Review: Lover At Last (Black Dagger Brotherhood) by J.R. Ward

“Let me kiss you.” Qhuinn groaned as he leaned in. “I know I don’t deserve it, but please . . . it’s what you can do for me. Let me feel you. . . .”
Qhuinn’s mouth brushed his own. Came back for more. Lingered.
“I’ll beg for it.” More with the caress of those devastating lips. “If that’s what it takes. I don’t give a fuck, I’ll beg. . . .” (…)
“Let me inside you again, Blay….”

I would like to start this review by saying I am a HUGE Black Dagger Brotherhood fan. I have loved this series from the start, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on Lover at Last, Blay and Quinn’s story, and the 11th in the series. I usually do a re-read of  the previous book with this series, but I decided not to with all the books on my TBR list. So at first, I blamed my difficulty with this book on my not doing the re-read. I was also reading this while prepping to go on vacation for 2 weeks, so then I blamed my difficulty on that. Then, when Lover at Last took me well over a week to finish (it may have been 10 days!), and the next book I read took 2 days, I realized it was this book, not me.

This is the first Black Dagger Brotherhood book that I spent the entire book, right up to the end, wishing I could read it faster and get to the next book. At 609 pages, this felt like the never-ending book to me. As soon as I would start to get into it, the chapter would end and another chapter with different characters and a different storyline would start.

Different characters is the operative word. This was not Quinn and Blay’s book. It was Layla’s book. It was X’cor’s book. It was some dude named Assail (I could barely place him) and Sola’s book. It was was even Trez’s book, and Wrath and Beth’s. So many side stories with new characters more than old ones that you want to re-visit. This whole book felt like a set-up for the next 5 in the series.

And the brotherhood slang–it annoyed the crap out of me. I found myself rolling my eyes reading that these “old world” vampires and even their women talk like what a white woman thinks people in the hood talk like. The silly names and some of the language always got to me a bit, but in this book everyone’s inner voice had the ‘hood’ sound.

My usual review style, including retelling of the blurb in my own words and including numerous quotes and gifs aren’t working for this review. Why? Because there are too many story lines. Because I’m crushed. I wanted to love it, but I didn’t. I found myself liking it at a few parts, and loving a scene at the very end, but it took almost 10 days to get there.

Blay, Quinn and John Matthew were always the three musketeers. We had John Matthew’s POV in many books. But in Lover at Last, John Matthew barely even appeared. I felt his point of view could have added so much to so many aspects of the book, but he was just a non-entity.

I’m going to go through some of the basic stories and my thoughts here:

• X’cor and Layla: I started to like Layla more in this book as she stood up to people and started to have her own mind. The connection between the two is still strong despite how wrong it is. The whole Band of Brothers thing hasn’t really caught on for me, but I did like seeing this forbidden romance have a possible spark. The book focused way too much on Layla for my tastes however, and I have a hard time caring about the ‘enemy’.
• Assail and Sola: I still can barely remember Assail from other books, but I liked this budding relationship. Just not HERE. Why are they even part of this book? I barely felt the tie-in at all, despite my enjoyment of the characters.
• Trez and Selena: I am interested in seeing Trez’s story play out, and I enjoyed learning more about the shadows, but again, it just wasn’t necessary in this book. I also barely remembered Selena.
• Quinn and Blay: It’s about time!!! I was disappointed in Blay for lying to Quinn about Saxton. And I was disappointed in Quinn for denying being gay, right up until the end. The couplings they had were pretty hot, but not Ward’s usual heat–which was OK with me, I’m not a huge fan of m-m, but more would not have bothered me at all. The scenes were missing  intimacy that 2 guys who have been BFFs since childhood should have.  One word J.R. Ward needs to use: LUBE!!!! Really, I don’t care, vampire or not, a big dick in your ass for the first time is gonna hurt. Just saying… I would have liked to see more tenderness and love between the couple…not just hawt sex and lies until the end.

Likes:

• Blay’s coming out to his parents.
• The epilogue (the best part, even though it was cheesy).
•  Finally seeing these two guys together.
• The expanding Brotherhood.
• I liked feeling as if I were ‘coming home’ to the brotherhood.
• Catching up with some of the other characters (though some were strangely missing)
• Quinn’s growth and confidence.
• The airplane scene.
• The epilogue.
• More insight into Quinn’s past, and more of his relationship with his brother.

Dislikes:

• The price.
• Way too many story lines and they keep switching.
• Too many stories about characters I barely even remember instead of the characters we love.
• The silly ghetto slang was just too much.
• There were some errors and inconsistencies that should not be for such an expensive book.
• This was supposed to be Quinn and Blay’s book but they became secondary characters or maybe third…or fourth.
• JR did not use her usual details in the sex scenes, but one thing for sure…there was no lube!
• It felt like the whole book was a set-up for future books.
• Some of the side stories, though interesting, barely tied in.
• Lies Lies Lies.
• Where was John Matthew? They were the 3 musketeers.
• It took almost the whole book to get them together.

Rating: (This is so hard for me!!!) 2.5 stars 4 Heat 

I have loved this series all the way through. It is one of my favorite all-time series. but Lover at Last just didn’t hold my interest. After taking almost 10 days to read, and wishing it would end so I could get to a book I love, I’m not sure I am willing to continue the series. Especially at the price point it is at now (though it is currently $5.00 less than when it was originally released). There were parts I loved, but there weren’t enough of those to save the book for me.

I did something I rarely do with this review. I quickly peaked at goodreads before writing my review. I wanted to see if I was crazy in the way that I felt. The reviews are all over the place, with some saying it was the best BDB book yet, but many more having some issues with it, though perhaps not as much as me. There were a good number though who rated it low despite loving the others, so I felt a little less crazy.

“You are perfect the way you are.” Blay’s voice was strong. “There is nothing wrong with who and what you have always been.I’m proud of you. And I love you. Now… and always.”
Qhuinn’s vision got wavy. Hard-core.
“I’m proud of you. And I love you,” Blay repeated. “Always. Forget about your old family… you have me now. I am your family.”

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