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Omg! One of my absolute favorites of the series! J.R. Ward never seizes to surprise me with how easy it is to fall into her world building and character development. I loved Rhage and Mary in their first book and it was just so much fun to re-visit their relationship. The Beast managed to break my heart and make me bawl like a little girl and then also had me swooning and completely in love a few pages later. Something about this book brought back my original love of the series. The OG brothers will always hold a special place in my heart.
As always very interested to see where the series goes.
As always very interested to see where the series goes.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another great installment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood!! In-depth with Rhage and Mary. Tied up some loose ends and of course opened the door fo a few more characters to get into the spotlight.
I love Rhage. He has always been my favorite Brother. With Tohr being a close second. This story was so sweet.
Spoiler
I knew after the ice cream parlor scene that they would try to adopt Bitty. I am so happy that Mary and Rhage got to have a child as it always bothered me that Mary wouldn't be able to have a child. I'm looking forward to reading the next book since it will be hilarious to watch the Brothers clean up their language now that there is child around old enough to hear and understand them.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Rhage and Mary. Possibly the most cosmically screwed couple in the Black Dagger Brotherhood universe.
Rhage is cursed with a dragon that comes out when he gets too emotional or hurt, which leaves him blind for a short time after. Cursed for 200 years because he killed a bird, one their holy deity adores.
Mary was a human, dying from cancer, who met Rhage while trying to help a young pre-trans vampire.
Rhage makes a deal with their “Scribe Virgin” to keep his beast indefinitely and give Mary up if Mary could live.
Shockingly, Mary was returned to him, immortal but unable to have children. Mary is also loved by the beast, she calms him when he erupts and keeps him from killing.
This book begins shortly after The Shadows ends. Rhage is told he will die if he fights in the battle they are about to have against their enemy. He rushes head first into the fray and ends up shot. Mary, while supporting a young orphan girl whose mother just died as soon as she touched her, rushes to his side and calls the dragon to save his life.
Rhage is hit with the knowledge that he went in there knowing he would die and not caring about the outcome.
It reads like Rhage is having a mid-life crisis, even as a centuries old vampire, which began in the last book when he was having panic attacks when female characters were injured.
It isn’t until their Queen asks him to hold her baby and he calms him that Rhage realises he wants children, something he knows is lost to him and Mary.
And along comes Bitty. The young orphan girl Mary is helping through her mother’s death. After a few outings, Rhage sets the ball in motion for him and Mary to adopt Bitty.
This makes up the bulk of the book and reading his interactions with Bitty is heart-warming.
Bitty enters the Black Dagger mansion and knows everyone based off descriptions from conversations with Rhage. This scene is beautiful, especially because she is carrying her mother’s ashes and these gigantic men talk to her on her level and welcome her warmly.
There are the subplots still going on from previous books except Xcor somehow ended up as captive comatose prisoner.
There is a new secondary plot introduced around humans possibly discovering the existence of the BDB and one of these humans is related to one of the BDB doctors, Manny. He isn’t aware of this as yet, but I suspect it will come to light soon.
Is she going to be a shellan (mate) to a male? Is she a half vampire or one with the DNA like Butch was? Will they be discovered by humans?
Another new subplot was Assail. I don’t know what happened for his complete turnaround, but he ends up rescuing a blood slave. Zsadist, a former blood slave, takes Assail and they burn the house and the person who took the young man as a slave. This was a better subplot that the possible discovery by humans.
I am still not sold on the idea of Layla and Xcor, whose book is next. I was very disappointed to read Layla investigated his history and it turns out he is related to the BDB brother who hates him the most. I think this was an obvious twist in order to lead to Xcor’s acceptance as Layla couldn’t leave the BDB because she has twins with one of them.
I was disappointed there was no real update on Trez or iAm bar their appearance at Qhuinn and Layla’s twins naming ceremony. It was a beautiful moment when they named their daughter after Qhuinn’s mate Blay’s mother. The fact that a mainstream paranormal romance series has a same sex couple treated as equals by the other characters is a great thing. Their book was one of my faves.
This book was great. It moved the overall story along nicely. I still would like less subplots and making the bad guy good plots, but I am looking forward to what happens next.
Rhage is cursed with a dragon that comes out when he gets too emotional or hurt, which leaves him blind for a short time after. Cursed for 200 years because he killed a bird, one their holy deity adores.
Mary was a human, dying from cancer, who met Rhage while trying to help a young pre-trans vampire.
Rhage makes a deal with their “Scribe Virgin” to keep his beast indefinitely and give Mary up if Mary could live.
Shockingly, Mary was returned to him, immortal but unable to have children. Mary is also loved by the beast, she calms him when he erupts and keeps him from killing.
This book begins shortly after The Shadows ends. Rhage is told he will die if he fights in the battle they are about to have against their enemy. He rushes head first into the fray and ends up shot. Mary, while supporting a young orphan girl whose mother just died as soon as she touched her, rushes to his side and calls the dragon to save his life.
Rhage is hit with the knowledge that he went in there knowing he would die and not caring about the outcome.
It reads like Rhage is having a mid-life crisis, even as a centuries old vampire, which began in the last book when he was having panic attacks when female characters were injured.
It isn’t until their Queen asks him to hold her baby and he calms him that Rhage realises he wants children, something he knows is lost to him and Mary.
And along comes Bitty. The young orphan girl Mary is helping through her mother’s death. After a few outings, Rhage sets the ball in motion for him and Mary to adopt Bitty.
This makes up the bulk of the book and reading his interactions with Bitty is heart-warming.
Bitty enters the Black Dagger mansion and knows everyone based off descriptions from conversations with Rhage. This scene is beautiful, especially because she is carrying her mother’s ashes and these gigantic men talk to her on her level and welcome her warmly.
There are the subplots still going on from previous books except Xcor somehow ended up as captive comatose prisoner.
There is a new secondary plot introduced around humans possibly discovering the existence of the BDB and one of these humans is related to one of the BDB doctors, Manny. He isn’t aware of this as yet, but I suspect it will come to light soon.
Is she going to be a shellan (mate) to a male? Is she a half vampire or one with the DNA like Butch was? Will they be discovered by humans?
Another new subplot was Assail. I don’t know what happened for his complete turnaround, but he ends up rescuing a blood slave. Zsadist, a former blood slave, takes Assail and they burn the house and the person who took the young man as a slave. This was a better subplot that the possible discovery by humans.
I am still not sold on the idea of Layla and Xcor, whose book is next. I was very disappointed to read Layla investigated his history and it turns out he is related to the BDB brother who hates him the most. I think this was an obvious twist in order to lead to Xcor’s acceptance as Layla couldn’t leave the BDB because she has twins with one of them.
I was disappointed there was no real update on Trez or iAm bar their appearance at Qhuinn and Layla’s twins naming ceremony. It was a beautiful moment when they named their daughter after Qhuinn’s mate Blay’s mother. The fact that a mainstream paranormal romance series has a same sex couple treated as equals by the other characters is a great thing. Their book was one of my faves.
This book was great. It moved the overall story along nicely. I still would like less subplots and making the bad guy good plots, but I am looking forward to what happens next.
emotional
medium-paced
The Beast primarily focuses on the quickly devolving relationship between Rhage and Mary. It also seems to be a book that really pull is a lot of the side characters to make the story work – which I absolutely loved. Rhage and Mary are one of the first couples w meet in the BDB series, and it was so nice to have a chance to really look into their lives again – even if they aren’t in a very good place right now.
This book also reminds us that The Black Dagger Brotherhood isn’t all about romance. There is a war raging in the background, and something big is about to go down. You can feel it building up on the pages. Something is going to break with either the Scribe Virgin or the Omega, and it’s going to be life-changing for everyone.
There are a few storylines that involve the kids and babies of the household, and they added a little bit of a softer touch that the story needed. In a few years, the Brotherhood is going to have its hands full with all the new youngsters.
A wonderful addition to the series with romance, adventure, suspense, and plenty to make you laugh and cry (sometimes both at once).
This book also reminds us that The Black Dagger Brotherhood isn’t all about romance. There is a war raging in the background, and something big is about to go down. You can feel it building up on the pages. Something is going to break with either the Scribe Virgin or the Omega, and it’s going to be life-changing for everyone.
There are a few storylines that involve the kids and babies of the household, and they added a little bit of a softer touch that the story needed. In a few years, the Brotherhood is going to have its hands full with all the new youngsters.
A wonderful addition to the series with romance, adventure, suspense, and plenty to make you laugh and cry (sometimes both at once).
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced