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 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.