review: blood fury (black dagger legacy #3) J.R. ward

A vampire aristocrat, Peyton is well aware of his duty to his bloodline: mate with an appropriate female of his class and carry on his family’s traditions. And he thought he’d found his perfect match—until she fell in love with someone else. Yet when his split-second decision in a battle with the enemy endangers the life of another trainee, Peyton has to face the idea that his future, and his heart, actually lie with another.
Novo, as a female in the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training program, feels like she has to prove herself to everybody—and she has no interest in being distracted by falling in love. But when Peyton proves to be so much more than a rich playboy, she is forced to confront the tragedy that has broken her soul and closed her off from love.
As the two grapple with Novo’s past and Peyton’s present, another couple must contend with an erotic connection that is unparalleled—and potentially scandalous.
Saxton, who has had his heart broken, discovers in himself a deep-seated attraction to Ruhn, a new member of the household. But will the other male explore the connection? Or will he close his mind and his heart to what could be true love . . . and cost Saxton everything? ~ Goodreads

Source: Library

Review: I gave up on Ward’s books and the BDB (Black Dagger Brotherhood) years ago. I think the last one I read was book #9 (although I did read #11 – Qhuay’s book). I actually have Lover Reborn (BDB #10) but haven’t read it. By that point I was basically rage reading/reviewing her books.

She had so many story lines and pov’s going on that the couple got shorted out of their own books, the product placement and slang overtook everything. There was no longer a sense of Brotherhood and things were being dragged out unnecessarily for no good reason – only to be dropped later. My blood pressure is going up just thinking about it again lol

Anyhoo….she started this Black Dagger Legacy series with the new trainees and I had heard good things but still – it wasn’t enough to bring me back until this book. There are two couples – Peyton and Nova (M/f) and Saxton and Ruhn (M/M) and I knew Saxton from the original series so I already felt a little bit of an emotional investment in his HEA going in and hearing that this was her best books in years, I decided to give it a try.

Despite there being 4 pov’s, there’s a common theme between both couples – unrequited love that both Saxton and Peyton need to move on from and a feeling of unworthiness for Nova and Ruhn. That commonality works and stops the back and forth from being too jarring. Both couples proceed at almost the same pace even though their stories and characters are quite different.

I actually got this one from the library because I was convinced I wouldn’t make it past the first 50 pages and didn’t want to waste money on buying it. Instead I was completely absorbed in both romances – irritated when life made me put the book down. Each pov ends on a bit of a cliffhanger making you NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. Which was a ton of fun as a reader and harken's back to Ward’s early writing style.

There’s very little in way the of The Chosen, the Lessers or anything else really unless it is something that helps move the romances forward. So if you’re looking for that this might not be for you. She still drops all the brand name references but she seems to have pared it down some and they were actually relevant to the scenes so I was ok with it here.

And just a quick note about each couple:

Peyton and Nova: fiery and combative at first, sexy as hell. While Nova doesn’t take playboy Peyton seriously, he decides to pull his shit together and be there for her even as she pushed him away. She has really good reasons and Peyton was a steady force for her – waiting until she was ready to open her heart to him. CW: –> miscarriage<-

Saxton and Ruhn: Saxton is so broken after his relationship with Blay ended. Having to see Blay with Qhuinn and the babies is like a stab to the heart every day. He believes something fundamental broke in him after Blay and he’s never meant to have love again until Ruhn enters his life. Ruhn is  a gentle giant that was forced into deplorable acts and they are so perfectly right for each other, despite being complete opposites. Saxton is highly refined and enjoys the best of things while Ruhn lives simply but shares his love totally and completely. He reminded me a bit of Z and what he went through with his past.

Gah! This book gave me the warm romantic fuzzies! It’s really what I needed to read after a few ambigious ending romances. I needed rock solid and I got it. In fact, it got a little sappy towards the end.  I love you – no I love you – no, I love you MORE shmoopy woopy….lol but I’ll take it!

I’m not sure I’m ready to come back into the Warden fold but I’ll definitely keep an open mind with future installments of this series.