The Bourbon Kings (The Bourbon Kings #1)

by J.R. Ward (Goodreads Author)

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.

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Source: eARC for Honest Review Courtesy of NAL | Penguin Group

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance

Part 1 in a new series

My The Bourbon Kings Review ...

I'm such a huge fan of JR Ward so when I heard she had a new contemporary book I was all ...

Then after read it I was all ....

This book took FOREVER to create the foundation of the story and character development. But I'm a fan of JR Ward so I was patient but I gotta say I never ever really got into it completely and felt it was WAY TOO LONG. As you all know that I'm NOT a huge fan of stories that mainly focus on secrets, assumptions and miscommunications and basically this was the WHOLE theme wrapped up in a very hoity-toity society.

The story is revolving around the very wealthy family of the Bradfords where they live large and all is not as it seems with this family. They drink lots, have sex lots, spend lots and have loads of secrets.

Some characters were better than others but my least favorite was Gin. Did I understand her character? Sure. Did I relate to her? Not at all. She was too shallow and unfortunately there are consequences to superficial decisions and now she's paying for them. Her and Samual T's relationship is so toxic.

She couldn't . . . she couldn't imagine a life of nine-to-five. Couldn't fathom budgeting. Saving. Denying.

She wasn't doing it for the family. As usual, she had made the decision in her own selfish interest.

The main couple of the book is Lizzie and Tulane (Lane) but the others are a huge part and I assume will have their own books in the future. There was so much detail in building the foundation of the characters that it's hard to truly get completely enveloped with them. Which each character there were secrets, assumptions and miscommunications. But they were all relative to each character. Another constant theme was .... Do none of these people ever use condoms? They sleep with everyone with no real moral compass but condoms schondoms.

Lizzie had good moments for me at the beginning but then she lost with me her typical guilty before proven innocent philosophy. I let her have one pass with the first time she assumed and NEVER communicated or listened but the repeated offenses of this made her not endearing to me.

He had just put up a billboard in her proverbial town square. Set her straight with no room for misinterpretation. (Ugh! Lizzie was getting on my nerve as she only listened to what she wanted to hear and didn't ever see what was truly in front of her eyes.)

"Otherwise, I'm going to have to come find you and talk to you about how you shouldn't believe everything you hear or read." (Yeah! Why would she listen to this advice?)

"Are we back at this thing where you hear some thing you don't like and shut me out? ... "

At the core, though, she came to one, inescapable conclusion. She had made a terrible mistake. (You think? Argh! If I was Lane I wouldn't take her back but the heart wants what the heart wants)

Thankfully I did like Lane, Edward, Miss Aurora and Sutton, so there was a balance of like and dislike within the characters. So, finally the end of the book starts to get some momentum but then its left with a cliffhanger and so many stories unfinished. ARGH!!!!!! Now that the foundation and characters are set I'm hoping we finally get to the meat of the story and it gets better from here. Because as of right now I'm left with more of a meh feeling then a yeah as it was just too damn long for the end result.

2.5 to 3 Room for more thumbs up!