Souljacker

Does anyone else miss Lost Girl? Yasmine Galenorn may have just the thing to fill that void. Souljacker features a succubus, Lily O’Connell, living in the human world with a diverse entourage that includes a witch, a ghost, a demon, a human tech geek, and a cat that’s not. She has ties to the Winter Court because of her mother but doesn’t spend much time with other Fae, though it looks like that may change as the series progresses.

Lily owns a sex salon called Lily Bound where she fulfills the fantasies of supernaturals, mostly weres, in exchange for feeding on their chi. (She won’t feed on humans anymore because it’s likely to kill them.) When one of her clients is killed by a vampire inside her salon, which should have had impenetrable wards, the police are unable to help. Lily turns to P.I. Archer Desmond, a chaos demon, to catch the killer before Lily and her friends become victims as well.

To make matters worse, the victim, Tygur, (my biggest complaint about this book is that character’s ridiculous name) was the weretiger alpha and his mate blames Lily for his death. Now the entire pack is out to get her along with a murderous vampire.

Souljacker is set in the near future, though exactly how near is unclear - cars and phones seem to be the same as they are today, but characters reference a few recent events as though they were many years past. In the intervening time, weres and the Fae have come out to the public and are more or less accepted by the human population. Vampires revealed themselves several years later and because of their violent natures, are not yet part of the mainstream. The vampires’ portrayal as mobsters led by the Deadfather is perhaps a bit cliché, but I thought it worked.

I also liked Lily’s relationship with Archer, which might be described as colleagues with benefits. She has to feed from him the second time they meet, which could have led to an insta-love situation, but thankfully didn’t. And I feel bad for Nate, the best friend who has no shot at being a love interest because he’s human. I really enjoyed Lily’s motley crew and the history that already existed between them. I’m excited to see what’s next for this supporting cast.

This is only my third book of Galenorn’s but for those familiar with her work, it has a similar feel to Flight from Death, although I like Souljacker much better despite its complete lack of dragons. I’m curious about how Lily’s relationship with the Winter Queen will develop, as well as the relationship with Archer. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Format: ebook
Tissue warning: no
HEA: For the most part. This is a series, but this ends with no real cliffhanger.
Triggers: no
My reviewer rating: 4 out of 5.
Recommend read: Yes, due to some sexy going on, I'd leave it to new adult.
Published: March 7, 2017 pre-order on Amazon
Thank you, Netgalley for this free e-copy in exchange for my honest-to-goodness review!

Remember Bo from Lost Girl on Sci-fi? Well, Lily is Bo on steroids. I miss Lost Girl, I won't lie. The show was great, but if they had written it based on Souljacker, I think it would have been slightly more interesting.

The pacing in this story worked very well. There wasn't too much fluff, and there wasn't too much going on, period. We're on the chase for the Souljacker. Yes, Lily Bound is a sex salon, but it's only Lily that works there, so it's not like a brothel or anything, and she only has a few customers a week. Even with the main character being a succubus, there's not too much sexual situations going on. There's only a few, and they are pretty tactfully presented. I'm not a fan of straight-up porn in my novels, and Souljacker put it together tastefully.

Lily owns a salon where, for a fee, she provides pleasure while taking chi, lifeforce, the essence that keeps her alive. Unfortunately, her latest client is killed while at her place, and it comes to light her and her friends past is rearing its ugly head. She turns to Archer Desmond, a chaos demon who is a PI, to help them track down the killer. Together, will they find the murderer, or will her and her friends be picked off one by one? Quite a few years have passed since I’ve read a book by Ms. Galenorn. Not because I didn’t like her books anymore, but because I kept reading other books. After reading this book, I can’t remember why I didn’t go back to her. As in the previous books I have read by her, this book has great characterizations, is wonderfully written, and the plot is great. The reader isn’t bogged down with unnecessary details all at once which sometimes happens in a series starter. The one point where we did get a lot of detail was in getting to know Lily by having flashbacks of her past, but not quite as much with the secondary characters. I still got a great sense of each character, and really liked them, and it didn’t lessen my pleasure. Why spill everything at the beginning? In fact, I now look forward to reading more books just to find out more about everyone. This book is a great urban fantasy, with a dash of paranormal romance. If you like either genre or are a fan of Ms. Galenorn’s, pick this book up today; you won’t be disappointed. Highly recommend! Thanks to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the e-copy of the book. This same review will be posted on both Goodreads and Amazon.

OMG, OMG, OMG!!!! LOVED THIS!! This is destined to be my new favorite series!!! Loved the "bloody" world of Seattle (one of my favorite places), loved Archer, Lily, Dani, Marsh, Nate and Whiskey...even Wynter for being a Queen, she had some "humanity". Absolutely loved everything about it and can't wait for the next book!!!!