If we are all made in God's image, does that mean God is gender fluid.....

How sad. Not the MC's or the story itself but the decline of J.R. Ward.
1. Did someone forget to send this to an editor. I haven't read this many errors since I read a fanfic online that was free and actually noted that it wasn't perfect.
2. Could Ward possibly make the sex between these an more rote? You could have replaced either name at anytime with a female name and it would have fit. How f-ing sad. These two have been building up to this for what like 7-8 books? I mean really, this is best she could do?
3. And I know there are prudes who can read the smuttiest smut when it is male/female but you put two men together and they are crossing themselves and bathing in holy water! No matter who you are if you engage in anal sex you need lube. Unless you have written in to the world that this cared for by body chemistry, you need lube. And I don't care what porn stars say, spit isn't enough.
4. Is it wrong that EVERYTIME I got to a new chapter and I read the name Assail, I started skipping pages.
5. I didn't realize 'becoming' a brother could be so so unemotional. Like it was taking a jog or something.
6. And are you flipping kidding me they got off during a feeding with a Chosen. Really? You mean to tell me Ward decided to take on a M/M romance and then felt the need to disgrace a Chosen? Rude!
7. Where the HELL was Lassiter?
8. Luchas really? How awful. Where he was, how he got there and his obvious 'angst' that will be the subject of an upcoming book.
9. And Sola gets kidnapped, anyone else feeling the Bella syndrome coming on?
10. I like Layla.
11. Trz and iAm. Just a set up for new books. Could be interesting? Operative word being 'could'.
12. Oh and Blay lied almost the entire book. That did not fit the character Ward had created in previous books.
13. Piggybacking on 12. I can't possibly tell you with absolute certainty, but know I will got back and look again, Butch was not one to use the word 'wicked' in a bid to prove is Bostonianness. (Yeah I know not a word but you get the jist) It was like he was someone else.
14. And I dont know if you read the previous books, but Qhuinn admitted he was gay in a previous book. Albeit to himself, but isn't that the most important person to admit it too? And it took until damn near the end of this book for him to get that point...again? (I say with a raised eyebrow) Hello, he knows he's gay it was the execution of acting on it that was the problem. Or did Ward forget that part?
15. And Saxton. What a flipping saint. I mean come on Ward used a doormat to describe how Saxton was going to react. Literally a doormat that maybe writer dog lays on and leaves muddy prints and hair on.
16. Hey remember the Lessen Society? Yeah me too. At this point they are all but diminished.
17. Hey remember the Scribe Virgin? Yeah me too. At this point she is all but diminished.
18. Hey was Blay going to get a bite? Or was that off scene like the long discussion that were 'supposedly' happening?
19. And apparently Qhuinn and Blaylock only do it doggy style. That's it. No face to face, no wall sex (can I get a HOO HOO for wall sex!) and no tender loving? Just hard and fast and faceless.

Suffice to say that Lover at Last was a bomb of no proportions for me. A sparkler that didn't light. I kept up with a lighter at the end of sparkler saying 'come on, come on, light damn you!'
Lover at Last was also a portent for me. This is the last of the lovers for me. There has been talk of 2 novellas that were suppose to come out sometime in 2011-2012 featuring Wrath/Bella and Rhage/Mary. I can't possibly tell you I won't read those IF they are released but as far as any additional novels, no. It is with great sadness that I have to write this review. I have been a fan since the beginning and I will tell you now those first 4 novels were/are tremendous. There is passion, fire, angst, love, brotherhood, plot and so much more. It's been off and on with following books but you hang on because there is a little of all of those in books 5-10. Lover at Last was done at the request of fans and because I believe Ward wrote herself into a corner. She had no other way to go or she was going to have a problem. This may appease the die hard fans who weren't comfortable with two men being together and then again maybe not.

It doesn't matter what I read now or then or whenever. I read J.R. Ward. I know what she can do, I've read what she can do. This isn't close to what I have come to expect from the Warden.


After reading some reviews and thinking about what I did like about the other BDB book and what was missing here I came to an awful realization. I didn't like this book because it was antigay. Yeah I know right. Besides Thor, every other couple got the ceremony and the male got his lovers name carved on his back. Blay and Qhuinn have been doing this dance for a while. The fans have been going crazy for their story. So what does JR Ward do at the end of Lover At Last? She gives you a grand gesture. Not the ceremony, not the name carving, not Wrath saying yes you can and making sure it cool. No we get the very HUMAN 'I asked your pa if I can marry you' bullshit. WAIT WAIT WAIT They aren't human. They didn't grow up in a human world. JR Ward can do anything she wants here, ANYTHING! Obviously since she had Wrath rewrite the rules to get Qhuinn into the brotherhood. So why else did we get a book full of crap we didn't want, angst that was redundant and ending that even the human women and men in BDB didn't get. HELLO
I wanted bonding scent coming off Qhuinn and Blay like they were their own cologne factory. I wanted face to face sex and biting (like JM and Xhex) I wanted everyone to notice. I wanted the ceremony DAMNIT. I wanted Qhuinn and Blaylock kneeling and the Brotherhood asking 'What is the name of your Hellren?'. I wanted names carved and a salt water baptism to seal their communion.
And what did we get? A flipping engagement. AN ENGAGEMENT.
JR Ward are soooooo not getting another penny of my hard earned money.