I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Seduced by Moonlight
by
Laurell K. Hamilton
erotic romance, urban fantasy in Paperback edition that was published by Ballantine Books on December 28, 2004 and has 404 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Hit List, Bloody Bones, Killing Dance, Burnt Offerings, Narcissus in Chains, Obsidian Butterfly, Bite, Incubus Dreams, Micah, Danse Macabre, The Harlequin, Blood Noir, Skin Trade, Flirt, Bullet, Never After, Kiss the Dead, The First Death, Affliction, Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, "Shutdown", A Kiss of Shadows, Lunatic Café, A Caress of Twilight, A Stroke of Midnight, Mistral’s Kiss, A Lick of Frost, Blue Moon, Dead Ice, Jason, Crimson Death, Serpentine, "Wounded", Fantastic Hope, Cerulean Sins, A Terrible Fall of Angels, Slay, Swallowing Darkness
Third in the Meredith Gentry urban fantasy series revolving around an American faerie princess juggling a harem of men against the evil machinations of the vicious Unseelie queen.
My Take
This story takes half the fun out of being a faerie princess, although that harem of hers puts a lot of fun back in! Still, very little of it is fun and games. It’s mostly all games. Games of politics and manipulation as Merry and her Merry Men attempt to placate paparazzi, Queen Andais, the goblins, the demi-fey, and even her hostess as they hunt for the traitors amongst them.
They’re all still living in Maeve Reed’s home, and although Gordon has died, he will live on as a result of events in A Caress of Twilight, 2.
There’s a great deal more on the weirdings and their effects on fae power, and why some fae chose to come to America instead of buy a house in a European suburb.
The Story
It’s all a show: for the paparazzi, for Kurag, and for the Unseelie Court.
Merry and her men need peace from the paparazzi while Merry needs a longer alliance with Kurag. The real test, however, will be the Yule season, and Merry must attend the Unseelie queen and counter the Seelie king.
It’s too bad that so few are feeling the joy of this holiday season with one assassin after another. Nor are they all directed at Merry.
The Characters
Princess Meredith NicEssus, Princess of flesh and blood, is coheir to the throne of the Unseelie Court — heir if she becomes pregnant before her insane cousin. She’s also part human and part brownie, a mix the pure fae despise. Her father, an Unseelie brother to Andais, Prince Essus, was murdered years ago; her mother, Besaba, is Seelie Court; you’ll understand how she hates her daughter when you realize that Seelie fae refer to Merry as Besaba’s Bane.
Merry’s Merry Men include:
Doyle is/was the Queen’s Darkness, her assassin for the past 1,000 years. Now he belongs to Merry, the captain of her guards, and he carries Báinidhe Dub, Black Madness, along with the daggers, Snick and Snack. The one-eyed Rhys was a major death god, the Lord of Death, as well as the gwynfor, the white lord, before he lost so much in that last great weirding magic and was tossed out of the Seelie Court. Frost, the Killing Frost, is cold in manner, defrosting only in bed. Kitto is a snake goblin — full sidhe now — and a symbol of the alliance Merry has with Kurag. Galen, the politically naive Green Man, is the fae Merry grew up with, her first love. Nicca is so gentle with his butterfly tattoo.
Maeve Reed, a major film star, is a fae exiled from the Seelie Court for daring to tell Taranis the truth. Only her tremendous desire for a child brought her out of hiding to contact Merry.
Queen Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness, the dark goddess of battle, is Merry’s aunt, reigning monarch of the Unseelie Court with its reputation for bad. She wields Mortal Dread, a sword that can bring true death to any sidhe. Owain was the queen’s one true love. Eamon is her current consort. The Hall of Mortality is where Ezekiel the torturer works. Mistral is her new captain of the guard; Whisper is his second. Prince Cel is her insanely psychopathic son currently enduring a six-month prison sentence for his deeds in A Kiss of Shadows, 1. Madeline Phelps is the publicist for the Court. Fflur is the queen’s healer. Tyler is the queen’s current human toy.
Barinthus is a former sea god and had been Prince Essus’ best friend and chief adviser. He’s cared about Merry since her birth and is her friend.
Guards whom Andais sends to Merry include plant or vegetable deities:
Abeloec, a drunken addict, was once the greatest libertine of the Seelie Court. Carrow was one of the great hunters, and he taught Merry the ways of bird and beast. Amatheon‘s presence makes Merry truly unhappy as he was one of those who tortured Merry as a child. He still hates her mongrel blood, but was tortured into accepting. Onilwyn is another of Cel’s bootlicking toadies. Usna is grace personified thanks to his cat heritage. Ivi, Hawthorne, Adair who resisted longest, and Briac are also sent.
Nuline was one of Cel’s royal guards. Afagdu; Nerys; Miniver; Maelgwyn is the wolf lord, able to change shape into a wolf; and, Ruarc are the heads of their own houses.
King Taranis is the King of Light and Illusion of the Seelie Court. The humans don’t realize how very bad it is.
Kurag is king of the Goblins; Creeda is his nasty Goblin Queen. What a piece of work she is! Holly and Ash are half-breed Goblin-sidhe twins; feared among the Goblins. Ash wants more power while Holly wants nothing to do with it. Siun is another sidhe-fae, truly disgusting in appearance and mind. She was Kitto’s “protector” for centuries. Nor does Rhys have fond memories. Jonty leads the Red Caps, shock troops for the goblins; Kongar is one of the Red Caps who loses control.
Queen Niceven rules the demi-fey, Queen Andais’ spies. Now she is also allied with Merry through Sage.
Sholto is King of the Sluagh, Lord of That Which Passes Between, Lord of Shadows, and merits a throne of his own in the Unseelie Court. He’s half-sidhe and half-nightflyer and desperately wants to make love with a sidhe.
Major Walters is the fae liaison between the Courts and the police. Barry Jenkins is the journalist who has hounded Merry from the time of her father’s death.
Trullups are goblin half-breeds who cannot protect themselves and have no other skills to offer. The sithen is the faerie mounds, the hollow hills where the fae live.
The Cover and Title
The cover is tinted in green as Merry clasps the shoulder of one of her guards, his shirt open and exposing his chest, a quarter moon charm piercing his nipple.
The title is all about the glow of Merry’s body during sex, and her men are Seduced by Moonlight.
