5 stars

5 stars

“Life was short, no matter how many days you were granted. And people were precious, each and every one, no matter how many you were lucky enough to have in your life. And love… love was worth dying for. Worth living for, too.” ~Tohrment

I know I have mentioned this before, but Ward is a SERIOUSLY gifted author!! This book had a delightfully strong start and continued on in that vein. By the end, my cheeks were streaked with mascara stains from my tears. There were 2 scenes at the end that really ripped me apart.

I squeed and gulped a lot while reading this book. I laughed and cried. It was a wonderful read!

I knew going in to this book that it was going to be a very hard book for me to read. I’m a HEA kind of reader… I’m good with characters going through just about any amount of torment (no pun) so long as  there is a happy ending where they end up with the love of their life. So with the way this one went, although I alsolutely LOVED the book, I still had a few issues with Tohr’s storyline (addressed below the picture in spoilers). But despite the issues, the book was hot, touching, wonderful, and engaging!! Tohr really sizzles in it!!

“I’m going to give you the chance to get away from me. Right Now…. Do you understand what I’m saying? If you don’t go… I’m going to be inside you in another minute and a half.”

The depth of pain to which Tohr was in at the loss of Wellsie just honestly ripped my heart to shreds.

“God, I miss you,” he said in a voice that cracked. “Every night. Every day…”    *sob*

No’One/Autumn’s character was also very likable – she definitely had her own issues to work through but if Tohr had to have ended up with anyone other than Wellsie, I’m really glad it was her.

“As she squared her shoulders, he thought that anyone who believed this female was weak had another think coming.”

I really love Lassiter!! He needs his own book! Stat!  (Ward has confirmed that he will in fact be getting, just don’t know when)… there were little hints dropped about his past and it seems like he’s covering up a pretty tragic story behind his chipper outer self.

“My name’s Lassiter… I’m an angel first and a sinner second…I’ll never hurt you, but I’m prepared to make you pretty goddamn uncomfortable if I have to, to get my job done. I like sunsets and long walks on the beach, but my perfect female no longer exists. Oh, and my favorite hobby is annoying the shit out of people. Guess I’m just bred to want to get a rise out of folks – probably the whole resurrection thing.”

And I can’t say how much I LOOOOOVE Wrath. I don’t know why but I can’t stop grinning nearly the entire time I’m reading any scene he’s in. Not because he’s funny, but just because he is SO well written as a character. You can just tell that Ward has a special place in her heart for him. There is just something about his character that makes me squee uncontrollably 😛

I wasn’t honestly so interested in the Band of Bastards/Xcor storyline. I didn’t mind it as much as I minded the lessers’ parts from the earlier books, but I just really didn’t find that they made me that interested in them.

I loved the dynamic between Tohr and John in this too. How John was the one other person out there who really felt Wellsie’s loss, not just out of sympathy, but from his own personal feelings since he lost his adoptive mother too.

“Then again, he supposed the healing process, in contrast to trauma, was gentle and slow… The soft closing of a door, rather than a slam.” – John

I wish there was more of Rhage in this book. He was only in a few scenes but, of course, he totally stole everyone he was in. I’m so excited that he and Mary are getting a novella!!

Qhuinn and Blay’s storyline is one of my favs – and we see a fair bit of them (well, especially Qhuinn) in this book 🙂 Those boys really really need a HEA. And there are some twists that happen at the end of the book that are gonna make for a veeeery interesting next book I think! I absolutely CANNOT WAIT for their book!! I just read some spoilers about the relationship dynamic that’s going to happen and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!! squeeeeee *happy dance*

“Enough, Qhuinn thought. Enough with the excuses and the avoidance, and trying to be someone else, anyone else. Even if he got shanked, even if his precious little ego and his dumbass little heart got shattered into a million pieces, it was time to stop the bullshit. It was time to be a male. As Blay started to straighten like a message had been message been recieved, Qhuinn thought, Thats right buddy: Our future has come” 

And it was wonderful that there were scenes where all the Brothers came together and acted as a unit. Those parts are some of my favorite throughout the series. Seeing such rich, developed characters interacting and working together is utterly squee-worthy. With the writing in the books, you REALLY feel like you know each of them personally. So much so that if you read a line, you hardly need to be told who said it because you just KNOW. Its so much fun to read!

I really liked Tohr and Autumn together but I guess I was prevented from fully feeling for them as a couple because, in a way, I myself hadn’t HAVEN’T moved on from Wellsie yet. I feel like maybe Tohr’s story should have waited for a few years at least.

Click here for the complete reading order of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

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***MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD (detailing some of my issues with the story)***

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Something that bugged me in this book was I still don’t see why, other than for drama and heart ache’s sake, Wellsie couldn’t have been brought back. In another book world, I’d say sure, death is final. But in this world, death is kind of just something many of the characters go through and come back from.

I’m really torn about this because on one hand, even if I were to accept the whole Wellsie permanently dying storyline, I felt that given the centuries long lifespan of these vampires, that the mourning period should have been longer. Especially with the depth of the love that Tohr and Wellsie shared. I felt that the new relationship was rushed. I wasn’t ready for it. Even though I did like No’One/Autumn as a new mate for Tohr, I felt like their relationship should have developed like a decade later. I understand the theme of not allowing a person’s death to ruin your life, but I felt that the centuries that Tohr and Wellsie had been together warranted more than a one year mourning period.

And regarding the storyline of Tohr having to move on in order to save Wellsie and their unborn son from being stuck in the In Between, because his grief was keeping them stuck and unable to go to the Fade whereas in all the previous cases of other mates being lost, they just crossed over directly, it just didn’t make much sense to me. With all the other mated couples that lost their shellan or hellren (mentioned in history books), are the books saying that the deceased was able to able to just cross over to the Fade right away Wouldn’t that mean that the mate that was left behind would have had to move on relatively immediately? Are they allowed no mourning period? What about those mated couples who never move on? Who would prefer to live on alone than be with anyone else… in this world, is that not an option? … that just didn’t sit right with me.

And the fact that they hadn’t yet done Wellsie’s Fade Ceremony seemed a little shocking. Well, no wonder she hadn’t moved on!

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So why, you might ask, given my above mentioned issues, did I still give it a 5 star rating? Because I can see why it was written the way it was even if I might have preferred it to go another way. And the writing, characters, dynamics, action, lines, and really just everything were wonderful and I just can’t get enough of the BDB world.

5 stars!!!

“All his life he’d wondered why he’d never fallen in love, and now he knew: He’d been waiting for this moment, this woman, this time. The female is mine, he thought. “ – Manny

Wow I did not realize how much I had missed the BDB world and JR Ward’s writing until I picked this up! This book kept me up reading till the wee hours of the morning and actually ended up being one of my favs in the series ( tied with Rhage, Wrath, and Zsadist’s books).

I squeeeed out loud so many times while reading it!!

JR Ward is a truly gifted author – her books are the perfect blend of humor, HOT romance, sweet HEA endings (of course!), wonderful world building with plenty of action, and a reoccurring group of favorite characters/couples that never fail to bring a smile to your face and tug at your heart strings.

In case you havent read anyof the BDB books yet, the opening lines of this book will give you a feel for the writing style:

“‘I want to blow you.’ Dr. Manny Manello swiveled his head to the right and looked at the woman who’d spoken. It was hardly the first time he’s heard that combination of words, and the mouth they’d come out of certainly had enough silicone in to offer a good cushion… at another time in his life, he probably would have taken her up on it, under the why-the-hell-not theory. Now? File that under not-so-much…she leaned forward, flashing him a set of breasts that didn’t so much defy gravity as flip it off, insult its mother, and piss on its shoes…. Candace was one of those Manhattan social types who was nothing but a pimp away from being a prostitute…”

This book wasn’t just about Payne and Manny even though they were the ‘main’ couple of the story. It was also almost equally about Vishous and Jane’s relationship, and consequently V and Butch. For some reason, I always liked them both as individuals but never fully connected with then in Lover Unbound as a couple, but in this book, it just kinda brought their story full circle for me.

And V and Butch’s storyline is really wonderful – I love how they are closer than brothers, but not crossing the line into a romantic relationship, but still somehow, there is something deeper going on there. I love the healing process Butch brings to V’s terribly tortured character – its incredibly heart warming/wrenching.

“Listen to me. You have the fashion of a park bench and the interpsonal skills of a meat cleaver —“
“Is this supposed to be helping?”
“Let me finish–“
“What’s next? The size of my cock?”
“Hey – even pencils can get the job done – I’ve heard the moaning from your room… I’m just telling you – you need that female in your life. Don’t fuck shit up. Not now – not ever, feel me?”

I loved Payne’s character!! She was so adorable but strong, with a no BS attitude even in the face of dealing with a horrible situation..

“Payne looked back through the glass at the human on the bed. “Yes. I am in love with him. And if you try to dissuade me by the fact that I have not lived yet enough to judge, I say unto you…fuck off.”

And Manny was the perfect male for her.  For Payne, as a born fighter, dealing with being paralyzed is literally a fate worse than death and the way they were just crazy about each other and then how he healed her was just so heart warming… and HOT!  did I mention the hot part? 🙂  …I think that since he didn’t originate from their world, it was part of what helped the book feel so much like the first ones, because it allowed the reader to see into the world again almost like an outsider in a way – it gives it an extra thrill. But they were seriously adorable as a couple together!

I love how no 2 relationships in this world are the same – there is always something new and unique about each one so it never gets repetative.

And it was so good to see little bits of the other Brothers – Rhage in the triage (!!) he only had a few lines but boy was I reminded of how much I love him!!

Manny to Rhage as he stitches him up while Rhage is trying to get him to tend to the others first:

“You’re all right, you know that.”
“Fuck…that…” The fighter smiled, flashing fangs. “I’m… perfect.” <3 <3 Yes, you are Rhage! lol

And Wrath! I don’t know why but something about him just makes me squeee and read with the silliest grin on my face whenever he is in the scene.

Also really good to see so much of Qhuinn “scanning through inside of the club, he put his fuck filter on and began weeding through the women…” I’m so stoked that him and Blay are getting their own book! Those boys need a HEA!!

I’m going to start Lover Reborn first thing tomorrow – I hear that Tohr sizzles in it!! …. that guy SO deserves something happy to happen to him!

Click here for the complete reading order of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.