
The Bourbon Kings, The Angel’s Share, The Devil’s Cut by J. R. Ward
Published: July 28th, 2015 (The Bourbon Kings)
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Rating:
(for all 3)
Summary for The Bourbon Kings: 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.
So I’ve never read a book by J R Ward, and reading this trilogy definitely fixed that for me. As as hoped me what I was missing by not reading her work before. I was absolute trash for this trilogy and I finished it in the son of a few weeks.
Lane and Lizzy were my OTP from page 1. I loved seeing their romance blossom in the course of three books. It was also amazing seeing what a really good relationship was like compared to all the others that were developing in the story. They had their ups and downs in the book one and three, but they always stuck by each other in their good times and bad. You could really see that Lane appreciated her comfort and strength in moments where he really needed it. He was expected to be strong as the face of the family after everything went down as well as with what was happening with Miss Aurora, but he wasn’t afraid to take comfort in his love with Lizzy. I always wanted more from them because they were my favorite couple, their POV’s were my favorite, and I just wanted the best for them and their ending. BTW, their storyline in the end was the sweetest it could have been, and I’m sad the series ended where it did because I wanted to read more about them and their future because things were just getting started!
Edward was another interesting character as well. It was sad seeing him the way he was after the incident in South America, and how mentally and physically deteriorated he was throughout the time of this novel. Seeing Sutton and how she really cared about him was a nice change to his timeline as well because I was so sad that nothing seemed to be going his way so it was nice seeing this relationship with Sutton develop as the novels went on. I love them together, she’s honestly perfect for him. But seeing Edward with his work Shelby really made me laugh. She definitely got him out of his funk before things went down. She took no shit from him and really took care of him with everything and it was such a positive part in his story. I adore Shelby and her tough love.
I don’t really know what to feel about max because he honestly wasn’t around much. I mean he was the typical bad boy with his tattoos and the motorcycle. His story wasn’t really touched upon but I liked the mystery surrounding him. I mean there were flashbacks showing what a troublemaker he is but yeah I kind of wish we got more with him, but at the same time I liked the other characters more than him in a way so I wasn’t too put off about that.
Now onto Gin, oh my gosh she was a hot mess but I think that’s what I liked about her. She had the best change out of anyone in the story. You read about her in book 1, and you almost don’t recognize her at the end of book 3. She really opened her heart and mind and was willing to do what she could for her child. She gave up so much in the end for her and it really was so nice and sweet. She even pulled a stunt on her husband all for the sake of her kid. And Gin and Samuel T were just crazy…like woah! But at the same time they were so good for each other, even if it didn’t look like it…but he was the only one who could take her crap. I’m happy they got the ending they deserved.
I think my favorite character outside the couples was Miss Aurora! She was smart, sweet, strong, and so full of love for Lane and the others. I adored reading about her from Lane’s POV because he just adored her so much. And I liked seeing her treat him with so much love. You could see the positive impact she had on the characters through the way they spoke of her and thought of her. I think just overall this book was filled with an amazing cast of characters, and really addicting storyline, and just really intense love stories.
I cannot wait to check out J R Ward’s other novels, which after reading this series I will be doing sooner rather than later! Highly recommend this series! It was so good!! I didn’t want to put it down!
Plus the narrator for the audiobooks was really good! I liked him! He did a good job!
Have you read this series yet? What were your thoughts?