Review: The Bourbon Kings by J.R Ward

by Jewels E 8/31/2015 0 comments

I decided to read this book because I was curious. When I intially learned of it some time back, I wasn't really sold on the premise, but since I knew some people who had loved it, I decided I ought form an opinion for myself since J.R Ward is a rather brilliant author. 

Series: The Bourbon Kings, #1

My Rating:❀❀

Genre: Contemporary Romance

However, the book didn't do it for me. It started off really strong, with a lot of tension and drama and backstory that was being built on as the present situations were unfolding. Since the author has become known for drawing multiple storylines into her books, I was expecting that this might follow that style and it did. I was interested in each of the characters and problems they were facing, and it was made all the more interesting since the characters were all related to one another. 

But at some point, the drama that had at first pulled me into the story became too much. As I got further along in the story, the drama really ramped up and some of struck me as downright twisted. I started to really feel that it was overtop to be realistic anymore (and I can suspend belief in BIG ways) and that's when the novel started to drag for me. I stopped feeling invested in the characters and their problems. 

J.R Ward

Let me be clear. The style and writing were good. I didn't mind the multiple plot lines perse. It's not about personal taste, although as a general rule I like reading a book with one or two stories as the major plots, not four or five. But I liked that Ward plotted out the stories for each of the characters as back stories and was carrying them forward skillfully, giving equal attention to each storyline. It did feel balanced that way for me, so the fact that I was dealing with three major storylines told from multiple points of view didn't bother me much. But between some of the highly dramatic and crazy things that happened, and the multiple storylines I felt that the multiple plotlines themselves began to become distracting and even confusing. I felt like I was jumping between stories sometimes and I became distanced from the characters and thus I ended up not really enjoying the book. 

If you like the style of this book, the intense drama and don't mind switching back and forth between multiple plots, you will likely enjoy this book. And if you enjoy audios, I highly recommend listening to the audio. The narrator does a wonderful job with the voices and he is very easy (sexy) on the ears. 

Happy Listening

Jewels