Title: Succumb

Author: Ebony Olson

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of publication: August 30th, 2017

Genre: Romance

Number of pages: 

POV: Alternating 1st person and 3rd person

Series: Hierarch Series

Succumb – Book 1

Where you can find Succumb: Amazon

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

“Some say the terrors of the past can haunt you, that they will mold you into the person you will become. If that’s the case I’m going to be very dark and twisted.”

For years Seraphina Gaelach has resisted being part of the Alvöru she was born into. After an abusive childhood, Phin thought she left the days of being a helpless victim behind and taken control of her life. All that changed the night Sebastian Maviper, High Lord of the Alvöru, decided to claim her. 
Three years later, by reuniting with an old friend who is like a brother to her, Phin’s life is put in peril and she is dragged back into Sebastian’s world. Can she forgive what he did to her?
Old enemies are stirring and uniting in an effort to control the Alvöru, and everyone in it. When they kidnap Granger and Phin as bait to lure Sebastian to their trap, Phin must make decisions and alliances that will potentially destroy all those she cares about.

Trigger Warning: Rape, Death scenes

My review:

Succumb is dark fantasy by Ebony Olson. I have mentioned in other reviews that I like reading books by her. For the most part, they are good reads with some pretty steamy sex scenes. So when Succumb came up for review, I jumped on it. I was so excited to read it and I know I hyped it up in my mind. So I was surprised and disappointed when the book fell way short of my expectations.

I liked Seraphina (or Phin as she is known as) a lot.  She was a very strong person to overcome what she did. Her strongness showed throughout the book. So it surprised me when she gave into Sebastian. I also couldn’t understand how she forgave Luka for what she did. If my BFF/lover did what Luka did to Phin, I wouldn’t talk to her again. I guess that shows how forgiving she is? Or does it show that she was so used to abusive relationships that they became the norm for her? Honestly, I think the latter because of certain situations that kept cropping up in the book.

I think I would have liked Luka better if she didn’t watch and then take part in what Sebastian did to Phin. That made me not like her. Then she was telling Phin that she needed to give Sebastian a second chance. I was like “WTF“. After that, I couldn’t read any of her scenes without mentally punching her in the face.

Let’s talk about Sebastian. He is a thousand-year-old vampire who was the high lord of supernatural creatures. They were called the Alvöru. He decided that he wanted Phin because she was a direct descendant of Lugh and a direct descendant of Circe. I couldn’t stand him. I don’t get into not liking characters in books because, well, they are not real but he is an exception. I could not understand why he was a love interest for Phin after what happened. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. He was an abusive idiot who got what he wanted. I couldn’t stand him and I wanted to stake him.

The plotline with Phin trying to figure out which werewolf clan was attacking people was great. I wish that it was the only main plotline because it could have carried the book alone. She did a lot of detective work to figure out who it was. Who it did take me by surprise because it was the last person I thought it would be. I also thought that her relationship with Death was very interesting. I wish that it was worked more into the plotline.

I didn’t see the need to have the plotline with Sebastian and Phin. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I cringed every time Sebastian sent Phin gifts or leered at her. If you have read the book, you will understand why I was cringing.

There was very little romance in this book. The author tried to get a spark going between Sebastian and Phin. Actually, the only romance that I saw was between Phin and Granger. There was a spark there that I wished the author had allowed to grow.

The sex scenes in this book were out of this world hot. As much as I disliked Sebastian and Phin together, the sex was out of this world. That is one of the main attractions of reading books by Ebony Olson. She writes great, descriptive sex scenes.  But there is overkill and after a while, I started skimming over the sex scenes

I do have a couple of things that I noticed about the book that didn’t make sense. One: Phin hadn’t had sex for 3 years before having sex with Granger. It was said by Luka, Arie, and Sebastian. But several times in the book, I noticed that her relationships with other guys were more than they let on. Like James. She didn’t deny it when Luka asked her if they had sex and James was tongue-tied. So I was left thinking “Was she chaste for 3 years or did she sleep around“. I mean, she had a boyfriend during that time too.

Also, I noticed that the title of the book spelled wrong (see the book cover above). I had to dig around and find another cover to confirm that Succumb is spelled with two C’s, not one.

The end of the book was one of the bloodiest that I have read in a while. Phin went through a lot during the end. If I didn’t know that this was a box set, I wouldn’t have thought that there was a book 2, by the way, Succumb ended. I do want to read book 2, though.

My Summary of Succumb: 2 stars

Succumb didn’t do it for me. If the beginning scenes were written differently, then this book would have gotten a higher rating. The sex scenes were also a little too much after a while and I found myself skimming them to get to other parts of the book.

Will I reread: No

Will I recommend to friends and family: No

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex. language and violence

I would like to thank Ebony Olson and Inkitt for allowing me to read and review Succumb.

All opinions expressed in Succumb are mine and mine alone

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**