~LOVER UNLEASHED IN MY HANDS~

Finally, finally got Lover Unleashed in my hands. Now I almost don't want to read it, oh the anticipation. A year between books is just too long. I am liking this new "band of Bastards" though, opening up so many new possibilites for Ward's world and then there's V and of course I cheated a bit and read chapter 37.....

~REVIEW of J.R Ward's LOVER MINE~

                                                      DEDICATED TO YOU...

**Spoiler Free** and BIG stars

Opening Line: "He wished he had more time."

In trying to review LOVER MINE two words keep popping into my head; Amazing and Damn… just damn. How can I honestly put into words how much I loved this story and how sad I am that it’s over? Following a year long wait JR Wards 8th instalment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood finally made its way into my eager little hands. At 512 pages LOVER MINE is huge (with a fantastic cover) and I’m happy to report that it does not disappoint, in fact with John Mathews long awaited story the WARDen positively shines.

Fans are given exactly what we’ve been waiting for with ever evolving storylines, multiple POV’s, surprises, tragedies, plot twists, ass-kicking action,(Xhex much) humour and oh the romance. Completed here with erotic, blush-worthy love scenes and of course the inevitable struggle and heartache. I can tell you that this story brought me to tears more than once and not for the reasons you might expect. All of this awesomeness has been wrapped up with Wards unique style of writing, complete with product placements, rap music, unique street language, multiple f-bombs and a whole new batch of cool Wardisms I can’t wait to start using, you feel me.

The series is brought full circle within this book with loose ends cleverly tied together and resolutions brought to story threads we’ve had growing and brewing since the beginning. Sadly I realized that even with Ward continuing indefinitely JM/Darius will be the last of the original brothers to have his story told and that with this book being red, just like book 1 (Dark Lover) she’s given us book ends of a sort.

With us since the beginning, in this instalment we finally get John Mathew (and Darius‘s) story. Of all the characters John is the one we have the greatest sense of and have invested the most time in, having watched him change from a scrawny, neglected and abused pre-trans into an enormous, and angry male with a ton of fricken baggage. His pairing with the half Sympath Xhex has been in the works for some time now and with her abduction in the end of (Lover Avenged) we have the perfect place to begin their story. (Which I’m not going to give away) I will say however that I was pleased to see reflections of the sweet, sensitive John we remember (only now oozing sex appeal) and witness a softer side of Xhex. As always their path to HEA is not an easy one but its fun and sexy as hell watching them open up to each other and get there.

As a whole the storyline blew my mind. With three very separate and distinct running plotlines, (which at first had me wondering, where the hell is this going?) Ward manages to merge all the puzzle pieces together into WOW, bringing us deliciously full circle. Darker and more serious than past books my only real complaint would be the lack of banter between the Brothers and the Brothers as a whole. The moments that we’re given are excellent and while they’re all represented to a degree (some more than others) I insatiably craved more and truly missed them. Qhuinn and Blay, each now with their own POV manage to somewhat fill the gap who along with Saxton bring a different degree of heartache, sexiness and hot mess to the mix. Lash is also back as the Lessening societies leader and surprisingly awesome here as he takes things to a whole new gooey level of evil.

In the end Ward leaves us smiling with contentment, with new characters emerging and events opening up for future stories that I can’t wait to discover. I just wish it wasn’t so far away because I find that after getting just 3 days with the BDB its already time to leave them again and I’m not quite ready to let them go yet. See ya next year boys, stay safe Cheers!

Oh, and in case you were wondering Ward dedicates this book to John Mathew himself (which was what started my first crying jag)

 

~REVIEW of Suzanne Brockmann's TALL, DARK AND DEVASTATING~

~ADDICTIVE NAVY SEAL'S ROMANCES GET A 2-IN-1 REISSUE~

  Star read

Opening Line: "This was wrong. It was all wrong."

This is a fun, sexy, exciting series with larger then life Navy SEAL heroes, capable of anything it seems except falling in love easily. TD and Devastating contains books 5 & 6 from Brockmann’s Tall Dark and Dangerous series which is being re-released as 2-in-1’s with way better covers.

Using proper military jargon Brockman gives us delicious alpha-male heroes and just the right amount of action, suspense and sweet romance to keep you coming back for more. And with each story just different enough from the last that it feels fresh and unique while still connecting the series as a whole, these well written quickie romances are totally addictive. While each can be read as a stand-alone I recommend trying to read them in order due to the continuing and evolving story arcs, and I dare you not to fall for any member of SEAL Team Tens alpha squad.

Both of the stories here are super good, with fast paced plots, memorable characters, searing love scenes and sigh worthy endings. I couldn’t really choose a favourite although because I have a thing for tortured heroes I’d have to say Crash (Hawken’s Heart) is pretty dreamy.

First up was HARVARD'S EDUCATION and while I will admit this was a bit slow to get started by the end however I really felt like I knew our heroes and was completely wrapped up in their lives. When Harvard and the team take on an experimental training assignment no one expects a girl to be among the FInCOM recruits. After all with the type of life and death situations they face the SEAL’s are exclusive boys club and that’s just the way Harvard likes it. Enter PJ Richards, sharpshooter, most capable recruit, Harvard’s perfect intellectual match and of course all woman. With his sexist attitude these two have problems from the start. Harvard just doesn’t believe women belong in a combat zone, it’s too dangerous, too brutal and she would be far too distracting.

The ending chapters here were fantastic as a planned out of country “training” mission goes horribly wrong. Leaving me hanging for quite a while as to whether the mission (and fatalities) were real or in fact a training op. Pinned down by hostiles, armed only with paint ball guns, and with their Captain severely injured and held hostage it’s going to be up to PJ and Harvard to save the day. Will he be able to set his prejudices aside long enough to let PJ do her job and help rescue their team mates?

With HAWKEN'S HEART we get Billy “Crash Hawken’s story and Jeez did I ever fall hard for him. A member of the elite “Grey group” Crash is aloof, loyal to a fault and oh so sexy in his secretive, lethal sort of way. He’s a man of few words and even less emotion, or so it seems. Told in two distinct sections each taking place a year apart Brockman encompass one of my favourite themes with this one; that of reunited lovers, made even better here as they’re on the run and that always guarantees a good time.

When Crash becomes the prime suspect in the assassination of his commanding officer he is charged with treason, conspiracy and murder. Stripped of his commission he awaits the death penalty. The last person he expects to visit him in prison is Nell Burns; I mean things didn’t exactly end well between them and he hasn’t spoken to her since, avoiding any contact by accepting multiple overseas missions. Her faith in him is unwavering though and as she tries to clear his name Nell unwittingly becomes a target, forcing these former lovers on the run. When it becomes evident that Crash is going to give his life to keep Nell safe and find the man responsible for killing the Admiral SEAL Team 10 enters the picture to back up our boy.