Lassiter (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #21) (2024)

She said bad stuff was gonna happen in this book and she wasn't lying. 😭 I put off writing a review for this as I wanted to let my feelings sink in a bit first. This book scared the crap out of me and stressed me the hell out. I honestly feel heartbroken and I don't like that feeling. The last time I felt this way about a BDB book was The Shadows but here it was worse for reasons. Yes there is a happily ever after but at the expense of a beloved character, a beloved character and couple that's very dear to me which is why it affected my overall reading experience entirely. I just have to ask JR Ward does she believe in a HEA? Because at this point I don’t think she does. f*cking with established couples' HEA should not be fair game. Why continue to write romance if you don’t seem to actually believe in a HEA? This is a very divisive book, some may love it and others will hate it. This was the closing final chapter of the Original Brothers books and now a new era is starting after this. Something integral felt lost along the way and that's a shame.

Lassiter & Rahvyne
I loved them and their possibilities in the previous book. The angst, the star crossed yearning, the sweetness. We do get quite a bit of them being together and happy in here which was surprising. But I missed the angst aspect. The yearning tension over why they can't be together felt more urgent and emotional in the last book. There is literally no conflict for Lassiter and Rahvyne here up until the very end and it felt like a missed opportunity. And also kind of didn't make sense? Lassiter is the diety of the Vampire race and knows a war is brewing with Devina and Lash running around with lessers. Where was the urgency? Rahvyne knowing very important information that affects the brotherhood and future of the whole race but acting like nothing is wrong and spending time with her man made no sense and so frustrating. Lassiter's humor and his idiosyncrasies was oddly missing here as well. I wasn't asking for the goofy clown show from past books but it would have been cute to see them watching a movie together for example or Lassiter introducing her to new things since Rahvyne is from a different time. Those cute special bonding moments Ward used to be so brilliant at with her couples is no longer there. Lassiter's backstory also felt untouched. The story behind why he wears all that gold jewelry I thought was sweet and touching but that's pretty much all we get about his origin story. Rahvyne I liked how different she was but I had serious issues with her and what happened here. First, we still don't know what Rahvyne is beyond a vampire from the Old country with mystical powers. Rahvyne is from another century and traveled space and time to reunite with her cousin Sahvage in present day Caldwell. She also has healing powers to the point she can bring someone back from the dead and she can also spoiler alert! shapeshift. But it's never explained why or how. Her own cousin doesn't even know what she is. She's still a mystery after this book.

“It was just a vision I had,” she answered lamely. There were reasons why even he could not know about the Book. She trusted Lassiter’s intentions always, but minds could be read and sometimes secrets were shared in the hopes of improving situations. It was safer for everyone.

Rahvyne has firsthand knowledge of something terrible happening to the King, Wrath in the very beginning of the book. She sees a vision in that creepy magic book that warns her Wrath is going to die. But she just sits on this information and doesn't tell anyone THROUGH THE ENTIRE BOOK until it's too late and intervenes at the very last minute instead. Her reasons for not saying anything made zero sense to me especially considering how Wrath and Beth personally welcomed her with open arms into their home. She meets their son Little Wrath and bonds with Beth who is nothing but loving and supportive to her. This is her race and community but when the time comes to do something she just sits on her laurels instead cause she's upset with Lassiter?...........

ARE YOU FOR REAL? This is your heroine, Warden? Ms. "Gift of Light and Miracles" doesn't want to intervene with fate again cause it's wRoNg and she's nursing a broken heart? Give me a f*cking break. What really enraged me is when the vision is shown to her in warning again when Wrath is about to die to get her to intervene, she thinks about Wrath and Beth and their young and how this will effect everyone and their race and a child losing it's father and she's all "yyyyyeah meh, nope! Sorry." Bitch what? Yes she does save him but in the most convoluted way imaginable. She intervenes at the very last minute snatches him up right before an explosion goes off and places his soul on freeze for 33 years. Rahvyne can save Wrath's damn dog from dying and make him immortal but King of the vampire race? The last living pure bred vampire? Pfft. Meh. Let's do this instead! You had other options at your disposal to try and save Wrath and none are used because Ward made a point of explaining them away this time and this is what she chose to do instead? In the words of the great Harvey Specter:

FLAPPINGFLAPPINGFLAPPING— She twisted back around and ignored that image of Wrath and the black tide of symbols swamping his portrait. “No, I am taking care of myself from the now on! I am sorry if there is a bad destiny awaiting the King—or whate’er you are attempting to tell me! But it is not my problem!”

This is why I cannot stand her heroines anymore. They are so unbelievably selfish and shortsighted. Nothing about what Rahvyne did here is heroic. I could forgive and accept all this better if the heroine had not known about this information beforehand. And that's my biggest problem and put a pall over the entire book for me. She knew the whole time and said nothing. Lassiter still doesn't even know, that's a pretty big elephant & when they find out how she saved the day in the epilogue in the time jump she's called a "hero". I can't really call her that considering she did nothing and said nothing until the very last minute which caused a family to be ripped apart. I cannot stand forced plot contrivances like this just to create conflict that could have been avoided if a character had just spoken up. 33 years of heartache and pain could have been avoided if dear Rahvyne opened her mouth AND TOLD SOMEBODY ABOUT THE KING'S DEATH. A warning, a hint, something, anything. Wrath loses 30 years of seeing his son grow up and being with his Beth and protecting/ruling his race because Rahvyne was in a snit and being a petty selfish little twat. Yup, makes total sense right? What a hero. 😒🙄 I just can't help but wonder if Lassiter and Beth found out that Rahvynne knew way before hand and said nothing would they still be praising her as a hero? She lied to the entire Brotherhood and yet she gets credit for scrambling at the last minute cause her guilty conscience intervened? Bullsh*t. I'm not giving a character flowers for f*ckery. Also, the fact there seemed to be more of a strong emotional connection with Wrath and his golden retriever George than his own infant son in this book I thought was a really weird choice. J.R. Ward loves her dogs and still mourning her writing dog that died years ago (which was also a golden retriever) so I get it, but please don't ignore your characters for your personal feelings. We sat through a whole book over that in The Shadows. All these scenes of Wrath cuddling his dog and saying "papa loves you" but nothing with LW? Seriously? I love George but the choices made in this were utterly ridiculous.

Wrath & Beth
“Leelan. She is my beloved.”
They are what started it all for me. I love them so so much. There is no BDB without Wrath and Beth. Full stop. Wrath is my man, my #1 in all things alpha Vampire sexy goodness. He is the archetype of what a solid PR alpha hero should be. So to even think of killing him off? I nearly set my kindle on fire at just the mere suggestion of it. Seriously, the stress this book caused me and the number of times I DNF'ed cause all signs were pointing towards a bad ending for him made the reading experience for this not so hot. Like I said earlier, it pretty much eclipsed everything for me. If what happened here happened to another BDB character or couple that I didn't care for as much I probably wouldn't have such a strong emotional visceral reaction and I could have maybe enjoyed the romantic arc with Lassiter more. This author's obsession with death and rape is honestly disturbing and tiring at this point. Come up with something new. There's a reason why I'm not an Outlander fan, I don't do well with big time jumps especially where couples/families are separated for long stretches of time. Don't f*ck with a HEA like that. It's not palatable, it's not romantic. It's misery. Especially when it could have easily been avoided. Here it definitely could have been avoided. I'm glad Wrath was saved but at the price of losing out and seeing his son grow up? His shellan being sick with grief and loneliness for 30 years? That's unfathomable to me. I could not be bitching about this so much if effort was put into trying to avoid this. Nothing was done, nobody knew except for the heroine and she sat on that information through the whole f*cking book. And that's messed up. Also why 33 years? Why not just bring him back a month later? A week? A year? Nothing about this is explained. The war with the lessers is still going strong after the time jump so I don't understand why he had to be kept for 33 years. She said she couldn't tell anyone what she did for 33 years to protect Wrath's soul from Devina, well she's still there after the time jump. When you don't explain sh*t behind sh*tty moves then I have questions. And no I don't want to "keep reading" to get answers to things that should have been easily explained here. I just have to ask J.R. Ward at this point....

It's quite obvious Ward is making this stuff up as she goes along now which is her prerogative but don't tell your readers to keep reading for answers that should have been given in the book and that you don't even have the answers to. Don't insult your readers intelligence that way.

Devina & Lash

The villains were barely villainy in this and yet they still managed to make the whole Brotherhood look bumbling and incompetent as hell. I wanted Rahvyne's power faced off against Lash or a showdown between her Devina. None of that happens. Which felt like another lost opportunity. Ward for some reason really struggles with writing climactic fighting scenes. All this build up, plotting and culmination but nothing to show for it in the end? Seriously? It's a constant problem. I don't know why but she completely bungles it every. single. time. If anyone should be shapeshifting and using it to their advantage in this it should have been Devina. Did Ward forget she could do this? Devina is able to shapeshift and impersonate anyone she wants to, she did it in the Fallen Angel series and it was shocking as hell and kept you at the edge of your seat guessing what she would pull next. Not anymore. This demon is now more obsessed and concerned about getting some dick and keeping it to herself than ya know actually doing evil sh*t. What's the point then? I sat through 3 books of this Psycho Mystique demon cooing over her couture purse collection and pouting over why nobody loves her only for her to get her man and stay in Caldwell with no retribution? If this was what Ward had in mind by bringing this villain back then she should have kept it in her drafts. I'm completely eating my words about being excited to have this villain crossover to this series. Cause I'm telling you Xcor was way more terrifying and compelling as the villain than these 2 horny barbie idiots combined.

Vishous

My whole Vishous rant I did for Lover Arisen still stands here. He's everywhere now. In every scene, every nook, cranny, doorway, tunnel, f*cking car, every Newsletter, the

Them Kids
I said what needed to be said. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I said this before and I still stand by it now: I think this direction was a mistake. She has made me the resent the kids because of this. I loved the Brother's kids as babies. But as grown adults? Meh. No thank you. If that epilogue was anything to go by it just convinced me even more how much this was a bad idea. Adult Wrath Jr. and Nalla sound insufferable. They are strangers to me as adults, readers never got the chance to see them grow up for them to matter to us as characters. All this contrivance and f*cking with a HEA just because the author wanted to write a story about Zsad*st dealing with his grown up daughter dating......? Just give us a novella and call it a day. Another Legacy spin off where it's a flash forward 20-30 years into the future made more sense and more seamless with some wiggle room. Once you do a big time jump in the same timeline, you can't undo it. Especially with what happened to Wrath. There's no going back from that or undoing it. That's canon now and it

I guess all good things must come to an end at some point. 2023 releases have not been good to me so far. 😩😭 Everyone deserved better in this book. And why are the BDB books with the prettiest covers the most lethal? Answer me that. It feels like a cruel trick at this point. #ItsaTrap Obviously this was a hard read, it felt bittersweet and sad when I was hoping it would be more nostalgic and happy? I was ready to move on to be honest but I didn't want a bitter after taste left in my mouth. It's an end of an era and it shouldn't have ended this way IMO. I'm pretty much done after what she pulled here. I like to say never say never and I may try Nalla's book just to test waters but this definitely felt like a farewell in many regards for me. As far as I'm concerned what happened here didn't happen and the stories stopped a while back in my head and my babies Wrath and Beth were never parted, thank you very much. Nothing beats the first 10 books. The nostalgia, the excitement, the adrenaline, the stories, the sexy times. I'll miss it and the brothers. It's been a fun and...stressful? ride while it lasted. Sad that it ended on such a sad low note.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>

Okay, this may be a rant, but I will try to keep it brief.

I didn't like this book at all. The only good part was Lassiter and Rahvyn's mating ceremony. The guys with the Golden Girls stuff and also the carving Rahvyn's name in his back. Those moments were precocious and beautiful. If only there could have been more scenes like that. There were waaayyy too many chapters of Devina's and Lash's POVs. Absolute YUCK! I cannot stand them. Ward ruined the book with all that. Then there was ruined icing on the ruined cake with a @uck you very much J.R Ward situation I do not forgive her for even though she tried to clean that sh*t up with 3 freaking epilogues.She didn't even have to do that at all. I'm done with The Warden. If this wasn't supposed to be Lassiter's book I would have DNF'ed it. Hopefully you'll feel differently.

This is a COMMENT, not a review. All the people rating a book that WON'T BE PUBLISHED UNTIL 2023, are you insane? SMH🙄

I have struggled with this book almost from the beginning... My biggest question is 'What the hell happened with these phenomenal stories?'

Unfortunately for me this book does not make much sense and to be honest, I did try to make it make sense. I have never been a fan of Devina being a part of this series, she should of been left with The Fallen Angels and this is just a minute moan compared to the rest!

Anyway, I'm not going to go into it but my heart breaks in respect of my favourite series having left me a few books ago, I'm not sure what Ms Ward is thinking and I pretty much don't care anymore. The only reason this book got 2 stars was because of how much I loved Lassiter in previous books.

We all have opinions, this is just mine.

I'm finding this one difficult to review. So I'm just going to try and divide some of my many, many thoughts into some loosely arranged sections and go from there. It's got mild spoilers for the entire series (and spin-offs), so watch out if you aren't looking to see anything you aren't supposed to. I wasn't in the mood to filter things out. So please enjoy the following word vomit that are my feelings about this book. Or don't. This is mostly to help me process what the hell I just read. And even though I'm about to rip into it pretty heavily, I did like most of it. I just have some frustrations to work through, okay?

Rahvyn and Lassiter: I don't really care about them as a couple. And maybe that's on me. I just never really saw Lassiter as a romantic hero, and I can't say that I really got there after having read his book, despite that being a large part of the plot. While I like that he and Rahvyn are sort of evenly matched for power, that seemed to be the only thing they had in common. I've never been one for insta-love; couple that with the fact that I really don't think it's cool for the race's deity to be marrying one of his subjects, even if it's someone as powerful as Rahvyn? It's just not a winning match for me. It just felt superficial the entire time I was reading and for the life of me I couldn't shake that feeling. Believe me I tried. But no dice.

Lash and Devina: Just gross. I don't really care if Devina didn't have a choice in being a demon. I don't care if she occasionally feels guilty about her actions. After following her arc in this series and in the Fallen Angels series, I don't see her as a redeemable character, so I don't know why JR keeps devoting so much page time to her. I didn't mind following Lash as much because he's the true big bad here. But I didn't need to read through all their sexy times. I don't really care what those two evil rapists do during their downtime or if they are falling into some sick version of love. It's not my jam.

What I did not appreciate is that JR glossed over Lash's history so much. I understand that readers who have made it this far in the series already know what happened, but I was expecting a little more emotion from the Brotherhood on that front. It felt like a very clinical summary every time one of the characters was recapping it, which felt off to me. Lash was a good villain originally because he was emotionally tied to the Brotherhood, and while he's definitely still a powerful baddie in the here and now, he might as well have been pulled out of thin air for this. In fact, he was. By a magic spell. (I'll be back for this and the rest of the magic system, hold that thought) In Lover Arisen the Brotherhood's reaction to his return was basically "Oh crap, not this guy again." Very anticlimactic in my opinion, but it made sense because we really didn't have a lot of POV from any of the original cast who was around during his first arc in that book. But this book? Lassiter was there the first go round, Wrath was there. Even Vishous was there (I'll come back for him too, hold that thought again). But no, not a single passing thought for "Man that was rough last time. I wonder how John Matthew or Xhex or even Qhuinn are taking the news that he's back." Or a "I was there when those three characters heard the news. That was rough." I guess it wasn't technically required but it's just something that was nagging me. It's not believable to me that three years was enough for any of those characters to move so far past the events of that first Lash arc that they aren't the least bit emotionally triggered by this turn of events. So ignoring it just rubs me wrong, even if it would've eaten up some page space.

Following that same train of thought, I fell in love with this series primarily for the main cast of characters (think books 1-13ish) and I think I'm just tired of logging hours reading these latest installments and not really seeing them (Vishous, keep holding buddy - I have words for you). They'll be there in the background, but damn if I could tell you what they were thinking or doing. They may as well be cardboard stand-ins for all the emotional connection readers have had with them. It's like JR carts them out just to prove that this is in fact the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, like a little flash of an ID badge so she can keep walking and talk to us about whichever random people she wants to. Girl if you're done telling the Brotherhood's story just say so. Because it's exhausting to keep showing up only to leave underwhelmed. The last time I felt any real connection to the original cast was in The Savior. Maybe The Sinner, but as I've never been much of a Butch girly I wasn't super attached to that one. (Is this the part where the fans come for me with pitchforks? I'm one of you I swear, please just let me feel my feelings!)

Vishous: I know I just went on a rant about how the OG Brothers don't show up anymore. That does not apply to Vishous. So I have a whole different rant about him. My complaint about V is that he is freaking everywhere. If there's any point where JR needs a Brother to show up to move the plot forward, he's the one selected. And it's so annoying. The woman has about 20 male leads to choose from at this point who are all more than qualified to be doing something helpful/important at any given time but nah, this guy does it all. Give me a break, I am begging you. I don't think of myself as a Vishous hater but please, share the spotlight my man. I've been trying so hard to be patient the past few books, but he keeps popping up every time I turn around. I know he has some truly rabid fangirls out there, so I get why she'd want to give them some face time with him. Fine. But he has become insufferable at this point. This is not the chronicles of V, it's the BDB. I think the only other two prior leads who got any substantial roles in this book were Wrath, because he had the B-plot, and Tohr. Every other time it was just random name drops. Like a little BDB roll call. How cute. Not.

The Power Balance: Do you remember when the main focus of this series was romance? Because, well, it was a paranormal romance series. Now I know some will argue that this series has long since morphed into an urban fantasy/PNR hybrid (and I am one of them!) but the relationships always remained at the core. The love stories were the heart of the books. If anything, the fighting against the lessers was the least interesting part. But our cast of heroes are warriors and thus need some big evil to fight, so sure. Makes sense for them to be here. But then we got Lover Unveiled and the tone decidedly shifted. Now it's all been very much action based, which is fine except JR seems determined to keep up the guise that this is a PNR series. The end result being that we get relationships that kind of fall flat (in my opinion). I could go into more detail, but I won't. You can see my comments above on Lassiter's HEA, and my comments on the others in their own book reviews, should you care to know. Suffice it to say, I could not care less if any of the couples from books 19 to current ended up together. A far cry from my love for the original cast. So I suppose it's a good thing that we've upped the action, because otherwise we'd have nothing redeeming left. But anyway, let's talk about the action.

Clearly JR decided that she needed to shake things the hell up after the war ended in The Sinner. Even though that seemed like a logical place to end the series, she clearly wasn't ready to say goodbye. Fine, neither was I. So let's go! But the route she's elected to take us on is just insane. The jury is still out on whether that's gonna be for better or for worse. Is she a mastermind, or just off her rocker?

But okay, the OG villain is out. The OG force for good is also out. She's brought in a new version of both; fine. BUT WAIT. There's more! There's a demon who serves no purpose except to cause trouble at every turn, with no real end game in mind except to find "love" with her creepy evil BF. And talk about all her fancy clothes and accessories. And this random super-powerful witch vampire who can jump in and out of time at will, and do a whole bunch of other stuff too? No, you can't have more explanation than that! How dare you ask! Like...whaaat? The magic system in this series is becoming very imbalanced and I don't love it. Yes, the Brotherhood needs something to fight against but what is this mess? They are outmatched and I don't love that some random girl just came in and saved the day out of thin air. Not that females can't save the day too, but in her circ*mstance it's stretching the reader's suspension of disbelief a little too hard. Why should I believe the stakes are really that high when Rahvyn can conveniently swoop in and find a solution? Even with the big plot twist at the end I wasn't fully in the moment because I just knew JR was about to pull something out of her ass to fix things, in her usual manner. Not that I wasn't happy with the outcome, it just didn't pack quite the emotional punch it was supposed to. Likely because she's retconned every major character death except Wellsie's at this point. So it was just a matter of pushing through to figure out what the end game was. Maybe I am terrible for saying this, but I think I'd have liked the ending better if she'd had the guts to keep Wrath dead. If you aren't going to stick within the bounds of a traditional romance series, and you want me to believe the stakes, you have to kill some darlings at some point. Otherwise it's all talk.

Ultimately, I guess I was expecting this book to knock some of the bigger players off the board so we could get back to some semblance of order at the end of it, but no. They're all still out there, and apparently will have been for 30+ years by the time we get to the next one. It's not making sense to me. I think Lassiter and Rahvyn should have been taken out of play by the end, like maybe they watch over the race from a distance. Lassiter supposedly was in trouble with the Creator at the start of all of this for interfering too much (and to be fair to the Creator: he does. See my comment about the stakes needing to be believable from earlier) and we're supposed to just accept that he went and had a chat about that and got a pass because Devina was out to play, so he should be allowed to be as well? What? Nah, they've all gotta go. Devina should have had to take her happy ass back to hell, where she was still supposed to be anyway after the events of the Fallen Angels series (which was apparently a waste of time to read, since the victory didn't exactly hold up in the long run). Anyway. Lash is a big boy, he's got his army. It should be him vs the Brothers and that's it. Otherwise the Brothers are no longer coming off as the badasses they are supposed to be, because who cares if they take out 10 lessers in a night if they're powerless to take on Devina? There's still way too much going on for such a large time jump to make sense, but I guess we're all buckled in to see how it plays out anyway.

Okay. I think I've exhausted my complaints. I wanna say again, that I didn't completely hate this, despite everything I've said thus far. I enjoyed reading it. The pacing was great, and the action was engaging, even though I had some qualms with the logic in parts. And I'm enough of a fangirl that I will absolutely read the rest of them, because I didn't dedicate this much brain space to this series to dropout now. I'm optimistic that with her moving to talk more about the kids* we'll get more of the focus back on the original cast, which is all I'm really looking for at this point.

*Apropos of nothing, I am rooting for one of the daughters to be bi or lesbian. We've had how many MLM relationships in this series? The singular WLW appearance in the entire BDB universe was a bury your gays fiasco and I demand recompense in the form of a sapphic mating bond. Thank you, carry on.

This book is NOT Lassiter's book, it's all about Devina and Lash with a peek here and there of Lass. Dayum, this author has gotten lazy as the series has progressed, rehashing old stuff that was never a hit in the first place.

And don't even get me started on Ward messing with a previous HEA. NO amount of extra, extra, extra epilogues could fix that.

I'm so done with her 😡

I had low expectations after the last few books in the series but this was absolutely terrible. The POV change every 10 pages, the ridiculous insta-love, the weird plot twist at the end... I am officially done with this author.

What was even the point of the series if we're just going in a circle to how things were all the way back in the first book!?

Siiiiigh. I didn't know going into this brand new week that it would be the week I'd break up with the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but here we are. I feel so let down by Lassiter's book, in a way that I've been in a funk since yesterday.

I could have forgiven a lot of sh*tty things that happened in this book, a reminder of the vile thing with Devina and Lassiter, bringing back Lash and the lessers, a plotline that was hated even back then and now feels like it's been regurgitated just to plot bomb drama into the kids era. The love story between Lassiter and Rahvyn feeling like an afterthought, Devina having the best sex scenes with Lash ---- but killing Wrath and making him miss 30 years of raising his son, and of loving his leelan, after everything he's already been through, man, I can't recover from that. It's going to cause a gaping wound in my Wrath loving heart forever. And as a sidenote to that, everyone just accepted Wrath being dead by the brotherhood, Beth especially. There was no bargaining for Lassiter to bring him back. Him being the almighty, you'd think it would have been a discussion.

I just don’t understand the point of it other than causing maximum pain to your readers AND your characters. The world is SO horrific, who wants to read about their fave, much beloved characters suffering? I can only reason it was done for SHOCK value, which so many authors do in romance these days and it's unnecessary. You don't have to throw the entire house and kitchen sink at a story to make it memorable.

I would have thought Ward had learned something from the backlash when she killed off poor Selena and then The Shadow finally got his 'if you'd ordered her from Wish' shellan back. That should have been my end with the series after that because it just continued to go downhill. The romance became so little that you had to squint to find the loving character connections that had once been so forefront in the earlier books, the world building took over and it lost some of its previous magic. But I am/was attached to the characters, so I stuck with it.

This might still be my dramatic feelings talking, but I wish this book had never been written because now I can never forget the things that happened on those pages and it's soured the entire series from what was beloved characters.

But if you can f*ck with a very ESTABLISHED HEA like that, then there are no limits to what an author can do and that's an author I can't trust with romance any more. And to put a cherry on the cake, Nalla hates Bella, Z is made out to be an overcontrolling parent and Beth hardly sees LW - so I can only dread the OGs will be used as bad parents to drive the storyline for the kids.

That time jump sucked. If the BDB timeline hadn't been screwed up almost from the beginning, it wouldn't have been necessary. Nalla's been a baby the entire time but we'd get present day pop culture references which made no sense at all if you compared it to when she was born. I could suspend reality for it, but now we'll never see the other brothers have kids and seeing them being all cute in dad mode.

I am so bummed out.
This feeling sucks.
Breaking up with a series you've loved for more than a decade and an author you idolised for her brilliant brain just feels sucky.
Unless Warden pulls a Dallas in the next book and declares it was all a dream...

Sorry you got jipped out of your book, Lassiter, when you were being built up for years, and Devina took a bigger center stage role instead of your magnificant sparkly self.
If this is the end of the OG era, then lots of questions have gone unanswered, too, but I have no desire to stick around and wait for those answers.

Long Live the f*cking KING.

I have to catch up now that my favorite character is getting his own book!

In my opinion, this book can't be read as a standalone.

I was looking forward to finally reading Lassiter's book and loving it but it turns out it was not as fantastic as I hoped.

A few books ago, Lassiter took over the Scribe Virgin's job. He has been there interfering in the right way to help the good guys get their happy endings. When it was finally his turn, I thought the lady he fell for would be fantastic. Yet, I found myself not crazy for Rahvyne's character. She has so many special powers but I don't think she used them as much as she should or at the right time she could. An incredible loss of opportunity. Furthermore, Lassiter didn't act like himself. He was not the jokester he usually is. He was more serious than ever.

The other thing that bothered me was the way Devina and Lash behaved. She could be formidable but spent most of her time trying to get Lash's attention and love while he was trying to escape her when he could.

The last thing that made me upset was what J.R. Ward did to a beloved couple. You don't do that. They already had a difficult time during their own HEA trajectory so no reason to make them suffer again.

Will I continue reading this series?

Of course I will, I need to know what happens next.

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

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Brilliant! So worth waiting for and that ending will shock!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lassiter has always been on my list of faves just because of who he is and how he is depicted. He is funny and sweet and he has been through hell, much of it is due to his kind nature and the need to save others. Now he has fallen in love but can he really have an everlasting connection with someone?

Ward pulls out the stops on this fabulous story. Rhavyn is amazing, kind, and has a power that will stun you. Her connection with Lassiter is beautiful and emotional. The Brotherhood is in demand and the town is under attack again.

Ward will twist you up and spit you out again! Lassiter will grab your soul. Tears were flowing. I was shocked and astounded at where this story went, yelling “NOOOOO” at the book! But yet, I kept going. Raw, gruesome, intense, sexy, steaming hot. Ward does not let up for one minute in this fabulous story that changes the Black Dagger Brotherhood forever!

There are questions as usual as this queen of paranormal romance crafts yet another winner. Simply put, Lassiter is intense, brilliant, and not to be missed! So worth waiting for and that ending will shock you! I am thoroughly addicted!

* copy received for review consideration
* full review - https://amidlifewife.com/lassiter-by-...

I’ve been looking forward to this book for years. Sadly, it did not live up to my expectations. So disappointed.

I have never wrote a review before but I just finished this book and as a long time BDB reader I seriously need to rant, forgive me...
//spoilers ahead, although I tried to blur them//

Lassiter was a major supporting character in the BDB series since like book 5, and the fandom waited long long for his book. And sadly I have to say it left me disappointed.

Lassiter had ZERO personality in his own book and he literally did nothing to move the plot forward. To me it felt like all he did was worry about Rhavyn's safety which he didn't really need to. But shout out to Rhavyn though, because she literally carried the whole book on her shoulders and did some major ass kicking.
‹spoiler›Where did Lassiter's powers go? He was supposed to be the new deity of the vampire race, but in his own book he could not do anything to support the plot at all. At this point Rhavyn should lead the race instead because she has actual powers to affect stuff and save others.‹/spoiler›

It may seem I really liked Rhavyn, but to be honest I could not really care about her or her relationship with Lassiter whatsoever. They did not go through hardships like the OG couples, to me their fallouts were immature at the most. No real conflict, no character development.

Furthermore the fandom long awaited Eddie and Adrian's arrival in the BDB books, and in the end it was also anticlimactic. They literally did nothing to the plot other than standing on the side and/or being difficult. ‹spoiler›(Can someone also tell me what happened to Eddie's personality? He was supposed to be the laidback one as I remember?)‹/spoiler›

And as others have already pointed out, Lash being back and absolutely no reaction from Xhex and JM or even Qhuinn? Not even a peep when they have major history?? Just how and why?...
Speaking of Lash, he also seem to have left his personality in Dhund or wherever. He used to be a truly evil, vile, nasty a––h–– which made him a really good villain character. Now, after being back all he did was ‹spoiler›f*ck Devina and go shopping for a suit/house‹/spoiler›, both of which I have zero interest to read about.
I still could not care less about the lessening society, esp. when you have 20+ other better characters left in the closet.

And now, about the Epilouge....
‹spoiler›Although I do believe a time skip was much needed since the story is getting quite repetitive and it's hard to it keep interesting anymore with introducing new side-characters all the time for a new book - BUT MAKING THEM GRIEVE 30 YEARS??? what the heck?? This literally ruined all the good things they had, living together in the mansion, the kids having a happy childhood - and as a result adult L.W being an a––h–– to his mother??.... I just don't get it?....‹/spoiler›

Oh, and I also think Phury and Cormia were done dirty here - Ahggie was the second officially canon baby (after Nalla) and he is nowhere to be seen still?... :(

Anyways, I'm still interesed where the story will go from now on, but I probably should not get my hopes up.
I'm very sorry if this was harsh, I needed to vent it out...
Someone please talk to me. :D

I wasn't ready. You're not ready. I'm a mess.

Stunned silence was my immediate reaction after closing the book, Lassiter. I've sat and pondered how I would write this review for days now. I don't think I've been this emotional reading a book from my beloved series in years. Not since Z's book. And I didn't think anything could be more heartwrenching than Darius, but boy oh boy was I wrong. The angst kept creeping in from chapter to chapter. A build-up of uncertainty that led to an ending I never saw coming. I'm left eviscerated by what has transpired and anticipating on bated breath for the next book in the series. GEEZUS, this is a good book! Make sure you have uninterrupted time for reading and an exceptionally large box of Kleenex.

P.S. Those who attended ROR this past year are in for a treat IYKYK 😂

*ARC provided by the publisher.

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I'm so MAD right now. And I will be writing this review as the rage and disappointment is still fresh.

2023 has been the year of disappointing releases. I've read 14 new releases and they've all been a binding of disappointment.

Let's start with the obvious. Lassiter and Rahvyn. I know Lassiter because I'm like 30+ books deep in the BDB world (counting the fallen angels, legacy, prison camp and even the wolven books). But I don't know Rahvyn. Really, I don't know her. And what I saw of her in this book had the personality of dried toast. There was this insta-love bullsh*t which I LOATHE. The BDB weren't about this. Insta-lust, yes, which opened the pathway for the MCs to get to know each other. There was no getting to know each other. They had no actual chemistry on page, their scenes together were dry a/f. And idk if I've outgrown Ward's writing but by god the dialogue was the cringiest I've read from her.

***Spoilers ahead for the rest of the review***

***you've been warned***

***last call***

Ok. I started reading BDB in like 2005. I was 15 and there were only two books out. Dark Lover and Lover Eternal. I have been faithful to this world because those early books were so good, and I got a glimpse of that again in the BD Legacy books. But by god did JR Ward just sh*t on everything she built with this one. I was in the message boards, I was deep in the internet with theories.

I stuck through JR Ward after she killed Wellsie. And Selena. And that god awful borderline creepy fallen angels ending.

But killing Wrath for SHOCK VALUE is where I draw the line. Warden really just shat on everything she built, again for SHOCK VALUE. There was no clear explanation of why 33 years, no real reason. I just know Beth had to put on a fake face for the race, bury her grief for her duties, raise her son alone, while Wrath was just chilling in the time stream and Rahvyn just sat on all this info.

For thirty-three years.

I don't care that she had a three piece epilogue to try to "fix" it. She should've finished the series when she killed the Omega and moved on to better things because my heart can't take any more sh*tting on this series which was so precious to me as a teen and young adult.

I kind of wish Ward would finish the series. It’s getting a bit annoying to be honest.

Somewhere along the way the books in this series became less and less about the main couple and the brotherhood and more and more about all the nonsense side plots. I’ve hated all the “villain” chapters in all the books but in the last few I feel like they’ve been the majority? Absurd.

3.31.2024
Reread in anticipation of The Beloved to be released on 4/09/24. Can’t wait!!!!!!!!

Lassiter's story has been years in the making and JRW did not disappoint!

All the twist and turns and heartbreak took me on a rollercoaster and I really did not want it to end! So many characters stories interwoven in theirs that took it to a whole level and I cannot wait to see where they all go from here. That crazy angel found his match and she couldn’t have been more perfect for Lassiter. We get a much more serious Lassiter in this book, he’s very different than the Lassiter we all know and love.

As a couple, Rahvyn and Lassiter are good match. Rahvyn is fierce and has a steel that I absolutely loved. And my heart hurt for Lassiter a couple times. I have to say Lassiter’s fight against evil near the end of the book is one of my favorite scenes in the entire book.

Meanwhile, the brothers are having to deal with the return of the Lessening society since Lash’s return and has created a new and improved army of Lessers with Davina’s help. Since Lash was raised as a Vampire he’s got inside knowledge that his father the Omega didn’t and that makes him super dangerous……not to mention Davina is his evil girlfriend and partner in crime knows how to cause death, despair, and tragedy.

The heart breaking ending to this part of the story was perfect in so many ways….I liked how this story brought the series to a conclusion of sorts for this generation of the Brotherhood. I'm really excited to see what the new generation will face (looks like Nalla’s book is next, this book ended with a jump to the future). It looks like it's going to be another wild ride. I was left wanting to know exactly what is going on with LW!!! Can’t wait to find out!!!

THIS WOMAN HAS PLAYED IN MY FACE FOR THE LAST TIME!

Messy & convoluted. We all know Ward jumped the shark ages ago so I wasn't expecting much TBH, but I definitely was not expecting such a character assassination like the one we got here...and to such a beloved character no less!

First of all, when the villains get more page time & sex scenes than the MCs, you know you have a problem. I. DO. NOT. CARE. ABOUT. DEVINA. OR. LASH. Just...eww.

We have 2 MCs who haven't had relationships before - why couldn't we spend more time with them, learning more about their backstories more and having the relationship develop beyond their instalust?! Their interactions were borderline juvenile and I felt zero connection between them. Any of the other 10+ POVs could have been removed (like Shuli...really, what was the actual point?!?) to further expand on Lassiter & Rahvyn's bond, or maybe even some of their powers! We get full blown deus ex Rahvyn out of the blue, and we're just supposed to accept it?? Like I said - messy, messy, messy.

Maybe we should hide this series away in the ether for ~30 years and see what happens....

Beyond disappointed in this book
I was looking forward to reading Lassiter's story
but unfortunately his was a third rate character in his own book
The book was more about Lash and Devina and the King
So many gaps and we wont mention the epilogues that jump 30 plus years
So the author can move on to the offspring of the brotherhood
How about we let them have said kids first

Just plain and simply disappointed

4 Estrellitas. ¿Por dónde empiezo? Si pensabais que Ward no podía meter más giros argumentales os equivocabais. Las últimas 100 páginas de éste libro han sido una tras otra, un carrusel de sube y bajas que me han llevado desde la desesperación más absoluta, hasta la mayor excitación.

Con "Lassiter", J. R. Ward cierra un ciclo de la Hermandad para abrir otro, y es que en éste libro ocurren muchas, muchísimas cosas como para asimilarlas todas.

Tras un principio de novela, poco o nada favorable, aburrido, donde no ocurría nada, o donde lo poco que ocurre es tan introductorio que no es interesante, Ward se ha dejado lo mejor para el final.

No quiero desvelar nada, así que espero que si estáis leyendo esta crítica hayáis llegado hasta "Lover Arisen", porque si no, os destripo todo.

En "Lassiter" tenemos la historia de nuestro ángel favorito, ése que era un payaso sin sentido del ridículo y con un gusto televisivo deplorable (en palabras de Vishous). En esta su historia, no veremos al Lassiter de los anteriores libros, conoceremos al ángel, aquel que tiene una gran responsabilidad sobre sus hombros como el protector de la raza de vampiros, y sobre todo de sus amigos, la Hermandad, a los que tiene como su familia, y su gran sentido del sacrificio hacia ellos.

En éste libro tendremos de nuevo una amenaza muy peligrosa y real para los vampiros y la Hermandad. La demonio Devina, mediante los hechizos del Libro, ha conseguido invocar a quien realmente es su amor verdadero, Lash, el hijo del Omega. De esta manera veremos a Lash resucitado y con el poder de su padre, capaz de restablecer a la Sociedad Restrictora. La peligrosidad de Lash realmente es apabullante, pues ya acabó con la glymera, y conoce la manera de luchar de la Hermandad, al haber sido entrenado por ellos.

Pero el personaje que traerá mayor luz y esperanza a esta historia es Ravhyn, la prima de Savhage, esa misteriosa mujer vampiro que nadie sabe cómo viajó en el tiempo hasta nuestro mundo, ni cuales son sus poderes, capaces de curar la vida y muchos milagros similares. Desde que Lassiter conoció a Ravhyn, supo que ella sería su pareja predestinada, pero lo suyo no puede ser, debido a la implicación de Lassiter como protector de la raza.

Además, Lassiter tampoco puede quedarse en nuestro mundo. Aparte de Devina, Ward nos ha vuelto a mezclar a la Hermandad con la infructuosa serie de los Ángeles Caídos, trayéndonos a los ángeles Eddie y Adrian, mensajeron del Creador, que han venido para llevarse a Lassiter de vuelta.

En éste conglomerado de cosas, veremos otra vez a los Hermanos luchando contra los Restrictores, y a Lassiter enamorándose de Ravhyn. ¿Me ha gustado el romance? En el fondo sí, no ha sido muy memorable y la Ward tampoco se ha centrado mucho en ellos como protagonistas. Hay ciertos puntos de tensión, pero realmente he pensado que los protagonistas tenían que haber hablado más, o tener mayor protagonismo. La pena es que la Ward ha desaprovechado muchos puntos calientes, como la implicación de Nate, que tan enamorado estaba de Ravhyn.

Pero sin duda lo más emocionante es el final. Ése final que no he podido imaginarme o creerme, porque sinceramente mi cabeza no podía procesarlo, no quería creer que lo que estaba leyendo era cierto, y aunque ese epílogo explica algo, me ha dejado con más interrogantes todavía. Sí, ocurre algo muy, muy fuerte que desestabiliza todo lo que la Hermandad era.

Sabiendo como sabemos ahora, que el siguiente libro será la historia de Nalla y Wrathcito, puedo asimilar más el final de éste libro o arco narrativo. ¿Era necesario? En el fondo creo que sí, la Ward estaba muy estancada en los últimos libros y la trama necesitaba un gran giro para comenzar de nuevo, y éste salto en el tiempo para conocer nuevas amenazas o los romances de los hijos de los Hermanos, así como de otros personajes que aún no se habían emparejado, eran necesarios.

Solo espero que de verdad este salto en el tiempo haya merecido la pena, y la Ward lo explique todo sin medias tintas, porque vaya jamacucos me estaba causando éste libro. "Lassiter" como novela, me ha gustado, pero no me ha encantado. El principio me ha parecido un rollo, solo reforzado por la segunda mitad del libro, y el romance no ha sido de los mejores de la serie. Pero como siempre y desde que ésta autora me introdujo en la novela romántica, los Hermanos son y serán mi droga y seguiré leyéndolos.

An end is needed to any series. And it must be hard for a writer to leave her fangtastic imaginary family after 20 years. But this book is not good, not at all. Everything is rushed to achieve the goal and the whole structure has just crushed. Terrible feeling for a reader to see what has been a great series ends like that 🥺

I’m disappointed in this book. I’m disappointed it Ward for what she did. I’ve seen a mixed bag of readers saying it was her best book in a while, and others who like me, and are just flummoxed. I’m not sure I can get on board with such a massive change in the book. I hate time jumps, readers are going to miss out on a lot of happenings with a time jump. Im not posting spoilers at this time, but in my opinion, don’t like it.

I am so disappointed in this book. Sooo many things I didn’t like. Then the ending and the Epilogue I fear what the next book or books is going to be like.. Sad this was a book I was looking forward to.

I thought if I gave me self time to just sit with it I would feel differently. But I am still so pissed about the Epilogue… if you read it you know… If you didn’t … hold on for a f*cked up ride.

Thank god for Jim he makes these audio’s worth listening to.

I wish we had learned more about Lassiter like we were supposed to. I think he deserved a better book than this. It had moments, but over all it felt like a filler between the BDB and the books JR Ward wants to write about their kids. Also - I wish we had seen a bit of Balthazar - since Lassiter gave so much to ensure his happiness. He is only mentioned. And WTF Nate?

I did not like the direction this took.

Make sure you have your tissues at the ready and emotional life vest at hand before you begin Lassiter, the newest book in JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. This is a pivotal book in the series and unlike any of the others I’ve read (and, I’ve read them all).

This is a bold book, in my opinion. The pacing is fast and rarely stumbles. There is a lot going on and Ward doesn’t hesitate to do what she must to move the story forward. She takes a lot of chances with Lassiter (the book) and I applaud her for it, especially because it WORKS.

One of the things that really stood out for me while reading Lassiter is we see some strong female characters, even Devina. The females take no prisoners, doing what they need to in order to get their happily ever afters. I loved seeing Beth in a bigger role and I love how stalwart and true she is, truly a Queen.

We see a different, much more serious side of Lassiter in this book and, at times, I found myself wishing for the silly, crazy Lassiter that I didn’t really like that much. We have seen him embracing his serious side more and more since becoming the race’s deity and he has made a transformation that’s heart wrenching at times. Of course, this is due in part to his sacrifice in Lover Arisen which affects his relationship with Rahvyn as they navigate the repercussions of Devina’s evilness.

I would have liked a little more of Lassiter’s backstory and feel a bit cheated in that regard. At times there’s an ominous cloud hanging over the book that was distracting and provided a few red herrings. Lash is embracing his role as the Omega’s son, which provided some great scenes, but I quickly tired of his moments with Devina (though I totally appreciated her tenacity). Every scene with the Brothers was outstanding and there’s a lot of focus on Wrath, which I think was overdue. Nate also plays a big role and some of his scenes are nail biting, but set up some great moments and hope for future books in the series.

Overall, Lassiter is a great book. The BDB series been stale at times recently and Ward more than makes up for that with this 20th book in the series. 4.5 Stars!

Thank you to Gallery Books for an early copy in exchange for a honest review.

I have never been so emotionally damaged by a book in my life.
I mean … What was the last 8 chapters?!?! I didn’t stop crying and it took my 45 minutes to get through 2 of those chapters.
The epilogue was stupid, and the emotional damage from the 8 chapters before had me too numb to feel anything from the reunion.
I have been someone who is a diehard fan and reread the series multiple times. Everytime I finish one of these books I want to start it all over again.
Not with this book.
I was so glad it was over at the end because the book hurt so bad. I feel like I know each member of the brotherhood personally, and when Wrath died I felt like I lost a family member. No one wants to feel that way at the end of a book.

Took a while to get through because of the great slump but I ball my f*cking eyes out and the end was wow. I���m excited for what comes next there seems to be an interesting set up for this new gen we are going into so yay!!

Sooo... I've never done this. Here it goes.
Before the book...
- Seriously hoping there won't be a love triangle.
- Wondering if we're getting any news from Eddie, Adrian or the fantastic four from her Fallen Angels series.
- Whining because I have to wait until some time in 2023 to find out all of the above.
And I didn't even like Lassiter when he first showed up. I mean, I was "Team Vishous" even though he brought Thorment back. And now I can't wait for this book.
I guess this means Ward is amazing but I already knew that.
And... that's it. I think.