Week 24 Review: A Kiss of Shadows

From Goodreads:
My name is Meredith 'Merry' 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. 

My first review of A Kiss of Shadows

My Review:
I really enjoyed reading this book! We're getting close to getting Merry 10, so I had to reread this series in preparation, after all, I've read all but book 9 just the once, and that was 8 years ago, so I definitely needed a reread to get me back in this world, and I'm glad, because I had a great time reading it!

I think that I've become less critical, because while I do agree with my assessment of the first book, that it was a bit all over the place, but if I hadn't been aware of that in the back of my head, I wouldn't have caught it this time. Really, I swear my brain has rotted a bit, that I've gotten sucked into watching shorts and have a short attention span. Alas.

Seeing the start of Merry's journey again, of before she got her men, and the start of that, first being offered the chance to get the throne-if she gets pregnant before her cousin-and all the guards that are attempting to be the father, and the future king. She has a heck of a journey in front of her! 

It was interesting to see how she dealt with things, she's not a fighter, she's not as strong as the sidhe around her, but she has her strengths. She's got a fine political mind, and she has a knowledge of the history of Faerie, and those combined are some of her most important assets right now, before the Goddess starting favouring her, and spreading her power.

Loved reading this book again, and I can't wait to continue on with my reread! 

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Merry Gentry #1
First Read: April 28th, 2017

Read: June 13th, 2025
Source: Own
Reason Why: Rereading, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Book!
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: September 30th 2000

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars