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Book Review: Succubus Revealed by Richelle Mead (Series, #6) (Audiobook narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers)
Summary:
Seattle’s succubus, Georgina Kincaid, is incredibly happy to be back together with her previously ex boyfriend, Seth Mortensen. But getting back together with him came at the price of hurting his once-fiancee and having to leave her previously loved position managing the bookstore. It’s all worth it to be with Seth, though. But then a transfer notice comes in, sending her to her dream job in Las Vegas. It’d be a dream come true, except Seth can’t come with her because his sister-in-law has cancer. Georgina starts to wonder just why so many elements seem to keep coming together to try to drive her and Seth apart.
Review:
A breathtaking conclusion to the series that reveals not just Georgina’s entire life story but also that the series itself is more than originally meets the eye.
It was obvious in the prior book that a much larger overarching plot was going to be revealed in the final entry in the series. Mead reveals this plot through an artful combination of the characters investigating, flashbacks, and a court case. Normally, I’m not a fan of courtroom drama, but Mead pulls it off beautifully, really playing up the supernatural elements and keeping it moving along at a rapid pace. While I had pretty much already figured out what the big reveal would be, how it was revealed and how the characters reacted was unexpected and complex.
A running theme in the series has been that the characters are not perfect and life doesn’t hand out easy answers or resolutions. The resolutions to the various problems and questions in the plot and in Georgina’s life follow these guidelines as well. It is not a simple reveal that places perfection into Georgina’s life. She has to address her issues, how she has dealt with herself and other people, and she must face the supernatural community as well. It was refreshing to see characters in an urban fantasy have to work toward resolution instead of having it handed to them by virtue of just being lucky or having the right powers.
The romance is in full-swing in this book. Georgina is much more focused on her love life than on being on a succubus. Thus, most of the sex scenes we get are hot in an entirely romantic way. Once again, though, I was more focused on the quality of the plot and characters than on the quality of the sex scenes. The story of Georgina overpowered the juicy bits, and that’s a sign of a great urban fantasy.
The book brings to light the questions of good versus evil, love and what it takes to make a relationship work, soul mates, and the qualities of humanity. And it does it with humor, brightly written characters, sexy sex scenes, and creative settings. An ending to the series as satisfying as a rich dessert that will leave the reader wanting to re-read the series as soon as possible.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Audible
Previous Books in Series:
Succubus Blues
Succubus On Top
Succubus Dreams
Succubus Heat
Succubus Shadows
Book Review: Succubus Shadows by Richelle Mead (Series, #5) (Audiobook narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers)
Summary:
Seattle’s succubus, Georgina Kincaid, cannot believe she has been roped into helping plan her ex-boyfriend’s wedding. It’s enough to make anyone depressed. But she can’t afford to be depressed, because every time she starts to feel down, a mysterious force tries to lure her away to what must be a dangerous place. Georgina is fed up with all of these mysterious attacks on Seattle. It just doesn’t make sense. What is making them target Seattle? And seem to be maybe targeting her?
Review:
An excellent penultimate series book that both reveals more of the main character’s past and drives the plot forward.
At first it seems that this book is returning to familiar territory. Weird, dreamy things are happening to Georgina. She and Seth are broken up. Her demon boss is irritated at her. But then Georgina gets kidnapped and forced to relive her past and spy on the present in a dreamlike state, and everything changes. We learn tons more about Georgina’s long succubus life. We also see what happens when Georgina is the one who needs saving for once. It’s an unexpected plot change that plays perfectly in this penultimate book in the series.
In spite of Georgina being kidnapped, there are still plenty of sex scenes via reliving her succubus past. They are well-written and titillating but sex is really not the focus of the book. It says a lot for the plot and how much I came to care for the characters that I barely noticed the relative lack of exciting sex in this entry.
The characters continue to grow and change in a well-rounded, three-dimensional way. Mead handles the multiple characters adeptly and with soul. Similarly, the audiobook narrator continues to read Georgina perfectly.
This entry in the series moves the series firmly from urban fantasy about a sexy succubus to a romance spanning multiple centuries and a greater battle of good versus evil and humans versus the supernatural. It is stunningly satisfying and all-engrossing. I immediately reached for the final book in the series. Fans will not be disappointed.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Audible
Previous Books in Series:
Succubus Blues
Succubus On Top
Succubus Dreams
Succubus Heat
Finishing the Series Reading Challenge 2013
Hello my lovely readers!
Because life is so incredibly busy, I hadn’t been planning on participating in any of the many wonderful reading challenges in existence around the book blogosphere. (Beyond hosting my own, the Mental Illness Advocacy Reading Challenge, of course.) But when I received a GoodReads invitation to Socrates’ Finishing the Series Reading Challenge, I couldn’t resist because it fits in so well with my already established (in my head) reading goals for 2013. It’s incredibly simple. Choose a single (or multiple) book series you’ve previously started to finally finish reading during 2013. I already have a GoogleDoc of all the series I’m reading and was saying to myself, “Amanda, finish at least a few of these in 2013,” and doing that in the context of the fun that is a book blog reading challenge just makes me happy.
I’m currently reading 26 series. I know, I know. I’m not going to challenge myself to all of those, because then I’d only be reading series books all year. 😛 But I am signing up for the highest level of the challenge: Level 3: 3 or more series.
So what am I pledging to finish?
- Georgina Kincaid series by Richelle Mead
#3 Succubus Dreamsreview 1/31/13, 5 stars
#4 Succubus Heatreview 12/25/13, 4 stars
#5 Succubus Shadows
#6 Succubus Revealed - Y: The Last Man series by Brian K. Vaughan
#8 Kimono Dragons
#9 Motherland
#10 Whys and Wherefores - Riders of the Apocalypse series by Jackie Morse Kessler
#3 Loss
#4 Breath John Cleaver series by Dan Wells
#3 I Don’t Want to Kill Youreview , 3/2/13 3.5 stars
- The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
#2 Children of God Katherine “Kitty” Katt series by Gini KochI will not be finishing this series, due to severe dislike of the third book. It’s a permanent dnf.
#3 Alien in the Familyreview, 10/3/13 2 stars
#4 Alien Proliferation
#5 Alien Diplomacy
#6 Alien vs. Alien
#7 Alien in the House
#8 Alien Research
For the Katherine “Kitty” Katt series, it is not yet finished, so I’m only pledging to books that are projected to be published before the end of 2013.
I also reserve the right to give up on a series if it starts nose-diving before the end. 😉
Phew! That’s a lot of books…but it would also make a serious dent into my series list. So fingers crossed that I have good luck with it.
If the challenge sounds like a good match for you, be sure to check out the official challenge page!
Book Review: Succubus on Top by Richelle Mead (Series, #2)
Summary:
Georgina Kincaid, the succubus that wishes sex with hot men didn’t always steal their life energy, has held up her side of the bargain with her demon supervisor. She’s been going after quality men in exchange for him not wiping the memory of her human boyfriend, the hot writer Seth. Of course, they can’t have sex together without yanking some years off his life, so when they sleep together, it’s literal sleeping. But life continues in spite of boyfriends and job accolades. Georgina finds herself caught up in helping an old incubus friend, as well as trying to find out what has her coworker, Doug, so full of energy.
Review:
Ahhh, Georgina. You are quite possibly my favorite urban fantasy heroine, although your fixation on Seth kinda bugs me. Anyway, everything that made Succubus Blues so fun is back with a bang this time around. We’ve got crazy sex scenes, paranormal mystery, and an every reluctant succubus.
The story itself is a bit more predictable than the first one, but that’s ok. I may have known right away what was up with the incubus’s project as well as what was wrong with Doug, but it’s so much fun to be in Georgina’s world that I honestly didn’t care that I knew. I mostly delighted in this new version of Seattle that Mead has created.
Georgina is complex and so well-rounded. We constantly learn little snippets of her long life, this time around focusing in more on her succubus years than her human ones. She may have sex down pat, but she still doesn’t have relationships figured out, which is part of what makes her character work. Men can still surprise her sometimes. Especially Seth.
There is honestly not that much else to say about this book. The world is delicious, the plot predictable, the heroine delightful. It’s drizzled in intelligent wit and topped off with some red hot sex scenes. This series is definitely remaining my go to for urban fantasy. Fans of the first won’t be disappointed, and anyone with even an inclination toward the genre should definitely check it out.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Public Library
Previous Books in Series
Succubus Blues
This work by Amanda Nevius is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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