Succubus Blues - Review

Succubus Blues (Georgina Kincaid, # 1)

By: Richelle Mead

Published: March 1st 2007 by Kensington (first published February 27th 2007)

496 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Adult, Paranormal

Source: Personal Kindle Library

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Goodreads description--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. . .

So I think anyone who stumbles upon my blog can tell that I'm a huge Richelle Mead fan. I believe I've now read 12 of her published works. And I've pretty much loved them all. However, I've always been a bit wary of adult books--usually there's more detail that I'm comfortable with. Although I've read quite a bit adult and new adult this year. Anyway, I put off reading Richelle Mead's adult work because of this, and I guess I was even more afraid of Succubus Blues because we all know what a succubus does and what is needed for her survival.

However, Succubus Blue surprised me. (I shouldn't have been surprised, after 12 books, I should pretty much know that Richelle Mead has my back.) Richelle Mead tells a story of a succubus who doesn't want to be a succubus. Georgina Kincaid will do just about anything to keep from stealing life from those around her that she cares about. She's all about doing as little soul-sucking as necessary just to get by. And what I found out about Georgina was that there's so much more to her than just being a succubus. She's a lonely girl who made a mistake centuries ago that she's still paying for and that still haunts her.

Of course like the Cambion series which also involves a succubus (here's my review for Cambion, # 2, Waiting for Mercy--review for book 3, Angel of Mercy coming soon), there are several guys that make an appearance and compete for Georgina's attention. However, unlike the Cambion series, it's easy to tell who Georgina actually cares about and how much in relation to each which I can very much appreciate. Not only does the reader know, but Georgina knows as well. That's always been something that I've admired from Richelle Mead's leading ladies--they're not idiots. They make mistakes, sure, but they're strong women with strong personalities and really intelligent. Love it!

Now, I'm not going to discuss all of the guys that Georgina comes up against in this book, but I do want to discuss Seth a bit. I loved his quirky character. I love how he's extremely brilliant, smart, and witty, but Georgina rarely sees that from him in person. She sees it in the books he writes (he's an author...LOVE THAT!) and in the emails he sends to her, but not so much face to face. I love this quirk because I can be the same way. So much in my head face to face (and shy), but much more relaxed over email or in writing. Because Seth is an author, I wonder how much Richelle Mead put herself and her writing habits into Seth. Whether a lot or none at all, I still think this was a neat idea for Seth's character. And I guess it really is true that people write what they know.

All in all, I really enjoyed Succubus Blues, much more than I expected to. The story was deeper than I expected, but shouldn't have been surprised considering this is Richelle Mead after all. Readers who enjoy the paranormal but need a little more depth than normal will enjoy Succubus Blues. Succubus Blues gets 4 stars from me. Have you read Succubus Blues? What did you think? Let me know!