A Kiss of Shadows (Merry Gentry #1)

My name is Meredith Gentry, but of course it's not my real name. I dare not even whisper my true name after dark for fear that one hushed word will travel over the night winds to the soft ear of my aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness. She wants me dead. I don't even know why...

I fled the high court of Faerie three years ago and have been in hiding ever since. As Merry Gentry, I am a private investigator for the Grey Detective Agency: Supernatural Problems, Magical Solutions. My magical skills, scorned at the courts of Faerie, are valued in the human world. Even by human standards, my magic isn't flashy, which is fine by me. Flashy attracts attention and I can't afford that.

Rumour has it that I am dead. Not quite. I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. To speak that name after dark is to call down a knock upon your door from a hand that can kill you with a touch. I have been careful, but not careful enough. The shadows have found me, and they are going to take me back home, one way or another.

So the running is over. But the fighting has just begun...

Rich, sensual, brimming with dangerous magic, A Kiss of Shadows is a dazzling tour-de-force where folklore, fantasy and erotically charged adventure collide.

A Caress of Twilight (Merry Gentry #2)

"I am Princess Meredith, heir to a throne--if I can stay alive long enough to claim it."

"After eluding relentless assassination attempts by Prince Cel, her cousin and rival for the Faerie crown, Meredith Gentry, Los Angeles private eye, has a whole new set of problems. To become queen, she must bear a child before Cel can father one of his own. But havoc lies on the horizon: people are dying in mysterious, frightening ways, and suddenly the very existence of the place known as Faerie is at grave risk. So now, while she enjoys the greatest pleasures of her life attempting to conceive a baby with the warriors of her royal guard, she must fend off an ancient evil that could destroy the very fabric of reality. And that's just her day job. . . . "From the Paperback edition.

Seduced by Moonlight (Merry Gentry #3)

To some I am Meredith Gentry, P.I. To others I am Princess Merry, heir to the throne of Faerie. And there are those who whisper that I am both of these and more.

My aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, no long distracted by her sadistic pastimes, now focusses unwaveringly on me. I spend each night with my immortal guards, but still no child has come of our decadent pleasures. But something IS happening to me. I appear to have awakened a force that's lain dormant for thousands of years and I haven't the damndest idea how or why...

It all began with the chalice. I dreamed it, and there it was - cool and hard - when I awoke. My guards know this ancient relic well - its disappearance so many ages ago stripped them of their vital powers. And here it is with us now. My touch resonates with its force. A strange, dazzling magic now courses through my half-mortal half-Sidhe body. But while my guards cherish me for this unexpected gift, there are those who loathe me for it and would rather the Unseelie court suffer than have it ruled over by me, a mongrel queen. My enemies grow in number every day. If only they knew what I am capable of. But come to that, if only I did too.

This is the world of Meredith Gentry, a twilight world of gods, shapeshifters and immortal souls, a world full of sensuality, wild magic, treacherous deceits and latent powers about to be unleashed...

A Stroke of Midnight (Merry Gentry #4)

I am Meredith Gentry, P.I., solving cases in Los Angeles, far from the peril and deception of my real home-because I am also Princess Meredith, heir to the darkest throne faerie has to offer. The Unseelie Court infuses me with its power. But at what price does such magic come? How much of my human side will I have to give up, and how much of the sinister side of faerie will I have to embrace? To sit on a throne that has ruled through bloodshed and violence for centuries, I might have to become that which I dread the most.

Enemies watch my every move. My cousin Cel strives to have me killed even now from his prison cell. But not all the assassination attempts are his. Some Unseelie nobles have waited centuries for my aunt Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness, to become weak enough that she might be toppled from her throne. Enemies unforeseen move against us-enemies who would murder the least among us.

The threat will drive us to allow human police into faerie for the first time in our history. I need my allies now more than ever, especially since fate will lead me into the arm of Mistral, Master of Storms, the queen's new captain of her guard. Our passion will reawaken powers long forgotten among the warriors of the sidhe. Pain and pleasure await me-and danger, as well, for some at that court seek only death.

I will find new joys with the butterfly-winged demi-fey. My guards and I will show all of faerie that violence and sex are as popular among the sidhe as they are among the lesser fey of our court. The Darkness will weep, and Frost will comfort him. The gentlest of my guards will find new strength and break my heart. Passions undreamed of await us-and my enemies gather, for the future of both courts of faerie begins to unravel. "From the Hardcover edition."

Mistral's Kiss (Merry Gentry #5)

The time has come for Meredith Gentry to put aside her detective work and fulfill her ultimate obligation to the world of Faerie - where her efforts to conceive an heir to the throne of the Unseelie Court are crucial to restoring magic, and life itself, to the Fey kingdom.

And though her quest to produce an heir may be full of sensual pleasures, it is also fraught with peril: the shadows of intrigue stalk the royal court, and sabotage lurks at any turn. Merry's cousin schemes and plots, determined to see her fall. But, in the once-dead gardens of the world of faerie, something has re-awakened an all-powerful, malign magic. And Merry's own powers have turned wildly - dangerously - unpredictable. As plots and counterplots are hatched and strategies and subterfuges played out, the destiny of an entire world turns upon the fortunes of Merry Gentry: object of obsession, target of treachery and pawn of uncertain fate.

A Lick of Frost (Merry Gentry #6)

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 vain-glorious 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.

Swallowing Darkness (Merry Gentry #7)

I am Meredith, princess of faerie, wielder of the hands of Flesh and Blood, and at long last, I am with child–twins, fathered by my royal guard. Though my uncle, Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, claims that he is the true father since he abducted me from my home, betrayed, and defiled me. And now he has branded my guards as a threat to my unborn children.

Bearing an heir has placed me halfway to my aunt’s throne, that much closer to my reign over the Unseelie Court–and well ahead of her son, my cousin Cel, in this race. Now I must stay alive to see my children born and claim my place as queen.

But not all in faerie are pleased with the news, and conspirators from every court in the realm plot against me and mine. They seek to strip my guards, my lovers, from me by poisoned word or cold steel. But I still have supporters, and even friends, among the goblins and the sluagh, who will stand by me.

I am Meredith Nic Essus, and those who would defy and destroy me are destined to pay a terrible price–for I am truly my father’s daughter. To protect what is mine, I will sacrifice anything–even if it means waging a great battle against my darkest enemies and making the most momentous decision ever made as princess of faerie.

Divine Misdemeanors (Merry Gentry #8)

The tension in this saga continues to mount as Merry, pregnant with twins, rejects the throne and instead chooses exile in the human world with her beloved Frost and Darkness. But though she has left faerie for Los Angeles, Merry knows she can never abandon her people and when someone begins killing the fey, Merry will do whatever is takes to uncover the truth behind the deaths. And yet, even stranger things are happening. The mortals that have been healed by Merry's touch are suddenly performing miracles and Merry finds herself amidst dark suspicions of banned magical activities. Filled with riveting twists, Divine Misdemeanors adds yet another unforgettable chapter to a story that is both epic and breathtaking.

Never After

by Laurell K. Hamilton , Yasmine Galenorn , Marjorie M. Liu , Sharon Shinn

The bonds of love...

The bonds of matrimony...

The bonds between husband and wife...

Let's face it-some bonds are made to be broken.

Here, for the first time ever, are four stories from today's most provocative authors that take the classic idea of the "faerie tale wedding" and give it a swift kick in the bustle.

Keleios the Half-Elf was but five years old when she saw her mother murdered by the evil witch Harque. For years she has asked the gods for the strength she'll need to avenge this foul death, and it seems the gods have answered her. She's been granted an array of powers never before seen in one person, but she has also acquired a most terrifying burden, a demonmark. This mark can open the door to undreamed abilities, but it can also open her soul to the forbidden dark side of magic. Keleios must choose between the demonmark's tainted power and the lives of those she holds most dear. In an epic battle of good versus evil, of enchanted swords and shapeshifting dragons, of unquenchable hatred and unlikely love, Keleios must face her own demons—before she can acquire the most important power of all: the power to forgive.