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Review
John Matthew gets his HEA. YAAAAAAY!!!!
Since his appearance in the second book of the series, we have watched poor John suffer through so much. His background is incredibly sad, and he finally found a family who loved him, only to lose them in horrific circumstances (essentially twice). He has, at last, found close friendship with his boys, Qhuinn and Blay, and has found his place with the Brothers, but the beginning of this book finds him utterly desolate without the woman that he loves. Dear God, can the poor guy please catch a break!!!
Xhex was taken by uber-bad guy, Lash, at the end of the last book, and is held captive by the sicko, subjected to his abuse over and over. And, having become a bit of a hardass in order to deal with the devastation in his life, John is a male on a mission to find and / or avenge his missing female.
John and Xhex have been dancing around each other ever since they met in book 4. With all of the eye fucking, head games and sexual tension between them, we knew that when they finally got together, it would be explosive, and hell yeah, it is! They caved into the chemistry in the last book, and while it was hot, it was far from romantic. Their first encounter sent John off on a man-whoring mission to forget Xhex, and the second encounter was a ‘fuck you and goodbye’ from John that left Xhex broken hearted, but determined to steel herself and move on from her infatuation with him.
While the two of them have been fairly secretive about the state of things between them, it all comes flooding out as John goes full on bonded male to get his female back, and when they are finally reunited, my heart broke. Xhex is physically broken after all that she has endured, and John is just freaking phenomenal! His protectiveness, care and love for Xhex is just beautiful. And she responds to him! All we’ve seen of Xhex so far is that she’s a totally butch-ish badass. The circumstances in this book allow us to see a softer, more vulnerable side, and I loved that.
“In a world that was full of taking and cruelty, he was fucking breaking her heart with what he was giving her.”
And I love that she not only takes all that John gives her, but she also gives it back to him right when he needs it
“No, you’ve got it all wrong, John.” Reading his emotions, she shook her head. “You’re not half the male you could be because of what was done to you. You’re twice what anyone else is because you survived.”
Due to Xhex’s potentially evil nature, she has kept herself closed off from personal relationships, but the emotion between her and John is beautiful, and after all of the crap that they have been through, both of them are at the point where they are ready to admit to their feelings, and just be together.
“The only thing that had tethered her to the earth had been him and it was strange, but she felt welded to him on some core level now. He had seen her at her absolute worst, at her weakest and most insane, and he hadn’t looked away. He hadn’t judged and he hadn’t been burned.
It was as if in the heat of her meltdown they had melted together.
This was more than emotion. It was a matter of soul.”
And it’s not all swoony romance and dramatic reveals as they discuss their pasts and come to understand each other. They are both fighters, and there is an equality to their relationship, but I still loved that John took the lead to be all Alpha even though Xhex is just as badass as he is. They also tease, and have fun together, which I loved. Seeing John happy, cocky, and confident is absoltely sensational.
Of course there are ups and downs along the way, and they both still have a lot to deal with. But the bottom line is, they’re soul mates, and they belong together, and I loved every minute of it!
In other events…
The situation between Qhuinn and Blay gets a lot more complicated as their passion for each other starts to really show, only for Qhuinn’s fear to start to draw them apart.
“It was because of their long history that he searched for something to say, something that would get them back to where they had been. All that came to him was… I miss you. I miss you so fucking bad it hurts, but I don’t know how to find you even though you’re right in front of me.”
John’s relationship with Tohr finally gets some tear-inducing resolution, and his little moments with Z, and even Beth, made me smile.
There are flashbacks to Darius and Tohrment’s past together as partners, and their unfolding history ties in spectacularly to events in the present day. Seriously mind-bending stuff that is so cleverly done! I love the fact that the truth of John’s past history is known to the reader, but not by John or any of the other characters. It adds an interesting twist to him and his story, and watching the two parts of him come together when he needs all of his strength, was awesome.
There is also a second side story of paranormal investigators exploring an old, supposedly haunted house, down south. While an interesting little extra, I felt that it annoyingly cut into the flow of the rest of the book. It seemingly had nothing to do with the Brotherhood, and while a link is revealed at the end, it was all very ‘meh’ for me.
Lastly, Wrath’s visits to the Other Side results in a shocking twist for Vicious, and a great lead in to the next book.
Yep, there’s definitely a lot going on in the Brotherhood’s Mansion in this one! And I love how everybody’s stories all overlap and build to create these epic, epic books. I absolutely love this series, and John Matthew’s story is definitely a favourite. After all that he has been through, seeing him finally get his happy ending is fantastically satisfying.
“John leaned in and pressed his lips to hers; then he stretched out beside her. His body was exhausted but, his heart was alive with a joy so pure it was like the sunlight he didn’t get to see anymore: He was a mute-ass motherfucker with a nasty past and a night job that involved fighting evil and slaughtering the undead. And in spite of all that… he’d gotten the girl.”
Loved it! 5 stars.
Check out our Black Dagger Brotherhood page for more info on the series.