would be better if I didn't think of him as being a kid!! It will be interesting to meet some of the new guard and see how they react with the current ones.

I enjoyed all the scenes with her mother, the King and Maeve. I liked seeing how Merry stood up to them and I'm looking forward to the next book.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This does better than the first book in introducing a clear threat early on, so it ends up feeling a little more tightly plotted rather than an extended introduction to every one of Merry’s future lovers. I think the major threat could be developed a tad more, especially in the final confrontation. Hamilton has a habit of rushing final boss battles and resolving them with power upgrades, and it’s no different here. Trust me to want a little more page-time with the cosmic horror though. It does nicely set up a larger overall threat for the series, however, and I’m interested to see where that goes (since I almost completely forgot about that particular plot thread).

As always, the characters are the real draw of the book. Doyle is still my favorite of Merry’s men, which makes sense because Meredith obviously favors him (and, politically, Doyle would make an exceptional king). I was a little put off that a lot of Merry and Frost’s relationship development takes place off page. They barely like each other in the last book, and now suddenly they’re in love? I did enjoy Kitto’s development here. He’s a bit like Anita Blake’s Nathaniel in spirit in exploring a character who’s almost entirely subservient, and it’s a nice contrast to all the raging egos of the fae. As usual, I’m enjoying being in Hamilton’s world, and there’s not a lot stopping me from binging this whole series at once.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

[CaliGirlRae · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I'll bow out of the series here. I liked the setup of the first book in the series and looked forward to learning more about the world. But this entry reads as if someone is giving you a blow by blow story of what happened to someone else and repeats events that have already been established many times before. I notice the chapters are really extended out as if each movement and interrogation needs a chapter on its own. One part had the group going to the actresses house for one chapter, then the next chapter was arriving at the house and giving an essay on who the actress was and how she related to fae history, the next chapter was them stepping inside the house going into the living room and sitting down to chat with her bodyguards, next chapter was moving from one room to the other and then finally talking to the actress herself. And so on and so on. Rather grating if you're looking for the plot to move forward.

I'm glad I finally got to dabble in the books since I heard so much about the author and her series but I think this will probably be my last Merry Gentry book.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

2020 reread: I agree with my 2011 self that the detective subplot in this one is especially uninspired but rereading this already knowing it's smut, I'm enjoying the Taranis plotline alongside all the wild faerie sex. Leaving at 3 stars.

Bahaha, these books are so bad. Like embarrassingly bad. Like, at night when I'm reading before bed, I try to shield my Kindle with my body so my boyfriend can't see what I'm reading over my shoulder bad. That's really bad.

There are basically two things going on here at once. First, Meredith is a fey princess that will ascend to the throne only if she can conceive a child before her evil cousin. Secondly, Meredith is also a private investigator, which forms the basis of the individual plot for each book. I'll totally admit here that the PI plots are super boring and I mostly just skim over those. I'm all about the faerie sex.

And... that's pretty much what this series is about. Don't expect anything amazing, just faerie romance.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Good: This series is very addictive. Merry is a wonderful main character - tough in her own right, intelligent but always learning more, open to new experiences and fully embracing where her life is heading. She's also a realist, understanding her situation and the ramifications of her choices. A Caress of Twilight doesn't spend a lot of time rehashing the events and world-building from A Kiss of Shadows, which I appreciate reading the books one right after the other. But, if a lot of time has past since reading the first book, a refresher may be in order. The stand alone mystery in the book is interesting and well thought out, but I especially love the continuing story line of Merry's place within the world of faerie and her mission to ensure her survival among her people.

The Bad: Not a thing.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's not kid ourselves here. While I love the fae aspect to this book, I read it only for the sex. And day-um are there some luscious men in here. The kinky stuff just makes it all that much hotter. Recommended for kinky women who fantasy having a harem of studly men.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been quite a while since I read the first in this series. And, while I think Ms Hamilton has a great imagination and writes very believable action scenes, the book feels dated for some reason.

However, I do like Merry and want to see more of her. Solid 2nd book in the series.

[Summer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I swear they’re not as porny as the covers make them seem