Mistral's Kiss: A Novel: Amazon.ca: Laurell K. Hamilton: Books

Product Description

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.)
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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

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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews

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3.0 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Poison kiss, Feb 22 2007

By

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME) (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mistral's Kiss: A Novel (Hardcover)

Laurell K. Hamilton's books are distinguished by her unique style -- lots of sex, very little plot. Don't expect it to change.

And "Mistral's Kiss" continues the stagnant sexathon that her other books started, with the continuing erotic adventures of Merry Gentry (or as I like to call it, "Merry Does Faerie"). Though there is some plot in this one besides sex, nothing much really advances except a tacked-in plot twist.

In previous books, as we're told here, Merry Gentry has to have a baby before her cousin Cel, or she's dead. She does this via detailed group sex with her guards, and found that having sex with her guards (which she does ALL the time) reawakened their dormant magics. Now Faerie gardens are starting to bloom again. Yay for her.

In the meantime, Merry has more work for the Goddess and artifacts to deal with, as well as a new hunky guard on loan to her, Mistral. Queen Andais is not so happy with everything that is going on, but is powerless to stop it -- especially when Merry gets involved with Sholto of the Sluagh, and Sholto wakens the legendary Wild Hunt...

If you were to remove the hundred-plus pages of nonstop sex, then "Mistral's Kiss" would probably be a very bracing short story. Unfortunately, Hamilton packs the entire story with sex -- which would be just fine, if all other aspects of Hamilton's writing weren't halfhearted at best.

In fact, it feels like a few stray chapters of another book. Plot points are rehashed, threads are dropped as others are raised, and the finale is an anticlimactic sputter, although it promises that something important might happen in the next book... or the one after that. As it is, the plot is simply glacial -- Hamilton moves it forward a little, but not very much.

Why? Sadly the plot has gotten stuck in the stagnating "sex revitalizes the kingdom" storyline. The concept is intriguing and could have been interesting if Hamilton had actually gotten into it. But in here it's just another excuse for lots and lots of overly-detailed, mechanical sex, and a new power-a-day for Merry to acquire. Even Hamilton's writing has lost its bite -- it feels like she's on autopilot.

Merry herself is getting duller with each successive book -- in this book, she seems more like a walking blow-up doll than an ex-detective/faerie princess. Doyle and the newcomer Mistral are actually fairly interesting, but she now has so many paramours that it's hard to tell one feminine, long-haired anime-style fae from another.

"Mistral's Kiss" struggles to spread its thin plot over the relatively short length, but only occasionally moves the plot forward. Not for those who like a little (or a lot) plot with their porn.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars what happened?, Nov 17 2007

By

K. Hansen (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mistral's Kiss: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

After reading other reviews, I'm glad I'm not the only person who read this book and wondered what the heck was going on. Considering the usual size and density of Hamilton's work, I was excited to pick up this book, intending it to keep me busy on a long flight. It didn't. Not only is the book about half the size of what I would normally expect to get from Hamilton (but with the same price tag on a hardcover), but there was very little going on in the way of plot. I finished the book and wondered where the rest of it was. It was on par with the "novella" _Micah_ that was published (labelled as being shorter AND with a smaller price tag). Is Hamilton just under pressure to put out books more frequently for her Merry Gentry line and so is breaking them up, giving us Mistral's Kiss and Lick of Frost instead of putting them together for what we would normally expect? The Harlequin is just as long as the usual Anita Blake novels.

It does minimally advance the plot. About the same as one would usually get as a pre-climax to the actual climax in a Hamilton book, but without the real climax. I weep that I bought this in hardcover, and am certainly not going to be getting Lick of Frost in hardcover for the same reason. I loved this series far more than Anita Blake, but have been let down. This is definitely a book to borrow from the library or a friend.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Confused..., Mar 24 2010

By

R. Okada "ro_toronto" (TORONTO, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mistral's Kiss: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I love reading paranormal romances, and from time to time I try different authors. This was my first book by L Hamilton. I'm not going to say it will be my last, because, well, we never know. But I was really confused by this book. I couldn't understand what was going on, there is a multitude of characters and little background is given for any of them.
There is so much sex in this book, that is difficult to follow the story, I couldn't finish the book, I started to skip pages to get to the end of the sex scenes to try to understand the plot a little bit more, but in the end, I gave up and just put the book aside. Even the sex scenes didn't appeal to me, I couldn't feel any connection between Princess Merry and any of her guards, I don't have a clue why this book is called "Mistral's kiss", he's in the book alright but there's nothing special about him (well, maybe it is explained in the chapters that I skipped).
I am disappointed by this book, I've read online books by authors that are trying to get published that are way better than this one.

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