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jmc_bksSuccubus Blues is perhaps a book that I should have left in the TBR pile, or maybe even on the shelf at the bookstore. I've never had a problem reading books with first person narrators, although I know many romance readers don't care for them. In SB, I found a book that I disliked because of the narrator: I didn't respect her as a character, and since the entire book is told through her eyes, I wasn't enthralled. Second knock, which is minor, is that I guessed who the Big Bad was pretty early, and thought the heroine was dumb for not figuring it out. Plus, it's yet another first book in a paranormal series. Yay, because there aren't enough of them around.
Georgina Kinkaid is another paranormal creature who has sold her soul for immortality. She's a succubus, feeding off sex; the more sex she has, the more life she sucks from herlovers victims sex partners. She doesn't date because she doesn't want to get attached, although she makes sure she inhabits a striking body and flirts a lot. [Question: if you seriously don't want male attention, why dress and act in a way that garners it?] She's lonely. She has no children. She can't be loved. Blah blah blah.
G has sex with a variety of men, one a regular and the others not. None of them are the nominal hero of the book. Which I would've been cool with...except that I was disappointed with how Mead handled it. Yes, she comes. But she has it because she must in order to feed and to keep up her end of her devilish deal. So, no, the sexing with guys other than the hero wasn't as subversive or innovative as it seemed on the surface.
G is full of inconsistencies. She says she doesn't want to date and that she means no. But then her actions completely contradict her position. She says she won't drink, then she ends up hammered by the end of the evening. She's not going to hang around with Seth, but then she socializes with him daily. Make up your mind and act accordingly; stop sending mixed messages.
G's world is inhabited primarily by men, which I suppose makes sense since she's a succubus, but the complete lack of female friends and acquaintances is glaring. She has none, apparently, and the only female with any significant page space turns out to be both utterly evil and a kind of crazy freak. How very original. Not.
One line at the end of the book really caught my attention: Seth asks her why she gave up everything for one mistake. But see, it wasn't one mistake, at least not the way G narrates it as the book goes along; it was a series of mistakes rooted in selfishness. She knew where she was heading and lied to herself and her husband about it; she knew there was a problem and made no attempt to fix it; she had sex with her husband's best friend and was surprised when he found out and was hurt by it. After reading through the scene in which she makes her bargain with a demon, I felt like she sold her soul to make her husband feel better but also (more so, even) to make herself feel less guilty -- not because she really cared what he felt but because it made her feel bad to see him that way. [This scene was pretty late in the book, and I disliked Georgina long before, but it pretty much iced the cake for me.]
Is it a romance? Isn't it? The spine says fiction, but it was shelved in romance. It has been reviewed all over the romance blogsphere. Does that make it a romance? Or just fiction with a romantic thread? Will there be an HEA for the heroine in the end? I don't know, and I'm not interested in reading about the revolving door of men in her life to find out if she settles down with the guy who seems to be the hero at the end of this book. I just don't care enough to be bothered.
I may pick this book up again in a year and be delighted by it. But right now? Not so much.
Georgina Kinkaid is another paranormal creature who has sold her soul for immortality. She's a succubus, feeding off sex; the more sex she has, the more life she sucks from her
G has sex with a variety of men, one a regular and the others not. None of them are the nominal hero of the book. Which I would've been cool with...except that I was disappointed with how Mead handled it. Yes, she comes. But she has it because she must in order to feed and to keep up her end of her devilish deal. So, no, the sexing with guys other than the hero wasn't as subversive or innovative as it seemed on the surface.
G is full of inconsistencies. She says she doesn't want to date and that she means no. But then her actions completely contradict her position. She says she won't drink, then she ends up hammered by the end of the evening. She's not going to hang around with Seth, but then she socializes with him daily. Make up your mind and act accordingly; stop sending mixed messages.
G's world is inhabited primarily by men, which I suppose makes sense since she's a succubus, but the complete lack of female friends and acquaintances is glaring. She has none, apparently, and the only female with any significant page space turns out to be both utterly evil and a kind of crazy freak. How very original. Not.
One line at the end of the book really caught my attention: Seth asks her why she gave up everything for one mistake. But see, it wasn't one mistake, at least not the way G narrates it as the book goes along; it was a series of mistakes rooted in selfishness. She knew where she was heading and lied to herself and her husband about it; she knew there was a problem and made no attempt to fix it; she had sex with her husband's best friend and was surprised when he found out and was hurt by it. After reading through the scene in which she makes her bargain with a demon, I felt like she sold her soul to make her husband feel better but also (more so, even) to make herself feel less guilty -- not because she really cared what he felt but because it made her feel bad to see him that way. [This scene was pretty late in the book, and I disliked Georgina long before, but it pretty much iced the cake for me.]
Is it a romance? Isn't it? The spine says fiction, but it was shelved in romance. It has been reviewed all over the romance blogsphere. Does that make it a romance? Or just fiction with a romantic thread? Will there be an HEA for the heroine in the end? I don't know, and I'm not interested in reading about the revolving door of men in her life to find out if she settles down with the guy who seems to be the hero at the end of this book. I just don't care enough to be bothered.
I may pick this book up again in a year and be delighted by it. But right now? Not so much.
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I completely agree with you
Date: 2007-03-17 05:09 am (UTC)Keishon
Re: I completely agree with you
Date: 2007-03-17 09:35 pm (UTC)What's wrong with us? What's wrong with the rest of blogland? Hee.
~jmc
Yikes
Date: 2007-03-17 06:45 am (UTC)Tara (romancereadingmom...)
Re: Yikes
Date: 2007-03-17 09:32 pm (UTC)I heard a lot of great things, too, which is why I bought it. It really worked for some readers -- I think Bam loved the book, as did AngieW and May and Jane. But even if I give if I discount my ennui with paranormal series, the characters didn't work for me. Fingers crossed that it suits you better :)
~jmc
Userpics
Date: 2007-03-22 01:07 am (UTC)Re: Userpics
Date: 2007-03-22 01:43 pm (UTC)