Succubus Blues

Succubus Blues introduces us to the world of Georgina Kincaid, a succubus trying to survive in a modern age where hell is run by bureaucrats and love is always out of her reach. While Georgina might be irresistibly hot and capable of shape-shifting, all that power comes at a price. She needs to drain life force from her sex partners in order to continue her immortal ways. This has led her to only screwing complete assholes for their energy, opting to keep the guys she actually cares about away from her alluring but oh-so-deadly touch. Thing get even more complicated for Georgina when someone starts hunting down lesser immortals and leaving her mysterious notes relating to the crimes. And as if that weren't enough, suddenly there are two show more very different men causing Georgina's otherworldly desires to go haywire. Can she survive not only the immortal hunter, but the potential touch of love itself?

Blaaaaaaaaah. That's what this book was. All kinds of blah. I'll start off by saying that Mead's writing is easy to digest, simple but definitely readable. The pacing is quite decent and Georgina never once becomes one of those let's-punch-everyone-in-the-face-to-solve-our-problems UF heroines. The primary male characters (Roman and Seth) aren't alpha fuckbag rape-is-love leads either, which is definitely a breath of fresh air. But. But. But. But. But. BUT. There were a lot of problematic elements in this book which, for me, tainted the more positive aspects of the text considerably.

If there's one thing this book drove home for me it's that even in our fantasies, men rule everything. Georgina might be a woman with SEX POWERS, but every aspect of her life is ruled by the whims and needs of men. Her demonic boss is a man who, for much of the book, keeps Georgina in the dark about certain dangerous developments regarding the immortal hunter because OMG IT'S FOR HER OWN GOOD. HE'S TRYING TO PROTECT HER. OMG GEORGINA WHY WON'T YOU JUST BE A GOOD GIRL AND STOP TRYING TO FIND THINGS OUT. His angelic drinking buddy is no better in that he too keeps Georgina in the dark FOR HER OWN SAKE. This was incredibly patronising -- yes, they're higher ranked immortals, but it was the constant repetition to Georgina in particular (above her far more obedient lesser immortal male friends) about how ALL THIS WAS FOR HER OWN GOOD that just made me want to punch through a wall. Georgina has apparently been alive for centuries, but they still can't treat her like anything other than a willful child.



Her more earthly workplace is no better -- she's got her skeezy boss/guy she fucks for life energy sometimes because he's not a nice guy so it's totally okay to just eat away his life force, in addition to a couple of male coworkers who provide general decoration. Warren (boss) and Doug (co-worker) in particular seem to have no end of MANVICE to give Georgina about whatever is going on in her life (even though neither of them seem to know anything much about who she is below the daily façade).

We also get glimpses of Georgina's original human life and hey, men rule everything there too. It was ancient times, so it made a little more sense to have men as such a primary feature in everything Georgina did when she was Letha. However, it was still disappointing to see that Letha sold her soul not for freedom from her horrible mess of a life or from the men holding her back. No, Letha sold herself into Lilith's eternal brothel because her husband was sad that she'd cheated on him and she just wanted to make everything better by being erased from his life. Never mind that after their initial courtship the guy ignored her until it was convenient not to, then manipulated her with talk of hurling himself off things when the cheating came to light. No, this is a SAD STORY because Georgina was in loooove and she ruuuuuined it with seeeeeex. Rather than reflecting on her background and coming to terms with what went wrong, Georgina just laments on it. Flashes back to it. IT'S SAD AND SHE'S SAD SO PLEASE FEEL SAD. She didn't seem to work through any of these issues properly, she just dwelt on how depressing her life has been.

See, Georgina can't have children because she's an immortal. And she will remind you of this with wistful stares at pregnant co-workers, sadfaces at children's birthday parties, and just a constant lingering sense that she is lacking something because her uterus won't shake N bake anymore.



Just stop it, urban fantasy. Even in these magical other realities women are measured by their reproductive capabilities. If these books are to be believed women without the biological ability to reproduce spend all their free time hating themselves and everybody else because BABIES ARE SHORTHAND FOR HAPPINESS. It's an upsetting, destructive idea to continually hawk through apparent fantasy titles and I'm bloody well sick of it. It devalues women who, for whatever reason, cannot bear their own biological offspring. It implies that they're living half-lives, lives devoid of TRUE MEANING because OH MY GOD EVEN IF YOU'RE A MAGICAL FAIRY OR A SUPER SHAPE-SHIFTER, YOU'VE GOTTA HAVE A FUNCTIONING UTERUS IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY. Georgina has a difficult but rich life full of amazing abilities and their sobering trade-offs. It's a complex existence, one that has stretched out over dozens of lifetimes. She cannot, however, let a quiet moment slip by without wallowing in self-pity because OH MY GOD SHE CAN'T MAKE BABIES. There's someone stalking and killing lesser immortals but I'M GOING TO WASTE HALF A PARAGRAPH THINKING ABOUT HOW IT SUCKS THAT I CAN'T HAVE BABIES YOU GUYS.

This ties in to a lingering theme which I found rather problematic. Georgina is just generally not very nice when it comes to other women. She's no Sookie Stackhouse, but it was still troubling to have Georgina's interactions with other women be presented as overwhelmingly negative. Whether she's calling a woman (well, angel) of different moral standards to herself a "sanctimonious bitch", or just outwardly loathing a "crazy" new age store owner/scam artist, Georgina just can't seem to find a woman on equal footing with herself. Granted, she's nice to the young women she poaches from the new age store, but much of that ties back to Georgina seeking to alleviate her own problems by boosting the low staff numbers at the bookstore.

Heck, Georgina isn't even nice to herself. When she is drunk and upset, desperately trying to keep Roman from touching her for fear of her succubus drive taking over (LOL WOMEN AND THEIR UNCONTROLLABLE, OTHERWORLDLY SEXUALITIES), she refers to her own outburst as being "hysterical, like a crazy woman." REALLY? Never mind that she's intoxicated and trying to say "No" while he's getting a bit too close for comfort, Georgina feels she is the one being irrational, the "hysterical" woman. Later in the story, when she is unable to contact Roman, Georgina mentions that she "feel(s) hysteria creeping in." It is utterly repellant to hear our heroine think this about herself. To feel that her (oh-so-female) emotions are irrational when they are in fact grounded in reality (the men in her life have been threatened and Roman is, at this point, unresponsive, and of course we don't know he's a complete fuckwad yet). It's almost as if Mead doesn't understand how weighted and problematic a word like hysteria is. Or maybe she does and she opted to include it anyway. Either way, IT IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD.



Reflecting back on the text it's rather disheartening to see a heroine who is shown to be quite capable in her everyday life so full of self-pity in her own internal monologue. Yet in a fantasy world so stacked against her, so full of willful ignorance and patronising boys' clubs, is it any wonder that she's come to second-guess every aspect of her immortal self? No, Georgina isn't particularly likable, but I do feel that her position and surroundings have fostered much of her self-doubt.

Still, in the end, there's little to find endearing or empowering about this book. Georgina is an ineffective investigator who stumbles for clues while The Big Boys keep vital information out of her reach ~to protect her~. (It doesn't help that the lesser immortals are completely ignorant of what other creatures are out there and what they can do.) Her powers are only useful for flirting or fucking, save for the odd shape-shift, so it's not like she's capable of doing a whole lot to protect herself. And when she's not playing Nancy Drew under the watchful eye of her male superior or flirting with a guy, she's lamenting about what a tragic state her love life is in. Men men men. They still rule your life, even when you're an immortal sex machine. Nice.



show less

A Succubus in Love? What on Earth is Hell up to Now?

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

show more

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.

A creative take on the various denizens of Heaven and Hell as they walk the earth, this book entertains without fail. An Imp, a demon, vampires, a variety of angels, nephilim, and a succubus all living out their eternal lives in the mortal realm of Seattle - and none of them seem to fit the pattern we've been trained to expect by modern media. The loose knit group of beings from Hell are oddly close for their kind. Even more bizarre is the apparent friendship between their local archdemon and the local angel. In fact, you rarely see one without the other.

Georgina Kincaid, a powerful succubus who hates what she is, longs only to be allowed a real relationship with someone that she loves and who loves her. A relationship where she is free to express her love without risking harm to the one she loves. One mistake made ages ago has had her punishing herself ever since, trapping her in the endless cycle of punishment until the end of days.

This story is sweet, entertaining, and sad all at once. The one thing Georgie wants finally becomes possible, yet she is unable to accept it given the cost. So she rejects it only to find that what she has set in motion was no longer necessary as the threat was removed as a gift to her. So she destroys her chance for happiness by once again trying to do the right thing. Will her choice come back to haunt her, since all she did was remain true to who she was? Her behavior here was the same thing that drew attention to her in the first place.

Georgina is one complicated, yet oddly endearing, character, and very difficult to dislike. A succubus with a heart of gold - it should be trite but Ms. Mead pulls it off with panache. It should be very interesting to see how her life progresses throughout this series, and to see if the promise that Carter alludes to ever comes to pass for Georgina. show less

Another great recommendation! I have been avoiding reading this book for a bit now, and I really don't remember why!! The book was great and even though I normally don't get into reading demon books ( I'm more of a shifter/vampire girl) this one was great and kept my attention.
Georgina Kincaid is a reluctant succubus, she really doesn't want to be the one to lead "good" men astray and into sin, so she goes for the ones with low moral character. That in itself is a change, normally you find succubus' just don't care, but Georgie is a great change from the rest. The supporting characters are awesome and I really wish I had friends like that, demons, angels, vamps and an imp!! Of course she has "some" mortal friends also, even though Doug show more isn't in a whole lot of the book, he is a great character and I hope to see a little more of him in the next one.
The story line about the nephilim, and everything she went through to figure that out was written perfectly, I dislike when some authors just throw the info in there like the character is all knowing and doesn't need to figure out anything, but Richelle Mead got it down, giving us enough info to have our minds racing and then poof, we have it all figured out just as Georgie gets the last little bit of info!
The love triangle was a little played out, and really I had my doubts about Roman to begin with, he just seemed a little too pushy for me, and Georgie gave into him way too easily. And Seth, oh poor Seth... Pulled in by Georgie's charm and then pushed away. You could just tell that he was falling for her and trying not to push himself on her too much, but she goes for the one that just won't stop. I can't say I was completely surprised to find out whom the Nephilim was, but I was surprised that there were two in the city.
The ending gives me hope for Seth, and I really hope that the next one gives us a little more into their relationship. show less

I really enjoyed this book and I enjoyed that it, in a number of areas, was brave enough to break away from the stereotype that the paranormal urban romance genre is famous for.On one hand, I enjoyed the plot, story and characters. It was paced well, easy to read, enjoyable. The characters were fresh, original in some regards and likable.The great "reveal" was painfully easy to guess and I had suspected it from the beginning, but I feel that the writing style and characters made up for this lack.The character of Georgina Kincaid is on the list for one of the more likable female protagonists so far. She joins ranks just under Mac Lane from the Fever Series and Katniss Evergreen from the Hunger Games.She's not perfect. She may be show more beautiful and smart, but she is also vain and flawed. I enjoyed the portrayal of a woman who has made many mistakes and actually has a history. I'm sick of my female protagonists being blank cutouts who never did anything or anyone before they meet the hero.The secondary characters in this story really help it along. Carter, Seth, Jerome, Hugh, Cody and Peter give the story a much needed realistic and humorous boost.The thing is, you can get silly when dealing with a story about a Succubus. Maybe Anita Blake is getting silly now (Really, how many men can you date? How many times can you have sex a day before you start walking crooked?) But I think Georgina Kincaid allows for the reality (if you could say there was such a thing) of being a succubus. Sex becomes a monotonous job or task. It becomes meaningless and lonely.*Tips hat to Richelle Mead* show less

I put off reading this book a long time because the word "succubus" turned me off. What can I stay, I'm still bitter about the Anita Blake series. To save myself some trouble I borrowed this book on my kindle, so when I didn't like it I wouldn't feel bad. Wrong! Loved it! The author pulls off having a main character who's basically a prostitute and still having you like her! Laurell K. Hamilton should be reading this series for research. It is apparently possible to have sex with numerous men, including a married man, and still be a sympathetic character!

Georgina Kincaid is a succubus. She became a succubus out of love for a man and now centuries later she's still stealing away the life energy of the innocent and not so innocent show more through sex to keep herself going. Georgina doesn't love what she does and tries to stick to low lifes for energy bumps. She's an interesting character because she's got the libido of a succubus but no desire to drink "good" people dry.

At the start of the book Georgina gets accosted by Duane, vampire extraordinaire and general PITA. After a brief altercation in which Georgina threatens Duane and he threatens her they part ways. Hours later Duane is dead and Georgina's demonic handler Jerome and his angelic buddy Carter are questioning Georgina. Georgina has an actual life outside of sex and succubi that the reader get's sucked into as more deaths and beatings occur centering around her. In between receiving creepy love letters from the killer and her confusion over attraction toward introverted best-selling author Seth and outgoing rebel Roman she reads, she works, she teaches dance lessons and annoys the local new age book store owner. Yeah for well rounded characters! The killer in the mean time ups the anty and Georgina and her friends scramble to stay ahead of the attacks, even as the boss man demands they stay out of the way. Georgina isn't a fan of violence but as the attacks the threats grow she's got no choice but to go looking for answers.

The character is fun and likeable, even when she's not being quite so morally upright. Her friends are just as enjoyable, from Hugh the imp and her 2 vampire buddies Peter and Cody to her mortal fellows. By the end I worked out the bad guy well before Georgina but it was really enjoyable to follow things along and the bad guy is at least a new idea. Really Georgina's whole world is pretty fresh. The author handles the sex really well. I'll definitely be trying the rest of this series out. show less

Hot diggity dang, I love this book!

Richelle Mead was one of my many high school guilty pleasures. I'd sneak off to read Vampire Academy over and over without a second thought. I always knew I wanted to read this series but it either continually slipped my mind or my local bookstores would sell out (and online bookstores wouldn't have it available). So, I finally caved and remembered this book existed when I found book #4 at a local charity book sale. I bought this book full price (which is SUPER rare for me, I'm a deal hunter) and I do not regret it in the least! Especially since I am already hooked on this series. AND, I just ordered the second book FULL PRICE. Yes, ladies & gentlemen, I love this series so much already I'm buying the show more books FULL PRICE.

So, off to the review races:

Georgina Kincaid is a succubus. You know, the types of mythical creatures that lure men in with sex and intrigue. She's sassy, a total book nerd and is totally the type of character I want to read about. She does have her flaws, her food source is energy from humans, but who doesn't?

So, we meet Ms. Kincaid as she works at her local bookstore and learn that she is TOTALLY OBSESSED with Seth Mortensen (an author of her favourite book series that kind of sounds like Bones but sexier). One day, a man comes into the bookstore and she begins to rave about how she would totally be Seth's book slave. And, wouldn't you know it, SHE SAID IT TO SETH.

My gosh, I already was giggling because I totally saw it coming BUT IT WAS STILL FUNNY.

To keep moving along the plot: There is also many other immortal creatures hanging around - vampires, angels, demons, etc. Some of these are her friends, some are her bosses and some are just strangers on the street. Humans don't know about them though, so SHHHH. Everyone seems to live in perfect harmony.... you know, until they don't. Suddenly immortal creatures are dying and Georgina is pulled into the turmoil of figuring out who, what, why, when and how.

Meanwhile, Georgina is kinda into Seth but a hot guy Roman also comes into her life and chases her around the city. She eventually gives in, because he's hot, and they dance (literally and sexually).

This book is absolutely marvelous for me as a reader. I totally dig Richelle's writing style and tone, her books move at a relatively fast pace, and they are funny AND romantic AND sexy. This style might not be for everyone, but it is totally for me!

I could see some of the plot twists from a mile away, but I didn't come to this book for some Dan Brown style mystery. I came for the love triangle, the sassiness and the fantasy. It felt like Vampire Academy but 18 , meaning more sex, more adult-like themes but all the drama and intrigue the YA universe gave me.

Is there negatives? Absolutely!
Georgina made some poor drinking decisions, couldn't see some of the bad guys (even though it was painfully obvious) and has a bit of a 'poor me' complex. It's been centuries since you've been in love darling, get over the mistakes you made and LIVE.

Other notes: for Georgina being a succubus who has sex with lots of men, this book is not the erotica you might think it'd be. It seriously felt like a good mix of New Adult and Adult romance novels. It's more romantic comedy with fantasy than erotica.

Overall, I love this book. It was a fun ride that let me enjoy it. As long as you don't take this book seriously, you'll enjoy the ride to. I'd highly recommend it to any Richelle Mead fans (especially Vampire Academy fans).

Five out of five stars! show less

“We all have moments of weakness. It’s how we recover from them that really counts.”

Georgina isn't your typical succubus. Disliking what she is, she mainly focuses on "feeding" from men without as much of a conscience (like her boss), but doesn't have to slaughter them like succubus of legend. When working in the bookstore as a manager, she meets her favorite author, starts dating a new man in town, and works with other paranormals to figure out who is offing powerful paranormals in the city.

Half the book is left with discoveries of death and having no clue what's up, while the other half is knowing what's going on but tracking down the particular naughty entity. The book has a good amount going for it - there's backstory to show more explain decisions made but it doesn't weigh down and is done stylishly. There's the humorous side (this book is downright cute) and the personal life of Georgina as she tries casual dating, but there's also mixing with dangerous elements of the city and solving a mystery before it's too late for all of them.

Despite reservations I had for what kind of book it was, I was pleased to see the humor was naturally cute rather than obnoxious and overbearing.

Georgina is a fun character who isn't angsty because of her past mistakes, even if she is wistful. Instead of focusing on woes she accepts what she is but tries to make the best of situations. Side-characters are mixed joys since the author isn't the love interest I thought from the first, the man she's dating turns out fun and three-dimensional (you don't want anything happening to him), the boss is sleazy but well-written, and the other paranormals stand out as authentic enough even if you want to strangle some of the more powerful ones half the time.

Georgina working in the bookstore and enjoying books so much is a big plus. Her co-workers teasing her about making her favorite author's new books last a month was something most readers can relate to, although there's no way I could drag it out like her. All those years must give her way more willpower than this bookworm has.

It's not a serious book and the mystery isn't hard to guess (I knew right away it was between two people), but the ending was a good one that left a wide opening for a sequel. I don't know that I'll continue the series since I see some signs of what may come, but it was better than I figured it'd be from the humor that usually affects this kind. show less