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Review
5 Brilliantly devastating stars
If you’re a BDB fan, then you’ll know what to expect from this series, and once again, JR Ward totally delivered. This is a multi-layered story with action, suspense, excitement, romance, sex, multiple love stories and heaps of emotion. In fact this book totally ripped my heart out. But OMG, it’s such an amazing story!
I went into this book with an idea of how I thought it would all go down, and while I had the general idea right, the story has some huge surprises, and took me places I definitely wasn’t expecting! I love that about a story, and while I was a blubbering mess for a good portion of it, I reveled in every moment.
As the title suggests, the story centres around “The Shadows” – Trez and iAm. Long time characters in the series, their stories have started to develop in the later books, and this time we get up close and personal with the mysterious twins. I’m not going to go into detail about their backstory, because their history is well developed before this book starts (don’t even think about reading this series out of order!!!), and the way everything plays out for them is a real surprise – it’s best to watch it all unfold as it happens.
I do need to say though, that the romance in this book is beautiful! Trez, in particular, surprised me with how romantic he is! I loved seeing him all loved up, and with every word and gesture, I was in a total swoon.
“I love you so much. I love you so deeply. I love you forever.”
iAm is equally amazing as the man who will do anything for his brother. I love the direction his story took – definitely a surprise, but a very welcome one.
And there is a lot more going on with the Brothers and their extended crew…
Of course, seeing any of the ‘old school’ Brothers is always a highlight, and I absolutely adored revisiting with one of my favourites – Rhage and “his Mary”, with many chapters from his POV. There are things happening with Hollywood and I am beyond thrilled that he will be getting the next book in the series!
“This is calm, cool, and collected, you little bitch. You don’t want to see me pissed off.”
There is some more story progression for Layla. Her strange and secretive time with Xcor continues, and things are still slowly moving along there. But it’s her relationship with Qhuinn and Blay that I love the best – the dynamic between the trio is gorgeous.
Xcor and the BOBs appear, with a bit more of a focus on Throe, whose allegiances are now highly suspect, and we check in briefly with Assail.
We also get to meet Paradise, daughter of Abalone and heroine of the upcoming Blood Kiss, book one in the spin off series Black Dagger Legacy. She’s a feisty girl, brought up in the pampered world of the Glymera, but secretly wishing for something more, I really like her. We are briefly introduced to her love interest and I am so excited for their story.
I enjoyed all of the time spent with the Brothers, and seeing the goings on in the mansion, and the dynamics between the larger group is sensational as always. Packed full of Ward-isms, the writing is fast paced but still descriptive and HIGHLY emotive. I was quickly sucked into the story and totally wrapped up in the BDB world. This story is a fantastic addition to the series.
Bravo JR Ward – 5 huge stars.
Check out our Black Dagger Brotherhood page for more info on the series.