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Lily Bound #1
Souljacker
Lily O’Connell, a succubus, owns Lily Bound, an elite sex salon in the Blood Night District of Seattle. When a client is murdered in her house, a patch of skin missing from his chest, she knows there’s something evil afoot. Then comes the news that the Souljacker—a tattoo-artist-turned-vampire—has escaped from an institution for criminally deranged Supernaturals. And he’s hunting and killing everyone he has ever inked.
With one of the Souljacker’s tattoos on her thigh and nowhere else to turn, Lily hires Archer Desmond, a chaos demon and PI, to help her track down the vampire before he finds her and her friends. But Lily didn’t plan to fall for Archer. And as the old tales say—a succubus who falls in love will destroy the heart of the one she seeks to claim.
With one of the Souljacker’s tattoos on her thigh and nowhere else to turn, Lily hires Archer Desmond, a chaos demon and PI, to help her track down the vampire before he finds her and her friends. But Lily didn’t plan to fall for Archer. And as the old tales say—a succubus who falls in love will destroy the heart of the one she seeks to claim.
264 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2017
71 people are currently reading
1527 people want to read
About the author
Yasmine Galenorn
247 books3,472 followersNOTE: I SELDOM visit Goodreads and do very little here. Please see my website for more information on my work: https://galenorn.com
New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and is the author of over 80 books & numerous series, including the Wild Hunt Series, the Moonshadow Bay Series, the Fury Unbound Series, the Otherworld Series, the Bewitching Bedlam Series, and more. She wrote for trad publishers for 20 years until she went indie in 2016.
She’s also written nonfiction metaphysical books. She is the 2011 Career Achievement Award Winner in Urban Fantasy, given by RT Magazine. Yasmine has been in the Craft since 1980, is a shamanic witch and High Priestess. She describes her life as a blend of teacups and tattoos. She lives in Kirkland, WA, with her husband Samwise and their cats. Yasmine can be reached via her web site at Galenorn.com. Sign up for her newsletter at: http://galenorn.com/newsletter/
NOTE: ALWAYS check the website and blog, and please sign up for her newsletter there to keep current with new and upcoming releases. Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter are NOT viable places to find out all this information.
New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and is the author of over 80 books & numerous series, including the Wild Hunt Series, the Moonshadow Bay Series, the Fury Unbound Series, the Otherworld Series, the Bewitching Bedlam Series, and more. She wrote for trad publishers for 20 years until she went indie in 2016.
She’s also written nonfiction metaphysical books. She is the 2011 Career Achievement Award Winner in Urban Fantasy, given by RT Magazine. Yasmine has been in the Craft since 1980, is a shamanic witch and High Priestess. She describes her life as a blend of teacups and tattoos. She lives in Kirkland, WA, with her husband Samwise and their cats. Yasmine can be reached via her web site at Galenorn.com. Sign up for her newsletter at: http://galenorn.com/newsletter/
NOTE: ALWAYS check the website and blog, and please sign up for her newsletter there to keep current with new and upcoming releases. Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter are NOT viable places to find out all this information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 150 reviews
February 28, 2021
Sometimes you read books that you will always remember reading. Others go to the shelf of "I read this book? Really?" and this book falls into the latter category. I know I will forget about it the next day because it didn't get any reaction from me. It was not terrible just meh.
Story:
Lily is a succubus. She owns a private salon (in other words a brothel). Charles, a former tattoo artist who was turned into a vampire, is back and he's collecting his art. Unfortunately for them, he inked Lily and her friends, Dani (a witch) and Nate (a human), and he wants his tattoos back. When one of her clients is killed by the Souljacker in her salon, Lily's business goes downhill. She meets with Archer, a chaos demon, and asks his help to solve the case.
Characters:
I took my time to mention each's occupation because you would expect something wild. I mean fae, demons, vampires, witches, and humans in the same story sounds cool, yeah? Except that it was soo mundane. I mean they all sounded like normal humans. I expected Lily to be immoral and corrupted but she wasn't, not at all. She was good which I liked but too nice even for a human. She's supposed to be older than 600 years, yet, I saw no wisdom. She surely took many stupid and hasty decisions that ended in a very predictable way. I like her visit to the court, probably my favorite part of the book. Wynter seemed like a very interesting character, hope we'll learn more about her later. I expected a tyrant but she was not. Galenorn didn't fail to capture all the majesty surrounding the ice court.
Archer, the love interest, is just lame. I mean he's demon, come on! Yet, he was so normal, so human. I saw no wildness there but just a polite person who appeared suddenly in her life and stayed there as if he was a part of her life all along. I don't mean it in a positive way. Lily and Archer had no chemistry except for the "sparks" she felt when she shook his hand. After they slept together, it quickly became an insta-love.
Nate, her human best friend, sounded like a 17 years old. I thought he was a teen when she first mentioned him but only discovered later that he's at least in his late 20s. It's not that he was immature or something but I saw no manliness there. He was nothing special.
Dani, her other best friend, is a witch. I felt like she was the only one with some depth in her character. Maybe it's because her husband was turned into a vampire but even then, it was nothing impressive.
I couldn't connect with the characters. I didn't care if one of them died because they were so forgettable. Didn't see any 3-dimensional characters. I wasn't impressed. While I didn't hate any, none were the kind of character I'd remember.
Plot, worldbuilding & Writing:
The story kept me interested enough to finish it quickly. It was an easy and a fast read. It was fun and enjoyable but nothing more. Although we know some stuff about the world now, we know nothing about the past. All these creatures were just there. We learn that the government is corrupted supporting vampires, bloody rich and the enemies of everyone else, they surely acquired power with time but according to Lily they just "when the Fae and Weres had come out of the closet, everything blew up and went to hell." How and why did they appear? "Then, the vampires appeared on the scene and nobody was equipped to deal with them." How did they come? Were they always there? Why wasn't it mentioned?
Yasmine Galenorn explained how things work now, but neglected the history (except that they were hidden but not anymore) even though Lily was alive for more than 6 centuries. The writing was nothing outstanding and with some grammar mistakes.
Overall thoughts:
This is not a paranormal romance but more of urban fantasy in my opinion. It's more about the Souljacker hunting them rather than her relationship with Archer. The characters were flat and too tamed. The story while being entertaining didn't leave an effect on me. I feel like I've read this book before in a different setting, it was so predictable. Souljacker is my first book by Yasmine Galenorn and it saddens me to say also my last. I will not check out her other books but may read the sequel of this one in the future.
If you're looking for a light urban fantasy read that will keep you entertained then this book is for you but don't expect anything mindblowing.
***ARC kindly provided via NetGalley for the exchange of an honest review***
November 1, 2025
Yasmine Galenorn does it again by writing another fabulous series that I must follow.
What do you get when a succubus, a chaos demon and a witch walk into a bar…I don’t know but I’m sure Galenorn is going to have us begging to find out.
Lily O’Connell is a succubus living in Seattle. She runs a successful sex salon that caters to the non-human kind. When one of her clients turns up dead in her house, it turns the tiger shifting community against her, so she turns to her standing in the Fae Court to let the queen know about her situation.
The queen uses this opportunity to force Lily into a new career working for her. But this also sends Lily on a perilous path of life altering circumstance.
Lily hires Archer, a chaos demon, and outcast even among his own demon kind. Archer helps Lily discover the what vampire element is behind the murders that have left Lily in the crosshairs.
Nail biting adventure, smoking hot romantic tension and new characters to explore, there is much more a girl could ask for in a marvelous new read.
I received this ARC copy of Souljacker from Diversion Books. This is my honest and voluntary review. Souljacker is set for publication March 7, 2017.
What do you get when a succubus, a chaos demon and a witch walk into a bar…I don’t know but I’m sure Galenorn is going to have us begging to find out.
Lily O’Connell is a succubus living in Seattle. She runs a successful sex salon that caters to the non-human kind. When one of her clients turns up dead in her house, it turns the tiger shifting community against her, so she turns to her standing in the Fae Court to let the queen know about her situation.
The queen uses this opportunity to force Lily into a new career working for her. But this also sends Lily on a perilous path of life altering circumstance.
Lily hires Archer, a chaos demon, and outcast even among his own demon kind. Archer helps Lily discover the what vampire element is behind the murders that have left Lily in the crosshairs.
Nail biting adventure, smoking hot romantic tension and new characters to explore, there is much more a girl could ask for in a marvelous new read.
I received this ARC copy of Souljacker from Diversion Books. This is my honest and voluntary review. Souljacker is set for publication March 7, 2017.
August 25, 2017
Lily is a succubus who staves off the hunger and makes her living by running a sex salon. The book opens when she discovers one her best werewolf clients dead in a bed, drained of blood and missing a hunk of flesh.
The vamps in this book are not of this ilk.
They are mean, they are hungry and some of them are batshit crazy. These vampires are monsters, just as it should be. Sadly, they do not make much of an appearance. There are a few dead bodies here and there but we don’t get to spend any time in their heads. Such a missed opportunity. I love being in a madman’s head, if only for a short time.
Because of the dead guy in her bed, Lily’s life is turned upside down and inside out. She loses her livelihood, is targeted by madman and an angry widow bent on revenge and she’s getting dangerously hungry for some chi and sexy time. When she realizes her best friends are also in danger, they enlist the help of a chaos demon who is a most excellent PI and handily enough, very good at the sexy times.
This started out as a whole lot of murderous and sexy fun but somewhere along the way it lost me. It became dull. Nothing much happened for chapters on end. There was much talk about sigils and security and blah, blah, blah. At this point, I even began to start longing for one of these guys to pop in and woo somebody to death just so something would happen.
Really the only thing keeping me reading was the sexy chaos demon. I kept waiting for him to create some major, you know, chaos but I may have to wait until the next book for that happen. It wasn’t even what I’d call a paranormal romance because there was no romance development here either.
There was an engaging little side-story about Lily’s enchanted cat. If the rest of the book has been as interesting as the cat’s backstory I would’ve gobbled this book up. But as written, most of the characters were a little flat and not fleshed out nearly enough for me. There was no emotion, very little action and there wasn’t even any humor. It was all just a bit too tepid for my liking. I tried another of this author’s books years ago, Witchling I believe it was, and I didn’t like that one very much either so maybe it’s me and my atrocious taste again.
Ah well, I may pick up book two because I do realize this book was the first in a series and much setup needed doing. Hopefully it has more sizzle and less fizzle than this one.
Narration Notes: This audiobook was read competently by Cassandra Campbell who she gives each character their own distinctive voice, none of them cringy, and I always appreciate that because I’m sure it’s not easy.
I received a copy of this audiobook from Tantor Media. Thanks Tantor!
The vamps in this book are not of this ilk.
They are mean, they are hungry and some of them are batshit crazy. These vampires are monsters, just as it should be. Sadly, they do not make much of an appearance. There are a few dead bodies here and there but we don’t get to spend any time in their heads. Such a missed opportunity. I love being in a madman’s head, if only for a short time.
Because of the dead guy in her bed, Lily’s life is turned upside down and inside out. She loses her livelihood, is targeted by madman and an angry widow bent on revenge and she’s getting dangerously hungry for some chi and sexy time. When she realizes her best friends are also in danger, they enlist the help of a chaos demon who is a most excellent PI and handily enough, very good at the sexy times.
This started out as a whole lot of murderous and sexy fun but somewhere along the way it lost me. It became dull. Nothing much happened for chapters on end. There was much talk about sigils and security and blah, blah, blah. At this point, I even began to start longing for one of these guys to pop in and woo somebody to death just so something would happen.
Really the only thing keeping me reading was the sexy chaos demon. I kept waiting for him to create some major, you know, chaos but I may have to wait until the next book for that happen. It wasn’t even what I’d call a paranormal romance because there was no romance development here either.
There was an engaging little side-story about Lily’s enchanted cat. If the rest of the book has been as interesting as the cat’s backstory I would’ve gobbled this book up. But as written, most of the characters were a little flat and not fleshed out nearly enough for me. There was no emotion, very little action and there wasn’t even any humor. It was all just a bit too tepid for my liking. I tried another of this author’s books years ago, Witchling I believe it was, and I didn’t like that one very much either so maybe it’s me and my atrocious taste again.
Ah well, I may pick up book two because I do realize this book was the first in a series and much setup needed doing. Hopefully it has more sizzle and less fizzle than this one.
Narration Notes: This audiobook was read competently by Cassandra Campbell who she gives each character their own distinctive voice, none of them cringy, and I always appreciate that because I’m sure it’s not easy.
I received a copy of this audiobook from Tantor Media. Thanks Tantor!
September 3, 2021
A strong three stars because I definitely enjoyed it, and there's a bit of a new take on the supernatural too. The first-person narrator Lily O'Connell is a succubus in Seattle, perhaps 20 years or so into the future if not an alternate present, and of course my mind goes instantly to that other Seattle succubus, Richelle Mead's Georgina Kincaid, after reading all six of Georgina's novels. There's a lot of similarity between those personalities and their lifestyles, but there's a big difference too.
Unlike Georgina and (I think) all the succubi of folklore and fiction before her, Lily is not a demon or agent of hell who sends her sexual conquests' souls to the Bad Place. Succubi and incubi in this world are Fae. As such Lily is assigned from birth to the Winter Court, where she was presented as a child to the queen, named Wynter of course. The best scene in the book has a beautiful description of the Court, located conveniently near Seattle, and features grown-up Lily's life-changing audience with Wynter.
In this world, Fae and Weres have already come out to the public, and ten years later, when people finally adjusted to life with Fae and Weres in their midst, vampires emerged into public view. These vampires are scary and evil, and they can turn into mist and go through walls. Their boss, the oldest vampire of all perhaps, is called the Deadfather, just to remind you of organized crime. Once out, though, the vampires sought political influence, and they've been so successful at it that the president of the USA is about to sign the vampire rights bill into law.
Well, like any succubus Lily has that need to feed. It's almost a vampiric need but not for blood--apparently her chi keeps running low and she has to fill up via sexual contact with someone else. It doesn't have to be coitus--prolonged kissing will do as well--but in any case she will drain all the chi out of a human donor, who then dies. So Lily, who's just as good-hearted as Georgina, now runs a sex salon that caters mainly to Weres, who of course bounce back quickly after that pleasant chi-draining experience.
There's vague reference to Lily's regret over those 600 years of her life before the Weres came out, when I guess supernatural donors were harder to find and she had to kill a few humans to survive.
This story kicks off when an alpha were-tiger named Tygur (yes, Tygur) is killed in her sex salon and a patch of skin is missing from his chest. Tygur's wife Tricia seeks vengeance on Lily and gets Seattle's Weres to boycott her salon, which of course puts her livelihood on the rocks. As the blurb tells us,
So that's the set-up, and it's not till the halfway point in this book that Lily's life is fundamentally changed by Wynter the Fae queen. That means there's really important stuff that I could only mention in a spoiler tag, and blurbs for the other books in the series are likely to be spoilers for this debut novel (so read them at your own risk). What remains is to take a quick look at the characters.
It's a congenial group of six rather likable characters who try to find and stop the crazed vampire. There's Lily the succubus, Archer the friendly chaos demon, Dani the witch, Mr. Whiskers the 600-year-old cat who isn't really a cat, Nate the human neighbor, and Marsh the ghost of Lily's former lover who died when Lily couldn't control herself and drained his chi.
Marsh makes it clear he's been sent (by whom though?) to help, and bygones are just that. He is certainly useful for reconnaissance missions because he can go through walls too, just like a vampire. Dani makes the wards that protect Lily's house-cum-salon, but her wards are easily defaced. Beyond what I've already detailed, the supernatural side of these characters never really gets into the story, and for the most part they're just like any group of ordinary humans in their thoughts, feelings, talk, and actions.
Archer the chaos demon? Well, when Nate has a problem Archer says that's because I've been around, you know, chaos tends to follow me. Otherwise, there's nothing particularly demonic in Archer's role in the story. He could have been any human P.I. (with a gift for dispensing chi). So this story, while entertaining, leaves me with the feeling that there was a tremendous potential here that was never even explored.
Unlike Georgina and (I think) all the succubi of folklore and fiction before her, Lily is not a demon or agent of hell who sends her sexual conquests' souls to the Bad Place. Succubi and incubi in this world are Fae. As such Lily is assigned from birth to the Winter Court, where she was presented as a child to the queen, named Wynter of course. The best scene in the book has a beautiful description of the Court, located conveniently near Seattle, and features grown-up Lily's life-changing audience with Wynter.
In this world, Fae and Weres have already come out to the public, and ten years later, when people finally adjusted to life with Fae and Weres in their midst, vampires emerged into public view. These vampires are scary and evil, and they can turn into mist and go through walls. Their boss, the oldest vampire of all perhaps, is called the Deadfather, just to remind you of organized crime. Once out, though, the vampires sought political influence, and they've been so successful at it that the president of the USA is about to sign the vampire rights bill into law.
Well, like any succubus Lily has that need to feed. It's almost a vampiric need but not for blood--apparently her chi keeps running low and she has to fill up via sexual contact with someone else. It doesn't have to be coitus--prolonged kissing will do as well--but in any case she will drain all the chi out of a human donor, who then dies. So Lily, who's just as good-hearted as Georgina, now runs a sex salon that caters mainly to Weres, who of course bounce back quickly after that pleasant chi-draining experience.
There's vague reference to Lily's regret over those 600 years of her life before the Weres came out, when I guess supernatural donors were harder to find and she had to kill a few humans to survive.
This story kicks off when an alpha were-tiger named Tygur (yes, Tygur) is killed in her sex salon and a patch of skin is missing from his chest. Tygur's wife Tricia seeks vengeance on Lily and gets Seattle's Weres to boycott her salon, which of course puts her livelihood on the rocks. As the blurb tells us,
Then comes the news that the Souljacker--a tattoo-artist-turned-vampire--has escaped from an institution for criminally deranged Supernaturals. And he's hunting and killing everyone he has ever inked.(I'm guessing it's not a spoiler to tell you that the Souljacker is killing people to take his tattoos back.) Lily and her friends have those tattoos, and the police won't touch a case that involves those politically connected vampires. So Lily winds up with Archer Desmond, who's both an independent private detective and a chaos demon who has no problem at all giving Lily all the chi she needs--he quickly becomes her permanent feeding source in nicely detailed scenes.
So that's the set-up, and it's not till the halfway point in this book that Lily's life is fundamentally changed by Wynter the Fae queen. That means there's really important stuff that I could only mention in a spoiler tag, and blurbs for the other books in the series are likely to be spoilers for this debut novel (so read them at your own risk). What remains is to take a quick look at the characters.
It's a congenial group of six rather likable characters who try to find and stop the crazed vampire. There's Lily the succubus, Archer the friendly chaos demon, Dani the witch, Mr. Whiskers the 600-year-old cat who isn't really a cat, Nate the human neighbor, and Marsh the ghost of Lily's former lover who died when Lily couldn't control herself and drained his chi.
Marsh makes it clear he's been sent (by whom though?) to help, and bygones are just that. He is certainly useful for reconnaissance missions because he can go through walls too, just like a vampire. Dani makes the wards that protect Lily's house-cum-salon, but her wards are easily defaced. Beyond what I've already detailed, the supernatural side of these characters never really gets into the story, and for the most part they're just like any group of ordinary humans in their thoughts, feelings, talk, and actions.
Archer the chaos demon? Well, when Nate has a problem Archer says that's because I've been around, you know, chaos tends to follow me. Otherwise, there's nothing particularly demonic in Archer's role in the story. He could have been any human P.I. (with a gift for dispensing chi). So this story, while entertaining, leaves me with the feeling that there was a tremendous potential here that was never even explored.
February 15, 2017
Well I saw this author had a new series starting and couldn't wait to jump right onboard. Add in the fact that her lead character is a succubus and its instantly going to be a different type of story. I think the synopsis does a very good job of setting the scene for what's to come. This book felt more urban fantasy then paranormal romance to me though as even though Lily clearly needs sex and indeed there are obviously mature scenes here it didn't seem like titilation but just a very necessary part of setting up just what Lily has to go through to survive. In fact if her hunger overpowers her then very bad things can happen and the author had a unique way of actually pointing this out! There's a poignant moment when the reader realises that Lily has had to purposely close her heart off as even though she was born for passion perhaps love might not be possible for her.
It's a world the author has created were supernaturals are out of the closet and indeed this the first book is pointing the way for vampires to try to take even greater control. I liked that Lily has good friends around her and the chaos demon Archer is quite possibly looking like being her love interest but first of all Lily has to survive her old friend now turned vampire trying to kill her! Yes in this reality being turned into a vampire really does release a monster but there are other creatures that can be equally dangerous. We meet witches, ghosts, demons , weres and perhaps most surprising of all was the involvement of the fae. No outright spoilers here but the inclusion of the fae and their Winter Queen looks set to take this series in a direction that can only be full of surprises. Already things are revealed that leave questions hanging and I strongly suspect that Lily's life is about to get very complicated indeed!
This book is clearly the authors way of easing us into her new series. I had fun getting to know Lily and her friends but did think it overshadowed the plot at times. Things do get a resolution of sorts but that still leaves a few things hanging in the wind as Lily seems to have more than one enemy. A succubus as the heroine is a bold step for the author as it could go horribly wrong but Lily isn't an evil soul sucker just a woman trying to survive. Actually thinking about it there are really only two other series that really stand out as taking this idea and developing it so if you haven't yet read Richelle Meads, Georgina Kinkaid books or Jill Myles Succubus Diary series then now is the time to search them out. I'm curious what will happen next and look forward to reading more about Lily and her possible romance with Archer
This voluntary opinion is of an advance reader copy I requested from Netgalley and these honest thoughts are my own.
It's a world the author has created were supernaturals are out of the closet and indeed this the first book is pointing the way for vampires to try to take even greater control. I liked that Lily has good friends around her and the chaos demon Archer is quite possibly looking like being her love interest but first of all Lily has to survive her old friend now turned vampire trying to kill her! Yes in this reality being turned into a vampire really does release a monster but there are other creatures that can be equally dangerous. We meet witches, ghosts, demons , weres and perhaps most surprising of all was the involvement of the fae. No outright spoilers here but the inclusion of the fae and their Winter Queen looks set to take this series in a direction that can only be full of surprises. Already things are revealed that leave questions hanging and I strongly suspect that Lily's life is about to get very complicated indeed!
This book is clearly the authors way of easing us into her new series. I had fun getting to know Lily and her friends but did think it overshadowed the plot at times. Things do get a resolution of sorts but that still leaves a few things hanging in the wind as Lily seems to have more than one enemy. A succubus as the heroine is a bold step for the author as it could go horribly wrong but Lily isn't an evil soul sucker just a woman trying to survive. Actually thinking about it there are really only two other series that really stand out as taking this idea and developing it so if you haven't yet read Richelle Meads, Georgina Kinkaid books or Jill Myles Succubus Diary series then now is the time to search them out. I'm curious what will happen next and look forward to reading more about Lily and her possible romance with Archer
This voluntary opinion is of an advance reader copy I requested from Netgalley and these honest thoughts are my own.
March 28, 2017
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy
SOULJACKER is a fun and at times dark paranormal romance novel. Obviously since the main character is a succubus, this book has a lot of sex since Lily needs it to survive. While there is a burgeoning romance that is pretty steamy I really enjoyed the thriller aspect of the story with the hunt for an extra creepy vampire serial killer who is after basically all of the main characters you get to know and grow somewhat attached to. The world building surrounding this plot is pretty neat and the politics/realities of magical beings and humans is realistic (or as realistic as it can be...). I really enjoyed the fae world and would love to read more about this aspect in future books.
At first I was confused as to what was going on with the story as they kept referring to a character and past events linked to the serial killings so much that I kept checking if I was on the first book in the series or not. Eventually the full flashback of just what was going on were revealed and everything made sense. While reading SOULJACKER I was a bit annoyed at this but in the end I kind of appreciated how the reveals and story unfolded. It was a unique way of unraveling information.
SOULJACKER has plenty of tense action and thrilling moments that will keep you wanting to turn the page faster to see what happens next. I enjoyed learning more about Lily and the major change in her life that she goes through in SOULJACKER has me curious enought to want to see what happens in the next book in this series.
sexual content: multiple graphic sex scenes
SOULJACKER is a fun and at times dark paranormal romance novel. Obviously since the main character is a succubus, this book has a lot of sex since Lily needs it to survive. While there is a burgeoning romance that is pretty steamy I really enjoyed the thriller aspect of the story with the hunt for an extra creepy vampire serial killer who is after basically all of the main characters you get to know and grow somewhat attached to. The world building surrounding this plot is pretty neat and the politics/realities of magical beings and humans is realistic (or as realistic as it can be...). I really enjoyed the fae world and would love to read more about this aspect in future books.
At first I was confused as to what was going on with the story as they kept referring to a character and past events linked to the serial killings so much that I kept checking if I was on the first book in the series or not. Eventually the full flashback of just what was going on were revealed and everything made sense. While reading SOULJACKER I was a bit annoyed at this but in the end I kind of appreciated how the reveals and story unfolded. It was a unique way of unraveling information.
SOULJACKER has plenty of tense action and thrilling moments that will keep you wanting to turn the page faster to see what happens next. I enjoyed learning more about Lily and the major change in her life that she goes through in SOULJACKER has me curious enought to want to see what happens in the next book in this series.
sexual content: multiple graphic sex scenes
March 4, 2017
Seriously? At 81% and they are still talking at Lily's house? I am gonna pass.
I had great hopes with this book: a succubus called Lily who feeds from the chi of supernaturals who nowadays are a regular fixture on the world. A vampire called the Souljacker who is very dangerous (at this point I only have their word on it... loooooots of words at Lily's home) has come back to exact revenge and Lily bangs (quite literally sometimes harhar) with a chaos demon called Archer, a witch called Dani, a human called Nate and a not really a cat called whisky to stop him. But not really. Because at 81% we have seen some things... like how devil a were is when she choses to exact revenge... some inner workings of the Fae people... and looooooots of talk... sex... more talk... and more talk... and I am done. I am sorry but this book could lose half its lenght and half its talk and I guess it could be great. As it is I lost interest in much ado about nothing.
I had great hopes with this book: a succubus called Lily who feeds from the chi of supernaturals who nowadays are a regular fixture on the world. A vampire called the Souljacker who is very dangerous (at this point I only have their word on it... loooooots of words at Lily's home) has come back to exact revenge and Lily bangs (quite literally sometimes harhar) with a chaos demon called Archer, a witch called Dani, a human called Nate and a not really a cat called whisky to stop him. But not really. Because at 81% we have seen some things... like how devil a were is when she choses to exact revenge... some inner workings of the Fae people... and looooooots of talk... sex... more talk... and more talk... and I am done. I am sorry but this book could lose half its lenght and half its talk and I guess it could be great. As it is I lost interest in much ado about nothing.
March 4, 2017
3.5
There are two things I should say first. One, as far as the first books in any series go, I tend to rate them a bit higher if for nothing else but the benefit of the doubt. Most of the time, the series turn out to be enjoyable and all the nitpicks and stuff that might bother a reader are filled in, fixed and/or explained. I believe the first books deserve that. Second thing is that sometimes my own personal preferences can mess up my reading experience. It is completely my fault, that. I usually note that in my reviews.
The protagonist of Souljacker is Lily Marlene O'Connell, a Fae succubus and the owner of a sex salon (the way she calls it). She 'services' thirty or so clients in her home. As a succubus she needs the energy from them and this way is the least dangerous for her and them to do so. She is a couple of hundred years old and after killing a lot of people in the past (there is a limit how much she can allow herself to be hungry), her salon sounds as a good idea.
Most of this is in the blurb so anyone who has issues with her 'profession' and the way of life can't say there was not warning. I find it interesting. Not original, though. I've read books featuring a succubus or similar type of being.
Souljacker starts with Lily waiting for the police to come. A client was murdered by a vampire in her rooms. It was a good way to introduce certain aspects of life in this world like different species. Her client is a were and she is thinking of the wards her best friend (a witch) set up and the vampire managed to pass.
And here lies my first nitpick (see the first paragraph). While I find Lily and her way of life interesting, I think too much emphasis was put on a grieving widow of the client.
The widow crosses the line in the book, though, so any right she had in the first part of the story evaporated later. One particular thing she does crosses the line.
Lily belongs to the Winter court and her queen makes an appearance in the story too. There are some revelation about her family and her past. I have a feeling this will play an important role in the future.
The main story is that a former friend, now a vampire, escaped an asylum. He used to be a tattooist and Lily and her friends all have a tattoo made by him. They are mirrors into their souls, that's how good and magical his tattoos are. Now he is hunting the people with those tattoos and it's up to Lily, Dani (her witch friend), Nate (a human), one ghost, not so ordinary cat and a P.I. (Archer is a chaos demon and a love interest in case you've never read any urban fantasy with paranormal romance thrown in) to stop him.
As for the romance, it's the weakest part of this story. It's neither insta-romance/lust nor is it slow burn. I have no idea what to call it. The sex is good, though.
Overall, Souljacker is a pretty good beginning of the series. Some things change throughout the story and I am very interested to see where the new path takes Lily and her friends.
ARC received from Diversion Books/Diversion Publishing via NetGalley
There are two things I should say first. One, as far as the first books in any series go, I tend to rate them a bit higher if for nothing else but the benefit of the doubt. Most of the time, the series turn out to be enjoyable and all the nitpicks and stuff that might bother a reader are filled in, fixed and/or explained. I believe the first books deserve that. Second thing is that sometimes my own personal preferences can mess up my reading experience. It is completely my fault, that. I usually note that in my reviews.
The protagonist of Souljacker is Lily Marlene O'Connell, a Fae succubus and the owner of a sex salon (the way she calls it). She 'services' thirty or so clients in her home. As a succubus she needs the energy from them and this way is the least dangerous for her and them to do so. She is a couple of hundred years old and after killing a lot of people in the past (there is a limit how much she can allow herself to be hungry), her salon sounds as a good idea.
Most of this is in the blurb so anyone who has issues with her 'profession' and the way of life can't say there was not warning. I find it interesting. Not original, though. I've read books featuring a succubus or similar type of being.
Souljacker starts with Lily waiting for the police to come. A client was murdered by a vampire in her rooms. It was a good way to introduce certain aspects of life in this world like different species. Her client is a were and she is thinking of the wards her best friend (a witch) set up and the vampire managed to pass.
And here lies my first nitpick (see the first paragraph). While I find Lily and her way of life interesting, I think too much emphasis was put on a grieving widow of the client.
The widow crosses the line in the book, though, so any right she had in the first part of the story evaporated later. One particular thing she does crosses the line.
Lily belongs to the Winter court and her queen makes an appearance in the story too. There are some revelation about her family and her past. I have a feeling this will play an important role in the future.
The main story is that a former friend, now a vampire, escaped an asylum. He used to be a tattooist and Lily and her friends all have a tattoo made by him. They are mirrors into their souls, that's how good and magical his tattoos are. Now he is hunting the people with those tattoos and it's up to Lily, Dani (her witch friend), Nate (a human), one ghost, not so ordinary cat and a P.I. (Archer is a chaos demon and a love interest in case you've never read any urban fantasy with paranormal romance thrown in) to stop him.
As for the romance, it's the weakest part of this story. It's neither insta-romance/lust nor is it slow burn. I have no idea what to call it. The sex is good, though.
Overall, Souljacker is a pretty good beginning of the series. Some things change throughout the story and I am very interested to see where the new path takes Lily and her friends.
ARC received from Diversion Books/Diversion Publishing via NetGalley
April 26, 2019
I got to page 123 before I decided to DNF. This was pretty bad. It read like bad fan fiction. It didn't even have a lot of steamy scenes to make up for the boring. I kept checking to see if this was really the first in he series as there seemed to be a ton of history I missed. The protagonist is supposed to be hundreds of years old yet has the wisdom of teenager.
April 17, 2017
First in the Lily Bound urban fantasy series, similar to Galenorn's Otherworld / Sisters of the Moon and Fly by Night series, and set in Seattle revolving around Lily O'Connell, a succubus, and her circle of friends.
My Take
Souljacker is an interesting take on how a succubus makes a living in a contemporary world, and I'd have enjoyed the story more if this hadn't been one of Galenorn's off-days. Yeahhhh…I really, really hate it when a writer doesn't make connections in their paragraphs. And Galenorn has more topics in one paragraph that don't connect to one another than a stray dog has fleas. It's like reading a story by a beginning writer in middle school.
Everything is so easy for our protagonists. Okay, sure, there's a serial killer after them and Lily is being targeted by Tricia which turns her life upside down, but Archer just slides right on in, no tension, no drama. Galenorn gives us all these warnings about Archer…and…kersplat…nothing. Then Marsh slides in…no tension, no drama. And considering he was Lily's lover, I'd have expected something. Nor does he express any amazement at the technological advances of a world 75 years in his future.
What purpose does it serve the story for Lily to pretend not to know about Tygur's domestic arrangements? Why would Jolene expect Lily to let his wife know about his current state? How stupid can Lily be in thinking she can talk to Tricia or any of her friends? She is amazingly naive for someone who has lived hundreds of years.
I do appreciate that Galenorn has set up a back story for her characters. as she introduces the cast of characters for the series. It's so much nicer to begin a story thinking the characters had a life before "I" showed up, *grin*. What I don't enjoy is the info dump. Oh, Galenorn does fairly well on introducing the information as a natural part of the story using Lily's perspective in the first-person protagonist point-of-view using flashbacks, but she does it so often that even that doesn't disguise the dump, and it became annoying.
I did like the promise (and hope) at the end. And…yes…I'll be reading book #2 when it comes out.
The Story
When a client is murdered in Lily's house, a patch of skin missing from his chest, she knows there’s something evil afoot. Then comes the news that the Souljacker — a tattoo-artist-turned-vampire — has escaped from an institution for criminally deranged Supernaturals. And he’s hunting and killing everyone he has ever inked.
Worse, the client's widow is on a vendetta from Hell to destroy Lily.
And the police are helpless, barred from investigating any crimes committed by vampires.
The Characters
Lily O'Connell is a succubus who runs Lily Bound, an elite sex salon in the Blood Night District of Seattle that allows Lily to feed as well as make a good living. Mr. Whiskers is her "pet cat" whom she rescued 600 years ago; Luther had been her horse back then. Marsh Sheffield had been the human lover she murdered 75 years ago. Her best friends are Danielle "Dani" Halloran, a witch (Dani runs the Wandering Eye, a witchcraft shop) who supplies Lily with her protection wards, and Percival "Nate" Winston, a human IT programmer and Lily's next-door neighbor.
Archer Desmond is a notorious and hot Chaos demon and private investigator.
The Winter Court is…
…located on the Eastside of Seattle and ruled by Queen Wynter who has plans for Lily. Summerlyn is Wynter's sister located in Australia. Katarina the Frost is one of the Winter queen's best executioners and right-hand witch and one of the Calliach's daughters. The Aespions are the queen's agents and are led by Vesper. Dextra is one of the queen's warriors-at-large.
The Paranormal Investigations Unit (PIU) is…
…composed of either Fae or Were. Detective Jolene Whitehorse, a lone werewolf, had been Lily's lover before their quarrel. Lucas is her work partner.
Tygur Jones, a weretiger, had been a welcome client. He and his weretiger wife, Tricia, are a major power couple in Were circles. Shayla Masters is Tricia's best friend. Frasier Wills and Leon had been some of Lily's best clients.
Charles Schafer is the Souljacker and a vampire incarcerated in West Coast Psionic Asylum (WestCoPsi) for his crimes. In his human life, he had been an amazing tattoo artist. Terrance Schafer is his very rich father and an influential politician.
The vampires are…
…led by the Deadfather who has fingers in too many pockets with even more influence in our world. Greg Fallow had been Dani's politically ambitious husband until he was turned. Now Greg runs Veek, a vampire club in the Underground and is the Deadfather's right-hand man. Darrington is president of the United States.
The India Ink Club was informal, a group of friends who decided to get tattoos and include Rebecca who had been part of Dani's coven and Hedge. Peter Trent had gotten a tattoo. Sunny Tramero is a half-Fae, rich frenemy. Ian Carter is a business mogul; his daughter, Isabel, has a great singing voice. Woodrow Blythe is the vampire who took over Greg's senate seat six years ago.
White Tower Center is…
…the Supernatural equivalent of Pike's Peak Market and one step up from the horribly seedy Underground. Hilda is an idiot with a clothing store. Bart is a nice guy who runs Little Bart's Food Court. Ray Bender, a human, owns Bender's Skin Art. Belltower Mae's is a popular low-life brothel in the Underground.
Fam-Trad means a witch born and raised in a family of magic users.
The Cover and Title
The cover is red, black, and white. The main graphic is a black and white photograph of Lily and Archer (behind her) in black leather motorcycle jackets with the silhouette of bare-branched trees behind them, a white cloud rising up below them. More white appears in the author's name and the info blurb that she's a bestseller. The red is in Lily's long, curling hair, the rest of the bestseller info, the scrollwork in all four corners, the series info at the very bottom, and a gradient of black to red in the title showcased in that cloud.
The title is the terror, the Souljacker who is skinning people to take back his tattoos.
My Take
Souljacker is an interesting take on how a succubus makes a living in a contemporary world, and I'd have enjoyed the story more if this hadn't been one of Galenorn's off-days. Yeahhhh…I really, really hate it when a writer doesn't make connections in their paragraphs. And Galenorn has more topics in one paragraph that don't connect to one another than a stray dog has fleas. It's like reading a story by a beginning writer in middle school.
Everything is so easy for our protagonists. Okay, sure, there's a serial killer after them and Lily is being targeted by Tricia which turns her life upside down, but Archer just slides right on in, no tension, no drama. Galenorn gives us all these warnings about Archer…and…kersplat…nothing. Then Marsh slides in…no tension, no drama. And considering he was Lily's lover, I'd have expected something. Nor does he express any amazement at the technological advances of a world 75 years in his future.
What purpose does it serve the story for Lily to pretend not to know about Tygur's domestic arrangements? Why would Jolene expect Lily to let his wife know about his current state? How stupid can Lily be in thinking she can talk to Tricia or any of her friends? She is amazingly naive for someone who has lived hundreds of years.
I do appreciate that Galenorn has set up a back story for her characters. as she introduces the cast of characters for the series. It's so much nicer to begin a story thinking the characters had a life before "I" showed up, *grin*. What I don't enjoy is the info dump. Oh, Galenorn does fairly well on introducing the information as a natural part of the story using Lily's perspective in the first-person protagonist point-of-view using flashbacks, but she does it so often that even that doesn't disguise the dump, and it became annoying.
"…the other inmates were relieved to see him go. Trust me, when criminally insane Fae and Were are 'relieved' that a fellow prisoner escaped, there's a problem."Her concept of magic changing the structure of our reality is intriguing, and a great set-up for future issues.
I did like the promise (and hope) at the end. And…yes…I'll be reading book #2 when it comes out.
The Story
When a client is murdered in Lily's house, a patch of skin missing from his chest, she knows there’s something evil afoot. Then comes the news that the Souljacker — a tattoo-artist-turned-vampire — has escaped from an institution for criminally deranged Supernaturals. And he’s hunting and killing everyone he has ever inked.
Worse, the client's widow is on a vendetta from Hell to destroy Lily.
And the police are helpless, barred from investigating any crimes committed by vampires.
The Characters
Lily O'Connell is a succubus who runs Lily Bound, an elite sex salon in the Blood Night District of Seattle that allows Lily to feed as well as make a good living. Mr. Whiskers is her "pet cat" whom she rescued 600 years ago; Luther had been her horse back then. Marsh Sheffield had been the human lover she murdered 75 years ago. Her best friends are Danielle "Dani" Halloran, a witch (Dani runs the Wandering Eye, a witchcraft shop) who supplies Lily with her protection wards, and Percival "Nate" Winston, a human IT programmer and Lily's next-door neighbor.
Archer Desmond is a notorious and hot Chaos demon and private investigator.
The Winter Court is…
…located on the Eastside of Seattle and ruled by Queen Wynter who has plans for Lily. Summerlyn is Wynter's sister located in Australia. Katarina the Frost is one of the Winter queen's best executioners and right-hand witch and one of the Calliach's daughters. The Aespions are the queen's agents and are led by Vesper. Dextra is one of the queen's warriors-at-large.
The Paranormal Investigations Unit (PIU) is…
…composed of either Fae or Were. Detective Jolene Whitehorse, a lone werewolf, had been Lily's lover before their quarrel. Lucas is her work partner.
Tygur Jones, a weretiger, had been a welcome client. He and his weretiger wife, Tricia, are a major power couple in Were circles. Shayla Masters is Tricia's best friend. Frasier Wills and Leon had been some of Lily's best clients.
Charles Schafer is the Souljacker and a vampire incarcerated in West Coast Psionic Asylum (WestCoPsi) for his crimes. In his human life, he had been an amazing tattoo artist. Terrance Schafer is his very rich father and an influential politician.
The vampires are…
…led by the Deadfather who has fingers in too many pockets with even more influence in our world. Greg Fallow had been Dani's politically ambitious husband until he was turned. Now Greg runs Veek, a vampire club in the Underground and is the Deadfather's right-hand man. Darrington is president of the United States.
The India Ink Club was informal, a group of friends who decided to get tattoos and include Rebecca who had been part of Dani's coven and Hedge. Peter Trent had gotten a tattoo. Sunny Tramero is a half-Fae, rich frenemy. Ian Carter is a business mogul; his daughter, Isabel, has a great singing voice. Woodrow Blythe is the vampire who took over Greg's senate seat six years ago.
White Tower Center is…
…the Supernatural equivalent of Pike's Peak Market and one step up from the horribly seedy Underground. Hilda is an idiot with a clothing store. Bart is a nice guy who runs Little Bart's Food Court. Ray Bender, a human, owns Bender's Skin Art. Belltower Mae's is a popular low-life brothel in the Underground.
Fam-Trad means a witch born and raised in a family of magic users.
The Cover and Title
The cover is red, black, and white. The main graphic is a black and white photograph of Lily and Archer (behind her) in black leather motorcycle jackets with the silhouette of bare-branched trees behind them, a white cloud rising up below them. More white appears in the author's name and the info blurb that she's a bestseller. The red is in Lily's long, curling hair, the rest of the bestseller info, the scrollwork in all four corners, the series info at the very bottom, and a gradient of black to red in the title showcased in that cloud.
The title is the terror, the Souljacker who is skinning people to take back his tattoos.
March 10, 2017
2.5 stars
Not bad but completely unmemorable. Lily was a succubus who entertained men for a living. A vicious vampire called the souljacker killed one of her clients at her house. This set off a chain of events. Lily's rep was ruined and her business failed. The weres were after her because of the guy that died. The souljacker was after her and her friends, so she worked with a demon Archer to get some info.
I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I didn't care about any of them. Their lives were in danger at times, but it didn't really matter if they lived or died because it wouldn't have been any great loss. All of them except for Nate were supernatural, but they all seemed so damn normal. Lily was supposed to be over 600 years old but seemed like she should have been in her 20's. For someone who had lived so long she lacked the skills to read people and to defend herself. Archer the love interest and chaos demon was boring. Nate served no real purpose except to give Lily another friend. Dani was her other friend. Nothing stood out about her. The introduction of Lily's ex was lame. It didn't create a love triangle, but he was boring. He served a purpose, but I still wish he hadn't been in the story at all.
The souljacker was crazy. All of the vampires were described as heartless killers, so the souljacker wasn't as extreme as he was made out to be. The weres created drama. Since they were unreasonable assholes, I couldn't get behind their cause, and therefore they were uninteresting. There wasn't any build up with the romance. It was instalove. I wasn't feeling it between them. I liked this well enough that I read it quickly, but it's not likely I'll read the next one.
I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Not bad but completely unmemorable. Lily was a succubus who entertained men for a living. A vicious vampire called the souljacker killed one of her clients at her house. This set off a chain of events. Lily's rep was ruined and her business failed. The weres were after her because of the guy that died. The souljacker was after her and her friends, so she worked with a demon Archer to get some info.
I had a hard time connecting with the characters. I didn't care about any of them. Their lives were in danger at times, but it didn't really matter if they lived or died because it wouldn't have been any great loss. All of them except for Nate were supernatural, but they all seemed so damn normal. Lily was supposed to be over 600 years old but seemed like she should have been in her 20's. For someone who had lived so long she lacked the skills to read people and to defend herself. Archer the love interest and chaos demon was boring. Nate served no real purpose except to give Lily another friend. Dani was her other friend. Nothing stood out about her. The introduction of Lily's ex was lame. It didn't create a love triangle, but he was boring. He served a purpose, but I still wish he hadn't been in the story at all.
The souljacker was crazy. All of the vampires were described as heartless killers, so the souljacker wasn't as extreme as he was made out to be. The weres created drama. Since they were unreasonable assholes, I couldn't get behind their cause, and therefore they were uninteresting. There wasn't any build up with the romance. It was instalove. I wasn't feeling it between them. I liked this well enough that I read it quickly, but it's not likely I'll read the next one.
I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 9, 2017
Original Review posted on the paperback version.
February 6-10, 2017 – Finished Reading
Review Disclaimer:
eARC kindly provided by publishing house via NetGalley in exchanged for an honest review.
Release 411:
Souljacker's set for release on March 7, 2017.
My experience with this author:
This is the first installment in a new series by Yasmine Galenorn. I am familiar with this author & have read several of her previously released books. I'm a fan of two of her other series Bewitching Bedlam & Fury Unbound. Her Otherworld series seems to be her most popular & longest running with 3o odd books published. I attempted her Otherworld series unfortunately I quickly lost interest in it.
Editing:
The editing was well done. I didn't notice many errors on the eARC & suspect the very few I did notice will be corrected prior to release.
Cover Art:
The artwork is eye catching & unique enough not to be easily mistaken with other works.
POV:
1st person - Lily O'Connell
Romance:
Very limited & of a sexual nature.
However, the potential for a future romantic relationship does exist. (The coupling makes the prospect of romance between Archer & Lily likely chaotic & incredibly passionate which imo makes for the ideal reading material.)
Paranormal Element:
The world includes a variety of supernaturals i.e Vampires, Wares, Witches, Demons, & Fea. Ghost exist & other species are hinted at during the story. A substantial amount of supernaturals are "out" to the public/human race.
My Thoughts:
Although this first installment in Yasmine's Lily Bound series was an interesting read, I found the pacing dragged in certain parts of the story. I couldn't however find any fault with the author's world building. It IMO facilitates the reader's imagination & I myself never struggled with my suspension of disbelief. As I read the book I found the proposed reality easily believed.
The potential love interest Archer & the heroine Lily came across as multi faceted. The further I got into the story the more I found myself curious about their (H/h) past. That's not to suggest the future doesn't seem filled with entertaining possibilities. The fea & Lily's newly acquired position within the Winter Court in particular certainly warrants my curiosity. Seems change is afoot for Lily & I for one believe it's for the better.
Will I continue this series?
Yes. In spite of my not falling head over heels in love with any of the characters or the story itself & my thinking the story lacked any sort of intrigue, I will give book 2 a shot. Mostly bc I feel the potential has yet to be realized. In fact I feel book one mainly served as an explanation to how Lily's life changed & what circumstances served as a catalyst to that change. In my mind it's an introduction to Lily, her support group, her queen, her needs as a succubus, her strengths/weaknesses etc. It served as groundwork & immediate background. I think this description is especially accurate when taking into account the Queen's verdict on Lily Bound. It sets up a whole new way of life for Lily. I hope to read about the training required now that Lily was pressed into service, her new career development, & relationships (romantic & professional) with Archer.
Rating:
3-3.5/5 stars (less)
February 6-10, 2017 – Finished Reading
Review Disclaimer:
eARC kindly provided by publishing house via NetGalley in exchanged for an honest review.
Release 411:
Souljacker's set for release on March 7, 2017.
My experience with this author:
This is the first installment in a new series by Yasmine Galenorn. I am familiar with this author & have read several of her previously released books. I'm a fan of two of her other series Bewitching Bedlam & Fury Unbound. Her Otherworld series seems to be her most popular & longest running with 3o odd books published. I attempted her Otherworld series unfortunately I quickly lost interest in it.
Editing:
The editing was well done. I didn't notice many errors on the eARC & suspect the very few I did notice will be corrected prior to release.
Cover Art:
The artwork is eye catching & unique enough not to be easily mistaken with other works.
POV:
1st person - Lily O'Connell
Romance:
Very limited & of a sexual nature.
However, the potential for a future romantic relationship does exist. (The coupling makes the prospect of romance between Archer & Lily likely chaotic & incredibly passionate which imo makes for the ideal reading material.)
Paranormal Element:
The world includes a variety of supernaturals i.e Vampires, Wares, Witches, Demons, & Fea. Ghost exist & other species are hinted at during the story. A substantial amount of supernaturals are "out" to the public/human race.
My Thoughts:
Although this first installment in Yasmine's Lily Bound series was an interesting read, I found the pacing dragged in certain parts of the story. I couldn't however find any fault with the author's world building. It IMO facilitates the reader's imagination & I myself never struggled with my suspension of disbelief. As I read the book I found the proposed reality easily believed.
The potential love interest Archer & the heroine Lily came across as multi faceted. The further I got into the story the more I found myself curious about their (H/h) past. That's not to suggest the future doesn't seem filled with entertaining possibilities. The fea & Lily's newly acquired position within the Winter Court in particular certainly warrants my curiosity. Seems change is afoot for Lily & I for one believe it's for the better.
Will I continue this series?
Yes. In spite of my not falling head over heels in love with any of the characters or the story itself & my thinking the story lacked any sort of intrigue, I will give book 2 a shot. Mostly bc I feel the potential has yet to be realized. In fact I feel book one mainly served as an explanation to how Lily's life changed & what circumstances served as a catalyst to that change. In my mind it's an introduction to Lily, her support group, her queen, her needs as a succubus, her strengths/weaknesses etc. It served as groundwork & immediate background. I think this description is especially accurate when taking into account the Queen's verdict on Lily Bound. It sets up a whole new way of life for Lily. I hope to read about the training required now that Lily was pressed into service, her new career development, & relationships (romantic & professional) with Archer.
Rating:
3-3.5/5 stars (less)
July 12, 2017
Exciting new series from Ms. Galenorn, Lily O'Connell hooks a reader in and bewitches them. Lily is a demon, specifically as succubus. She sells her body to men willing to pay for her skills. This is the only way she can keep herself fed, especially as her clientele are filled with paranormal men. This is, until a well known client is murdered and causes a lot of trouble for her.
I liked Lily. She is a down on her luck just trying to make it in the world, in spite of her draw backs. She tries to do the right thing and yet she is constantly kicked in the teeth for it. It burns me how poorly people treat a woman who sells her body. If Lily knew she could do something different, she would. She isn't hurting anyone and she certainly isn't going out seducing men which technically she could as a succubus. I'm angry at women who blame the "other woman" when it is really their husbands they need to take to task. Picking on Lily because they have wandering husbands? I am disgusted with these petty women who can not satisfy their own husbands so that the men have to go else where to find what they need. I hope these women choke on their jealousy. Still, this does not feed Lily and she is in dire need of food. When a vampire helps her and she learns that the death of her client deals with her past, things get pretty complicated.
This story is awesome for me because there are several subplots going on at the same time. This keeps my attention riveted because I enjoy multi-threaded stories. The world building in here is nifty and I like how Lily's past and ties to the Fae court are revealed. This supernatural world is pretty standard with the usual vampire, fae and shifter stories. It is easy to understand and pick up who is who and why there are enemies and allies. Lily needs as many allies because one cheated on wife is irrationally ganging up on Lily. I can only hope Lily's new found occupation will turn her into a BAMF soon. Lily is going to need to learn how to kick butt quickly.
This first book in the series is action packed and starring a character I like. I am eager to read more in this series and can not wait to see how Lily develops under the Queen's protection. This new urban fantasy is recommended to readers who enjoy a tarnished heroine who wants to be left alone.
*provided by NetGalley
I liked Lily. She is a down on her luck just trying to make it in the world, in spite of her draw backs. She tries to do the right thing and yet she is constantly kicked in the teeth for it. It burns me how poorly people treat a woman who sells her body. If Lily knew she could do something different, she would. She isn't hurting anyone and she certainly isn't going out seducing men which technically she could as a succubus. I'm angry at women who blame the "other woman" when it is really their husbands they need to take to task. Picking on Lily because they have wandering husbands? I am disgusted with these petty women who can not satisfy their own husbands so that the men have to go else where to find what they need. I hope these women choke on their jealousy. Still, this does not feed Lily and she is in dire need of food. When a vampire helps her and she learns that the death of her client deals with her past, things get pretty complicated.
This story is awesome for me because there are several subplots going on at the same time. This keeps my attention riveted because I enjoy multi-threaded stories. The world building in here is nifty and I like how Lily's past and ties to the Fae court are revealed. This supernatural world is pretty standard with the usual vampire, fae and shifter stories. It is easy to understand and pick up who is who and why there are enemies and allies. Lily needs as many allies because one cheated on wife is irrationally ganging up on Lily. I can only hope Lily's new found occupation will turn her into a BAMF soon. Lily is going to need to learn how to kick butt quickly.
This first book in the series is action packed and starring a character I like. I am eager to read more in this series and can not wait to see how Lily develops under the Queen's protection. This new urban fantasy is recommended to readers who enjoy a tarnished heroine who wants to be left alone.
*provided by NetGalley
March 13, 2017
I see a lot of people praise Yasmine Galenorn. Unfortunately for Galenorn, I won't be one to sing praises to her. To each his own, I guess.
Yasmine Galenorn has all the elements in a story that I love. She even had a character that could feel inside your soul and bring out the tattoo that best suits your personality. Brilliant and unique that was! It wasn't the story that fell short. It was the storyteller. For me, Galenorn missed the mark.
I was bored with the story. It lacked suspense, action, and humor. Galenorn lacks in connecting feelings into her writing. Her style was very bland. The characters had no depth and all the characters seemed the same.
This story mostly revolved around that damn house, tea, and food. The "men" were constantly cooking and serving the women. Hurt your knee? You need some tea and toast! Yasmine Galenorn focused far too heavily on this.
Well, that's it for me, Galenorn. Farewell.
Read
April 24, 2017Okayyyyy. It was struggle with this one. I had to halt and force myself to pick back up. I could not connect with any of the characters except Dani. Mind you I've never read a book of this genre. I struggled to finish it. To the point I just plain decided not to read the last couple chapters. Maybe this was not for me at all... no stars at all.
March 4, 2017
***4 ‘You’re not fighting this battle alone’ Stars***
It’s been awhile since I dove into one of Yasmine Galenorns worlds so when I saw the cover and title I couldn’t help but be curious to see what she had up her sleeve and being a fan of tattoo’s and a resident of Western Washington I decided to give a go and really enjoyed the book. The world is similar to those of the author’s other works, but I really enjoyed the characters and getting to know each of them as they work to stop a psychotic vampire before he can get to them.
I really liked Lily. She’s kind, compassionate and approachable and if it weren’t for the whole succubus I need sex and your chi to survive she’d appear to be any normal person off the street. Quite a bit changes for her in the book, both good and bad, and I liked how she handled them all ~ though there were a few times where I wanted to smack some sense into her, but they all worked. And though Lily is the focal point of the series she is surrounded by a varied and interesting group of people of various ages and species. Each were well written and I enjoyed getting to know each of them and what they brought to the story and am looking forward to seeing how they all develop throughout the series.
As this is the first book in the series, the pacing was a little slow due to introducing the characters, their backgrounds and the world itself but it was all done well and the flow never felt choppy. The Souljacker storyline was simple and yet well thought out and did a great job at being the catalyst for the series story arc as it introduced the majority of the main players and set up smaller storylines in the process. What I ended up liking the most though was how the relationship between Lily and Archer wasn't as big as the synopsis suggested it would be within the story. Instead it was woven well into the story and helped to move things along.
Overall I really enjoyed Souljacker and am definitely interested in seeing how certain storylines play out throughout the series.
~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley ~
It’s been awhile since I dove into one of Yasmine Galenorns worlds so when I saw the cover and title I couldn’t help but be curious to see what she had up her sleeve and being a fan of tattoo’s and a resident of Western Washington I decided to give a go and really enjoyed the book. The world is similar to those of the author’s other works, but I really enjoyed the characters and getting to know each of them as they work to stop a psychotic vampire before he can get to them.
I really liked Lily. She’s kind, compassionate and approachable and if it weren’t for the whole succubus I need sex and your chi to survive she’d appear to be any normal person off the street. Quite a bit changes for her in the book, both good and bad, and I liked how she handled them all ~ though there were a few times where I wanted to smack some sense into her, but they all worked. And though Lily is the focal point of the series she is surrounded by a varied and interesting group of people of various ages and species. Each were well written and I enjoyed getting to know each of them and what they brought to the story and am looking forward to seeing how they all develop throughout the series.
As this is the first book in the series, the pacing was a little slow due to introducing the characters, their backgrounds and the world itself but it was all done well and the flow never felt choppy. The Souljacker storyline was simple and yet well thought out and did a great job at being the catalyst for the series story arc as it introduced the majority of the main players and set up smaller storylines in the process. What I ended up liking the most though was how the relationship between Lily and Archer wasn't as big as the synopsis suggested it would be within the story. Instead it was woven well into the story and helped to move things along.
Overall I really enjoyed Souljacker and am definitely interested in seeing how certain storylines play out throughout the series.
~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley ~
June 22, 2017
I love paranormal books, and I was immediately intrigued with this one that featured a succubus which is a nice change from the usual vampire and werewolf fare.
The main character is Lily Marlene O’Connell, a succubus, who runs a private sex salon called Lily Bound. By servicing her clients from the paranormal world, she gets the added benefit of feeding off their chi. As long as she remains in control of her hunger, she can drink their chi with no detrimental effect to them. She runs the salon out of her home, which is protected by magical wards. Yet, somehow, a vampire was able to get past them and break into her home, attacking one of her clients, Tygur Jones (a weretiger), draining him of blood while she was in another room. She was heading back to the room when she saw a black mist exit the room. It came towards her, and then vanished through one of the exterior walls.
Upon closer inspection, Lily notices that a strip of skin has been removed from Tygur’s chest. It doesn’t occur to Lily right away why that is relevant. It isn't until after another woman, Rebecca, is murdered and a part of her skin was removed as well. She was a member of her best friend Dani’s coven, and then the pieces fall into place for Lily. The skin removed from Tygur’s chest and Rebecca’s shoulder each contained a tattoo that was inked by a man named Charles, also known as the Souljacker. That’s when Lily realizes the danger that she and all her closest friends are in, because a group of them all got inked by the Souljacker to celebrate the political victory of Dani’s husband. The reason why they chose the Souljacker is because he is extremely skilled with his art, tapping into the essence of someone’s soul and bringing it to life in his tattoos.
After Charles was bit by a vampire, he turned and murdered a family. That would normally be a death sentence, but Charles’ father paid people off and that is why he was locked up in an insane asylum for nonhumans. Charles has now escaped and is targeting his former clients.
Lily’s friend recommends that she hire Archer Desmond, a chaos demon who is a private investigator. When Lily is forced to shut down her salon, Archer offers himself up to her to feed from. For a book that is marketed as Paranormal Romance, I expected to see more emotional attachment and feelings between Lily and Archer so that part was disappointing.
I have to admit that I have never read a book about a succubus before, so I actually did not realize that they are actually fae! I enjoyed learning about these creatures, and I wasn’t sure at the beginning that I liked Lily very much and admit that I was glad when she had to close her sex salon. I actually liked her better then, even though she fed from Archer out of hunger and not out of love. Lily was not a kick-ass heroine, but I enjoyed the fantasy world that Galenorn created. She gave some backstory on how it took about a decade for the humans to accept the Fae and Weres after they came out of hiding. Then the vampires came out, and everything was thrown into chaos again. Vampire attacks, known as Vampire Executions, started to climb. Unfortunately, the cases usually remain unsolved. Police encourage people to abide by the midnight curfew for their own safety, to never go out alone at night, and to protect their homes with wards.
I also enjoyed the interesting secondary characters, including: Nate Winston, her human neighbor; Dani Halloran, her witchy best friend; and Wynter, a fae queen. There’s even a ghost! I love the mix of different paranormal creatures. I think the book is a good series opener, and it introduces a lot of the world and characters to the reader. I’m very interested to see where Galnorn takes us in the next book in the series, and I’m especially interested to see how Lily’s relationship with Archer develops and her arrangement with Wynter.
I enjoyed Cassandra Campbell’s narration. Her pace was good, and her voice suited the characters.
I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook for voluntary review consideration.
This review was posted on my book blog:
http://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.ca/2...
The main character is Lily Marlene O’Connell, a succubus, who runs a private sex salon called Lily Bound. By servicing her clients from the paranormal world, she gets the added benefit of feeding off their chi. As long as she remains in control of her hunger, she can drink their chi with no detrimental effect to them. She runs the salon out of her home, which is protected by magical wards. Yet, somehow, a vampire was able to get past them and break into her home, attacking one of her clients, Tygur Jones (a weretiger), draining him of blood while she was in another room. She was heading back to the room when she saw a black mist exit the room. It came towards her, and then vanished through one of the exterior walls.
Upon closer inspection, Lily notices that a strip of skin has been removed from Tygur’s chest. It doesn’t occur to Lily right away why that is relevant. It isn't until after another woman, Rebecca, is murdered and a part of her skin was removed as well. She was a member of her best friend Dani’s coven, and then the pieces fall into place for Lily. The skin removed from Tygur’s chest and Rebecca’s shoulder each contained a tattoo that was inked by a man named Charles, also known as the Souljacker. That’s when Lily realizes the danger that she and all her closest friends are in, because a group of them all got inked by the Souljacker to celebrate the political victory of Dani’s husband. The reason why they chose the Souljacker is because he is extremely skilled with his art, tapping into the essence of someone’s soul and bringing it to life in his tattoos.
After Charles was bit by a vampire, he turned and murdered a family. That would normally be a death sentence, but Charles’ father paid people off and that is why he was locked up in an insane asylum for nonhumans. Charles has now escaped and is targeting his former clients.
Lily’s friend recommends that she hire Archer Desmond, a chaos demon who is a private investigator. When Lily is forced to shut down her salon, Archer offers himself up to her to feed from. For a book that is marketed as Paranormal Romance, I expected to see more emotional attachment and feelings between Lily and Archer so that part was disappointing.
I have to admit that I have never read a book about a succubus before, so I actually did not realize that they are actually fae! I enjoyed learning about these creatures, and I wasn’t sure at the beginning that I liked Lily very much and admit that I was glad when she had to close her sex salon. I actually liked her better then, even though she fed from Archer out of hunger and not out of love. Lily was not a kick-ass heroine, but I enjoyed the fantasy world that Galenorn created. She gave some backstory on how it took about a decade for the humans to accept the Fae and Weres after they came out of hiding. Then the vampires came out, and everything was thrown into chaos again. Vampire attacks, known as Vampire Executions, started to climb. Unfortunately, the cases usually remain unsolved. Police encourage people to abide by the midnight curfew for their own safety, to never go out alone at night, and to protect their homes with wards.
I also enjoyed the interesting secondary characters, including: Nate Winston, her human neighbor; Dani Halloran, her witchy best friend; and Wynter, a fae queen. There’s even a ghost! I love the mix of different paranormal creatures. I think the book is a good series opener, and it introduces a lot of the world and characters to the reader. I’m very interested to see where Galnorn takes us in the next book in the series, and I’m especially interested to see how Lily’s relationship with Archer develops and her arrangement with Wynter.
I enjoyed Cassandra Campbell’s narration. Her pace was good, and her voice suited the characters.
I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook for voluntary review consideration.
This review was posted on my book blog:
http://darlenesbooknook.blogspot.ca/2...
February 25, 2017
I am a fan and have been of this author's for a long time. When I saw that the author had this new series about a succubus, I got very excited. This book is very dark. I would classify this book as urban fantasy. It had sexual tension, sex, hot characters, murder, intrigue, and a strong female heroine. Ms. Galenorn has another winner on her hands with this book. This book is dark and edgy in all the right ways!
Not only is Lily a succubus and Archer, a chaos demon but one of Lily's friend's, Dani, is a witch. Lily's other friend, Nate is human but don't count him out. He can stand along side of everyone. One and Lily's client (dead) was a weretiger. Also, there is faes and the Souljacker is a vampire. So, there is a little bit of everything for everyone.
My only issue is that there was not a lot of interaction with the Souljacker until about the last third of the book. Learning about his story was interesting. He may be the bad guy but I do have a place for him. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
Not only is Lily a succubus and Archer, a chaos demon but one of Lily's friend's, Dani, is a witch. Lily's other friend, Nate is human but don't count him out. He can stand along side of everyone. One and Lily's client (dead) was a weretiger. Also, there is faes and the Souljacker is a vampire. So, there is a little bit of everything for everyone.
My only issue is that there was not a lot of interaction with the Souljacker until about the last third of the book. Learning about his story was interesting. He may be the bad guy but I do have a place for him. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.
March 16, 2017
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.
Review originally published at Vampire Book Club and based on a copy provided by the publisher.
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.
Review originally published at Vampire Book Club and based on a copy provided by the publisher.
July 6, 2017
This was a really fun story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lily is a neat character and her friends are pretty great, too. :-)
So. . .This is the story of Lily O'Connell, proprietor of Lily Bound - A Private Salon. Lily is a succubus, which in this world is a type of Winter or Dark Fae. She's a sort of brothel madam, only she's the only employee.
When a client is murdered in her house, the police can't help because it was a vampire execution. But Lily's police friend tells her to seek help from a private investigator who's worked with them before.
The private investigator is Archer Desmond, a chaos demon.
I really liked both Lily and Archer, but it took me aback when they fell into bed together later on in the day they met. But it's not like it was out of character for either of them, and it was consensual, so I accepted it and read on.
The client who was killed
The killer is the Souljacker,
Lily and her friends, with Archer,
Backup arrived thanks to
Lily's other friends were equally fun:
I also really enjoyed meeting :-)
In around the middle of this story (pages 130-131 in Chapter 15),
Lily also learned
At several points I was reminded very strongly of the Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon series, also by Yasmine Galenorn. For one thing, both that series and this story (series?) are set in Seattle. :-)
Both worlds feature Underground Seattle in a heavily-expanded way. And Lily's new Aespion status and Vesper, the leader and her trainer, reminded me of Delilah D'Artigo's Death Maiden status and her trainer/leader, Greta. :-)
But that's about all these two series/worlds have in common. Happily, they are very different. For one thing, I'm pretty sure Roz, incubus in the Otherworld series, is a type of demon. In this "Lily Bound" world, an incubus and succubus are a type of Fae. Also, vampires are very different from series to series: in this one, for instance, they can become mist. I don't think this is something Menolly could do. And lastly, this book had weretigers in it. (!!!) While weretigers existed in the Otherworld series (I think), I don't remember if we ever met any.
Of course, in the Otherworld series, the deeper part of Underground Seattle was known as the Demon Underground. In this book, it's just where "monsters" (Fae, Vampires, miscellaneous) live. :-)
So this was a fun story. I really hope it will be released in mass market paperback form, but I will buy this trade edition - eventually - if not. :-)
Since the cover says this is "A Lily Bound Novel," I'm very much hoping to see more books featuring Lily and Archer. After all, ;-)
Anyway, I'll share the ending since this is hopefully going to be "Lily Bound, #1." :-)
In the end, :-)
This ending almost put me to tears, but they didn't fall. Still, though, it was a beautiful ending. :-)
It was also a really good story. I look forward to reading more books set in this world, featuring these characters. :-)
So. . .This is the story of Lily O'Connell, proprietor of Lily Bound - A Private Salon. Lily is a succubus, which in this world is a type of Winter or Dark Fae. She's a sort of brothel madam, only she's the only employee.
When a client is murdered in her house, the police can't help because it was a vampire execution. But Lily's police friend tells her to seek help from a private investigator who's worked with them before.
The private investigator is Archer Desmond, a chaos demon.
I really liked both Lily and Archer, but it took me aback when they fell into bed together later on in the day they met. But it's not like it was out of character for either of them, and it was consensual, so I accepted it and read on.
The client who was killed
The killer is the Souljacker,
Lily and her friends, with Archer,
Backup arrived thanks to
Lily's other friends were equally fun:
I also really enjoyed meeting :-)
In around the middle of this story (pages 130-131 in Chapter 15),
Lily also learned
At several points I was reminded very strongly of the Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon series, also by Yasmine Galenorn. For one thing, both that series and this story (series?) are set in Seattle. :-)
Both worlds feature Underground Seattle in a heavily-expanded way. And Lily's new Aespion status and Vesper, the leader and her trainer, reminded me of Delilah D'Artigo's Death Maiden status and her trainer/leader, Greta. :-)
But that's about all these two series/worlds have in common. Happily, they are very different. For one thing, I'm pretty sure Roz, incubus in the Otherworld series, is a type of demon. In this "Lily Bound" world, an incubus and succubus are a type of Fae. Also, vampires are very different from series to series: in this one, for instance, they can become mist. I don't think this is something Menolly could do. And lastly, this book had weretigers in it. (!!!) While weretigers existed in the Otherworld series (I think), I don't remember if we ever met any.
Of course, in the Otherworld series, the deeper part of Underground Seattle was known as the Demon Underground. In this book, it's just where "monsters" (Fae, Vampires, miscellaneous) live. :-)
So this was a fun story. I really hope it will be released in mass market paperback form, but I will buy this trade edition - eventually - if not. :-)
Since the cover says this is "A Lily Bound Novel," I'm very much hoping to see more books featuring Lily and Archer. After all, ;-)
Anyway, I'll share the ending since this is hopefully going to be "Lily Bound, #1." :-)
In the end, :-)
This ending almost put me to tears, but they didn't fall. Still, though, it was a beautiful ending. :-)
It was also a really good story. I look forward to reading more books set in this world, featuring these characters. :-)
March 16, 2017
Lily O’Connell is a succubus who owns Lily Bound, a salon that caters to the sex fantasies of the paranormal world. It’s a perfect way for her to feed on the Chi she needs to survive and be independent as well. It was working just fine until a client gets murdered in her salon and then all bets are off. Finding out that a vampire did the murder, well that leaves her cold but it was the news that the Souljacker, a gifted tattoo artist turned vampire, has escaped from the institution for the criminally deranged and he is coming to get every one of his clients, that scares her to the bone. With one of his tattoos on her body and no where to turn, Lily finds herself in the fight of her life as she tries to keep her friends safe and stay alive. With a chaos demon PI by her side, Lily will find her life as she knew it is changing.
I adore this author’s work and if you ever read one of her books, you know she is a gifted storyteller who keeps the reader glued to the pages till the very end. SOULJACKER is the first book in her new series about a succubus and it has familiar aspects within the story. Many different paranormal creatures (Fae, vampires, weres, etc), extensive world building, captivating characters and more all dot within this first book. I really enjoyed seeing a different paranormal creature take the main stage and found Lily to be a breath of fresh air in a sense that a succubus isn’t as prolific as vampires, weres, fae in stories. Lily is intriguing and the reader gets glimpses of her long past within the pages and I highly enjoyed finding out more about her. The story starts off a bit slow but by chapter two, the action picks up steam and you are off and running with Lily. The story flows smoothly and keeps your attention till the very end.
Meet Lily O’Connell. She owns Lily Bound, a elite sex salon that caters to weres and fae. Lily is a succubus who needs the life force-or Chi- to survive or else bad things happen when she is starving. She has lived a somewhat quiet life for awhile after roaming the world for centuries and put down roots in the Blood Night District of Seattle. I enjoyed Lily a lot. She is an independent woman who enjoys sex, feels she is giving service to those who need it and has a great tight nit group of friends. But murder can play havoc on a business and your life as Lily finds out. She now has angry widow who is a were who threatens her business and her life, a deranged vampire hunting her and her friends and now a love interest in a chaos demon. Life for Lily is about to get a tad bit more dangerous than the staid life she lived under the radar. I really liked Lily’s dynamic with the other characters. You can get a sense of her inner circle and Archer, the Chaos demon fits in nicely. All the characters are intriguing and well written. They are quite enjoyable, even the bad guys. I really am looking forward to seeing more about them in future books. There are a few plot twists that will keep you guessing and I am eager to see where this authors goes with it.
SOULJACKER is a wild ride from start to finish and is a perfect introduction to this author’s work if you never tried her before. If you enjoy a mystery set in a supernatural world that will keep you glued to the pages, then you will enjoy SOULJACKER. I look forward to seeing where this author goes next in the series. I just hope we won’t have to wait forever for book two.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement
I adore this author’s work and if you ever read one of her books, you know she is a gifted storyteller who keeps the reader glued to the pages till the very end. SOULJACKER is the first book in her new series about a succubus and it has familiar aspects within the story. Many different paranormal creatures (Fae, vampires, weres, etc), extensive world building, captivating characters and more all dot within this first book. I really enjoyed seeing a different paranormal creature take the main stage and found Lily to be a breath of fresh air in a sense that a succubus isn’t as prolific as vampires, weres, fae in stories. Lily is intriguing and the reader gets glimpses of her long past within the pages and I highly enjoyed finding out more about her. The story starts off a bit slow but by chapter two, the action picks up steam and you are off and running with Lily. The story flows smoothly and keeps your attention till the very end.
Meet Lily O’Connell. She owns Lily Bound, a elite sex salon that caters to weres and fae. Lily is a succubus who needs the life force-or Chi- to survive or else bad things happen when she is starving. She has lived a somewhat quiet life for awhile after roaming the world for centuries and put down roots in the Blood Night District of Seattle. I enjoyed Lily a lot. She is an independent woman who enjoys sex, feels she is giving service to those who need it and has a great tight nit group of friends. But murder can play havoc on a business and your life as Lily finds out. She now has angry widow who is a were who threatens her business and her life, a deranged vampire hunting her and her friends and now a love interest in a chaos demon. Life for Lily is about to get a tad bit more dangerous than the staid life she lived under the radar. I really liked Lily’s dynamic with the other characters. You can get a sense of her inner circle and Archer, the Chaos demon fits in nicely. All the characters are intriguing and well written. They are quite enjoyable, even the bad guys. I really am looking forward to seeing more about them in future books. There are a few plot twists that will keep you guessing and I am eager to see where this authors goes with it.
SOULJACKER is a wild ride from start to finish and is a perfect introduction to this author’s work if you never tried her before. If you enjoy a mystery set in a supernatural world that will keep you glued to the pages, then you will enjoy SOULJACKER. I look forward to seeing where this author goes next in the series. I just hope we won’t have to wait forever for book two.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement
June 5, 2019
While I normally love Galenorn’s books, this one fell completely flat for me. It almost felt like it was a rough draft rather then a fully fledged book. I DNF’ed this at page 94 because it felt bland and dispassionate and even a little robotic in some scenes. I did skim through the rest of the book after deciding to DNF it, but it just didn’t spark any interest.
The characters felt two dimensional and flimsy. They were kind of like dolls; they had little personality and felt like they were just put into the scenes and posed there. It was just frustrating! These characters were cool and with a little more thought put into them they could have made this book so much better. The dialogue also felt stilted and unnatural to the characters and the storyline. Sure, there were a couple of scenes that were great but there was so much more of this book that felt loose and unedited.
This book left me unsatisfied and like I wasted my time on it. I loved the premise of this but the execution of it was just lacking so much for me. For that reason this gets two out of five stars.
The characters felt two dimensional and flimsy. They were kind of like dolls; they had little personality and felt like they were just put into the scenes and posed there. It was just frustrating! These characters were cool and with a little more thought put into them they could have made this book so much better. The dialogue also felt stilted and unnatural to the characters and the storyline. Sure, there were a couple of scenes that were great but there was so much more of this book that felt loose and unedited.
This book left me unsatisfied and like I wasted my time on it. I loved the premise of this but the execution of it was just lacking so much for me. For that reason this gets two out of five stars.
November 18, 2017
Juicy
This was a great start for what i hope is the beginning of a new series. Yasmine is and always will be a great storyteller no matter what world she throws you in.
When an author can get you hooked in the chapter you know you're in for a good ride. The book was action packed but filled with enough information to have you vested in the main character and her close friends. While i loved the book and can't wait to see how this story grows i had a few issues. The main character is supposed to have lived centuries and survived being a badass in rhe days yet continously does dumb things. I understand making her flawed but there were too many instances to me where Lily didn't use common sense or had no respect for herself. That being said all the instances where she did questionable things were for her friends. My other issue was how quickly things progressed with her and Archer. I understand she is a succubus but damn. 0 to 100 just like that.
Souljacker had a great plot. I don't think it's your typical vampire read. The concept of the Souljacker is interesting and Yasmine has her own twist as usual. If you are a fan of her books then this is one you have to read.
This was a great start for what i hope is the beginning of a new series. Yasmine is and always will be a great storyteller no matter what world she throws you in.
When an author can get you hooked in the chapter you know you're in for a good ride. The book was action packed but filled with enough information to have you vested in the main character and her close friends. While i loved the book and can't wait to see how this story grows i had a few issues. The main character is supposed to have lived centuries and survived being a badass in rhe days yet continously does dumb things. I understand making her flawed but there were too many instances to me where Lily didn't use common sense or had no respect for herself. That being said all the instances where she did questionable things were for her friends. My other issue was how quickly things progressed with her and Archer. I understand she is a succubus but damn. 0 to 100 just like that.
Souljacker had a great plot. I don't think it's your typical vampire read. The concept of the Souljacker is interesting and Yasmine has her own twist as usual. If you are a fan of her books then this is one you have to read.
February 26, 2021
This is the worst book I've read in a while. Every few paragraphs I'd stumble across a sentence so stupid and illogical it made me want to throw my phone across the room. It's a bummer because it started out interesting. I'm thinking a lot may have been cut for length and then there was poor patching done to fill in the gaps? Regardless, I was not a fan of the dialogue or the storytelling. Or, frankly, the world building. Any details about the world were thrown in so haphazardly. Maybe I'm a little harsh but I couldn't buy into this world or any of the characters.
April 17, 2017
I love all of Yasmine's book but this book was not as good as I have come to expect from her. I enjoyed the idea of Lily O’Connell being a succubus. I liked the chaos demon more than I should probably. I think for a demon he was great and dreamy. The book was just alright for me. Usually Yasmine's books knock my socks off.
September 19, 2023
I was expecting a little more of this book. It was ok but with so many interesting characters I expected more action? Or drama or ….. something. I feel like the storyline feel a little flat.
3 star listen.
3 star listen.
November 14, 2017
round up to 4.5 stars.
March 18, 2019
Book 20 complete.
May 1, 2018
Kind of short but mysterious. Mushy at points. It interesting tale. Purchased solely for the title. Liked the development and such.
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