Rising BeautyRating: 4.25 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Rising Beauty is the third book in The Cubi series. It is a continuing story and reading this review will reveal plot points for the earlier books.

Daniel has been trying to come to terms with the fact that he is a Halfling and will become a full on Incubus, but learning that he is royalty and will now preside over all of the Cubi is clearly something else. Just when he thinks that he can take a breath and try to keep up with all of the changes in his life, something else is thrown at him, leaving him little time to get himself up to speed on the ways of the Cubi.

Everyone is thrilled that Daniel’s true destiny has been discovered and he has many people on his side, including Caledon and Grand Lady Geodin. But it’s Seldon that Daniel wants for himself, and while he understands the need for other Incubi to feed from Seldon, it’s when he sees Seldon with Caledon, for what he assumes is pleasure, that sends Daniel into a fit of jealousy.

Seldon has been around for centuries and romantic love was really never a part of his life, until Daniel. He also has to keep up with not only Daniel’s changing status, but his mood as well. Daniel needs to be educated in the ways of the Cubi and Seldon, as well as Caledon, are behind him all the way. But when Caledon shows his true feelings, Daniel thinks he may have lost Seldon for good. But all might not be what it seems there either as the men’s relationship may be able to accommodate more than Daniel ever imagined. That is if he can save the Cubi race as they become the next target.

This book cannot be picked up on its own without having read the two that came before this one. It is one long saga and builds upon itself each step of the way. It’s a rather fascinating story of how Daniel came to be abducted, but then found out he was in the place he was supposed to be all along.

This book, and this series for that matter, is front loaded with a generous amount of erotic content and leans heavily to being classified as erotica. There is a tremendous amount of sex in the book as the men continue to feed off of each other as needed to survive, but also now that Daniel is royalty he is responsible for empowering all of his people, which happens solely through sex. It’s the way the Cubi survive and it’s all perfectly acceptable within their world.

At the beginning of the first book, Daniel was described as being vain with a goal to be famous. As the series has progressed and as this book itself develops, we see Daniel take responsibility for the entire Cubi race while attempting to educate himself on their ways at the same time. The story is woven along the edges of all of the erotic scenes and while those scenes are well written and have a purpose, again, I was looking for a bit more story at times. The book also has lighter scenes showing Daniel and Seldon having fun, but there were portions that had a forced quality for me in places and didn’t seem to evolve naturally. It’s also still not shown what else the Cubi do besides survive. They have incredibly long life spans, but are only shown creating energy to survive and while that’s the nature of their race, I personally could have seen some variety to how they spend their time. The later portions of each book ramp up in action and this book is no different as Daniel and all of the Cubi are forced to rise up and saying any more than that would greatly take away from the enjoyment of watching the story unravel.

The book is not complete and there is still much to come that will test all of the Cubi and the author again leaves me anxiously awaiting their fate. There is much to enjoy with this series and be sure to look for Daniel fluctuating between being petulant and taking a stand, Daniel and Seldon’s relationship growing as they explore the more tender side of being together, Caledon taking a larger role in their relationship, and enjoy the variety of multiple partners that pass through the pages.

 

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