Mistral's Kiss (Meredith Gentry, Book 5) [Hardcover]

Laurell K. Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 2006

I am Princess Meredith, heir to a throne of faerie. My day job, once upon a time, was as a private detective in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, princess has now become a full-time occupation.

My aunt, Queen Andais, will have it no other way. And so I am virtually a prisoner in faerie–trapped here with some of the realm’s most beautiful men to serve as my bodyguards . . . and my lovers. For I am compelled to conceive a child: an heir to succeed me on the throne. Yet after months of amazing sex with my consorts, there is still no baby. And no baby means no throne. The only certainty is death at the hands of my cousin Cel, or his followers, if I fail to conceive.

Now Mistral, Queen Andais’s new captain of the guard, has come to my bed–defying her and risking her terrible wrath in doing so. But even she will hesitate to punish him in jealous rage, because our joining has reawakened old magic, mystical power so ancient that no one stands against it and survives. Not even my strongest and most favored: my Darkness and my Killing Frost. Not even Mistral himself, my Storm Lord. But because Mistral has helped to bring this magic forth, he may live another day.

If I can reclaim control of the fey power that once was, there may be hope for me and my reign in faerie. I might yet quell the dark schemes and subterfuges surrounding me. Though shadows of obsession and conspiracy gather, I may survive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In bestseller Hamilton's steamy fifth in the Meredith Gentry fantasy series (after 2005's A Stroke of Midnight), the fey former Los Angeles PI has given up detecting and fully embraced her duties as Princess Meredith NicEssus, potential heir to the faerie throne. Since the extremely orgasmic princess's foremost duty is to prove her fertility in order to gain the throne, she spends most of her time bedding her immortal sidhe royal guardsmen, giving each a fair shot as her future consort. All the group sex has a profoundly transformative effect: her men are regaining their full powers, and the long-dead faerie gardens are springing to life. But when Meredith and her merry men inadvertently find themselves in the territory of King Sholto, who has been betrayed by others in the faerie court, there's deadly danger even for immortals. Lots of earth-shattering, supernatural sex and a rousing climactic battle will have Hamilton's fans panting for more. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Praise for Laurell K. Hamilton

A Kiss of Shadows

“I’ve never read a writer with a more fertile imagination.”
–Diana Gabaldon


A Caress of Twilight

“Sensual, without a doubt . . . This book moves like a whirlwind.”
–St. Louis Post-Dispatch


Seduced by Moonlight

“This [faerie] society is one of the most detailed, imaginative and lovingly drawn in all fantastic fiction, and the Meredith Gentry series has become something special.”
–San Jose Mercury News


A Stroke of Midnight

“Nonstop action . . . This book will leave you breathless.”
–St. Louis Post-Dispatch

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1ST edition (December 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345443586
• ISBN-13: 978-0345443588
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (251 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two series that mix mystery, fantasy, magic, horror and romance. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels from Berkley Books began with GUILTY PLEASURES (now a hugely successful graphic novel from Marvel - the first sexy paranormal comic ever!) and continues with the SKIN TRADE, number seventeen in the series, in which Anita's complex personal and professional relationships with a master vampire and an alpha werewolf continue to evolve. There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages. Hamilton's Ballantine series features Fey princess and private investigator, Merry Gentry and there are now six novels exceeding one million copies in print. Divine Misdemeanors, the eighth in the series will debut Octobe 29, 2009. She lives in St. Louis County Missouri with her husband Jonathon Green, daughter, one pug dog and one boxer/pug dog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

271 of 283 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Should have been the end of "Stroke of Midnight" instead of a stand-alone book., December 12, 2006

By 

Avid LKH Fan "Avid Fan" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mistral's Kiss (Meredith Gentry, Book 5) (Hardcover)

OK, OK, it's still got more steamy, group gropes than really necessary - and some this time are weirder than ever, but AT LEAST THERE IS SOME PLOT DEVELOPMENT. Not as much as I'd been craving, mind you, but some. At only 212 pages, I knocked this book out over the morning commute and lunch period. So it was a bit like dieting - just enough to make you wish you had a full meal. I was disappointed that there wasn't more because, in all honesty, this felt more like the end of Stroke of Midnight or the first third of a new book than an entire book that should stand (and sell) on its own. That said, I was delighted because it was not just one sequential orgy - there was actually a bit of progress on the plot (e.g., there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Merry and her men to get out of the sithen). Still no progress on going to the Shining Court. Still no progress on visiting the Goblin court. And Merry is still acquiring men like a hound acquires fleas - her sex scenes are starting to seem like a Cecil B. DeMille movie with a cast of thousands, many standing about doing a whole lot of nothing. I've started just skipping over them at this point because I'm bored. There is no emotional intimacy in all this stuff. I miss that and would really like more scenes where there is emotional progress with Doyle and Frost. Sex is fine, but empty sex - bleh. Anyway, I miss Frost. I miss Doyle. I want them to be more than wallpaper. I miss plot. I miss tension that isn't involving sex. Don't know about everyone else, but I am pretty tired of seeing this world only through Merry's libido. It needs some heart, too. I'm a huge LKH fan, but I encourage her to return to some of her earlier writing style.

83 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Story lost for the sake of sex, December 19, 2006

By 

Jane Litte "Jane at DearAuthor.Com" (US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mistral's Kiss (Meredith Gentry, Book 5) (Hardcover)

This book has no plot and consists of four episodes or scenes, three of which are sex scenes. I read that LKH couldn't figure out what genre she was writing in. It's erotica. E-R-O-T-I-C-A. It's not, as she puts itit, "more like hard-boiled mysteries, or horror novels in tone of writing, but the romance and the magic ... there, too."

Because there is no plot, the book is short, and the entirety of the story takes place over less than a day, I hardly know what to write as a synopsis. Let's see the timeline goes as follows: Merry wakes up in bed with some of her men. Another lost artifact appears. Gives all of her people more power. Aunt Andais is not happy, but like all of the evils in your books, she's emasculated (I think this is a masculine adjective, but don't know what the feminine counterpart is). Andais lets Merry do everything that Merry wants. Merry goes on to have sex with Abeloec, Mistral, and one other character. There is a run in with Sholto. Something paranormal ensues. It's easily resolved. Everyone is happy.

This "book" (and I use that term loosely and defined as words bound and sold with a cover from a NY publisher) is nothing more than a series of scenes. It cannot work as a stand alone novel. It has virtually no relation to the previous book (i.e., what happened with the accusation against Rhys of raping the Seelie woman? Or the ball that Taranis is holding? or cel losing another guard? or anything?). It has no resolution. No crescendo and denouement unless we can count each orgasm as a mini story.

The saving grace is that there are tender moments between Frost and Merry and Doyle and Merry which almost makes it worthwhile. What am I saying? Of course, paying $17.95 for this pap isn't worthwhile unless the reader is a sick addict. I just am so invested in the original series with Doyle, Frost and Merry, that any tiny scrap makes me happy. Sick. I am sick. I need help.

54 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What happened to writing some kind of plot?, February 2, 2007

By 

Wanda Davis "windygale" (Red Oak, Tx United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mistral's Kiss (Meredith Gentry, Book 5) (Hardcover)

I love hot sex scenes as well as the next 58 year old grandmother, however I would like a plot thrown in too. I have read all of Laurell's books and have been a fan for years but her last 4 books have cheated her fans. I could read an adult magazine, i.e. Playgirl, Penthouse, and write 200 pages of steamy xxx sex. And if that is all I wanted to read I would buy those magazines or the paperbacks by Anonymous. Sorry but I am going on to other aurhors like Kim Harrison and I won't be back. Four strikes, and babe that's all my money you are going to get. PS I would write a review of the book if there had been something like a plot to review.