This latest installment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series could not have been better named. Ever since Blay and Qhuinn came up on stage as background characters, their importance and appeal have only grown. Book after book in the BDB has developed their story, little by little, in the background.
EXPECTATIONS
A lot of fans, including myself, have been waiting for QHUAY to finally get their HEA and I believe most of us didn’t really expect to get a full-length novels out of it. I, for one, though it would come in a novella or continue to develop in the background of other stories.
When J.R. Ward announced that Qhuay was getting their own book, I know all those fan started making a list of all the things they wanted to happen in their story. The expectations of the Qhuay fans are astronomical and honestly, I don’t think any book can live up to all of them.
INITIAL REACTION
I finished Lover At Last a few minutes ago and my first coherent thought is “Awwww”. Yes, the book is great, awesome, fantastic! What really helped me enjoy it was that I didn’t really have many specific expectations. All I knew was that I wanted Blay and Qhuinn together, finally!
CRITICAL EYE
I did something while reading Lover At Last that I usually am not able to do while reading a book: I was able to enjoy it thoroughly and at the same time I was very critical about it. It is strange to say that this is something I don’t usually do, since I write a book blog. However, I tend to prefer to immerse myself in book and review them from the perspective of a book lover and not really a critic.
When it came to Lover At Last, I couldn’t help it. J.R. Ward writes such a fantastic series, that the bar it very high and adding to that, it was a Qhuay’s book for crying out loud!
THE SEX FACTOR
I am aware that Ward had an uphill battle to write this book. I mean a M/M (male/male) romance has yet to be done in such a mainstream level,let alone one that includes explicit sex. For that alone I applaud J.R. Ward!
That said, I was a bit disappointed with the sex scenes of Lover At Last. I have read M/M romances before and I felt that Ward constricted herself when it came to making those scenes come to life. The scenes felt very one note, with Blay and Qhuinn always having sex in the same position and the complete absence of lube. I feel that if J.R. Ward was finally going to write Qhauy’s story, she needed to bite the bullet and make their relationship, sex wise, more believable.
THE ROMANCE
Regarding Qhuinn and Blay’s story, that is my only issue and to finally witness these two overcome all the obstacles and giving into their love for each other was nothing less than epic and utterly rewarding! From Blay coming out to his family and how different they are from Qhuinn’s, to the last few scenes that had me bawling my eyes out!
Qhuinn had a lot of "growing up" to do in this book. He had to own up to his mistakes and accept a huge part of himself. It is very hard for him to let go of how his family viewed him, how they considered him less than nothing. He has never belonged anywhere before Blay, a man that has been his real family, and he needs to finally understand that.
He also needs to understand that besides Blay, the BDB is also his family and in Lover At Last, Qhuinn gets proof of that.
Qhuinn's insecurities and stubbornness are huge factors in Qhuay taking so long to happen, but seeing this final stretch into their road to HEA was amazing!
EVERYTHING NOT QHAUY
As for the rest of the book... I had a few other issues as well. Too many story lines! I mean, this is Qhuay’s book, why do we need THREE more potential romances in there? WHY?
Is a M/M romance so repulsive that some heterosexual romance is needed to dilute it? Because that’s how it felt!
The villain POVs are never the best part of the BDB books, but they are usually harmless. In Lover At Last, however we had NINE points of view other than the two main characters. What was that about?
I actually liked Trez’s POV, but Xcor’s were a bit too much. Layla was less annoying than usual and she actually had a direct connection to the main couple.
Assail and Sola’s POVs, though, were so freaking annoying and unnecessary! I felt they took a huge chunk of what could have been more page time for Blay and Qhuinn.
All in all, Lover At Last is a great addition to the series for no other reason than the fact that we get to finally see Qhuay get their HEA. The issues I mentioned really bothered me, but Qhauy’s happiness drowned it all out in the end and that’s what matters!
I haven't read it yet, but that's okay. Soon. I've heard very good and bad things about it and one is that darn sidestoryline taking over everything! UGH! I hope I can get past that. I'll probaly just be solely focusing on Qhuay when I read it.
@Maryia
I think that's a great approach! Focus on Qhuuay! Though that might make the amount of extra story lines more apparent lol
Nice review! I am excited to read this one, since I have just loved this series.
@Renee
Hope you enjoy it!! =D
I think for Ward's first try at MM she did a pretty okay job, although the issues I had are the ones that keep popping up in this series. There's so many subplots that pull you back and forth as a reader and not in a good way. I also felt the angst factor on Qhuinn's end was very high and at one point I wanted to smack him.
But again Ward has me in her web with this series, my crack.
@Katie
yeah the angst was annoying at times!
and this series is my crack too! LOL
I totally agree with you about enjoying BDB but having a critical eye. I have been like that with all of her books since I think V's book. There is something about them, they are like crack. What's strange is this is the first time that I actually enjoyed the entire thing from beginning to end. I am in the minority apparent, but that's okay! :-) I felt her storytelling and the writing was so much tighter in this one than in any of the last several books. And while there were a lot of side stories, I truly enjoyed them all - and for the first time in forever, I didn't skip over any sections! I also enjoyed the drawn out romance - or time to reach HEA for Qhuinn and Blay. I feel that emotionally, it was true to life. Thanks for the review sweets! Cannot wait for THE KING!
@Twimom
You have a point hon! Her writing is tighter and I think a lot of my review was the initial reaction to it all... but looking back I had a blast with this book! I cannot wait for The King either!