|
|
|
|
|
A Lick of Frost: A Novel
| Our Price |
$ 6.63
|
|
| Retail Value |
$ 7.99 |
|
| You Save |
$ 1.36 (17%) |
|
| Item Number |
2431184 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Item Description...
Overview
Meredith Gentry, a half-mortal, half-faerie princess, returns to Los Angeles to conceive an heir to the faerie throne, only to find herself and her lovers trapped between the dark and light faerie courts and human law.
Publishers Description
I am Meredith Gentry, princess and heir apparent to the throne in the realm of faerie, onetime private investigator in the mortal world. To be crowned queen, I must first continue the royal bloodline and give birth to an heir of my own. If I fail, my aunt, Queen Andais, will be free to do what she most desires: install her twisted son, Cel, as monarch . . . and kill me.
My royal guards surround me, and my best loved–my Darkness and my Killing Frost–are always beside me, sworn to protect and make love to me. But still the threat grows greater. For despite all my carnal efforts, I remain childless, while the machinations of my sinister, sadistic Queen and her confederates remain tireless. So my bodyguards and I have slipped back into Los Angeles, hoping to outrun the gathering shadows of court intrigue. But even exile isn't enough to escape the grasp of those with dark designs.
Now King Taranis, powerful and vainglorious ruler of faerie's Seelie Court, has leveled accusations against my noble guards of a heinous crime–and has gone so far as to ask the mortal authorities to prosecute. If he succeeds, my men face extradition to faerie and the hideous penalties that await them there. But I know that Taranis's charges are baseless, and I sense that his true target is me. He tried to kill me when I was a child. Now I fear his intentions are far more terrifying.
From the Hardcover edition.
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
Mistral's Kiss
“Steamy . . . will have Hamilton's fans panting for more.”
–Publishers Weekly
From the Hardcover edition.
Laurell K. Hamilton is the New York Times bestselling author of the Meredith Gentry novels: A Kiss of Shadows, A Caress of Twilight, Seduced by Moonlight, A Stroke of Midnight, Mistral's Kiss, as well as fifteen acclaimed Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novels. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Visit the author's official website at www.laurellkhamilton.org.
From the Hardcover edition.
Chapter 1
I was sitting in an elegant conference room in the top of one of the gleaming towers that make up part of downtown Los Angeles. The room's far wall was almost entirely of glass, so that the view was nearly agoraphobic. They're predicting that if the big one—the big earthquake that is—hits, this section of L. A. will be eight to fifteen feet deep in glass. Anything on the streets below will be cut to pieces, crushed, or trapped underneath an avalanche of glass. Not a pretty thought, but it was a day for ugly thoughts.
My uncle Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, had pressed charges against three of my royal bodyguards. He had gone to the human authorities with charges that Rhys, Galen, and Abe had raped one of his court's women.
In all the long history of his reign in the Seelie Court he had never gone outside to the humans for justice. Faerie rule; faerie law. Or truthfully, sidhe rule; sidhe law. The sidhe had ruled faerie for longer than anyone could remember. Since some of those memories stretched back thousands of years, maybe the sidhe had always been in charge, but it tasted like a lie. The sidhe do not lie, for to truly lie is to be cast out of faerie, exiled. Since I knew that the three bodyguards in question were innocent, that raised interesting problems with Lady Caitrin's testimony.
But today we were just giving statements, and, depending on how that went, King Taranis was standing by for a group call. Which was why Simon Biggs and Thomas Farmer, both of Biggs, Biggs, Farmer, and Farmer, were sitting beside me.
“Thank you for agreeing to this meeting today, Princess Meredith,” one of the suits across the table said. There were seven suits across the wide, gleaming table, with their backs to the lovely view.
Ambassador Stevens, official ambassador to the courts of faerie, was sitting on our side of the table, but he was on the far side of Biggs and Farmer. Stevens said, “A word on faerie etiquette: You don't say thank you to the people of faerie, Mr. Shelby. Princess Meredith, as one of the younger royals, will probably not be offended, but you will be dealing with some nobility who are much older. Not all of them will allow a thank you to pass without grave insult.” Stevens smiled when he said it, his blandly handsome face sincere from his brown eyes to his perfectly cut brown hair. He was supposed to be our voice to the world, but, truthfully, he spent all his time at the Seelie Court sucking up to my uncle. The Unseelie Court where my aunt Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness, ruled, and where I might rule someday, was too scary for Stevens. No, I didn't like him.
Michael Shelby, a U. S. Attorney for L. A. said, “I am sorry, Princess Meredith. I didn't realize.”
I smiled, and said, “It's fine. The ambassador is correct, a thank-you won't bother me.”
“But it will bother your men?” Shelby asked.
“Some of them, yes,” I said. I looked behind me to Doyle and Frost. They stood behind me like darkness and snow made real, and that wasn't far from the truth. Doyle had black hair, black skin, a black designer suit; even his tie was black. Only the shirt was a rich royal blue, and that had been a sop to our lawyer. He thought black gave the wrong impression, made him seem threatening. Doyle, whose nickname was Darkness, had said, “I am the captain of the princess' guard. I am supposed to be threatening.” The lawyers hadn't known what to say to that, but Doyle had worn the blue shirt. The color almost glowed against the rich, perfect black of his skin, which was so black there were purple and blue highlights to his body in the right light. His black eyes were hidden behind wraparound black-on-black sunglasses.
Frost's skin was as white as Doyle's was black. As white as my own. But his hair was uniquely his own, silver, like metal beaten into hair. It gleamed in the tasteful lighting of the conference room. Gleamed like something you could have melted down and made into jewelry. He had tied the top layer of it back with a barrette that was silver, and older than the city of Los Angeles itself. The dove-gray suit was Ferragamo, and the white of his shirt was less white than his own skin. The tie was darker than the suit, but not by much. The soft gray of his eyes was bare to the room as he scanned the far windows. Doyle was doing it, too, behind his glasses. I had bodyguards for a reason, and some who wanted me dead could fly. We didn't think Taranis was one of the people who wanted me dead, but why had he gone to the police? Why had he persisted in these false charges? He would never have done all this without an agenda. We just didn't know what that agenda was, so just in case, they watched the windows for things that the human lawyers couldn't even begin to imagine.
Shelby's gaze flicked behind me to the guards. He wasn't the only one who kept fighting not to glance nervously at my men, but it was Assistant District Attorney Pamela Nelson who was having the most trouble keeping her eyes, and her mind, on business. The men across the table gave the guards the glances men give when they see another man whom they are almost certain could take them physically without breaking a sweat.
U. S. Attorney Michael Shelby was tall, athletic, and handsome, with a gleam of white teeth, and the look of someone who had plans to rise above being the U. S. attorney for the Los Angeles area. He was over six feet, and his suit couldn't hide the fact that he worked out pretty seriously. He probably didn't meet many men who made him feel physically weak. His assistant Ernesto Bertram was a slender man who looked too young for his job, and far too serious with his short dark hair and glasses. It wasn't the glasses that made him look too serious; it was the look on his face, as if he'd tasted something sour. The U. S. attorney for the St. Louis area, Albert Veducci, was here, too. He didn't have Shelby's tan. In fact, he was a little overweight, and he looked tired. His assistant was Grover. He'd actually introduced himself only as Grover, so I didn't know if it was his first, last, or only name. He smiled more than the rest of them and was attractive in that friendly, walk-you-home-on-campus way. He reminded me of guys in college who were either as nice as they seemed or absolute bastards who only wanted sex, for you to help them pass a class, or, for me, to be close to a real live faerie princess. I wouldn't know which kind of “nice guy” Grover was for a while. If things went well, I'd never figure it out, because I'd probably never see him again. If they went badly, we might see a lot of Grover.
Nelson was the assistant district attorney to the district attorney for Los Angeles County. Her boss, Miguel Cortez, was short, dark, and handsome. He looked great on camera. I'd seen him on the news often enough here. The trouble was that he, like Shelby, was ambitious. He liked being on the news, and wanted to be on the news more. This accusation of rape against my men had all the earmarks of a case that could make your career or break it. Cortez and Shelby were ambitious; it meant that they would either be very cautious, or very incautious. I wasn't sure which mood would help us the most, yet.
Nelson was taller than her boss, close to six feet in her not-too-high heels. Her hair was a vibrant red that fell in waves around her shoulders. It was that rare shade that is deep, rich, and as close to true red as human hair can get. Her suit was well cut, but conservative and black, her button-up shirt white, her makeup tasteful. Only that flame of hair to ruin the almost mannish exterior she portrayed. It was as if she were hiding her beauty and drawing attention to it at the same time. Because she was beautiful. A sprinkling of freckles underneath the pale makeup didn't detract from the flawless skin, it added. Her eyes were green and blue at once, depending on how the light caught them. Those undecided eyes couldn't stop looking at Frost and Doyle. She tried to concentrate on the legal pad she was supposed to be making notes on, but her gaze kept rising, and finding them, as if she couldn't help herself.
That made me wonder if there was more going on than just handsome men and a distracted woman.
Shelby cleared his throat sharply.
I jumped and looked at him. “I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Shelby, were you speaking to me?”
“No, I was not, and I should have been.” He looked down the table on his side. “I was brought into this as a more neutral voice, but let me ask my fellow members of the bar if they are having trouble forming questions for the princess.”
Several of the lawyers spoke at the same time. Veducci just raised his pencil in the air. Veducci got the nod. “My office has dealt more closely with the princess and her people than the rest of you, which is why I'm carrying certain remedies against glamour.”
“What sort of remedies?” Shelby asked.
“I won't tell you what I'm carrying, but cold steel, iron, four-leaf clover, St.-John's-Wort, rowan and ash—either the wood or the berries—have been known to work. Some say bells will break glamour, but I think high-court sidhe won't be bothered much by bells.”
“Are you saying that the princess is using glamour against us?” Shelby asked, his handsome face no longer pleasant.
“I am saying that sometimes when dealing with King Taranis or Queen Andais, their presence overwhelms humans,” Veducci responded. “Princess Meredith, being part human, though beautiful—” He nodded in my direction.
I nodded at the compliment.
“—has never affected anyone so strongly, but a lot has been happening in the Unseelie Court in the last few days. Ambassador Stevens has filled me in, as have other sources. Princess Meredith and some of her guard have moved up the power grid, so to speak.” Veducci still looked tired, but now his eyes showed the mind inside that overweight, overworked camouflage. I realized with a start that there were other dangers besides ambition. Veducci was smart, and hinted that he knew something about what had happened inside the Unseelie Court. Did he know, or was he fishing? Did he think we'd give something away?
“It is illegal to use glamour on us,” Shelby said, angry. He looked at me now, and his look was no longer in the least friendly. I looked back. I gave him the full force of my tricolored eyes: molten gold at the outer edge, then a circle of jade green, and last emerald to chase around my pupil. He looked away first, dropping his gaze to his own legal pad. His voice was tight with controlled rage. “We could have you arrested, or deported back to faerie for trying to use magic to sway these proceedings, Princess.”
“I'm not doing anything to you, Mr. Shelby, not on purpose.” I looked at Veducci. “Mr. Veducci, you say that simply seeing my aunt and uncle was difficult; am I difficult now?”
“From my colleagues' reactions, I believe you are.”
“So this is the reaction that King Taranis and Queen Andais have on humans?”
“Similar,” Veducci said.
I had to smile.
“This is not funny, Princess,” Cortez said, his words full of anger, but when I met his brown eyes, they dropped from me.
I looked at Nelson, but it wasn't me distracting her; her problem was behind me.
“Which one are you staring at the most?” I asked. “Frost or Doyle; light or dark?”
She blushed in that pretty way human redheads have. “I'm not . . .”
“Come, Ms. Nelson, confess, which one?”
She swallowed hard enough that I heard it. “Both,” she whispered.
From the Hardcover edition. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 384
Dimensions: Length: 1.25" Width: 4.25" Height: 7.25"
Weight: 0.4 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Oct 28, 2008
Publisher Ballantine Books
ISBN 0345495918
EAN 9780345495914
|
Availability 268 units.
Availability accurate as of May 30, 2012 04:57.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Momence, IL.
Orders shipping to an address other than a confirmed Credit Card / Paypal Billing address may incur and additional processing delay.
|
Product Categories
Similar Products
Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Better than several of the previous books... Feb 1, 2010 |
| This one was better than several of the previous books in the series. It had a better plot, was faster-paced, and had less unnecessary mid-action dialogue. It still had a few slow spots where a little too much politics, dialogue, and overly detailed (not erotically-written) sex scenes, but the action and better plot overcame some of that. Hopefully the next book will continue the upward trend. | | | | READERS NEED TO STOP COMPLAINING AND START APPRECIATING. Jan 18, 2010 |
I have been a fan of Hamilton's for about 12 years now and I have to start this review out by saying to readers: STOP COMPLAINING. If you don't like to read erotic romances, then don't read them. It's that simple. By far the largest complaint across both the Merry Gentry series and the Anita Blake series---- is about the sexual content. I think readers came down harder on the Anita novels because prior to Nacissus in Chains, the sexual content was fairly mild, but if you go back and read some of the earlier novels (the scenes between Richard, Anita, and JC in particular), Hamilton drops hints along the way that eventually Anita will be able to raise power via sex.
Pretty much from the get-go we see that Merry is able to raise energy during sex, such as when she restores her lover Roane Finn back to the selkie he once was in the first book, A Kiss of Shadows. So, five books later it should be no surprise that sex is an integral part of the series. So, why are people still upset over this? Hamilton is unapologetic when it comes to the sexual content of her books, no amount of readers complaining about the sex is going to sway her from writing the story she wants to write. These are her characters--she's going to write them her way. Like Hamilton states on her blog: "Life is too short to read books you don't like" and the fact remains that even with all the readers that claim they will never purchase another one of her books again---Hamilton continues to be a bestselling author.
Hamilton has skillfully executed a very unique idea in the denizens of Faerie living among humans. This is not some half formed concept. The universe is complete with it's own history, and plenty of back story for the characters blended well with the author's own ideas. It's clear that Hamilton has done a lot of research on faerie mythology and it really does lend an element of reality to the series. In a world where it is hard to distinguish one heroine from another, Hamilton really should be applauded on how singular these novels really are.
A Lick of Frost is one of the most sexually tame books of the series, in my opinion. Rhys, Galen, and Abe are accused of the rape of the Seelie Lady Caitrin and the book opens with Merry and her private guard attending a meeting with human authorities to ascertain if the is enough evidence to go to trial. Merry and Co. know that the three sidhe men are innocent of the crime and are trying to figure out how Lady Caitrin and Seelie King Taranis, Lord of Light and Illusion are able to lie about this, as it is well known that the sidhe cannot lie. Merry and her men later come to find out that there are ways of bending the truth without being forsworn.
Critics gripe about Merry not figuring this out sooner, but as a Sidhe Princess who is also mortal, she is not as accomplished in court intrigue and is also more likely to play by the rules and the fact that the Seelie Court, The Golden Court would stoop to lying is a surprise since the Seelie have always claimed to be the good guys.
In the aftermath of an attack on Merry's guards the second half of the book takes place at Maeve Reed's mansion. Merry is having to deal with being able to divide her personal feelings from her duty as a potential queen, tricky negotiations with the Goblins, the ever growing animosity from her Aunt Andais, fear over possible assassination attempts, and the fact that Merry is bringing life back to Faerie will require the sacrifice of someone who she holds very dear.
For those of you that are concerned or merely curious, there are only two sex scenes in the novel which are tame in comparison to the other novels. As far as the torture and sadism goes. Merry only discusses her feelings on BDSM and witnesses the aftermath of Crystall being "at the queen's mercy". If you've read the other novels, this should not be shocking as Andais is a self confessed sadist.
Overall, if you're looking for a good story that will keep you turning the pages, try this one. Just remember, if you are someone who doesn't care to read any type of erotica then this isn't for you. | | |  | GREAT ENTERTAINMENT Jan 15, 2010 |
| A great and talented author. If you like Epic Fantasy I would also like to recommend Alexey Pehov's SHADOW PROWLER. Pehov is a #1 bestselling author is Russia. Part of a new generation of author writing in the genre. Chris Claremont one of the creaters of the X-men has given the book a great quote. SHADOW PROWLER is Pehov's first novel translated into English. Russia is the land of Fairy Tales in story telling. | | |  | Meredith Gentry 6: A Lick of Frost Dec 20, 2009 |
Meredith Gentry #6: A Lick of Frost, by Laurell K. Hamilton
FINALLY! "A Lick of Frost" returns the Meredith Gentry series to the promise of the first two books - the action is back with a very fast paced plot, and for once, there isn't a deluge of sexual action.
The novel opens with Merry and some of her guards in a lawyer's office, defending accusations of rape on a Seelie sidhe woman. King Taranis, the ruler of the Seelie court, the court of light and goodness, went to human police and pressed charges against Galen, Rhys, and Abeloec - breaking an unwritten rule of faerie law. You don't go outside of faerie for justice. So obviously Taranis has some trick up his sleeve, but will Merry figure it out in time?
It quickly becomes clear that Taranis has gone insane - the thin veneer of sanity lifts when Merry denies him, and he attacks her guards in front of humans, nearly killing Doyle. Another spin comes when one of the king's nobles offers her the Seelie throne, which quickly puts Merry's sadistic aunt, Queen Andais of the Unseelie, into a very bad mood. The action continues after that, continuing several plot threads that haven't been seen for a few books; but notably, many of the guards that Merry acquired have no lines at all, and aren't even mentioned. Why introduce a ton of new characters, and then leave them out?
I'm so-so on this book. On one hand I enjoyed it quite a bit, as there was finally more action and plot then sex scenes. As I've said in other reviews of books in this series, I don't read for the sex - I read because I like the world Hamilton has created. Finally, in "A Lick of Frost," there's some development, there's something happening. And also, there's finally some tragedy - with all the assassination attempts in the series and danger, no one has been seriously hurt, which is somewhat unrealistic. But, on the other hand, some things left me confused. Apparently a month has passed since "Mistral's Kiss," but I don't know what happened in that month; I think it's implied that Merry's been busy in the bedroom trying to get pregnant so she can take the throne, but come on. The ending also feels rushed, and jumps from A to B a little too quickly.
3/5. | | | | Another Good One in the Merry G. Series Oct 9, 2009 |
| In the line up of Merry Gentry books I give this one a 4 of 5 stars. I have no clue what the title of the book has to do with the book but hey... This book actually had a little more substance and a little less 'sex' then some of the others and for that I am appreciative. I would like this book even more if the 'f' word were left out a time or 2 along with a few other words/descriptions. None-the-less, I loved the plot, the rescues, the love, the sneaking into the court, the intermix of human & fey - Nicely done - I can't wait for the next in the series!! | | | Write your own review about A Lick of Frost: A Novel
|
Shopping Cart (0 Items)
