Genre Fiction
![Laurell K. Hamilton - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B000AP73GO.jpg)
Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter)
Vampire hunter Anita Blake is no stranger to killing monsters. It's part of her job as a Preternatural U.S. Marshal, after all. But even her experience isn't enough to stop something that is bent on destroying everything-and everyone-she loves.
Anita Blake is engaged to Jean-Claude, the new vampire king of America. Humans think she's gone over to the side of the monsters. The vampires fear that their new king has fallen under the spell of the most powerful necromancer in a thousand years.
In the midst of wedding preparations-including getting Edward, aka U.S. Marshal Ted Forrester, fitted as best man-Anita gets a call that the local police need her expertise at a brutal murder scene linked to a nationwide slaughter of vampires and humans, dubbed the Sunshine Murders.
But there is more than just a murderer to catch: an ancient evil has arrived in St. Louis to challenge Jean-Claude for his crown, his life, Anita, and all they hold dear. Even with Jean-Claude's new powers as king and Anita's necromancy, it isn't enough; they must embrace their triumvirate or allow primeval darkness to spread across the country, possessing first the vampires and then the humans. Evil will triumph unless Jean-Claude and Anita can prove that love conquers all.
Anita Blake is engaged to Jean-Claude, the new vampire king of America. Humans think she's gone over to the side of the monsters. The vampires fear that their new king has fallen under the spell of the most powerful necromancer in a thousand years.
In the midst of wedding preparations-including getting Edward, aka U.S. Marshal Ted Forrester, fitted as best man-Anita gets a call that the local police need her expertise at a brutal murder scene linked to a nationwide slaughter of vampires and humans, dubbed the Sunshine Murders.
But there is more than just a murderer to catch: an ancient evil has arrived in St. Louis to challenge Jean-Claude for his crown, his life, Anita, and all they hold dear. Even with Jean-Claude's new powers as king and Anita's necromancy, it isn't enough; they must embrace their triumvirate or allow primeval darkness to spread across the country, possessing first the vampires and then the humans. Evil will triumph unless Jean-Claude and Anita can prove that love conquers all.
Editorial Reviews
"Hamilton has written another great story in this series. Fans that have been invested in this series will not be disappointed."-Red Carpet Crash
Readers Top Reviews
Chispitagaeilicga
Wow! What a ride! Ok this is all spoiler alerts!! Read only if you are cool with it!! SPOILER ALERT! I absolutely had an awesome time reading this new installment. I am totally fascinated with the character development and the plunge it takes. I'm in love with the fact we have a big bad baddie that doesn't die in two chapters. Mind you I am ok with all previous villains but the fact we are going deeper with one specific villain makes this such a great journey. I know to get the richness in the villain that I love requires a 500+ pages like Obsidian Butterfly. I wish the villain from Vegas (Vittorio) had two books in him for sure cause of the psychological torment the guy was going through. So buckle in for at least two books for this new baddie Deimos. I'm looking forward to the chaos this mother trucker is ready to bring. Villains in the Anita Blake are the vehicles for change and growth in our poly family so I appreciate that the shadow work LKH adds to every book. I totally loved it!! A must read!!
Kindle Chispitag
I'm a long time LKH fan and I'll admit that having a little Edward in the book bumped my rating up a star. This is essentially part 1, this book has NO resolutions to anything at all that is brought up. There's no real progress on the Sunshine Murders, she forgets to look at the charm, there is an attack by another new enemy and they make plans to try to find him and then the book ends. You get the first chapter of the next book, which picks up 3 weeks later and there's no progress. There were also several redundancies of information within the book, which is unusual. I get from book to book it's good to repeat some things because we may have forgotten. But sometimes you'd get a page of information in one chapter and then the very next chapter would have the same info almost word for word! If there was a change in editors, please go back to the old one or get a new one again.
ZapgraysKindle C
I love Laurel K. Hamilton! I can't think of any characters in any other stories that I love more than the characters in the Anita Blake and the Meredith Gentry books! Sometimes I get frustrated where she takes the characters. The routes they take to get where they're going to be, but I never tire of them. All the cast of characters are here! All kinds of shocking things happen in this book!!! I mean, wow!!! I am totally here for it though! My only complaint is if she holds out on the wedding much longer I just might go insane!!! You could read Ms Hamilton's books without reading them all and in order. But don't! Read them all! You will see the author progress from YA to adult faire. One thing I would change?? Could someone PLEASE introduce Anita to No Budge lipstick!!! I mean come on!!! She's, smart, she's progressive! She would have the best Jean-Claude's money could buy! Nathaniel might be doing the shopping, either way she would have it!
CHAOSMAMAREADERZa
Although I wish it said 'part one'...I missed Micha too! He was mentioned like twice. Also, what's the matter with my Jason? I NEED TO KNOW. He is one of my comfort characters. Maybe the one complaint is that it felt REALLLYYYYY rushed. Like out of nowhere, Richard is OK with this all? It's been years of back and forth. (Spoiler rant) On top of that, Jake is 100 percent right. Anita and Juan Claude need to suck it up. He is KING she is QUEEN, but the first threat as king and queen has them shaken. Why? Bc of what Jake said. You can't be a good power couple rule if you don't accept your power fully. You have enough people to help you not turn. You wanted to be the power couple to keep your people safe. SO BE THE DAMM POWER COUPLE. At this point, you are weakening your power structure. As always I can't wait for the next book!
History FanCHAOSM
This book resolved one of the lingering storylines from the Killing Dance, but it also left a lot to be desired. It felt like this book and the upcoming November release “Slay” were supposed to be one book initially and were split so they could have the 30th book released in the 30th year. That’s all to say, the ending felt very abrupt. But at the same time, for long-time readers, it was nice to have Richard back and in a good place. I always liked his character and was disappointed to see him go in and out all the time. The mystery is interesting and I’m excited to see Anita with her parents, but I wish they would have stuck to doing it as one book rather than breaking it up. It feels more like a stunt than anything as they’ve never done anything like this before. Overall, it was a rather good prologue to the main event, hence the 4/5 stars. I would say though most of my enjoyment came from having that one long, long standing thread that’s been hanging since the Killing Dance get resolved. Also, and as always, less poly and therapy discussions would be nice. I know Anita is a mirror of Laurel, but it gets a little too self-indulgent at times.
Short Excerpt Teaser
1
Edward stood in front of the half circle of mirrors getting fitted for the wedding clothes he'd be wearing as best man in my wedding. I'd been his best man/person less than a year ago, so turnabout was fair play. He was even hating the clothes almost as much as I hated the formal-length dress that his bride had forced me to wear at the last moment when I thought I'd get away with a tux like the men. Now it was his turn to think he'd get to wear a tux and find out he was half right. Since I was marrying someone who either designed or helped design most of his own clothes, Jean-Claude had ideas for spicing up the traditional boring clothes that most modern men wore. Normally his fashion sense wouldn't have bothered Edward, who had a very traditional style, but now as he glared at himself in the mirror he was bothered, very bothered.
"You have got to be kidding me," he said. His blue eyes were already starting to turn pale like winter skies, which usually meant he was about to kill something, or that he wanted to kill something.
Peter, his very grown-up son, and I sat in little chairs that were usually reserved for mothers of the bride, or other members of the female side of the wedding, because men didn't have to come to the designer wedding couture side-ever. Edward was my bestest friend, but I grinned at him, because I was enjoying the men getting outfitted in something they hated so much more than any normal tux.
"You look great," I said, smiling, and that at least was true, unlike me in every bridesmaid dress I'd ever been forced to wear.
He looked to Peter for a different opinion. "This is ridiculous." He spread his arms out to his sides so that Peter could get the full effect of the black leather and cloth tailcoat with its high, stiff collar that framed about half of Edward's head. His blond hair looked brighter yellow than I'd ever seen it, maybe it was the black leather framing it? Or maybe it was his desert tan, which wasn't tanned by most standards, but it was the most color I'd ever seen on Edward's skin.
"Except for the collar, the jacket looks great on you, and the collar isn't bad, it's just"-Peter made a waffling motion with his hand-"it's odd, like it shouldn't be there, but I really like the leather over the shoulders, and the scalloped leather over the forearm looks like a leather bracer from armor. It's really cool, Ted." Peter's desert tan was a lot darker than Edward's; technically they were stepson and stepfather, but for them it wasn't about genetics, it was about love.
Edward's glare softened a little and turned back to the mirrors. He took a visible deep breath and let it out slowly as if he were counting to ten. He pulled on the edges of the jacket as if it needed to be settled in place, but it fit him perfectly; the little bump of the tails on the coat actually drew the eyes to his ass, and since we had never ever been anything but friends I didn't usually notice Edward's body like that. I'd thought of tailcoats as old-fashioned until I saw the first of our wedding party in them and realized that they actually accentuated everyone's booty a lot more than modern jackets did.
"Why do I hate this so much, besides the stand-up collar?" he asked.
"Maybe it's just so different from your usual cowboy-U.S. Marshal aesthetic?" Peter suggested.
I looked at Edward, and finally said, "It's the most fitted thing I've seen you in since you slimmed down for your wedding. You look slender, more . . . delicate almost, and in all the years we've been friends, delicate has never been a word I used for you."
He nodded at himself in the mirror. "That's what it is, I look smaller even to me."
"You're in the fiercest shape I've ever seen you in, unless you've put on weight since I saw you at the pool during the wedding trip. You're all muscle. Hell, Ed"-and I had to stop and force myself to say, "Ted, I didn't even know you had a six-pack under there until that weekend."
"I hadn't. Not since I was in the military twenty years ago, so never since you've known me."
"All the moms and most of the daughters at martial arts class think I have the hottest dad and that includes the male instructors." Peter said it with a touch of pride, unlike some twenty-year-old sons who would have felt competitive with their fathers. Of course, Edward had never been competitive with Peter either.
"High praise, I take it, since I haven't seen your instructors," I said.
Peter grinned. "Yep."
"Since you're one of the instructors now, very high praise," Edward said, and he smiled at his son with a pride that I never thought I'd ever see in his eyes for anyone. When we first met, Edward and I had both been so alone, and neither of us had ever expected t...
Edward stood in front of the half circle of mirrors getting fitted for the wedding clothes he'd be wearing as best man in my wedding. I'd been his best man/person less than a year ago, so turnabout was fair play. He was even hating the clothes almost as much as I hated the formal-length dress that his bride had forced me to wear at the last moment when I thought I'd get away with a tux like the men. Now it was his turn to think he'd get to wear a tux and find out he was half right. Since I was marrying someone who either designed or helped design most of his own clothes, Jean-Claude had ideas for spicing up the traditional boring clothes that most modern men wore. Normally his fashion sense wouldn't have bothered Edward, who had a very traditional style, but now as he glared at himself in the mirror he was bothered, very bothered.
"You have got to be kidding me," he said. His blue eyes were already starting to turn pale like winter skies, which usually meant he was about to kill something, or that he wanted to kill something.
Peter, his very grown-up son, and I sat in little chairs that were usually reserved for mothers of the bride, or other members of the female side of the wedding, because men didn't have to come to the designer wedding couture side-ever. Edward was my bestest friend, but I grinned at him, because I was enjoying the men getting outfitted in something they hated so much more than any normal tux.
"You look great," I said, smiling, and that at least was true, unlike me in every bridesmaid dress I'd ever been forced to wear.
He looked to Peter for a different opinion. "This is ridiculous." He spread his arms out to his sides so that Peter could get the full effect of the black leather and cloth tailcoat with its high, stiff collar that framed about half of Edward's head. His blond hair looked brighter yellow than I'd ever seen it, maybe it was the black leather framing it? Or maybe it was his desert tan, which wasn't tanned by most standards, but it was the most color I'd ever seen on Edward's skin.
"Except for the collar, the jacket looks great on you, and the collar isn't bad, it's just"-Peter made a waffling motion with his hand-"it's odd, like it shouldn't be there, but I really like the leather over the shoulders, and the scalloped leather over the forearm looks like a leather bracer from armor. It's really cool, Ted." Peter's desert tan was a lot darker than Edward's; technically they were stepson and stepfather, but for them it wasn't about genetics, it was about love.
Edward's glare softened a little and turned back to the mirrors. He took a visible deep breath and let it out slowly as if he were counting to ten. He pulled on the edges of the jacket as if it needed to be settled in place, but it fit him perfectly; the little bump of the tails on the coat actually drew the eyes to his ass, and since we had never ever been anything but friends I didn't usually notice Edward's body like that. I'd thought of tailcoats as old-fashioned until I saw the first of our wedding party in them and realized that they actually accentuated everyone's booty a lot more than modern jackets did.
"Why do I hate this so much, besides the stand-up collar?" he asked.
"Maybe it's just so different from your usual cowboy-U.S. Marshal aesthetic?" Peter suggested.
I looked at Edward, and finally said, "It's the most fitted thing I've seen you in since you slimmed down for your wedding. You look slender, more . . . delicate almost, and in all the years we've been friends, delicate has never been a word I used for you."
He nodded at himself in the mirror. "That's what it is, I look smaller even to me."
"You're in the fiercest shape I've ever seen you in, unless you've put on weight since I saw you at the pool during the wedding trip. You're all muscle. Hell, Ed"-and I had to stop and force myself to say, "Ted, I didn't even know you had a six-pack under there until that weekend."
"I hadn't. Not since I was in the military twenty years ago, so never since you've known me."
"All the moms and most of the daughters at martial arts class think I have the hottest dad and that includes the male instructors." Peter said it with a touch of pride, unlike some twenty-year-old sons who would have felt competitive with their fathers. Of course, Edward had never been competitive with Peter either.
"High praise, I take it, since I haven't seen your instructors," I said.
Peter grinned. "Yep."
"Since you're one of the instructors now, very high praise," Edward said, and he smiled at his son with a pride that I never thought I'd ever see in his eyes for anyone. When we first met, Edward and I had both been so alone, and neither of us had ever expected t...
