Book Review — Succubus Blues |Sinnful Books

Title: Succubus Blues
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: Urban fantasy
Pages: Paperback, 360
Publisher: Zebra (reprint edition), August 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8217-8077-0
Opening Lines: "Statistics show that most mortals will sell their souls for five reasons: sex, money, power, revenge, and love. In that order."

Rating

"When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?

"But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore—free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can't.

"But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny . . ."

~ Jacket copy

This has been on my to-read list for quite awhile. However, I never remember to pick it up when I'm shopping for books, and it has never crossed my mind to track it down at the library. Despite the fact that I adore our library, it would be a miracle if they had it. While I was at our local used bookstore with my mom, I discovered the vast majority of this series on the shelves and decided to finally take the plunge. Plus, $3.50 was not that bad of a price.

Georgina has been in a slump lately. She is only willing to feed on the less than savory characters when she needs a fix. And even that is rather grudgingly. Unfortunately, because of her nature as a succubus, she refuses to date, get close to men, and tries to keep her male interactions to the local immortal population: demons, vampires, angels, etc. However, she doesn't expect to fall for her favorite author or get swept off of her feet by a dashing linguistics professor. Of course, since even kissing someone means sucking their life force, this really spells trouble for Georgie. And, if that isn't enough, some of the local immortals are being killed and beat up by some unknown assailant.

With all of this on her plate—and working at a local bookstore with tons of wonderful books to read—what is a girl to do?

I'm not really sure what I expected when I started this book. To be honest, it wasn't necessarily what I got. The author put an interesting spin on the succubi and their possible dilemmas. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of Highlander and asking whether immortality was truly worth it.

It was rather interesting that the book wasn't full of torrid sex scenes. The title and main character would suggest otherwise. That being said, however, there were a few steamy scenes later in the book. To me, it seemed as though the author wanted to make the less a part of Georgina's story. Further, she really focused on character development and didn't race through the plot. It was a neat turn.

The little snippets of Georgina's past were really neat, and it was able to give a lot of depth to the character. I found myself desperately wanting to know more of what happened; however, it might completely ruin the story. The other characters were mostly sideliners and didn't have a large role. They might end up playing bigger parts later in the book.

The relationship between Jerome and Carter reminded me an awful lot of Crowley and Aziraphale. Granted, it was less comedic and reminded me of a longstanding bond/brotherhood, but the similarities were there nonetheless. It makes me wonder how the author is going to play with that one.

My biggest beef with this book was the killer's true identity. For me, when the audience first meets them, it was obvious to me. At some level, I'm not really sure why Georgina didn't figure it out before. However, the twist involving the killer was a bit too farfetched for me, so that one kind of blindsided me.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read. If you're looking for a good, light urban fantasy, this one should definitely be on the list!