Review: Lover At Last by J.R. Ward

Title:  Lover At Last*
Author: J.R. Ward
Series: Black Daggar Brotherhood #11
Genre:  Paranormal
Publisher: NAL Hardcover
Format:  ebook, hardcover, audio
Date/Year:  March 2013
Reviewed by:  Andrea
*This book was borrowed from the reviewer's local library

Summary from the publisher:

Qhuinn, son of no one, is used to being on his own. Disavowed from his bloodline, shunned by the aristocracy, he has finally found an identity as one of the most brutal fighters in the war against the Lessening Society. But his life is not complete. Even as the prospect of having a family of his own seems to be within reach, he is empty on the inside, his heart given to another....

Blay, after years of unrequited love, has moved on from his feelings for Qhuinn. And it’s about time: The male has found his perfect match in a Chosen female, and they are going to have a young—just as Qhuinn has always wanted for himself. It’s hard to see the new couple together, but building your life around a pipe dream is just a heartbreak waiting to happen. As he’s learned firsthand.

Fate seems to have taken these vampire soldiers in different directions... but as the battle over the race’s throne intensifies, and new players on the scene in Caldwell create mortal danger for the Brotherhood, Qhuinn finally learns the true definition of courage, and two hearts who are meant to be together... finally become one.

My Musings:

Spoiler free - for the 5 people in the world who haven’t read it yet :)

One full year, that’s how long the anticipation has been building since the last book of the series.  That’s nothing compared to what the people like me, who have always loved Blay and Quinn, have been going through.  We have been waiting years to finally they get their story.  To say this book was eagerly anticipated is an understatement.  Now that the book is finally here, the burning question is, did it live up to all the hype and high expectations?  Well... I would have to say the answer is both yes and no, but mostly yes.

Ward is well known for having many plotlines running throughout her books.  That was especially true with Lover at Last.  There was so much happening, and so many characters being pulled in from past books, that it was right on the edge of being too much to keep straight.  At first I was annoyed when Blay and Quinn’s story was constantly being interrupted by other storylines.  As time went on, and since Blay and Quinn didn’t seem to be making any progress, my interest was grabbed by almost every plotline.  That’s a very good thing since about 60% of the book was dedicated to the them.  They all wove together surprisingly well to set up future books.  I consider that part of the book to be a big success, as I am very interested to see what the future holds for Layla, Saxton, Xcor, Trey, and iAm.

For me, it was the romance between Blay and Quinn which left a lot to be desired.  The first issue being that they only got about 35% - 40% of the book.  As much as I have been looking forward to immersing myself into their romance, to spend so little time there was disappointing.  The second problem was with the development of their romance.  While I did love the angst and drama between them, I would have loved to see a bit more actual romance.  They started out exactly as I expected, in love with each other, but avoiding one another whenever possible.  Then they transitioned to having sex, but they still weren’t sharing anything meaningful.  I was disappointed that it was, once again, a lack of communication which kept them apart for so long.  In truth, that was the biggest disappointment of all.  The book is 600 pages long and it took them about 580 pages to finally connect.  It wasn’t until the epilogue that readers finally get to see them together, happy and planning a future together.  They eventually managed to get where I wanted them to be, but the journey was not as good as it should have been. 

I know this has been discussed to death, but I still have to comment on the sex scenes.  They were not good.  I’ve read a lot of J.R. Ward’s books, and I’ve seen that she can write some of the hottest, most passionate sex scenes imaginable.   Those were missing for Blay and Quinn.  They managed to have great angry sex, but there was never the intimate, caring, lovemaking between them which I wanted to read.  I was disappointed and felt robbed of one of the things I most looked forward to in this book.

There were some parts of it which didn’t live up to my expectations, but in other areas it was fantastic.  The growth and development of so many characters and plotlines were quite good.  Finally seeing the full picture of Quinn’s past was wonderful.   I was disappointed with one aspect,  but I was thrilled with others.  When I combine all of that, I have to say that it was a very good book. 

Ratings:

Overall: 3.75
Sensuality level:  3.5

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Other Reviews:

• Dear Author (C-)
• Babbling About Books, and More (B)
• Goodreads (avg rating as of 4/22/2013= 4.29 stars)

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