Njkinny's Blog

#BookReview: Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3) by J.R. Ward

2020-04-25T13:41:00.000+05:30

#BookReview: Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3) by J.R. Ward

Lover Awakened is the third book in the highly acclaimed "Black Dagger Brotherhood series" by J.R. Ward. Set in Caldwell, New York, there is a war being fought between the Vampires and their slayers called the Lessers. Among the Vampires, there are a group of highly trained warriors known for their super strength, high healing power, and determination to save their race from extinction by removing the threat posed by the Lessers. This group of warriors is a brotherhood forged of their promise to protect called the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

This book is the story of one of these warriors, Zsadist. Probably the most dangerous and ruthless of them all, Zsadist is a loose cannon, a loner, and a vampire no one wants to cross paths with. Kidnapped in childhood and kept as a blood slave to a cruel mistress, he was tortured, humiliated, and kept chained until he was found and rescued by his twin, Phury, almost a century later. No one is close to him and he likes it that way until he meets Bella. She is his polar opposite and yet they both feel the pull of attraction towards each other. But when Bella is attacked and a quest for vengeance overtakes Zsadist, their emotions and love are put to test.

Can Zsadist overcome his rage, bitterness, and darkness of his past scars to accept his true feelings for Bella?

Will Bella be able to heal Zsadist's tortured soul and bring him back towards the light?

“I'm not broken, I'm ruined. Do you understand the difference? With broken maybe you can fix things. Ruined? All you can do is wait to bury me.”

I just adored this book. It is the best book in this series and that is saying something because each and every book in the "Black Dagger Brotherhood series" is already top-notch. I took up the first book, "Dark Lover", to read on a dare. This series didn't fall into my usual reading categories. It is dark, intense, brutal, and more suited to adult readers who are okay with violence and intense romances. But when I started reading the first book, I couldn't stop. The world-building is brilliant. The characters sketched in detail and then developed to make them multi-dimensional. Even the smallest detail has been looked after and I found myself believing everything the author was narrating and got totally enchanted with the story.

While each book handles the story of one warrior from the brotherhood, the books still need to be read in order to truly understand and enjoy them. The characters overlap in every book and so, I would recommend reading the previous books before going for this one.

Zsadist had intrigued and frightened me right from the first book when he was introduced. He is violent, thrives in torture, and while a commendable warrior, isn't someone who is close to anyone, not even to his twin, Phury. Everyone keeps a safe distance from him and he doesn't allow anyone to come near him. My heart broke for Z. His inner anguish and hatred for women born out of a century of torture, captivity, and humiliation at the hand of a cruel woman had me feeling sad for him and angry at his tormentor. The inner conflict between his heart and his mind made my heart bleed. This is one hero who, despite all his indifference and dangerous reputation is still one who slowly creeps into the readers' hearts.

“He thought about all the holes in him, the blank places, the voids where others felt things. When it came down to it, he was really just a screen, more empty than solid, his emotions blowing through him, only angry catching and holding.”

Bella is attracted to Zsadist right from the start and while Phury also feels attraction towards her and is thought a better choice for her as compared to his unpredictable and unstable brother, Bella is sure of her feeling for the unpopular of these brothers. Rejecting her feelings for him, Zsadist keeps his distance from her but when she is abducted and kept captive, his true feelings for her come to the fore.

Zsadist's intense struggle between his heart and his mind is beautifully portrayed in this book. Full of angst, high-voltage emotional play, and a searing attraction that leads to a love that defies all odds to get to the happy ending, I loved, loved, and then loved Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward some more.

“I was dead until you found me, though I breathed. I was sightless, though I could see. And then you came...and I was awakened.”

Super shiny 5 out of 5 stars to it and had I got more stars to give, I would have given them to this memorable book. You just got to read it to feel the full impact. Njkinny strongly recommends this book to all lovers of paranormal romance, vampire romance, and intense romances above the age of eighteen. You are missing out if you haven't read this book and the "Black Dagger Brotherhood series".

Buy From:

Amazon.in | Amazon.com

#BookReview: Where the Blame Lies (Where... #1) by Mia Sheridan

2020-04-23T20:43:00.006+05:30

#BookReview: Where the Blame Lies (Where... #1) by Mia Sheridan

A nineteen-year-old college student, Josie is kidnapped, tortured and held captive for ten months by a deranged man. Always in a mask, Josie doesn't know his face, but she is determined to escape which she eventually does. Now, years later a woman is found murdered and his injuries are eerily similar to Josie's. Police Detective Zach Copeland, who was a new cop when Josie was rescued, is now the main Detective handling the case. When he asks for Josie's help in capturing this killer, it sets them up for a series of events that threaten not only their lives but will also bring forth secrets that have the power to destroy the newfound stability in Josie's life.

"A series of choices- some bad, some good, some seemingly meaningless- could lead you places you'd never set out to go. Because everywhere, all-around other people were making choices too. Paths were crossing, separations were closing, lives were comingling. Sometimes he wondered if there was any order to it at all, or if they were all just helpless victims of happenstance..."

Wow! I have no words for this book. Mia Sheridan is a terrific writer and I have read all of her books. She started out with soulful romances like "Archer's Voice" and then shifted to romantic suspense with "Savaged" and "The Wish Collector". I have adored all of her books and she has become an instant 1-click author for me. Where the Blame Lies goes a step further and is a romantic thriller that had goosebumps erupting on my skin and horrified me with the level of human cruelty and depravity it frankly showcases through the villain.

This story is disturbing and chilling but also a story of hope and determination. Josie is a character who awed me with her strong mind and her determination to not surrender to her tormentor. The atrocities she endured would have broken the spirit of anyone but she endured and totally has my respect. I cried tears of abhorrence, anger, grief, and fervent prayers to see her saved. A character that is an inspiration and one that will stay with me forever, I absolutely adored Josie. Her strength of character, her struggle to make a life for herself, and the brave way in which she endured everything while never giving her captor the satisfaction of breaking her had me so wowed that it has made a big fan of hers and I can't stop fangirling.

Zach is the perfect man for her and their slow-burn chemistry was still so intense that it burned through the pages. A responsible, mature, and kind man, Zach is a great cop and his protectiveness towards Josie had me swooning all over. The perfect couple who beautifully complete each other, he is just the man to make her happy.

'"I love you," ..."Every imperfect, flawed part of you. Every heroic, selfless part of you. The part that's fallen, and the part that's gotten back up, over and over and over. You."'

I am out of words for the deranged villain who represents criminals that look seemingly normal and even friendly but are rotten through and through. They fool everyone and perpetrate heinous crimes. So shrewd that they evade the law, they are a true danger to our safety because there is no way to identify them.

“People always said things like, “Everything will work out,” or, “That won’t happen.” But what about when things didn’t work out? Or when the unthinkable did happen? You had to walk around with the knowledge that life could sweep the rug out from under you at any moment. It could, because it had.”

Told in the third perspective both from Josie and Zach's POV, you will feel this story like it is happening to you. Every emotion and every feeling was heightened and it left me feeling shocked. I had to close my eyes briefly for a few minutes many times just to still my rapidly beating heart and cool my agitated self. The chills and feel I got from this book are so intense that I felt scraped raw.

"...Memories. Longing. Despite her happiness and the peace she'd found, for her, life would always be a tricky mixture of conflicting emotions that sometimes she just had to breathe through. She was prepared, and because she was, she knew it would be okay..."

This book is definitely darker and more upsetting. While not overly graphic, the events are such that my mind completed the images and I was horrified through and through thinking that such crimes did take place in reality and such criminals did roam for real in the world. I sat glued to my seat and could not put the book down until the end.

The plot is expertly planned and executed. It is not predictable and the epilogue and last chapter are something else entirely. The emotional upheaval I felt while reading this story was totally worth it.

A commendable effort from the author, you just have to read this one. Magical storytelling, vivid world-building, and characters that seem like people known to us, Mia Sheridan shows her writing prowess in the dark, scary and frightening tones she uses to sketch the story. The happy ending left me with a goofy and satisfied smile. The victory of good over evil is a major lure for me and I got my heartful in this one.

"...Love didn't end. Love never dies. Love went on and on, like a swiftly moving river. No matter the obstacle, it continued forward, an unending force moving around, over, into -carving away at the rocky shores in its path..."

I wanted more after the book ended and I kept hoping there was a sequel that thankfully, we have got in "Where the Truth Lives".

5 super shiny stars out of 5 to Where the Blame Lies by Mia Sheridan. I adored this book and have become a huge fan of the author. If you haven't read books by Mia Sheridan, you are missing out on great storytelling and memorable characters. Njkinny recommends this book to all lovers of romance, thrillers, and mystery above the age of eighteen.

Buy From:

Amazon.in | Amazon.com

#AtoZChallenge: K for The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang ~26 Must-Read Romance Books A-Z

2020-04-19T22:19:00.002+05:30

April is here and with it, the #AtoZChallenge is also here. This is my second time participating in this cool challenge where bloggers from around the world come together to participate in this challenge of 26 posts each corresponding to an alphabet. The themes can be different for each blogger but the motivation and cheer of joining in the A to Z challenge are the same!

This April I will be sharing with you my Top 26 Favourite Romance Books that influenced my life in some way or the other. These are books that I strongly recommend and why I do that will be revealed as the books are revealed.

#AtoZChallenge: K for The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang ~26 Must-Read Romance Books A-Z

“The world stopped.
All was silence but for their hearts trying to synchronize their crashing.”

My life stopped while I read The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. This book had me enchanted throughout and there is nothing that I didn't like about this soulful romance.

Stella is afflicted with Autism and while super genius in maths, she woefully lacks social skills and so at thirty, her dating life is conspicuously uneventful. Her life changes when she hires Michael, a sought after escort to teach her the nuances and social skills required for dating successfully. The lessons that follow bring Stella and Michael closer.

I adored Stella and Michael. Michael's secrets and Stella's insecurities are the major obstacles in the path to their happily-ever-after. Fluid and engrossing narration and well-developed characters make this book stand out.

Read #BookReviewByNjkinny of The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Go grab this romance because it is a must-read and Njkinny highly recommends it to all romance lovers above the age of eighteen.

“When you love someone, you fight for them in every way you know how.”

Buy From:

Amazon.in | Amazon.com

Come back tomorrow to check out my Top 26 Favourite Romance Books that influenced my life in some way or the other whose name starts with the letter 'K'!

Click to read my other #AtoZChallenge posts including those based on my previous year's theme of "My favourite Indian comics/cartoon characters."

Follow me on social media and share your comments here as well as on social media with hashtags #NjkinnysBlog, #NjkinnyRecommends, #AtoZChallenge, #BookReviewByNjkinny while sharing my A to Z posts. Thank You and let's connect everywhere!

Until later,

Njkinny

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