Title: Single White Incubus
Series: Supernatural Selection: Book One
Author: E.J. Russell
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Length: 321 Pages
Category: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy, Romantic Comedy
At a Glance: With a paranormal bent, some lovely intimacy between two polar opposites, and a lovely happy ever after, this is a must read for those who enjoy this genre.
Reviewed By: Sammy
Blurb: Does a bear shift in the woods?
Well, partially. That was what got grizzly shifter Ted Farnsworth into trouble. He wasn’t trying to break the Secrecy Pact. He just wants people to see the real him. So he signs up with the mate-matching service Supernatural Selection — which guarantees marriage to a perfect partner. Not only will Ted never be lonely again, but once his new beaver shifter husband arrives, they’ll build Ted’s dream wilderness retreat together. Win-win.
Quentin Bertrand-Harrington, scion of an incubus dynasty, has abstained from sex since nearly killing his last lover. When his family declares it’s time for him to marry, Quentin decides the only way not to murder his partner is to pick someone who’s already dead. Supernatural Selection finds him the ideal vampire, and Quentin signs the marriage agreement sight unseen.
But a mix-up at Supernatural Selection contracts Quentin with Ted. What’s Ted supposed to do with an art historian who knows more about salad forks than screwdrivers? And how can Quentin resist Ted’s mouthwatering life force? Yet as they work together to untangle their inconvenient union, they begin to wonder if their unexpected match might be perfect after all.
Review: Having thoroughly enjoyed E.J. Russell’s Fae Out Of Water series, I was delighted to see she had begun a new series spinoff with the novel Single White Incubus. With a few characters from the Fae series playing cameo roles, Ms. Russell introduces us to some new paranormal creatures, namely an incubus and a bear shifter and honestly, they could not be more captivating.
When Quentin Bertran-Harrington nearly kills his human boyfriend, he decides to swear off human hosts for good. In fact, he makes the decision that only one of the undead will ever be safe around him and without telling his family, he signs up for a vampire spouse with the Supernatural Selection mate-matching service. Known for making the perfect matches with a 100% accuracy rate, Quentin gets his match—a vampire who is willing to marry. Or, so he thought.
Ted Farnsworth is the atypical bear. Gregarious and friendly, an introvert by nature, and a man who often finds himself saying the wrong thing most of the time. Ted can’t help himself, he doesn’t mean to accidentally expose the supernatural world to the humans, but he couldn’t help it as his friend Matt needed something exciting to photograph and submit to his boss. So, Ted played Sasquatch, much to the dismay of his fellow bears. This not being the first time Ted has put the community in danger of exposure, he decides it’s best to find a mate who is stable and marry so the council will not pursue charges.
He, too, requests his mate from the selection agency and is all set to marry Rusty the beaver shifter. But when his mate arrives, looking disgusted, well-groomed, rich and definitely not like a husky beaver, Ted realizes something is very wrong. Now Quentin and Ted are stuck together, and it will take a very risky ritual to break the contract they both signed in blood.
I think the juxtaposition of the warm and friendly Ted with the scared, prickly Quentin was pretty much a sheer act of genius on the author’s part. Poor Ted was a bear with what was akin to ADHD and trusted everyone he met whether they deserved it or not. Poor Quentin had nearly killed a man he cared for, and being the rare creature that he was—an incubus who lived off the life energy of his victims, but who was also incredibly empathetic, makes him a lousy incubus and a starving one to boot. Having lived so long on suppressants that were meant to curb his desires, Quentin is finally drug-free and lusting after Ted. Ted is falling slowly but surely for the slight, weak incubus, and both men are guilt ridden over the fact that their intended future husbands were still waiting for them to break the contract and marry them.
This was a lovely, funny and fast tracked romance that felt much longer than it actually was. Not once did I feel that the pacing was off. Somehow the author managed to take a few weeks and have it feel as though the two men were together for ages. It was so wonderfully done, their attraction, their lust, and the tenderness for each other that grew so strong in such a short time. We learned so much about Ted and Quentin, their fears, their desires and their actual needs. The two of them were such opposites that knit together so perfectly.
I loved how the author wove in a few moments with Alun and David and even a brief visit with Mal from the other series. It was done so masterfully that it felt as though we never left the Fae world when, in fact, we had. But it was Ted who stole the novel time and again for me. So tenderhearted, so in need of companionship and someone to guide him along the way so he stayed somewhat focused, so genuinely kind and trusting, Ted was just someone so easy to fall in love with, and Quentin did. The two men made me laugh, sigh, and laugh some more.
Single White Incubus signals the start of a promising new series by E.J. Russell. With a paranormal bent, some lovely intimacy between two polar opposites, and a lovely happy ever after, this is a must read for those who enjoy this genre.
You can buy Single White Incubus here:
[zilla_button url=”https://riptidepublishing.com/collections/new-releases/products/single-white-incubus” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Riptide Publishing [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://books2read.com/singlewhiteincubus” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon & Other Booksellers [/zilla_button]