From the Bookshelf of Reverse Harem? Anyone?…

A Kiss of Shadows (Merry Gentry, #1)

Laurell K. Hamilton

Why we're reading this: Too much like Anita Blake, but for the knowledge and skill of killing...
[close] Too much like Anita Blake, but for the knowledge and skill of killing...

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Aug 20, 2018 Celeste rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal-as-shit, princess, paranormal-fantasy, hot-alpha-males, twisted, dark, alternative-universe, magic, fairies

After the whole Anita Blake debacle I never though I would find myself reading this series even on my reverse harem kick. But it had too many good reviews to pass up and I figured that the problems other readers had with it wouldn't bother me too much.

In my haste to pick up a new RH I conveniently forgot that this was on the darker side (monsters and murders and deadly rules). I was in the mood for something light and fun (I just got done reading the first 3 books of The Dark Side and I'm trying After the whole Anita Blake debacle I never though I would find myself reading this series even on my reverse harem kick. But it had too many good reviews to pass up and I figured that the problems other readers had with it wouldn't bother me too much.

In my haste to pick up a new RH I conveniently forgot that this was on the darker side (monsters and murders and deadly rules). I was in the mood for something light and fun (I just got done reading the first 3 books of The Dark Side and I'm trying to hold off on reading The Curse of the Gods until the last book is out) so this series wasn't something I was truly interested in when I started. Bear in mind this little nugget till the end of the review because my review like this series gets bad before it gets better.

Clearly I have a problem writing my reviews as soon as I'm done reading a book because I've already finished the first 7 in the series while writing this. The series so far suffers from pretty much the same problems. Firstly the books seem hella long with far too much happening in a very short period of time. Merry is constantly jumping from one problem to another before the solution to the first problem has been put into effect. Secondly the first 3 (possibly 4) books seem somewhat directionless. Merry gets attacked, has to fight one problem after another and then suddenly the book just ends with a sort of epilogue about her summarizing what's going on in their lives for the time being. A little weird for me. Thirdly the sex scenes. They occur, they might even have been well written if the focus was kept on them rather than pages of dialogue and Merry thinking random shit in the middle of it. This issue isn't just confined to the sex scenes either. Merry and her guards take ages to carry out any action because there is all this extra information about everything else so that even though the problem they're facing seems urgent it takes pages and pages for them to be actively doing something to stop it.

While I have given this book a two star rating I can honestly say that as the series progresses and Merry comes into her power that I found myself enjoying it a great deal more. Enough that the later books will probably have a four star rating even. And I'm stingy with my stars unless I truly enjoy myself.

On a side note, am I a total psychopath for enjoying the phrase 'bleed for me' so much? ...more

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