The Bourbon Kings by J.R. Ward
Also by this author: The Shadows, Blood Kiss (Black Dagger Legacy, #1), The Bourbon Kings (The Bourbon Kings #1), The Beast (A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood), The Angels' Share (The Bourbon Kings, #2), The Chosen (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #15), Devil's Cut (The Bourbon Kings, #3), Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy, #2), Prisoner of Night (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #16.5), The Savior (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #17), The Sinner (Black Dagger Brotherhood #19), The Jackal (Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp, #1; Black Dagger Legacy, #5), A Warm Heart in Winter (Black Dagger Brotherhood #18.5), Lover Unveiled (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #19), Lover Arisen (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #20)
Published by Penguin on July 28th 2015
Genres: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Women, Sagas
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9780698193031
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The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood delivers the first novel in an enthralling new series set amid the shifting dynamics of a Southern family defined by wealth and privilege—and compromised by secrets, deceit, and scandal.... For generations, the Bradford family has worn the mantle of kings of the bourbon capital of the world. Their sustained wealth has afforded them prestige and privilege—as well as a hard-won division of class on their sprawling estate, Easterly. Upstairs, a dynasty that by all appearances plays by the rules of good fortune and good taste. Downstairs, the staff who work tirelessly to maintain the impeccable Bradford facade. And never the twain shall meet.For Lizzie King, Easterly’s head gardener, crossing that divide nearly ruined her life. Falling in love with Tulane, the prodigal son of the bourbon dynasty, was nothing that she intended or wanted—and their bitter breakup only served to prove her instincts were right. Now, after two years of staying away, Tulane is finally coming home again, and he is bringing the past with him. No one will be left unmarked: not Tulane’s beautiful and ruthless wife; not his older brother, whose bitterness and bad blood know no bounds; and especially not the ironfisted Bradford patriarch, a man with few morals, fewer scruples, and many, many terrible secrets.As family tensions—professional and intimately private—ignite, Easterly and all its inhabitants are thrown into the grips of an irrevocable transformation, and only the cunning will survive.From the Hardcover edition.

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~Karen’s Two Cents~

Do you remember those epic family saga novels from the 1980’s? The ones that resulted in those great miniseries, that had the whole world talking about them around the water cooler. The novels with sweeping vistas, family secrets, scandals, sensual sex, and epic drama; well J.R. Ward the woman who has made a career from tough vampires in her Black Dagger Brotherhood series,  leaves her mark on the epic family novel with The Bourbon Kings.  This book leaves yesteryears novels in the dust, as The Bourbon Kings, is without compare in this millennium! This book is bound to be the indulgent read of the summer of 2015 and beyond.  Make sure you’ve put this sexy scorching southern drama on you reading list, as you want to jump on this bandwagon early as everyone will soon be talking about Ward’s The Bourbon Kings.

The book is fraught will so much intrigue, that will have a huge book hangover when you are done reading it.  The family dynamic is the key to this book, and if you are looking for just a love story you will be disappointed.  As if you are a Ward reader, you have noticed that her writing has changed over the years and become more intricate than the straight forward boy meets girl stereotype.  With The Bourbon Kings, Ward writes a gothic southern drama set in the twenty first century, where technology may have evolved but families and communities are just as murky now as they were in the past.

Note this book does not wrap up neatly, and some readers who don’t like strings hanging at the end of a book need to be forewarned, so you can be prepared.  I am looking forward to the next book in this sensual epic family saga.

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