Lover At Last - #11 in The BlackDagger Brotherhood Series

Ok, it has been a while since I have posted (clearly I suck at new years resolutions!) and I now find myself posting in defence of J.R. Ward's latest offering in her BDB Series.

After reading the previous 10 books in the series, I have been waiting patiently (which, believe me, is very uncharacteristic of me) for Qhuinn and Blay's story. The relationship between the two, as well as the introduction of the Band of Bastards, has been building up slowly over the last few books. So when it was finally released just a week ago, I found myself sitting at my desk at work, itching to get home so I could read it.

And read it I did...in one night.

And then I read it again.

Reading the other books, I was one of the people who firmly believed Qhuinn and Blay deserved to have a book dedicated to them just like the other brothers had.

But anyone who read Lover Reborn, book 10 in the series that centred on the brother, Tohrment would know that after 10 books the story was in need of being refreshed.

So now, after reading some reviews on Amazon that call this book a "disappointment" and centred too much on "aggressive sex" I feel like I need a place to vent my frustrations on how clearly and disappointingly some people have interpreted this book.

Don't get me wrong, I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I just don't agree with them! Especially when it seems to me that what they want out of the book is completely different to what they seemed to love about the 10 books that came before!

I do, however, agree with one thing, and that is that John Matthew barely registers in this one. As the best friend of both Qhuinn and Blay, not to mention the fact that Qhuinn and John are supposed to be attached at the hip, I think he should have been factored into the story a lot more than he was.

I firmly disagree, and frankly it pisses me off a little when some suggest that the sex between Qhuinn and Blay could have been "beautiful".

Guess what? It is.

And since when has the sex ever been all that mushy, generic crap in the other books anyway?

Never.

The whole point is that they are not that generic stuff you can find in any Mills & Boon novel. And with Qhuinn and Blay what comes out the most in these scenes is supposed to be desperation and things left unspoken and attempted to be communicated through actions.

Anyone who tells me that the other books were not like this has never read the books properly. On this I refuse to budge.


In any case, the thing with the entire book is that it lacks a little bit of the violence and physicality we readers of Ward's series are traditionally used to. With the introduction of Assail and Sola's relationship, I think we are not supposed to feel like we know where the series is going or what their relationship fits in. This is compounded by the fact that Assail is (or rather is attempting) to be entirely neutral in this war.

This is just one example of the tension in this book.

Does it slap you across the face with it? No.

Are you questioning how Assail fits into all of this? Absolutely.

On top of this is the question of Layla's pregnancy by Qhuinn and her undeniable connection to Xcor. But whilst Layla irritates me to no end, I personally cannot wait to see what happens when Qhuinn and the rest of the Brothers find out what is happening between the two. It is almost impossible to come up with any kind of idea of what will happen because I know I will be wrong regardless.


I also agree with the fact that Qhuinn's induction into the Brotherhood should have been given more airtime than it got. This was such a momentus thing to have happened that it should have been a much bigger deal. I felt it was a little rushed.

Overall, I think the whole point of this book was that it is a book that needs to be read and taken for what it is.

It acts as a transition between the past 10 books and the books to come.

It is a consideration of the way things stand now. Everything is at a stand-still with neither side knowing what the other is planning to do next. The whole book is riddled with tension and anxiety. It is the part of a war where all sides are on red-alert and one move could decide the outcome of everything.

And in the middle of this waiting are two guys who finally decide to stop fighting each other because they may not live much longer once the war blows up again.

Amazon Are Watching My Kindle? What?!

I read an article on Publishers Weekly (they are amazing!) about a Norwegian woman who had had her Amazon account closed and her entire Kindle library wiped by Amazon.

Having read a different article not long before about companies like Amazon being able to know what book you have purchased on your e-readers, I was shocked.* Though it is obvious that they would know what you have purchased, I still feel uncomfortable by the idea that they know how long it takes me to read one page, what page I stop at, what sentences I have highlighted, etc. but I digress.

I do not know if the user did anything wrong with her account or Kindle. It is my understanding that she doesn't know either.

The issue for a lot of people I mentioned this to was whether or not Amazon were within their rights to do this irrespective of whether or not the user had done something wrong. The short answer is yes.  This is because, and this is very clearly outlined in the article by Eileen Brown, when we all buy books on our devices, we do not actually own them.

Sticking with Amazon just to simplify all of this, they clearly state in their Terms and Conditions that all of the content making up the e-book still belongs to them under copyright laws. What does this mean then? Well, essentially, it means that we are all paying for the privilege to be able to read the e-book version of a book instead of physically owning a printed copy of it. Put simply, we e-reader owners are renters.

Though I was initially annoyed (it doesn't take much. I have a love-hate relationship with my Kindle, it's mostly love, but still gets on my nerves at times) I realised that this is the only way that publishers can protect themselves and their author's works.

The Digital Rights Management (DRM) protects the book from being illegally distributed to those who want the fun of reading their favourite books without paying. I understand that to fight against piracy, this rule needs to be in place. It is irritating considering there are already plenty of books, especially on Kindle, that are available for FREE anyway!

We must remember that e-books and readers are still only young, mere toddlers in the literary world, so a little patience will make the whole experience better. In any case, if, unlike me, you are not a poor graduate, you could always splash out and buy a physical copy of a book if owning it is important to you. If it's important enough for you to want to own it then why not? Before e-readers, unless you borrow from the library, we all paid for printed books anyway.

The fact that Amazon could wipe my own Kindle is a little disconcerting but here is the biggest lesson I learned from this article, that if I just keep my nose clean with them that my books will stay on my device with no problem. Indeed, this is a lesson we must all learn when it comes to e-readers and e-books.

It's a bit like dealing with a very strict parent. Be good and they won't take your toy away from you. Cross them and, well, don't be surprised if they punish you for it!

So, fellow e-reader users, be good and don't begrudge publishers and authors for wanting to protect their work. After all, without this protection, we avid readers wouldn't be able to enjoy them so quickly with just 'one-click'.

*This wasn't the article I originally read on this but it is much more informative than the other.