This is how I feel about this book…When I first started reading this I thought “Thank the good lord” because reviewers whom I follow and adore all rated it highly. Also, I’ve been reading far too many YA-Contemporary/YA-PRs lately and this seemed like it would provide me with a much needed break. I thought it would clear my intellectual pallet of the sugar it’s been fed these past two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, sugar can be a good thing. Sometimes it’s just the pick me up I need. But too much of it can rot your teeth. And brain. Unfortunately this book was less like a break for me and more like a trial. I can’t even tell you how proud I am that I didn’t rage-quit it because on several occasions I had to restrain myself from committing the ultimate act of literary blasphemy and burning it. I had so many problems with it that it took me twice as long to read as it should have because I kept pausing to scribble down angry notes before looking heavenward for patience and forcing myself to continue on. The issues I have will probably sound like hate spam and I apologize for that because I really don’t want to offend anyone but I feel like someone has to point these things out, so here goes… The first question I asked myself was this: Does everyone hit on Georgina? By the end of the book I had my answer: Jesus Rollerblading Christ, YES THEY DO. The rest of this review is probably one big giant SPOILER and I’m too lazy to keep covering them up, so... (view spoiler)[There is almost zero world building here. Within the first chapters you learn that vampire hunters are in the media but do common citizens really know about them or the vampires they stalk? I have no frigging idea, Mead never elaborates. Which is a popular theme. Georgina, the MC, is over a millennia old yet she seems completely clueless about the preternatural part of the world she’s inhabited for the past thousand or so years. Did someone just tell her she was immortal one sunny day and she took it at face value, assuming nothing could kill her? I don’t know, it’s never explained (surprise!). I’m sorry, but who in her shoes wouldn’t make damn sure they knew everything about their altered existence? If you didn’t, you’d be TSTL, which she is IMHO. But lo and behold she’s still alive, so what the hell do I know?No really, how can you be 'close friends' with vampires and not know that they can’t kill each other? Or that they can’t kill you? Oh, but don’t worry if you come across a really nasty vamp because you can just call up one of the “certain mortals” that are able to kill them. And not just with a stake to the heart but it seems any blunt object will do. But make sure you definitely send a “certain mortal” to do the job because unfortunately the same weapons wielded by anyone else are ineffective. Would you like to know why that is? SO WOULD I, GODDAMN IT! Another question I have is how can someone live so long and still be so neurotic? You hate getting hit on all the time yet get pissed when people don’t throw themselves at you, you constantly second guess yourself and everyone around you, you can’t make up your mind and you let a thousand year old DEAD relationship dictate almost every move you make. Don’t you think in all that time you’d come to terms with yourself? Isn’t a thousand years about 950 years longer than it should take to get over heartbreak and your own stupidity? More to come on this later.The first time I almost quit this book was when I got to the random swing lesson Georgina holds in the bookstore she works at after hours. And no, this is not the wife/husband swapping kind you might expect from a 'morally corrupt' succubus but the DANCING kind. The entire staff and even one of her vampire friends attend it. Really? Not one person was like “No thanks, I’m cool”? Of course not! Who could say no to Georgina? She’s irresistible!This was the note in my reading journal regarding this:“WHATTHEFUCKISGOINGON?! I feel like this book keeps getting hijacked by random bullshit filler scenes. Goodbye plot, goodbye world building, HELLO ZOOT SUITS!!!”Here’s an example of the dialogue between ole Georgie and Roman, one of the love interestS (Anita? Is that you?), that took place during said dance lesson and will also serve to double as an example of why my eyes almost rolled out of my skull while reading this:“Group date, huh?” “For my safety. I’ve always found it best to keep a few dozen chaperones on hand.”“You’ll need a few dozen more in that dress,” he warned in a low voice, those eyes molesting me from head to toe. I flushed, taking a few steps away from him. “You’ll have to wait your turn, like everyone else.”...did she just call herself a slut? She must have because if this was supposed to be a dancing reference I missed it. Also, molesting? That’s the word you go with here? One with serious negative connotations? After you eye-humped him first, you bloody hypocrite? To distract herself from this little tête-à-tête Georgie makes a sexual innuendo to the group gathered for the dance lesson about Doug not being able to last longer than five minutes during sex. You see, its okay for her to insinuate but damn it, nobody else can! This is because there aren’t enough double standards in this book already. Oh, and just in case you find yourself wondering who the hell Doug is, don’t worry, you don’t really need to know him, just that he—like many of the male characters in this book—was created for the sole purpose of constantly hitting on/ogling Georgina to constantly remind you of how irresistible she is. And really, you need that reminder, because otherwise you’ll realize that there is NOTHING sexy or redeeming about her character, spike your book on the ground with a muttered “Fuck this” and walk away to find solace in ice cream or vodka (or if you’re me, the two blended together with ice and a few other ingredients – yum!). The single redeeming character in this book for me was Seth, another love interest. I liked him. He seemed to be the only male in the universe with some immunity to Georgina’s “charms”, at least in the beginning. I liked his social awkwardity (yes that’s a real word…or at least it should be. Say it out loud a few times and tell me you don’t agree). Unlike other reviewers I didn’t mind that he was a beta male and I liked that he only seemed able to express his feelings through writing. But on second thought maybe that was just the case with Georgina because her interactions with him sent so many mixed signals that he didn’t know how to talk to her in person. First you want to flirt with him, then you slam on the brakes and play ice-queen, then want to start talking again and get irritated when he doesn’t immediately fall all over you but then when he finally asks you out you shut him down again and are then disappointed when your refusal doesn’t seem to ruin his life. Oh, and then you cave and go out with him. This would be another example of the neurosis I spoke of earlier. At this point I began to demand that she make up her fucking mind. She refused to do so and instead enthusiastically donned a tiara and a sash reading ‘Queen of Mixed Signals’. Let’s continue along this theme. Warren, yet another love—sex—interest (Anita? It really IS you!) wants to sleep with her. Because she’s so irresistible remember?! She tells him no. He ignores her. They get steamy. Now back to Roman. She grudgingly goes out with him. At the end of the date(s) they have this conversation:Roman: “Go out with me again.”Georgie-Porgie: “No.”Roman: “We had a great time tonight and we get along really well.”Georgie-Porgie: “No.”Roman: “But I’m so charming and you’re really lonely.” Georgie-Porgie: “Okay fine but only if you promise that we can have this same inane conversation next time too.”Roman: "Oh Georgina, you know I could never say no to you. You’re just so irresistible"Not only can she not make up her mind, she doesn’t know when to shut the hell up. She threatens people when she has zero fighting experience and allegedly abhors violence. I don’t mind some barking if you have the bite to back it up. She doesn’t. Like a Chihuahua she’s weak, prone to cowering when really threatened, has a propensity for yapping, at best is capable of non-life threatening nail scratches and small puncture wounds, tires herself out quickly and could easily be vanquished with a well placed punt. I’m not really sure what to say about the preternaturally themed plot line other than it was weak, was dragged out in small snippets throughout the book and ended quickly. I kept forgetting there was even a murder-mystery because I was constantly distracted by all the other bullshit that took up the MAJORITY of this book. I think if you cut out Georgie-Porgie’s social life this would be thirty pages. Tops. This isn’t the only book I’ve read that fills space with personal drama but for some reason this time around it irritated the shit out of me. Speaking of her social life, for a book about a succubus this really lacked the sexiness I was expecting. Yes there was some sex but I thought it was pretty uneventful. There was no build up, no slow ratcheting up of sexual tension. Maybe that’s why I’m so disappointed with it. I have literary blue balls. Nope. I’m disappointed for more reasons than that. And offended. I almost quit for the second time after this brilliant revelation:“In that moment, I suddenly understood the power women had over men. It was surprising and exhilarating. Never mind issues of property and politics; it was in the bedroom women ruled. With flesh and sheets and sweat.” Welp, I guess I should just quit my job now, since the only real power I’ll ever have will come from between my legs. Vagina for the win! What a great message. After that I started skimming, which is probably a good thing because otherwise this review would likely be a few thousand more lines of ranting. (hide spoiler)]
Georgina Kincaid is a succubus. Has been for, well, quite a long time. There are a few perks to giving up her mortality: immortality, of course, and the ability to shape shift her physical appearance and her clothes - always handy. Her boss, Jeremy, is an upper level demon who likes John Cusack movies so much he's opted to look like the actor too. Since she absorbs energy from any men she gets intimate with, she can't have an ordinary relationship with a human - ah yes, she may be a lower level demon but she has a conscience and a good heart.Living in Seattle and working in a bookshop gives her the opportunity to meet her favourite author, Seth Mortensen, at a book signing there. Only it turns out she's already met him - and said some things she really wished she hadn't. Her embarrassment's not going to go away any time soon: he's decided to move to Seattle, where his brother lives, and her boss decides Georgina would be the perfect person to show Seth the city.If only that were the worst thing happening in her life. Someone or something is killing and attacking her fellow demons, and since the victims are so close to Georgina, she ignores Jeremy's directive to keep her head down and stay out of it and starts piecing the truth together - a truth that turns out to be a lot closer to home than she ever could have wanted.This is I think a great example of a "comfort read": fun, funny, pretty engrossing, engaging characters, easy on the brain, makes you want to read the next book. Okay that last one doesn't really have anything to do with comfort reads but I ran out of adjectives. Friends on Goodreads seemed to always be talking about it in glowing terms, but it took me a while to finally get hold of it - in the horror section. I'm not sure exactly what genre it belongs to. It's a bit of everything, it seems. There is some romance, but not a lot. I don't read much horror so I'm not sure if it has many of those qualities. Urban Fantasy seems the best fit, sort of like the Dresden Files and The Night Watch.Mead is probably better known for her YA series, Vampire Academy, but this is a good adult read: sexy and mature, there's a good balance between Georgina's sense of humour, the silly chick-lit-like situations she finds herself in, and the darker tones of the novel, the seedier truth underlying her life and her world. She's a strong female character who knows her limitations - relies on her brain rather than brawn, she's the first to admit she's not violent and has little in the way of defences. She's also quite sophisticated, and sharp, and even though she narrates in first-person, a lot of her character comes through: you can tell she's a bit too noisy, a bit impatient, a bit sarcastic even. The flaws in her personality come through especially well in her dealings with the sweet and quiet Seth. Actually, she reminded me of some of my online friends, people I could easily see living Georgina's story, and that made her especially endearing to me. Yes she's a demon, a succubus - an immortal who drains the energy from mortal men, who can even kill them through intimate physical touch, especially if they're "good" men. But she's no killer. There's nothing black-or-white or too simplistic about any of the supernatural characters in Succubus Blues, and I really appreciated that.The plot was well constructed, if a tad predictable. She misses a few obvious clues or is slow to hit upon a particular meaning in a clue, but she does get there. And keep you entertained while you wait. She doesn't always make the best decisions, but again, her flaws make her more endearing. I also can't deny that her job at the bookshop, and her relationship with such a nerdy, sweet, strangely charismatic and sexy author, doesn't appeal to me, as a bibliophile. The non-demon-world scenes and storyline were perhaps more interesting to me than the who's-killing-demons storyline, but probably only because it was such a successful parallel. There were a few points where my interest waned, but overall it was thoroughly engaging.
What do You think about Succubus Blues (2007)?
I started the Elemental Assassins series not too long ago, but I’m still not enthusiastic about it three books in. So, I decided to try my luck with a different UF series. Turns out I already had Succubus Blues on my Kindle and in audio from a few years ago. Total fate! I decided to go with audio, which was a great decision. I hadn’t even made it 20% in before I knew this would be the next series I’ll indulge in. The bonus is the series is complete, so I have five more installments to enjoy at my leisure.I became absolutely smitten with these characters almost immediately. Georgina is a succubus who feeds by absorbing some of a person’s life force. She’s witty, sarcastic, and can give great banter. Not to mention she loves reading and is an assistant manager of a bookstore. Win! I enjoyed getting her backstory of how she became a succubus as the main plot progressed. The author did a fantastic job weaving it all together and making it relevant.The overall story was completely engaging and a lot of fun, and the whole mystery of who was killing paranormals was done really well. Also, the first book in a series of this genre can easily get bogged down with world building, but that wasn’t the case here at all. It’s really cool the way it’s set up sort of like the paranormals are a corporation.Like I said, I listened to the audio, and it’s fantastic! I’m pretty picky about narrators, but Elisabeth Rodgers does a stellar job truly becoming the characters.I am very pleased with Succubus Blues and look forward to immersing myself in Georgina’s world again soon.
—Christy
I liked it, okay? It reminded me of The Lightning Thief, except the narrator of Succubus Blues knows from the very beginning that she is not mortal. In fact, Georgina Kincaid works for the forces of evil, which is actually a pretty complicated premise in my opinion. We are expected to identify with her even though she has spent centuries seducing men in order to claim their souls for Satan. Because it is downplayed and she has been in a funk for a few decades, we do accept her for the most part, though I had a little trouble as events came to their exciting conclusion, which was exciting because Georgina is forced to make a decision that will affect her status in Hell. The ending also simultaneously reminds us that the novel is also a romance, something I probably could not put up with except in a cross genre novel.I can recommend Succubus Blues because it was fun. The idea of devils and angels hanging out as drinking buddies is terrifying if you think about it, but don't. If you want to do that, read Neil Gaiman's American Gods. There were times when I thought the story's construction could have been tighter. There were sentences that I thought were unnecessary, but I think many readers will forgive that or not even notice because the writing is clear and the milieu is an interesting mishmash of contemporary urbanite culture and immortals, even though they spend too much time in bookstores.
—Jonathan Peto
WARNING! The following review is not supposed to make any sense. If, through an unholy miracle, it does make sense then you should consult a doctor at once. You might have an evil cotton candy monster living in your brain.After a failed attempt with The Blood That Bonds, Anzu decides to go for something else in the Urban Fantasy genre. Since she is such a sadistic person she goes for Succubus Blues, another book she was sure she will hate. Deep inside she was still hoping to be proven wrong. Anzu lies in bed and starts the book. Only six pages pass and the trouble starts.“What the hell just happened???” She is confused. Nothing is as it should be.“She really... the disgusting loser... page six... did she have??”And she reads on and on. Nothing seems to please her.“What the hell is wrong with this chick???” She screams at the walls. No one is there to hear her. Sleep with Seth Mortensen? Good grief. It was the most preposterous thing I'd ever heard. It was appalling. If I absorbed his life force, there was no telling how long it'd be until his next book came out.“What the hell is wrong with you??” Anzu is still screaming at the book. She seems to have forgotten that the book is a mere object; it cannot answer all these questions. "Everything going okay?" a voice behind us asked. I looked over and saw Warren, the store's owner and my occasional fuck-buddy.“WHAT?? Why does she have to ruin the book with this shit??!” Still no answer comes from the book.The more Anzu reads the more she mentions this person named Richelle Mead. She seems to have developed a certain amount of hate for her. She is also punching her Kindle device quite often while reading. Most guys did just want to get me into bed. I wasn't quite sure what to do with one who didn't.Anzu’s right eye is twitching rather violently. I had found his defense rather endearing. Also, still burning with Roman-lust and now maybe Seth-lust, I suddenly found Warren convenient in the wake of my grouchy succubus hunger.“You WHORE!” she screams and throws her Kindle device against the wall. Surprisingly the device survives without a scratch. Her expression is very similar to the following image.After long painful hours, Anzu finally finishes the book. She sets her Kindle device on her nightstand, gets up and slowly walks to her kitchen. She takes a huge knife and walks out the door. There are no shoes on her feet. Anzu was gone, never to be seen again.The next day the newspaper delivers horrible news. Richelle Mead has been murdered. The authorities have no idea who her murderer could be.
—Anzu The Great Destroyer
