Book Babblings *SPOILERS*

Blood Kiss by JR Ward

Nitty Gritty: Paradise, daughter of the First Advisor to the King wants out of her gilded cage. Her great escape plan? The revived Blackdagger Brotherhood's training program? She wants to learn how to fight to break free of the glymera's stifling control. Only the sexy and mysterious Craeg throws a monkey wrench on her plans.

Butch, the Dhestroyer, is knee deep in his own troubles, and if he wants to climb out he is going to have to take a hard look at himself ad make some changes or risk losing the one thing he loves more than life itself.

Opening Line: "Some graduations happened in private." 

The Good: Um well I was glad to see more Vishous. I honestly wish Ward would have let Butch and V be together. Their relationship is a hellva lot more interesting than Doc Jane's and Marissa's ever could be.

The Bad: I wanted to like it I really did. Ward promised to take us back to out first loves. She promised us the BDB as we remember them. Um...I'm not convinced she knows them anymore. This book was a giant pain in the ass to read.

There is an entire scene where all the women in the house have a girls night and just veg out watching Magic Mike XXL something scores of women did when the movie actually came out. So the girls are having a good time and just relaxing. Well you would think the boys would take the time to do something manly, like go hunt, pull up a game on TV, or get lost in Assassin's Creed Syndicate for a few hours, but no they sit around the dinner table and whine about the movie the girls are watching. I mean they were one razor blade away from killing themselves about the girls night movie. It was sickening and disgusting. That's not love. That's possession. And the Brothers are real good at that.

At first I thought it was sexy and mysterious but there is something highly wrong with the relationships in this universe. The women are just interchangeable holes to shove their thick man parts into.

And the women are just stepford sexbots. None of them have much of a personality. All of them are small, delicate, with smooth cream skin and blonde hair. Except for Mary and Wellsie. During sex they want to mark their women to ward off other suitors as if the woman is incapable of letting other men know that she is happily attached.

Everyone is starting to run together. Everyone sounds the same, and they all sound like a pack of teenagers at the mall on a Saturday. In the beginning Tohr was a pretty sophisticated guy, and yeah he went through a gut punch over Wellsie. Hell I was hurt when she died, but now he sounds like one of those little Autobots from the second Transformer movies, and that ain't a good thing! Lassiter is the only one with discernible personality, and he outlived his usefulness 5 books ago.

There is a murder that happens pretty close to the beginning of the book and Marissa is consumed with solving it. Butch even polishes off his old detective skills and gets involved. They scratch out some clues and follows up with them and then the murder is solved in two pages...not even a plausible conclusion to the murder! It's almost like Ward was so wrapped up in the sex she forget about the subplot she introduced and then just slapped together an ending to get Paradise and Craeg back together.

And we just keep going around and around with this war with the Lessers. Its like enough already!! I'm tired of it frankly. It was awesome in the beginning when the Lessers had a little class about them, but now why are the Brothers even fighting them now? They're petty drug dealers, who frankly would rather not even deal with the vampires. They're trying to stack cake and deal with the vamps is getting in the way of that. So its like the vamps are the only ones keeping up with this war.

I am getting sick and tired of the slut shaming going on in this book. Every guy wants to spit garbage about the chick vamp that likes a little side action because her husband has one foot in the Fade, but she's made out to be the whore. Excuse me? So what are all the "males" that have slept with her? You can go kick rocks with that.

And please don't get me started on Paradise (could her name be anymore tragic) and Craeg. Paradise is a girl of the glymera. Sheltered, treasured, pampered and treated like a beautiful doll her entire life. The Brotherhood sent out applications for their training program to beef up their numbers, and she thinks "Yes I want to join this dangerous program to protect the race simply because my bonehead friend says girls can't do it." No other reason, and when she gets into the program she spends the entire time panting after another trainee to the point that she halfway kills herself on a treadmill. Nearly 20 stitches later and the girl still can't control her libido like an adult. She's acting like a tween with her first One Direction Crush. But we are supposed to think of her as a warrior? But Ward spends page after page after page establishing what an awesome fighter and warrior Craeg is fighting Peyton in a fistfight and then Butch in a knife fight, Paradise gets to outlast everyone by walking in a circle, but she's a great warrior. Craeg is a walking tool of the highest order. His family was slaughtered during the raids because the family his dad worked for wouldn't let them into the safe room, yeah that was messed up. So now he hates all of the aristocrats. Like every single one of them killed his family. Yeah, thats the level of maturity we've got going on here.

I was just so pissed off at this book, like how could such a great premise have gone so horribly wrong? Come on Ward! Come on! We are 14 books into this! This isn't your first novel! I've read fanfiction of your books better than this. I mean I'm started to feel insulted here.

Final Thoughts: This is the last book by JR Ward that I am going to read. Not even going to bother getting subsequent books from the library anymore. I just can't with her.

Book Babblings *spoilers*

The King by J.R. Ward


*Contains Spoilers*

The Nitty Gritty: The First Family of the Brotherhood is back with a vengeance with a side of baby fever. Wrath and Beth are trying to find time to just be Wrath and Beth and not the Bling King and the Half Blood Queen, but the Band of Bastards and the Glymera are trying their best to ruin the royals good time.

Assail is on a mission. His female has been kidnapped and he is going to find her. No matter who he has to ghost in the process.

Trez is running from an arranged marriage and trying his best to screw his way out of it. the s'Hibe is working hard to drag the shadow back into the Territory and his destiny, but the Chosen Selena has wormed her way into his head and his heart.

Opening Line: "Long live the King"

The Good: The sex was adequate in this book, but its starting to become a little interchangeable.

The Bad: There is and was no reason for this book to be 573 pages. Just no reason. None at all. In her earlier books that were 250 pages she packed more in between those pages than she managed to slap in 573 pages of this book.

I am just at the point where I don't gave a rat's furry behind about anyone or any vampire that's not in the Brotherhood. I mean these other side stories took up half the dang on book. I mean yeah Sola is the bad girl or whatever but frankly I don't care about her. I mean we hardly get to see the Brothers that we fell in love with. V gets a few talking point and a vision. Rhage gets a two liner in there book. Butch gets a one liner and oh we finally get a see a bit more of John Matthew.

Its just all the side line plot stories and characters are over shadowing the main characters. Which I think Ward is wasting a good opportunity for spin off series featuring the whole cast of characters that we are getting in the books about the Brotherhood. I mean she has created an awesome little community around the Brotherhood that she could make an entire series about. But give me the Brotherhood. I mean this is the first book that we've seen Rhage actually speak since Lover Unleashed.

I'm just sick of the main characters only getting 30% of the book.

So Beth goes to bed one night and wakes up the next morning and wham she had a baby bump and she's four months pregnant....um....riiiiiiiiiight. But oh that's explained away because she is a half-human vampire. So yeah there's the answer.

No I don't think so.

The shower scene with Sola and Assail.....yeah I need to take a clorax bath after reading that. I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but a guy that comes on your face without at least asking doesn't respect you and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I thought the scene was beyond the pail for me.

I've got my panties in a wad over the Shadows. Not with them personally other than them hijacking the storyline, but I've got a problem with them as "not" black characters.

Yeah, yeah I read Ward's flimsy excuse for why they are black but not really black because they aren't humans and Shadows don't prescribe to the human connotation with race, blah, blah, blah.

Sing that song for someone else sweetheart. I'm not buying. You have caucasian characters in your story and not once did you ever make a point of them separating their species from their race. But the one time you veer of the white default party line and give us characters of color you slip their wings. Then we get that "Shadows think anything white is ill" BS but then Trez screws anything white and bonds with Selene who happens to be white.

But it doesn't stop there. Everything that she uses to describe Trex and iAm are African American characteristic markers. Thick full lips, dark skin, close shaved faded hair. So everything about them screams black but they aren't black. Oh and I love the little race card pulling you threw in there. We get a whole internal monologue from Trez about how he isn't black and that if humans want to call him black and treat him accordingly they are going to get dealt with *cue eye-roll*

So come on Ward if you are going to dip your toe in the ethnic pool you might as well jump in.

You are giving your white characters the chance and the space to be white. Even the gay ones get to be gay in all their colorful glory, give your characters of color the same space.

Final Thoughts: Well I hate to say it but I think its truly hard for an author to maintain a book series past 7 or 8 books. This is the 3rd series that I'm having to drop because I can't take it anymore. The author just gets lazy and starts slapping together anything to give us. Yes I know how much work goes into writing any book. I'm an aspiring author myself. So I get it, but I also know how much writers fall in love with their characters and Ward is doing the brothers a disservice. I'm going to give her one more book because I stuck it out with Harris and True Blood, but that's it. I expect better from her because she has given it to me in the past.

Book Babblings

Possession by J.R. Ward 

The Nitty Gritty: We are back folks for another round of Heaven vs. Hell. The angles had suffered some major losses, and Jim is tired of it. So he sets out to snatch something back from the jaws of hell itself.

Jim Heron had just given Devina a deal of a lifetime. Sissy Barten's soul for a flag. Those flags that represent the wins for each side.

Cait Douglass is a woman on a mission. With a new body, new hair style and new attitude she is crawling herself out of her comfort zone and she starts with the sexy songbird at the Black Crow. G.B could sing the stars out of the sky with his sultry voice and heartfelt words. Cait is instantly attracted. As she goes to meet him for a date a mysterious man pulls her attention

Duke Phillips is a black cloud looking for a landing strip. Being a bouncer at the Iron Mask affords him the fight club he needs to keep himself on an even till. Until a blond bombshell rocks his solitary life to its foundation.  

Opening Line: "Okay...where am I? Where am I...where-"

The Good: The sex is of course always good. Better than most erotic writers out there. Its almost more than a pleasure to get to those nuggets of sex slide in between the pages.

The plot twists in Possession were really good. Unexpected really. It gave the series something it had been lacking since the beginning. Surprise.

I have to admit that I feared Sissy would be a pain in the butt, annoying to the point of frustration. She wasn't. There were times where I wanted to slap her silly, but they were fleeting and few in number. Sissy put on her big girl panties and stepped up to the plate. I got a little pissy with her towards the end, but I can see how Ward is going to write out the ending for her and Heron so I can wait that out. I just hope Sissy is going to do what I think she is going to do in the next two books.

Devina. I've got to say that I am digging this "character." Here is a demon with a severe ODC problem, not to mention a delusional sense of love for the enemy.  I don't mean like the fat nerd in English thinking the high school quarter back is going to ask them to the prom. I mean the when Heaven loses Jim will stand with me as the world burns then we will screw till the end of time delusion. Devina honestly believes she is in love with Jim and the he loves her in return. If only the war for the souls of mankind weren't in the way. Then they could be together. This is an illusion of epic proportions. Right up there with me believing Jay Baruchel is going to propose to me. Don't rain on my parade about that please. Have to love a woman committed to her delusions.

The Bad: I had to say that I think Ward is a bit sexiest. Not in the sense that the women don't play central roles, but they are playing THE central roles. None of the souls that have been in play are women. Even the demon Devina isn't a "real" woman. The demon is just wearing a flesh suit with a great rack. I want one of the souls to be a woman. Give us some variety. I am sure there are plenty of women out there with dark and cloudy pasts that she could give us.

The characters are just starting to be interchangeable. I mean you can line them all up in a line and they all look, and sound the same. Nothing is special or different about any of them. All the woman are small, shockingly white, delicate, blond or brunette. I mean Caldwell is maybe an hour from New York. You can't tell me that there aren't black, Hispanic, Jewish, Cuban, Middle Eastern men and women in Caldwell that Ward can give us. Its all just starting to be blah for me. The men are all too huge to be believable with dark sordid pasts that would make Ted Bundy blush. I'm just looking for some variety. Something different. I mean its getting to the point where I can tell you what's going to happen before I read the book and I really hate that because then I don't have to read the books.  I guess its silly to want a white author to give me characters of color, but I don't think thats so far off the mark. Isn't not like we live in a homogenous society. Even Cheerios got with the program and gave us an interracial couple and child.

Get with the program Ward. Give us a sistah, or a chica, damn even the stylist could have been Korean or Samoan. Hell I will take an Italian Jersey Shore style at this point.

I think its beyond silly that the souls of these men all depend on the women in their lives. And its always the women trying to point them in the right direction. As if all women are virtuous. I know it might sound crazy that as a woman I am advocating for a "bad" girl but I am starved for variety here. All around variety. I guess. I want her to play with some different character archetypes and plot devices. Sure you can go with the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it,' or you can take what works and make it better.  

My Hope for the Series: I just want Ward to get back to the basics. We have two more books to go before the end. Let Sissy get into the game and take Eddie's place or give us back Eddie. I hate that the guardians of the Manse of Souls is splintered. I liked them and I want them ALL back in the game. The book was entertaining, but it wasn't her best.

Waiting....Anticipating?

So I was dying to get my hands on Lover at Last. There had been all this build up and tease from both Ward and her fans. When I finally got the first copy from the library I tore into it and had it read in about 7 hours. Hey give me a break I had to go to Bible study that night.

I was less than thrilled with book 11. Though I've loved all the previous books. Well Lover Reborn irked me a little bit. Not the book but just some of the actions of the characters. Namely Xhex. I still don't like her and probably never will. However that is neither here nor there.

Synopsis: Wrath and the Brotherhood are locked in an epic battle over his throne and the very future of the vampire race.

My Thoughts: Lover at Last left me a little disappointed. After 11 books its almost as if Ward has forgotten what her characters sound like. In LAL all the brothers started to sound the same and the stars of the book Blay and Qhuinn were overshadowed by the introduction of new characters and plot lines. I know she had to set up the next book but that still should have taken a backseat to Blay and Qhuinn. I mean she didn't let them finally get together till 500 into the book, and then we had to read about the progression of their relationship in the epilogue. I just didn't think was fair since their build up started in book 5.

So while I am waiting for the King I don't know if I am anticipating it. So many of my favorite urban fantasy books came out of the gates swinging hard only to end up in a dark alley face up with Colombian necktie. I fear the BDB is walking toward that alley. There's enough time for her to turn it all around, but she has to be careful. I mean there are have tidbits about the book released by Ward herself. Apparently we are going to get more Murdher in the book and my only question is...who asked for more Murdher? He's some crazy vamp from Xhex's past do we really need an actual plot line with him in it?  I can't be the only one who doesn't care about him. We get to see more of the orgy chick that services Assail and the Bastards. Like I care about her either.

I think if Ward got rid of all these extra characters and side stories she could focus on the crux of the BDB universe. I'm just praying the BDB don't go the way of the Dodo bird.

Cover Revel

UK cover

US Cover

So if you've been hiding out in a cave the last few years you probably don't know that the Uk book covers are always different from the US covers. I'm not sure why but that is just the way of the world. Sometimes our coves are better and sometimes not. For me I like the UK cover of the Heroes of Olympus, but I love the US cover of Half Blood Prince.

While neither of these cover really captures what Ward has described Wrath as. I think they are trying to be super sexy and Wrath is more of the lethal beauty sort or vamp. He isn't Edward Cullen. More Blade than anything. So I think the models on both covers is a misstep. To be honest I can't decide which cover I like better. The UK version has Wrath is more of a guardian angel. He is watching over the city of Caldwell filled with his subjects and the US version has Wrath sitting uncomfortably on his throne. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that jazz.

Both covers are nice renderings and they are eye catching. Look forward to more Wrath in his upcoming book.  

Waiting and Anticipating.....

So I've been a Ward fan since I got the recommendation to read Dark Lover from a friend on Goodreads. These so called BDSM erotic writers trying to ride El James very short coattails should beg Ward to give them lessons on how to write a sex scene. The woman is good and so are her scenes. Though she does tend to use the same word over and over again, but then there are only so many ways you can use to describe a woman's who-ha.

I've loved the Black Dagger Brotherhood since Wrath and Beth's story. I was a little miffed at Ward for Lover at Last. However this isn't a BDB book. This is an Fallen Angels novel and I am looking forward to it. Jim was the very of a very high cliff overlooking the pit of hell itself. I can't say that I understand what going on with him and Sissy and I can't really say that as this point I even care about her. I mean that's cruel to say but I am more interested in the game between Jim and Davina than anything else.

Synopsis: When Cait Douglass resolves to get over her broken heart, throw off her inhibitions, and start really living, she’s unprepared for the two sensual men who cross her path. Torn between them, she doesn’t know which to choose--or what kind of dire consequences could follow.

Jim Heron, fallen angel and reluctant savior, is ahead in the war, but he puts everything at risk when he seeks to make a deal with the devil--literally. As yet another soul is unwittingly caught in the battle between him and the demon Devina, his fixation on an innocent trapped in Hell threatens to sidetrack him from his sacred duty...

Can good still prevail if true love makes a savior weak? And will a woman’s future be the key, or the curse, for all of humanity? Only time, and hearts, will tell.

My Thoughts: I think this book is going to the tipping point in the good verse evil struggle. I am loving the gay angle with the angels. I mean being a Christian it was a little shocking to say the least but then I just remember that this is a work of fiction and not to be taken seriously. That is a hard think for a diehard nerd like me though. I mean I'm just waiting on submitting my Star Fleet application.

I want to see what is going on with Eddie. They are just carrying around his body and I have a feeling that is going to come into play later in the books. I hope its this one. I can't stand this mopey Adrian. I need him being hard and fast. He makes this books a lot more interesting when he has something to prove.