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Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry Series #1) by Laurell K. Hamilton
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- Pub. Date: January 2001
- Sales Rank: 128
Reader Rating: (208 ratings)
Detailed Rating: "Characters" See All
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: January 2001
- Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
- Format: eBook
- Sales Rank: 128
- Series: Meredith Gentry Series, #1
- File Size: 381 KB
- ISBN-13: 9780345446886
- ISBN: 0345446887
Synopsis
Enter a thrilling, sensual world as threatening as it beautiful, replete with the consuming passions of immortal beings once worshipped as gods or demons.
11th Hour
Despite its modern setting, A Kiss of Shadows has all the elements of a traditional dark fantasy book: a throne to win, an evil prince to defeat and a generous smattering of enchanted objects with cool names. Its darker aspects include powers that turn the flesh inside out, various members of the Host, and one of the guards has a few extra surprises. The Unseelie Court is simply not a place that gives you the warm fuzzies. Overall, A Kiss of Shadows proves Ms. Hamilton as an exceedingly imaginative story-teller who does her job well in setting the stage for her new series.
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Toss everything you think you know about vampire stories and sword and sorcery novels into an open grave, because Laurell K. Hamilton is reinventing the genres with chills, thrills, and giggles. With her popular Anita Blake and Meredith Gentry series, Hamilton is making dark fantasy fantastically entertaining again.
More About the AuthorCustomer Reviews
- Reader Rating:
- Ratings: 208Reviews: 54
- See All Reviews
An Excellent Adult Fae Dark Urban Fantasy Romanceby kitkat3ny
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
November 19, 2009: There are over 300 reviews for this book already, so my review will be brief. I've never read anything from this author before but decided to take advantage of the free download from Kindle. Even though I'm sure some of the complaints concerning Laurell's writings have merit; I let a lot of the negative reviews surrounding Laurell's books get in the way of me discovering a fantastic author. If you are disturbed by multiple sex partners or frequent sexual activity, I don't recommend you read this book. This book was a very exciting, creative, dark and dangerous fantasy that completely delivered. I enjoyed this book so much; I greedily devoured it and could hardly put it down. I am always looking for dark urban fantasy books that involve the fae and cater to adults, and I very pleased to be able to add Laurell's Meredith Gentry series to my short list. I highly recommend this book to dark urban fantasy readers and look forward to reading the next book A Caress of Twilight.
I Also Recommend: Witchling (Sisters of the Moon Series #1), Darkfever (Fever Series #1), Full Moon Rising (Riley Jenson Guardian Series #1), Rosemary and Rue, Storm Born (Dark Swan Series #1).
Anita Blake, or Meridith Gentry booksby Cindy79
Reader Rating:
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November 11, 2009: OMG. Laural K. Hamilton is my FAVORITE author. I recommend her to everyone who is interested in her kind of writing. I read all 16-17 books of the Anita Blake series in 2 weeks, and the Mereidith Gentry in 1 week I couldn't put them down.
hFact File
Name:
Laurell K. Hamilton
Also Known As:
Laurell Kaye Klein (birth name)
Current Home:
St. Louis, Missouri
Date of Birth:
February 19, 1963
Place of Birth:
Heber Springs, Arkansas
Education:
B.A., Marion College
Awards:
P.E.A.R.L. (Paranormal Excellence Award for Romantic Literature) for A Kiss Of Shadows, 2000
Biography
The vampire genre has enthralled readers ever since Bram Stoker introduced a certain Transylvanian count over a century ago. Since then vampires have been used as vehicles for everything from romantic novels to erotica to humor to the expected tales of terror. However, very few writers have combined all of these facets of the never-say-die vampire quite the way that Laurell K. Hamilton has.
Hamilton has not always been under the spell of undead things that go bump-and-grind in the night. When she was a young girl, her literary tastes were a bit more on the traditional side. "I wanted to be Louisa May Alcott, who wrote Little Women, because I had never read any science fiction, fantasy, or horror," she confessed in a podcast on Mayor Slay.com. "Then at 13 or 14 I found Robert E. Howard's short story collection [Pigeons From Hell]. It was the first horror, the first heroic fantasy, the first science fiction I'd ever read, and the moment I read that I knew that not only did I want to be a writer, but this is what I wanted to write."
Furthering Hamilton's burgeoning fascination with the fantastic, she discovered Anthony Masters's The Natural History of the Vampire at her high school library. Coupled with the ghost stories her grandmother had told her when she was a child and heavy doses of Hammer Horror movies from Great Britain, Hamilton was well on her way to creating a character that would only be rivaled by Buffy in the field of vampire slaying.
Hamilton first introduced vampire huntress Anita Blake in her third novel Guilty Pleasures. Blake is an unlikely combination of action hero, federal marshal, "necromancer," and lusty dame. Her exploits between the sheets and in the graveyard won Hamilton a rabid following hungry for something new in the well-traveled vampire genre.
Along with the kinds of scares normally associated with vampire stories, Hamilton's books are notable for their unflinching eroticism. Vampires have had a sexual lure since Stoker, but Hamilton particularly draws that aspect to the surface of her work as one of her creatures might draw blood from a victim. "I [want] a kiss to be so believable it gives the reader shivers," she says on her website. "Two things I do well are sex and violence, but I don't want gratuitous sex or violence. The sex and violence is only as graphic as need be. And never included unless it furthers the plot or character development."
Another unlikely trait of her books is humor, vampire tales classically being of the more solemn sort. However, a writer weaned on a book titled Pigeons From Hell is not likely going to shy away from wit. Consequently, her books have been consistently entertaining and fun, as well as creepy and sexy.
Hamilton has also brought her delicious combination of sex, humor, and frights to another series, this one more ingrained in dark fantasy than horror. Her faerie princess/P.I. Meredith Gentry made her debut in Kiss of Shadows in 2001 and has since sparked her own crowd-pleasing sword and sorcery meets pulp series.
Increasingly, the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry books have added more sexual content to their story lines, classifying both series in a new hybrid genre that blends romance, erotica, and paranormal fantasy. To judge from Hamilton's consistent appearance on the bestseller charts, readers find the mix spellbinding.
Good to Know
One thing you will never find in a Hamilton novel is a cliffhanger. She believes that cliffhangers unfairly tease readers who would then have to wait six months to a year to have some sense of resolution. As she said during an interview with Bill Thompson of Eye On Books, "Every book is a full meal. All the way from the appetizer to the dessert, so that you come away feeling that you've had an experience... and at the end you have that satisfied, full feeling."
Before Laurell K. Hamilton made a full-time career of blood, guts, murder, and mayhem, she had more humane pursuits -- she volunteered at an animal shelter where she played with unwanted pets.
In our interview, Hamilton shared some fun and fascinating facts about herself with us:
"I am incredibly stubborn. Telling me I cannot do something, especially if you cite the fact that I am a girl, will make me want to do it more and do it better."
"I am not my characters. We have some of the same traits in common, but we are very different people."
"Everything inspires me. Getting up in the morning, walking the dogs, watching a music video. Inspiration comes from everywhere."
"I love animals. I own four dogs, two of whom are rescues. In fact, Jimmy is with us because they were going to gas him if we didn't take him with us. As an older dog his chances of finding a home were fairly slim. But he has been a wonderful addition to our home."
"I like spending time with my family and friends. Something I often feel I do not do enough of. But there are only so many hours in a day."
"I like to read other people's works. I love reading cozy or historical mysteries when I can."
"I enjoy interacting with fans at planned public events. I enjoy talking to them and have met many wonderful people."
Feature Interview
In the winter of 2004, Laurell K. Hamilton took some time to talk with us about some of her favorite books, authors, and interests. What was the book that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
Pigeons From Hell by Robert E. Howard -- it was the first heroic fantasy/horror novel I ever read. I read it and knew that not only did I want to be a writer, but this was what I wanted to write.
Andre Norton was important both for her science fiction and fantasy novels, and the fact that she was a woman. Before I became enamored of fantastic literature, my first writing hero was Louisa May Alcott, as in Little Women, and many more books. When I began writing horror and the like, I thought I'd left her far behind, only to discover that Ms. Alcott had also written gothic horror stories.
What are your favorite books, and what makes them special to you?
What are some of your favorite films, and what makes them unforgettable to you?
What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you're writing?
Tori Amos is a perennial favorite, but I have listened to everything from Nine Inch Nails to The Veggie Tales Christmas album.
If you had a book club, what would it be reading?
Any Nero Wolf books by Rex Stout -- because we (my husband and I) started reading them a year ago. They are clever, charming and the quality of the writing is consistently high. They are a wonderful hybrid of hardboiled detective and super-genius detective.
What are your favorite kinds of books to give -- and get -- as gifts?
I try to pick books that the recipient will actually read. I find most folks give books that they want to read or ones they hope will expand the mind of the recipient whether they like it or not. Books can do all that and still be entertaining. Books should be about the person you're giving it to rather than the gift giver.
As to what kind of books I like to get, I tend to like animal books -- ones with lovely pictures of dogs or other animals.
Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you're writing?
I don't really have any rituals. And my desk needs to be an uncluttered space for me to work. So most likely I will have a cup of hot tea and the music I have chosen for this book. Much else and I tend to get distracted.
Many writers are hardly "overnight success" stories. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes?
Nearly fourteen years ago when I was first trying to sell Guilty Pleasures, I had one publishing house reject the book on the grounds that the market couldn't bear another vampire book, and the week they were going to make the decision another vampire novel came out from another publisher. They used that as a reason to reject me, and Anita. They said that the vampire market was dying out, and no one wanted to read about vampires anymore.
I was told by a prominent mystery editor that if my Anita Blake mysteries had been straight mystery, no horror elements, or fantastic elements at all, that I'd have never gotten published. Because I am a woman writing from a first person woman's point of view, that no one would have touched it. Maybe that's true. Maybe it was one of the things that sent Anita around to nearly every publisher before it found a home. I don't know. No one complained about the sexual content of the first book, but then, there wasn't any.
I don't know if I'd have had more trouble if the first few books had had a higher content or not. I do know that by using the tropisms of several different genres, I get to play exactly the way I want to play. I get the tough as nails attitude of a hardboiled-mystery, the monsters and gore level of horror, the sex and sensuality of romance, the sheer wonderment of fantasy, and the feeling of reality that the best science fiction gives to amazingly odd facts. If I hadn't chosen to mix genres I might have had a harder time. Though most people told me that mixing genres this badly would doom me. Just goes to prove that you have to believe in yourself and your vision.
If you could choose one new writer to be "discovered," who would it be?
Rett MacPherson. The Victory O'Shea mysteries are delightfully different. First, the main character, Torie, is happily married, has more than one child and a mother who has been wheelchair bound most of Torie's life. The books are set around a small Missouri town that is a concentrated version of several historic towns here. Rett makes good use of Torie's extended family in the books and explains dramatic versions of some of the problems we all face with blood relatives. The series began in 1998 with Family Skeletons and is now in it's eighth book with the just-published In Sheep's Clothing.
They are fun to read and I don't think enough people have found them yet. Rett is also a personal friend and member of my writing group.
What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
Write. You'd be surprised how many wanna-be writers never seem to do that. Write, then finish it. Finish the story. Finish the book. Do two pages a day, every day. Do not revise as you go. If you come to something you don't know, like what does 14th century underwear look like, put a note, skip it, and keep writing. I hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth, but trust me I've met too many writers that have the perfect three chapters of their book, but nothing more. Three chapters isn't a book, it's a beginning -- finish it.
Once you have hundreds of pages on the other side of your computer, then go through and fill in those blank spots with research. Now, you can look up how to undress your 14th century heroine. Now you can chorography that fight scene. If you spend more than a week on a scene, maybe two days, skip it, write a note that says, fight scene here. You know who wins, just move on, keep going. The second draft is just filling in the blank notes. The third draft is where you begin to edit, and polish the writing. I did seven drafts of my first book, and I wrote it just like I've described. It sold. Most first novels don't. My way is not the only way, heaven knows, but it's the way that allowed me to write my first five to six books.
I've gotten better at my job, and I no longer need seven drafts to get it where I want to be. But I find even today, as I write my seventeenth novel, that if I spend more than a week on a scene, I'm stuck, and I need to move on. Perfectionism has set in, and I'm trying to make it perfect. Perfection is an unattainable goal -- trust me on that. Just write, try not to worry, and when it's done, send it out. Try to sell it. For money. Not copies, not for friends to read. Sell it. This is a business, not a charity. Remember that. Your goal is to earn a living writing what you most love, right? Well, if that's your goal, act like it.
I always started at the highest paying appropriate market for my short stories, and then worked down as they got rejected. I'm assuming that you have researched your markets and aren't trying to send vampire stories to magazines that don't even buy fiction. It's a business, remember. Sending your stories to inappropriate markets is like showing up for a job interview because you really want to edit fiction books, but you've walked into a computer-engineering firm. They don't edit fiction books there. Sending your story to the wrong market is the same deal.
Here's another important piece of advice: send the story, or book out, then get started on the next one. Don't fret, and hover around the mailbox angsting over that one story. It's like a mother with one child -- you worry more. So have more literary children, that way when one is rejected you know that there are others out there, that haven't been. It takes some of the sting out of the rejection process. Not a lot, but some. You've got to want this more than any other job, and you've got to toughen your ego, so that the business doesn't crush you. Be tough. Believe in yourself and your dreams.
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
Bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton steps outside her highly addictive Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter books to introduce readers to a new series of intrigue. A Kiss of Shadows is a sensual novel of dark fantasy that will both entertain and unsettle. In a manner reminiscent of Roger Zelazny's Amber series, Hamilton draws the reader into the adventures of two violent worlds: one a perilous mortal realm, the other a place of disturbing and often deadly magic.
In this alternate reality, the mystical Fey have always existed side by side with mankind, though not always calling attention to themselves. Many nations of the mortal realm closed their borders to the Fey, but the founding fathers of the United States sympathized with the magical beings and so opened America to high levels of immigration. Situated in Illinois, the Fey lands are a main tourist attraction and exist as a kind of "reservation" of sorcery.
Beautiful Princess Meredith of the Fey has been on the run from the Unseelie Court for several years, having taken the human identity of Meredith (Merry) Gentry and working as a private eye who handles cases with a supernatural bent. During a case involving a bizarre cult and Faerie artifacts, Meredith is forced to use her magic. She is immediately noticed by her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, who resolves to have Meredith brought back to the Court.
The Queen sends her bodyguards to do the dirty work, but Meredith agrees to return home without a fight. The Queen seeks to find an heir to the throne because she feels her resentful and sadistic son, Prince Cel, isn't suitable to rule. She devises a strange contest between Meredith and Cel, decreeing that the first to bear a child shall have the crown -- and the loser will be put to death. Thus begins a violent struggle between the rivals that involves unbridled passions, malicious attacks, and bitter betrayals.
Hamilton has researched Celtic folklore in creating the Fey, but she has imbued these folk with a variety of personalities, from benevolent to psychopathic. This is an edgy, high-octane thriller filled with adventure and action; it's a deftly plotted tale that speeds from one imaginative story twist to another. Meredith is a unique and powerful protagonist whose humor and wit never hamper the strength of her resolve, moral fiber, and determination. With A Kiss of Shadows, Laurell K. Hamilton achieves new heights of stylish erotic fantasy with which to captivate and enchant her readers. (Tom Piccirilli)
Tom Piccirilli is the author of eight novels, including Hexes and Shards, and his Felicity Grove mystery series, consisting of The Dead Past and Sorrow's Crown. He has sold more than 100 stories to the anthologies Future Crimes, Bad News, The Conspiracy Files, and Best of the American West II. An omnibus collection of 40 stories titled Deep into That Darkness Peering is also available. Tom divides his time between New York City and Estes Park, Colorado.
From the Publisher
“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 the Air and Darkness. She wants me dead. I don’t even know why.”
Meredith Gentry, Princess of the high court of Faerie, is posing as a human in Los Angeles, living as a P.I. specializing in supernatural crime. But now the Queen’s assassin has been dispatched to fetch her back–whether she likes it or not. Suddenly Meredith finds herself a pawn in her dreaded aunt’s plans. The job that awaits her: enjoy the constant company of the most beautiful immortal men in the world. The reward: the crown–and the opportunity to continue to live. The penalty for failure: death.
11th Hour
Despite its modern setting, A Kiss of Shadows has all the elements of a traditional dark fantasy book: a throne to win, an evil prince to defeat and a generous smattering of enchanted objects with cool names. Its darker aspects include powers that turn the flesh inside out, various members of the Host, and one of the guards has a few extra surprises. The Unseelie Court is simply not a place that gives you the warm fuzzies. Overall, A Kiss of Shadows proves Ms. Hamilton as an exceedingly imaginative story-teller who does her job well in setting the stage for her new series.
Publishers Weekly
Erotica is fantasy, but it rarely gets as fantastic as this. After nine novels featuring Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (Obsidian Butterfly, etc.), Hamilton launches a sizzling new series that blends supernatural fantasy with detective adventure and hot sex. Here, the world is populated with various magical faerie races along with humans. The most supreme of the fey are the immortal sidhe, so beautiful and powerful they were once worshiped as gods. The fey are not only lusty but incredibly accomplished lovers; those of the royal sidhe bloodline are literally addictively sexy. Full-blooded fey are, for the most part, intolerant of cities, metal and technology. They seldom live for long among humans. Mixed-blood Princess Meredith NicEssus, however, has fled the faerie world to pass for three years as Merry Gentry, a human with some fey blood who works in Los Angeles with a detective agency that specializes in supernatural problems and magical solutions. Suddenly outed as the missing princess and fearing that her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, will kill her, she makes a desperate run aided by her detective pals. The queen does want her, but not in the way Merry expects. Ultimately, Meredith must fulfill the queen's designs for the future of her court, even if it means having to bed the most beautiful studs in the universe. Through constant danger and adventure, Meredith finds herself in a variety of sexual encounters that make it easy to see why her ancestors were so worthy of worship. As wild as the novel's premise is, memorable characters and wicked wit make it all delicious, ribald fun. 8-city author tour. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Library Journal
This is a new dark fantasy from Hamilton, author of the popular "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series (e.g., Obsidian Butterfly). For three years, Meredith Gentry has been hiding in Los Angeles from her aunt, the wicked Queen of Air and Darkness. Part human, part sidhe (fairy), Meredith is abruptly summoned back to the Faerie Court with the captain of the Queen's guard as her escort and personal bodyguard. What does her aunt want from her? Forging alliances with powerful, immortal men and exploring her newfound magical powers just might keep Meredith alive long enough to figure it all out. Hers is an edgy story of sex, violence, and magic that manages to be both disturbing and entertaining. Highly recommended for all public libraries.--Laurel Bliss, Sterling Memorial Lib., New Haven, CT Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\
Locus - Carolyn Cushman
An intriguing start to a new series, if even more of a guilty pleasure than Hamilton's previous series.
Kirkus Reviews
The stylish creator of nine Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novels (Obsidian Butterfly, 1999, etc.) launches a charmbearing new series in erotic dark fantasy.
What People Are Saying
Jayne Ann Krentz
She blends the genres of romance, horror, and dventure with stuning panache.
Alice Borchardt
A wonderful excursion into the magic of desire.
Diana Gabaldon
I've never read a writer with a more fertile imagination.
Jayne Ann Krentz
She blends the genres of romance, horror, and adventure with stunning panache.
Loading...Product Details
- Pub. Date: January 2001
- Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
- Format: eBook
- Sales Rank: 128
- Series: Meredith Gentry Series, #1
- File Size: 381 KB
- ISBN-13: 9780345446886
- ISBN: 0345446887
Table of Contents
Read an Excerpt
TWENTY-THREE STORIES UP AND ALL I COULD SEE OUT THE WINDOWS was grey smog. They could call it the City of Angels if they wanted to, but if there were angels out there, they had to be flying blind.Los Angeles is a place where people, those with wings and without, come to hide. Hide from others, hide from themselves. I'd come to hide and I'd succeeded, but staring out at the thick, dirty air, I wanted to go home. Home where the air was blue most of the time and you didn't have to water the ground to get grass to grow. Home was Cahokia, Illinois, but I couldn't go back because they'd kill me if I did, my relatives and their allies. Everyone wants to grow up to be a faerie princess. Trust me. It's overrated.
There was a knock on the office door. It opened before I could say anything. My boss, Jeremy Grey, stood framed in the doorway. He was a short, grey man, four feet eleven inches, an inch shorter than me. He was grey from his dark Armani suit to his button-up shirt and silk tie. Only his shoes were black and shiny. Even his skin was a pale uniform grey. Not from illness or age. No, he was a trow in the prime of life, just a little over four hundred. There were some lines around his eyes, along the thin mouth, that made him appear mature, but he'd never be old. Without the aid of mortal blood and pretty serious spell, Jeremy might live forever. Theoretically. Scientists say that in about five billion years the sun will expand and engulf the Earth. The fey won't survive that. They will die. Does five billion years count as forever? I don't think so. Though it's close enough to make the rest of us envious.
I leaned my back against the windows and the thick, hanging smog. The day was as grey as my boss, but his color was a cool, crisp grey, like clouds before a spring rain. What lay outside the window felt heavy and thick like something you would try to swallow, but you'd never get it down. It was a day to choke on, or maybe it was just my mood.
"You look gloomy, Merry," Jeremy said. "What's wrong?" He closed the door behind him, making sure it shut. Privacy, he was giving us privacy. Maybe it was for my benefit, but somehow I didn't think so. There was a tightness around his eyes, a set to his thin, well-tailored shoulders that said I wasn't the only one in a bad mood today. Maybe it was the weather or the lack of it. A good rain shower or even a good wind would have cleared out the smog and let the city breathe again.
"Homesick," I said. "What's wrong, Jeremy?"
He gave a small smile. "Can't fool you, can I, Merry?"
"No," I said.
"Nice outfit," he said.
I knew I looked hot when Jeremy complimented my clothes. He always looked impeccable even in jeans and T-shirt, which he only wore if he absolutely had to be undercover. I'd seen Jeremy do a three-minute mile in Gucci loafers once, chasing a suspect. Of course, it helped that his dexterity and speed were more than human. When I thought I might have to actually chase someone, a rare occasion, I got out the jogging shoes and left the high heels at home.
Jeremy put into his eyes that look a man gives you when he's appreciating the view. It wasn't personal, but among the fey it's an insult to ignore someone who's obviously trying to be attractive, a slap in the face telling them that they'd failed. Apparently, I hadn't failed. I'd woken up to the smog and dressed brighter than normal to try and cheer myself up. Royal blue suit jacket, double-breasted, silver buttons, a matching blue pleated skirt that was so short, it was only a fringe across my thighs underneath the jacket. The outfit was short enough that if I crossed my legs wrong, I'd flash the tops of my black thigh-highs. Two-inch patent leather high heels helped show off the legs. When you're as short as I am, you've got to do something to make your legs look long. Most days the heels were three inches.
My hair was a deep rich red in the reflections of the mirrors. A color more red than auburn, a color that had black highlights instead of the usual brown that most redheads had. It was as if someone had taken dark red rubies and spun them out into hair. It was a very popular color this year. Blood auburn it was called in the high court of the fey royalty. Faeroe Red, Sidhe Scarlet, if you went to a good salon. It was actually my natural color. Until it became popular this year and they finally got the shade right, I'd had to hide my true color. I'd gone for black, because it looked more natural than human red with my skin tone. A lot of people getting the dye job made the mistake of thinking that Sidhe Scarlet compliments a natural redhead's coloring. It doesn't. It's the only true red color I know of that matches a pale, pure white skin tone. It's the red hair for someone who looks great in black, true reds, royal blues.
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Hear our exclusive audio interview with Laurell K. Hamilton (12:51).