Home :: Books :: Audiocassettes  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes

Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
A Caress of Twilight (Meredith Gentry, 2)

A Caress of Twilight (Meredith Gentry, 2)

List Price: $32.95
Your Price: $21.75
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: OH, MY! OH, MY!
Review: Love, Sex, Politics, and Power abounds. Surprises Galor! The plot revolves around a Lemon Grove (Can you say LEMON CRUSH! I knew you could.) A new ... boyfriend, deal, power, enemy, ally, place. An old enemy returns and so does Mommy Dearest. Who is Maeve Reed? A movie star and much more, much much more. More sex with surprising twists. Deals that work with future entanglements and deals that fail with immediate problems. Questions left unanswered abound, including what are symbolized by crystal and mist? Who will it be?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: enough romance, action, fantasy and adventure to keep lovers
Review: Princess Merry of the Unseelie Court has been made co-heir to the throne along with her cousin Cel. The first one to get pregnant or give a woman an heir will be the new ruler of the court. Even though Cel is under punishment now for six months, Merry has too many enemies to feel safe at the court. She returns to Los Angeles with her harem of males (fertile sidhe who can get her pregnant) and goes back to her old job as a private detective.

A very famous movie star Maeve Reed hires Merry to perform a fertility rite so she can get pregnant by her husband before he dies. She was banished from the Seelee Court because she knows a secret about its' king that would get him killed if it was ever revealed. Before Merry can perform the ceremony, the Nameless has been released on the world with Merry and Maeve as its specific targets, and unless someone can stop it, a massacre will occur.

Readers were introduced to Merry in A KISS OF SHADOWS but in the sequel, A CARESS OF TWILIGHT Merry finally comes into her own. She is no longer fearful and anxious, but instead is a fully mature woman ready to fight to keep her people safe. There is enough romance, action, fantasy and adventure to keep lovers of all genres satiated.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: spotty, but has its moments....
Review: I would have liked to give this a 3.5 star rating for several reasons, but mostly because the writing was uneven. For instance, while I enjoyed the in-depth look at "How to Keep your Guards/Lovers/Potential Mate and King in Order Without Them Killing Each Other", this book is really s-l-o-w to get going.
We get a bit more of a glimpse of Merry's background and the Seelie court... and it's a wonder she's as sane and balanced as she is, with some of her relatives.
There is a nice weaving-in of some of the faerie legends regarding fertility, and why some of the things that are happening are REALLY taking place... but the treatment of 'The Nameless' really falls short of the dread it ought to inspire. This is supposed to be a collection of the most chaotic, potentially destructive wild magic that ever existed, and the attitude seems to be rather on the order of "Oh yeah, don't let me forget, some damned crazy-ass fool has gone and turned it loose", for about a quarter of the book.
The ending seemed rather contrived and rushed to me, and lacked the fine turn-of-the-screw buildup this lady does so well.
Methinks what we have here is a good bridge novel between Book One and Book Three as there IS a lot of information given and character development that takes place.
Worth reading, probably necessary reading, but just not as tasty as the first one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good squel with lots of cool LKH twists
Review: I just got this book and was thrilled. I read it in one night! Starting up where book one, Kiss of Shadows left of, the main character, Meredith Gentry, Faerie Princess is trying to become pregnant. She has her own personal harem and as trashy-romancy as this sounds, its actually quite a suspensful story.

Deciding which man she would idealy want as her King and lover is just one of her decisions that she must make. Engaging and great in the usual Laurel k. Hamilton style, we get a large mix of thrills, passion, romance, suspense and action as a blockbuster hit movie.

The only drawback is that it leaves you hanging at the end, waiting for more. I would reccomend this book highly, but only if you read the first book beforehand.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Oh Yeah!
Review: "A Caress of Twilight", by Laurell K. Hamilton is fantastic! I love Ms. Hamilton's writing, her Anita Blake stories are great, but I must say I, (and I think the author) are getting a bit bored with her. So, I am thrilled to see a second book in a new series featuring Princess Meredith.

"A Caress of Twilight" shows Hamilton at her creative best. It is the ultimate in female fantasy. Princess Meredith, a half human fairy princess, must conceive a child before her cousin does to gain the fairy throne and keep her crazy cousin, who wants to kill her, from becoming King. To do that, she must sleep with all her guards, as often as possible, until she becomes pregnant. Cool huh?

There is a mass murder mystery to solve, a curse to overcome, and enough royal intrigue to rival even the House of Windsor. I can't recommend this book enough, it is a fun -- gobble it up in one sitting read - and I eagerly await the next installment.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Promise of things to come-but still waiting
Review: This story is going to be SOOOO GOOOD-if she ever gets to it. Like a Kiss of Shadows, A Caress of Twilight is still laying groundwork for this story.
At the opening, we find Merry and her harem three months after the end of A Kiss of Shadows. I'm not going to tell alot of the plot, except to say it thickens-greatly.
We now have more villains and more subterfuge. One of the things I do like about this book is that she has toned down the graphic sex, although there is still some there for the horror fans. It is now an adjunct to the story instead of the story forming around it.
There is also a bit of preliminary action in this book that at least gave a minimal closing to this installment. I wish I could give half stars, because this one honestly deserves not quite 4, in my view.
I am hooked on the cliff-hanger and am honestly awaiting the next book. If they all live up to this one, it will be a killer series!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better than the first, but way too short!
Review: First, the bad. Amazon (and other sources) had this as 448 pages. About right for a a Hamilton book. Unfortunately, it clocks in at 326 pages, about 2/3 of what I expected. Very disappointing.

The story itself is twofold. The substory is a mystery about some large murder scenes in L.A. and how they are related to an exiled Seelie Court member. The real story, as always, is the relationships between Merry and her band of (er, Merry?) men.

There is actually more character development and a bit less sex than in the previous book...The main story, with its tangents about political intrigue among Unseelie, Sillie and Demi-Fey Court are a lot of fun and very engaging.

The murder mystery story is a bit of a sleeper, takes a definate back seat, and is wrapped up way too abruptly at the end. And in a trend I am starting to hate in LKH's books, more actually *happens* in the 1 page aftermath chapter than in the previous 100 pages.

I liked it a lot, I would have liked it a lot more if it wasn't so spare.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: L.A. Isn't Cohokia
Review: The second installment of the series finds Princess Meredith (Merry Gentry) back in a cramped apartment in L.A. and continuing her work for the detective agency. This time she has her suitors with her. The attentions of her suitors take up much of the book. The Unseelie court and most of the tension, menace, and anticipation are still in Illinois.
While several plot points play out, the monsters, violence, and danger which I have come to expect to be dominant players are relegated, for the most part, to the background. I miss the machinations of the court so prevalent in the first book of the series. Menace through mirrors doesn't have quite the same effect.
Having said that, the book is still worth reading and it sets up many potential plot lines. Included in these are more of an introduction to both her family and the Seelie court, and the near future release of her rival and cousin Cel. The end saved it for me. I look forward to seeing where some of the characters end up.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Got it yesterday, read it yesterday
Review: OVERALL A GOOD READ
I rated this book a four in comparision to other books, but think it is a 3 in comparision to most other L. Hamilton books. I admit I am not as crazy about this series as the Anita Blake series (which I LOVED), but still found it hard to put down. Could be that I have never been a big fan of fantasy and others may prefer this series to the more vampirish-horror/comedy of Anita Blake. Again, like the Blake series, except for the supernatural/fantasy element -- the books take place in Los Angeles "now."

As established in the first book, the faeries desperately need to infuse life into their failing breeding program. Thus, faerie princess Merry's primary goal is to become pregnant so that she can take over as the fairie queen and avoid being killed by her rival the queen's son. Merry has many exploits with various men of the Queen's guard and a few other non-humans in her efforts to conceive.

Merry has an even more varied group of men to choose from then did Anita --- something to please everyone and the male characters here are fairly well developed (no pun intended). However, I for one, just do not find Merry herself as intrinsically dynamic as Anita. But, I am aware, Anita Blake's just do not come along every day. Perhaps Merry just needs another book or two to round out (after all Anita had nearly a dozen to fully develop into her bad-... self).

Since Merry is still in the developmental stages of her own powers (both magical and and her ability to effectively rule) she spends much of the book trying to assert herself over the older, wiser and very sexy men of the Queen's guard. Doyle is a favorite and readers of the first book will recall that he was the one resisting her charms despite being a virtual eunuch for hundreds of years.

I certainly plan to keep reading the series. I would note that despite sex being a primary theme and activity of the book, I did not find this book as "sexy" as the Blake series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better Then I Expected
Review: I was pleasntly suprised but this lastest book from Laurell K. Hamilton. After the disjointed mess that was Narcissus in Chains, Caress of Twilight is a happy turn.
Meredith NicEssus, Princess of Flesh, heir to the UnSeelie throne is in L.A. with her hisem of luscious sidhe males. Hollywoods Golden Goddess, The Lord of Light and Illusion and even Besaba, Bride of Peace (Meredith's mother) bring more of the Seelie Court into the world that Hamilton has created.

There is a mystery which while being subjugated by the court intrique still remains coherent. Again though we see the weak endings that one should expect from Ms. Hamilton. Everything is tied up rather too neat in the end, but if you are a fan of hers you realize that all her endings are rushed, pat and often weak.

All in all this is a good book. The characters grow and remain engaging, the world of the Sidhe grows and becomes more detailed and the sex while not as in your face as in Kiss of Shadows or Narcisus in Chains furthers the plot or at the very least makes sense in the situation.


<< 1 .. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates