REVIEW: Blood Kiss by JR Ward

JR Ward has a new one!!

What it's about:

The legacy of the Black Dagger Brotherhood continues in a spin-off series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author…

Paradise, blooded daughter of the king’s First Advisor, is ready to break free from the restrictive life of an aristocratic female. Her strategy? Join the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training center program and learn to fight for herself, think for herself...be herself. It’s a good plan, until everything goes wrong. The schooling is unfathomably difficult, the other recruits feel more like enemies than allies, and it’s very clear that the Brother in charge, Butch O’Neal, a.k.a. the Dhestroyer, is having serious problems in his own life.

And that’s before she falls in love with a fellow classmate. Craeg, a common civilian, is nothing her father would ever want for her, but everything she could ask for in a male. As an act of violence threatens to tear apart the entire program, and the erotic pull between them grows irresistible, Paradise is tested in ways she never anticipated--and left wondering whether she’s strong enough to claim her own power...on the field, and off.

GRAB YOUR COPY:  AMAZON  |  BARNES&NOBLE

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My thoughts:

JR Ward finally gives us a new installment of the BDB…well a spin off series. So great to see all the old guys and a return to the original styled series. I could not put this book down once I started. So few authors hook me in that way. Even though this is a “new beginning,” I can’t recommend a newbie to reading this author’s work start with this book. This is a great book, but there is so much reliance on the old characters from her Black Dagger Brotherhood, especially Butch/Marissa whose story is continued, that this isn’t very good as a stand alone. If you’re a fan and you read the others, you must pick this one up.

In this book we get to meet Paradise, even though we did meet her before as a small character previously in the BDB books. In an attempt to escape her upper eschelon life in the glymera and destiny to become an ornamental mate (or shellan), she applies to join the Brotherhood’s training school. Then she meets the commoner and extraordinarily talented fighter, Craeg. Their chemistry literally incinerates the pages. For her, not good to be this attracted to a classmate in a rigorous, sometimes life-threatening, war-training program. As the pull between them grows, she must figure out how to balance her on-the-field challenges as well as off-the-field.

Then there’s Butch and Marissa. So loved this plot. This author has pulled this off in previous books, the working through of a complex long-term relationship through some heavy angst and with such pure artistry. Kudos for giving this couple their due.