The Meredith Gentry Series by Laurell K. Hamilton

It starts out with an Unseelie fey Princess named Meredith NicEssus hiding from all those assassins who are trying to kill her. The only power she possesses, so far is her strong ability to use glamour to hide herself. She's half human, brownie and fey which her aunt, Queen of Air and Darkness, doesn't particularly like in a fey heir.
Meredith finally comes into power, the hand of flesh (pretty cool). AND her aunt wants her back home; she's a major witch. Hmmmm. The plot thickens...
Meredith is really short-5 feet tall-with blood red hair and tri-color eyes. She's tough but her weapon of choice is her magic and even that's not used all the time. She's also very classy, clever and not afraid of her sexuality-which proves by sleeping with a lot of the Queen's Guard, her own personal male harem.....
The Merry Gentry books deal with the land of the faery. They Fey are very much real and are considerably older than humans they are also immortal and many were once Gods and Goddesses. They now live amongst humans as kind of celebrities. Merry is half Unseelie court and half human. She is very mortal and after her fathers death-left at the mercy of her heartless aunt and psychotic cousin cel. She escapes and finds sanctuary hiding amongst the humans-with a strong glamour-as a witch. Well, she comes into her power and is being persued by her aunt to return to the Unseelie court and take her place as one of her aunts heirs. She and her cousin Cel are in competition to provide an heir and inherit the throne. Her aunt graciously offers Merry the finest breeding stock-her own guard who take a vow of monogamoy when they join the queens guard. They all-and there are thousands of them-have been mostly celibate for hundreds of years and are quite literally knocking down Merrys door for a chance to get some ass as well as a chance to father the next heir of the Unseelie court. Merry returns to Los Angeles with her harem and returns to her life as part of detective agency.
I really like Merry. I actually like her much more than I ever liked Anita. Merry is a powerful women but needs help, is willing and able to ask for it, has no pesky rigid morals-is definetely NOT a christian and is just an all around cool character. I am not usually very interested in faeries or the fey, but this series has got me intrigued. I like the politics, the magick, the powers, the sex. Whew, I can not WAIT until the 4th book of this series. I am no where near ready to see it end.

A Kiss of Shadows

A Caress of Twilight

Seduced by Moonlight

A Stroke of Midnight


I LOVE the Merry Gentry books. I was looking very forward to this installment and when I read the reviews I was kind of worried I would be dissapointed. Far from it actually. The story does not get quite to the Seelie Court-as I had hoped-BUT it focuses alot on Merry's growth in her powers, her role in Faerie and begins to answer the question of what will happen to the guards when Merry gets pregnant. I thought the scene with Doyle breaking down was not rediculous but real. Much is focused on the sex and the need for Merry to get pregnant and who Merry loves and who will be good for the kingdom, etc,etc. However, I think it helps the character of the guards to be more three dimensional by dealing with their feelings about losing. They all already competed for a prime spot with Queen Andais and lost and suffered a 1000 years of celibacy. Now, they have another chance and it is more precious to them then first was because they know all too well what will happen if they lose-and most of them MUST lose. According to the rules only one of them can get her pregnant and be Consort to her Queen. I think in this novel we see that Merry will not be monogamous but I still think she will continue to make fertile couples with her guards and the rest of Faerie. I think it likely she will stay with Doyle and Frost at least and perhaps a few others that have just been introduced or who will be introduced. I think the idea of the Sithen making the novel take place in one day was excellent. Merry's powers are waking up, growing-the Earth, the Goddess, Faerie itself is recognizing her as a Power. Her ability to control the Sithen is just another aspect of that power. This novel focuses on a chapter in Merry's growth and that of her guards, it is a bridge novel in her series-in essence asking more questions than it answers, but that does seem to be the nature of serial novels.
I am on baited breath waiting for the next installment in this fascinating series. I like it SO much more than the Anita Blake books.
~~~~Where ever you go, There you are!