A kiss of Shadows: Chapter one

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 any angels out there, they had to be flying blind.

I... Guess I've seen worse book openings then this? ... Maybe?

We then get a paragraph or so about how everyone regardless if they have wings or not, come to Los Angeles to hide, that she had come out here to hide and had succeeded, but is now longing for home.
We now get a tangent about how everyone wants to be a faerie princess when they grow up...
Really? Because when I was a kid I wanted to be a Jedi, and have yet to meet many males who (admits to it at least) wanted to grow up and be a princess. Over simplification much there LKH?

Either way she can't go back because politics basically, everyone back home wants her dead for some reason. There's a knock on the door and Jeremy Grey her boss ambles in, he's not human (because no one of worth in these books are if I remember correctly) Jeremy is completely grey from the colour of his skin to the expensive clothes he's wearing. The only thing not grey on him is his extremely shiny black shoes. He's reaching the prime of his life at the age of 400 and is slightly shorter then Merry at just under 4ft.

He closes the door behind me while asking Merry why she's all gloomy, Merry fills us in that he looks tense, replying that she's feeling homesick before  asking him what's wrong.
He mentions that he can't hide anything from her (Mary sue-ism alert!) and throws the conversation off topic by mentioning that Merry looks good.

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.

Please don't tell me this entire chapter will only involve clothes porn....

Apparently Jeremy than puts on a sleezy look to confirm that Merry does indeed look hot because ignoring a fey (think lesser Sidhe, and a Sidhe is fairy people of Celtic mythology) who has clearly put effort into looking good is a massive bitch slap to the face, I've never really worked out why so many writers make the Sidhe clothes obsessed but sure, lets just rock with it.

Insert clothes porn here, insert vague looks of main character here... At least she explained Merry's look within the first three pages, unlike in Anita where it took her what? 2-3 chapters??

I was going to type out the description here, but than realized that vague is the wrong word, seriously the description goes on for a page. It basically boils down to Merry having Fey red hair which is more vibrant then the measly human version, green of the greenist eyes and pale skin. She's also incredibly short and skinny... Of course.

It turns out that she is actually passing as a Fey, using brown contacts for her eyes and glamour for her skin... Which makes me wonder why she doesn't just glamour everything to appear different, glamour for those who don't follow Celtic mythology is basically a magic that all Sidhe have which makes them able to change how something perceives to be.

Merry is also one of the least powerful of the royal Sidhe, but that doesn't mean much because compared to the Fey it's like comparing a millionaire to a lower class budget. 

The difference is simply mindboggling and makes you hella jelly.

No one in the agency she's working in knows what she is, since ignorance is bliss as they won't be tortured for her location if they don't know.

I hate to break your bubble there Merry, but if they tracked you to this agency not knowing wouldn't exactly protect them as they'll most likely be tortured anyways, since you know... Why would they simply take them at their word? Be honest here, you're simply protecting yourself as they can't tell someone what they don't know and you can easily vanish again.

Apparently there's also a Bureau of Human and Fey relations which she can't go to because if her relatives find her then they'll simply murder her... And that's apparently completely fine... Alrighty then...

Oh and we're back to Merry reacting to Jeremy's sleezy look, brilliant, that random tangent of epic back story could have been placed somewhere a little better fitting...

Either way Jeremy wants her to meet a client, they don't usually do divorce work, but Jeremy is having a moment of empathy and want's Merry to go meet them.

Basically he's chickening out and hoping she'll turn them down so he doesn't have to.

Jeremy then tells her the reason he hasn't already thrown them out into the street is because there's a very nasty spell attached to the wannabe ex-wife who is claiming that the husband is the one who attached it to her. The wife's new mistress agree's with her.

Jeremy has a bad feeling about the case, and if Merry turns the case down he'll send them to the police but seriously wants Merry's say on it all first. Merry naturally questions why he wants her final say on it.

Which simply goes back to him being chicken.

The chapter ends with Merry walking towards the clients thinking that she'll be the wall that saves them all from Jeremy's good intentions.