A Review of Somewhere in the Night by Veronica Hardy

A review today of a recently begun series that has a Succubus as the main character called Succubus Chronicles. World building is a gift that few writers have. But you need more than a world for a good story. You need characters that you care about, a story that holds you, and a path for that story to take.

You can have all of that, but then, sometimes, the problem of starting and not finishing can come into play and that can hurt the work…

• Title: Somewhere in the Night
• Author: Veronica Hardy
• Length: 19 Pages
• ASIN: B00J4ZYVBQ
• Publishing Date: March 19, 2014
• This work at Amazon.com

The work tells the story:

Alana is always ravenous. For men and for women. She has an addiction that she just can’t shake. Alana has banished herself to the human world, feasting on the sexual affections of normal men and women. Her appetite just can’t be satiated. She wants Supernatural Fae, and she wants them all. But she refuses to be a part of the treacherous world ruled by the Kings of Fae. Until Gawain walks out of the Underworld and into her life. He sweeps her up into his world, and before she knows it, she is enjoying all the tastes that he has to offer.

Alana is of the Fae, but a very rare kind… a Succubus. Desired by those in her world, she left and lives among humans as well as she can. While waiting for one particular human, Gawain, a Fae, appears and asks for her help. Having not been with Fae for a very long time she goes with him and the story begins.

Alana is not at all stereotypical. She isn’t what she is expected to be and in that I rather like her. She has life in this work, a past, a present. She has needs and desires and as well she holds a wish inside of her that wants to be made true. Of course there is the other side of her, the side that is cautious and otherwise skeptical about others, especially Fae, and that’s good to see. There is also through the story little glimpses of her true form that I liked, though there are some questions about that left unanswered. To follow her thoughts, her actions through the story tells a lot about her in a very short period of time and in doing so I was hooked into her and the story very quickly.

Gawain is, for the most part, an enigma. While we learn some things about him, there are things about him that seem not to make a lot of sense, even if we are privy to his thoughts. Seeing the human world side of him and the Fae world side I found the human side far more interesting as a result of that being the focus of the story. The reveal at the end and what he faces next is surprising, but really not that unexpected.

There are two other characters, one human, one Fae and in that comes what appears to be a love… rectangle… I think. Actually if it is that would be a story to tell, where it would all go, and I would be interested in seeing it.

The erotica is very hot, well written and not repetitive. I enjoyed the first part when Alana was with one character and then the latter part when she was with another as it held up the differences for her depending on who she was with. There are little notes and thoughts throughout each of the moments that gave Alana more depth, making who she is more important than what she is. I expect that will be a point through the series to come.

The writing has a couple of minor errors, one of which I particularly noticed in that at one point Alana is referred to as “the Succubi.” Those that know of the mythos of my Realm will understand why I noticed that particularly. It is, however, a minor mistake in the story that most will likely miss for where it appears.

Setting that minor quibble aside, the thing that really bothered me was that this work really consisted of a single chapter followed by what amounted to two pages of the next one. This has been billed as the opening book in a series, so that I can understand to a point, but future works in the series I hope will have more than one chapter in them otherwise I’ll just wait for the series to come to a conclusion and that, for me, would be regrettable.

I’m giving this work three and a half out of five pitchforks.

The story is very good, the characters are as well. The erotica has lovely heat in it… So why end with what amounts to a single chapter and two pages of a second one? Much too short, but I will be looking for the second work when it appears as I believe there is an amazing story to be told.

I want to see that.

 

Tera