Where Winter Finds You by J.R Ward-Review , Excerpt and Giveaway
WHERE WINTER FINDS YOU
Black Dagger Brotherhood 17.5
by JR Ward
Release Date: November 26, 2019
Genre: adult, contemporary, paranormal
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 26, 2019
#1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward is heating things up this winter with a holiday novel featuring some of her most iconic Black Dagger Brothers.
When Trez lost his beloved to a tragic death (The Shadows, Black Dagger Brotherhood #13), his soul was crushed and his destiny seemed relegated to suffering. But when he meets a mysterious female, he becomes convinced his true love has been reincarnated. Is he right? Or has his grief created a disastrous delusion?
Therese has come to Caldwell to escape a rift with her bloodline. The revelation that she was adopted and not born into her family shakes the foundations of her identity, and she is determined to make it on her own. Her attraction to Trez is not what she’s looking for, except the sexy Shadow proves to be undeniable.
Has fate provided a grieving widower with a second chance…or is Trez too blinded by the past to see the present for what it really is? In this sensual, arresting book full of the themes of redemption and self-discovery, two lost souls find themselves at a crossroads where the heart is the only compass that can be trusted…but that may require a courage that neither of them possesses.
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REVIEW:WHERE WINTER FINDS YOU is the 17.5 instalment in J.R. Ward’s contemporary, adult BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD paranormal, romance series. This is Shadow Trez Latimer, and Therese’s story line. WHERE WINTER FINDS YOU can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading THE SHADOWS book 13 for Trez’s backstory and history.
WARNING: If you have not read book 13 THE SHADOWS, there may be some spoilers in my review.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Trez and Therese) WHERE WINTER FINDS YOU follows Shadow Trez Latimer as he struggles to go forward without the woman he loves. Months earlier Trez’s ‘shellan’ (mate) Selena, one of the Chosen, succumbed to a rare disease of her kind, known as the Arrest. Fast forward to present day wherein, with the approach of the Christian human holiday Christmas, Trez battles not to join his shellan in the fade but if not for a female vampire called Therese, whose likeness to Selena gave Trez, and everyone pause. What ensues is the building relationship between Therese and Trez, and the potential fall-out as Trez continues to struggle with the loss of Selena.
Therese, a female vampire, struggles with her past. Discovering she was adopted, Therese felt compelled to come to Caldwell, New York, in an effort to move on with her life, such as it is. Everyone she meets is shocked at her appearance, and if not for Trez Latimer, Therese would not be alive today. Trez Latimer, one of the rare Shadow vampires, finds himself battling between head and heart as it pertains to the woman that looks identical to his beloved shellan. With his brother iAm warning him about the potential for another heart break, Trez begins a slow seduction of our story line heroine, a seduction that brings with it too many memories of the past.
The relationship between Trez and Therese is one of instant attraction but Therese is unaware of her uncanny likeness to Trez’ former shellan. Nights of dreaming about her mysterious shadow man finds Therese realizing that perhaps, her dreams are more memories than anything else. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
The colorful secondary and supporting characters include Trez’ brother iAm, as well was iAm’s shellan; symphaths Rehvenge and Zhex; as well as several members of the BDB; Bitty, Fritz; Therese’ parents Larisse and Rosengareth, and her brother Gareth; and of course, the ever present Lassiter; and Therese’s co-workers Emile and Liza.
WHERE WINTER FINDS YOU is a story of family, heartache, grief and loss; struggle, depression, second chances and hope; a story of love transcending pain and loss, sadness and time. The premise is engaging and emotional; the characters are numerous, colorful and energetic; the romance is seductive and captivating- wrap yourself up in a cozy blanket for a long winter’s night.
Copy supplied by the publisher
Reviewed by Sandy
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THE SAVIOR
(Black Dagger Brotherhood #17)
by J.R. Ward
Genre: adult, contemporary, paranormal, romance
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 2, 2019
In the venerable history of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, only one male has ever been expelled—but Murhder’s insanity gave the Brothers no choice. Haunted by visions of a female he could not save, he nonetheless returns to Caldwell on a mission to right the wrong that ruined him. However, he is not prepared for what he must face in his quest for redemption.
Dr. Sarah Watkins, researcher at a biomedical firm, is struggling with the loss of her fellow scientist fiancé. When the FBI starts asking about his death, she questions what really happened and soon learns the terrible truth: Her firm is conducting inhumane experiments in secret and the man she thought she knew and loved was involved in the torture.
As Murhder and Sarah’s destinies become irrevocably entwined, desire ignites between them. But can they forge a future that spans the divide separating the two species? And as a new foe emerges in the war against the vampires, will Murhder return to his Brothers… or resume his lonely existence forevermore?
•••••••••••
REVIEW: THE SAVIOR is the seventeenth full-length instalment in JR Ward’s contemporary, adult BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD paranormal, romance series focusing on an elite group of vampire warriors known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood. This is Murhder, son of Murhder, and Dr. Sarah Watkins’ story line. THE SAVIOR can be read as a stand alone but for backstory and history, I recommend reading the series in order.
Told from several third person perspectives including Murhder and Sarah THE SAVIOR follows human molecular geneticist Dr. Sarah Watkins’ in the aftermath of discovering the people she works for at BioMed Research have been conducting illegal, immoral and unethical experiments. With the FBI questioning the death of her fiance, Sarah will begin an investigation of her own only to discover not all is right at BioMed Research. Attempting to rescue, what she believes, is a young boy, Sarah will come face to face with her future. Enter vampire warrior Murhder, and the male with whom Sarah will fall in love. What ensues is the building relationship and romance between Murhder and Sarah, and the potential fall-out as Murhder’s past, and his strained relationship with the Black Dagger Brotherhood, force Sarah out of Murhder’s life, and Murhder away from the only ‘brothers’ he has ever loved.
Murhder’s story has been building throughout the series. The reader was first introduced to Murhder as part of Xhex’s past. Believing he had gone insane, Murhder was kicked out of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, only to return twenty years later, desperate to locate a female he failed to save years before. But be aware, if you are looking for a ‘big bad’ you won’t find it in The Savior-our hero is a savior-an avenger-a male of worth.
Meanwhile, John Matthew and Xhex’s relationship is strained with the arrival of Xhex’s former lover Murhder. Believing he has lost his shellan to her former love, John Matthew goes rogue risking not only his life when he tangles with one of Throe’s shadows, but any chance for Murhder to return to the Brotherhood. Speaking of the ‘shadows’, Throe’s dabble into the ‘black arts’ threatens the BDB when they are unable to destroy that which they do not understand.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including all of the previous story line couples, their growing families, Fritz, Havers, Rehvenge, Lassiter, and newly transitioned vampire Nate.
THE SAVIOR is a story of betrayal, revenge, acceptance and love. We are witness to the backstory that pushed our hero into a murderous rage, and the resulting expulsion from the Brotherhood he desperately loved. The premise is engaging and captivating;the characters are numerous, energetic and determined-another vampire will be accepted into the Brotherhood; the attraction between Murhder and Sarah is immediate; our heroine is quick to accept the existence of vampires; the romance is passionate and heart breaking.
Own a copy
Reviewed by Sandy
NOTE: The excerpt is intended for mature readers due to strong language and content
“Holy f–k,” Trez yelled as a semitrailer truck the size of a building went blasting past the front bumper of his brand-new BMW.
Like right past. Like . . . nearly peeling off the hood of the damned car.
As his four-wheel drive, heavily treaded snow tires abruptly grabbed at that which they had been spinning on, and a pedestrian who’d slipped suddenly righted himself out of the way of the truck, Trez decided that the definition of in-the-nick-of time was exactly what just happened. If he’d been able to go when the light had turned, if that pedestrian hadn’t caught himself just when he had, they would both have been filing their termination papers tonight.
Because about a split second prior to the almost catastrophe going down, Trez had been debating whether or not to just drive on. And not merely through the intersection.
Having spent two decades in Caldwell, watching with his Shadow eyes the way a couple generations of humans built up the city, he knew exactly where this particular street in this particular section of town ended up.
At the Hudson River.
So if he hit the gas and kept on a direct, no wavering course until the street ended, he could take a Fast & Furious jump off the concrete embankment under one of Caldie’s two bridges. The BMW would not last long in the free fall, the sleek car having been built to fly over asphalt, not literally fly, and soon enough, both he and all this expensive steel, leather, and plastic would be sinking beneath the cold, sluggish waters of the Hudson.
As his eyes had flashed peridot, his brain had imagined what it would be like. At first, the water would infiltrate through seams and vents, a trickle, not a rush. But that would change as he used the last of the electrical system’s power to lower the windows. After that, he would sit and wait for his drowning to take place, probably with his hands still on the wheel, maybe not, his seat belt remaining pulled across his chest, his clothes dampening and then clinging to his warm body with the clammy touch of the corpse he would soon become.
He would not struggle. He would keep his eyes open. He imagined himself feeling a calmness that had been missing since all the light in his world went out in that hospital room about twenty miles, and some distance underground, away from where he himself would die. He would be so relieved. Even as the water reached his throat, then proceeded over his mouth and into his nose and ears, even as his body temperature tried to rally against the icy submersion and failed to conserve any warmth, even as his air supply dwindled to that which was in his lungs and no more, he would be at peace.
The death throes, when they came—and they would, for his body was, as all were, evolutionarily adapted for survival, the conscious mind in charge only up to a dire point, whereupon autonomic function took over and things went haywire—would thrash him about in the bucket seat, throwing his head forward and back, his mouth opening and drawing in water as a reflex, as a desperate hope that his lungs were merely being denied oxygen as opposed to there being none available to them. He was under no illusions that it would be easy. There would be suffering from the suffocation, burning inside his body, perhaps even some last-moment panic kicked over his mortal transom by the lizard part of his brain.
But then it would be over. Done with. The whole miserable biological accident of his life dusted, in the bin, over and out.
A void, and nothing more.
Which was heretical.
As a Shadow, he had been raised in a slightly different belief system than regular vampires. His people, an evolutionary extension within the fanged species, relied a great deal on the stars in the sky, the traditions of the s’Hisbe a variant of what was accepted as the way the afterlife worked. The core tenets, however, were the same for both. It was like Protestants and Catholics—same essential language, but different dialects—and as such, his kind, too, had the theory that after you died, you went up unto the Fade, and lived out eternity with your loved ones under the benevolent auspices of the Scribe Virgin. Assuming you hadn’t been a total douche down on earth. If you had been an asshole, you were relegated to Dhunhd, also known as Hell, which was where the Omega and his minions hung out. Either way, your conduct over the course of your mortal nights determined your final zip code, and there was something after your last breath to look forward to—or dread—depending on your worthiness.
It was an okay theory, and a construct that he understood was, in its own fashion, to be found on the human side of things as well. Not the Fade or Dhunhd, perhaps, not the Scribe Virgin or the Omega, exactly, but rather other, similar belief systems that covered both how you treated yourself and others while you were mortal, and also considered what happened to you after your coil, so to speak, got popped. Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and countless other religions, they were all efforts to give more of a vista after death than just a coffin and a grave. Or a pyre.
He knew from pyres.
God, did he ever.
What he no longer knew from, however, what he no longer believed in, was all the rest of that stuff. He’d never been particularly spiritual, but man, you didn’t know how much you had been until you were not any longer.
At all.
Anyway, prior to the whole truck/intersection/ almost-obliteration thing, he had been considering what was not exactly a sin, but rather a really, very not-so-hot idea. Assuming you were a believer. In the lexicon of both vampires and Shadows, if you took your own life, that was it. No Fade for you, motherfucker. Now, no one had been able to provide him with a good explanation of what the alternative repercussions were—sure, lore had it you were closed-door’d on the whole Fade thing. But where did you end up? Dhunhd? Worm food? Who knew. Yet everyone and their uncle was damn clear on the fact that you weren’t going to be elbows deep in people you liked for the next jabillion years.
The message apparently being, if you took your own life, well, then, to hell with you if you didn’t appreciate the gift you were given at birth.
Yeah, like this whole breathing/heart-beating thing had been such a fucking prize, these years he’d been upright and walking around such a goddamn joy. He’d been destined for a loveless mating since the night he was born, been responsible for the senseless suffering of both his parents, watched a dear friend get tortured by a psychotic cunt for a good twenty years—that was fun—been a pimp, a drug dealer, and an enforcer.
Real partridge-in-a-pear-tree shit.
And then that heaping sundae of shit-chip ice cream—which he’d self-medicated with an outstanding sex addiction, thank you very much—had been cherry-topped by the granddaddy of all gutwrenchers.
He’d met the female of his dreams, fallen in love . . . and, after what felt like twenty minutes of happiness, had had to hold her hand as she died of a wasting disease right in front of him.
Honestly, he hadn’t just been born under a bad star; he’d been born under one that kicked him in the nuts so badly, he’d coughed them out in his hand.
So now he was here, in this BMW he’d just bought, on this snowy night, during the motherfucking human season of cocksucking joy, contemplating suicide—only to have the GODDAMN ACCIDENT THAT COULD HAVE MADE IT ALL COME OUT ALL RIGHT DENIED TO HIM BY A SET OF ALL-SEASON RADIALS THAT HAD WORKED JUST FINE AT EVERY OTHER FUCKING INTERSECTION HE’D EVER DRIVEN THROUGH.
Not to put too fine a point on things.
But FFS, he couldn’t even have a chance to get dead in such a way that he could both end this bullshit AND not run afoul of the maybe truth that suicide got you, literally, nowhere.
Not that he believed in the afterlife anymore anyway. No matter what he’d thought he’d seen after Selena had died.
Hell, if there was anything that the last three months had taught him, it was that death was a hard stop. Especially if you were the one left behind.
Well, Trez thought, as he sped along in the snow, at least there was still the embankment option.
There was that to look forward to.
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J.R. Ward is the author of more than thirty novels, including those in her #1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood series. There are more than fifteen million copies of her novels in print worldwide, and they have been published in twenty-six different countries around the world. She lives in the South with her family.
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