The Chosen

After the Beast, I was hopeful this series had recovered its footing. (So hopeful, I preordered The Chosen) Yeah, I was wrong. So let’s get this out of the way.

***SPOILER WARNING***

I’m a huge fan of the BDB series, but after the first six books, I think it should be taken out of the romance category. For one, people reading romance dig the Happy Ever After the first six books delivered. While I love how Ward has expanded the plot and has found a way to bring closure to the war, this love story was unfulfilling at best.

Poor Xcor and Layla were downright cheated when it came to the steamy parts. It felt like a rushed romp instead of a joining of hearts. Mix that in with the Placeholder Selena, and yeah, where is the love Ward? Don’t even get me started on V and Jane. V was my favorite from the beginning but cheating on your bonded either completely discounts how strong Ward is selling the the “bonded male” thing or is pushing V through the angst mill at the expense of his HEA. Either way, not romantic. Not even sexy.

I understand Ward is a character writer and I would ride that roller coaster any day if the characters where true to themselves. But Qhuinn? Really? WTH?!? This is not the Qhuinn I had come to love. He is beyond brutal when he discovers Layla loves Xcor. What he yells at Layla and Blay is unforgivable. When he points the gun at Layla while she is holding their children? – No. Too far. I was hoping for a breakthrough for Qhuinn in this. Like this madness would lead to some deeper revelation concerning himself, but no. It was simply dismissed as a temper tantrum and forgiven without costing him anything except a brief apology.

And Tohr? Different person, same situation. I don’t recall him ever speaking as ugly to a brother as he did to Layla. He gives the King (this lifelong friend) the finger and gives up his position in the brotherhood to kill Xcor because…well this is never fully explained. The only explanation he offers Wrath is that Weslie’s birthday was a few days ago and that put him in a bad mood. Same false peace offering and quick apology and everyone is good.

Apparently there is no sacred ground here. Aiming a gun at the mother of your children while she is holding them, betraying your lifelong friend, and cheating on your shellan when you are supposed to be a bonded male, are all great drama, but again, NOT romantic. NOT sexy.

So really my advice is this:
If the enjoy the drama and are not concerned with getting a Happy Ever After with romance, read on! Ward is an exceptional writer and has more than proven she can pull the emotional strings of her readers. Her world is captivating and the stakes are always high.

However, if you are looking for the romantic closure found in the first six books, I would wait until the book releases and read the reviews before you dive in with a head full of nostalgia. For better or for worse, this is not the same brotherhood she began with – This is not your mother’s BDB.

Happy Reading.

Wow, this book totally depressed me- good thing I love the authors new legacy BDB series. Although main couple in this story was okay all the other drama and personality changes of main characters made this book just really so hard to read. SPOILER: Too much internal fighting and personality changes. Although Ward is one of the best writers in the genre and my favorite, I just really hate when the characters you know and love suddenly start acting like complete tools from out of no where. I mean Qhiunn’s behavior raging and nastiness to Layla was way over the top considering his own story and struggles. Tohr;s behavior I thought just regressed back to his issues still seems much about lost mate, even though committed to new one. AND so sounds like V is just is basically no longer really a “bonded male” somehow, although didn’t know these guys would have middle age crisis. As he is now trying to cheat and every time he was thinking about Jane in this book he was basically like “meh”. I know theirs was some books ago but say what? I don’t get it and not sure I like where main series is going but I hope it eventually makes sense. Although think I’m going to really read some reviews before just jumping into next book to avoid this “wish I had skipped this one” feeling.

So, I won’t be as critical as others, but in the grand scheme of the series, this book was just okay…SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. I had really high hopes for this one given the tidbits in the previous books and simply anticipating how in the world the book would rectify a relationship with a BoB and the Chosen. But at the end of the day, I thought some of what should have been major plot elements were glossed over, and too many side plots override the story. This book should have focused on Xcor and Layla primarily and the angst and challenges they would face to arrive at their happy ending. In the end, their romance was barely covered and when it was, rushed through. The emotional toilings of Xcor were poorly developed and again, only addressed at a cursory level. And what about the whole issue with Tohr and Xcor as brothers!!?? This was written at the end of the book like an afterthought and magically everyone was just so accepting of the whole thing and it immediately made everything better. Even Wrath didn’t question why or how this came to be or that anyone didn’t know. It was just accepted at face value and everything was forgiven because they share the same features??? Serious, WTF. The disrespect of females in this book was also a problem – simply because Ward has emphasized so much in past books how females are cherished by all. What path is she taking the Brotherhood down that they are now acting so out of character and blatantly against guiding principles that have been in place forever? Unlike some other people, I’m not a fan of the Trez/Therese thing. It’s simply too soon to do this in the series, some more time should have passed before going down this path. In the end, the Qhuinn/Blay, Throw, V/Jane, and Trez/Therese story lines were too much, they took away from what should have been the primary focus of the book. This seems to be a growing pattern in Ward’s novels. She’s become obsessed with side plots that the main plot gets lost in the shuffle.
One highlight is Lassiter, I think there’s great opportunity here for growth. And I do thing that the truce between the Brotherhood and the BoB through uniting against a common enemy is probably the best outcome that could have happened. Although it was weird how everyone seemed so welcoming when they moved in. Yes, it’s a smart move, but how come it doesn’t take time for all of them to warm up to each other? Geez… Qhuinn and Xcor were acting like besties at the end of the book, which is bizarre.
If you enjoy the dialogue and writing style of Ward, then this book will still hold your interest. And if you’ve been a long time fan of the series, then the plot development is always good to keep up with. But if you had high hopes for depth in the Layla/Xcor storyline (or even how Xcor and Tohr came to be brothers and how that would shake things up) then you will be sorely disappointed.

I really enjoyed Xcor and Layla’s story, the romance has been on the slow burner for a while and it was nice to see them get their happy ever after. Xcor has been one of my favourite characters. He is deep and nuanced and much better than earlier incarnations of JR Ward’s bad guys. (Lash, anyone? Ugh)

However… there were aspects of the book I didn’t like. Qhuinn’s behaviour was appalling and I was disappointed with Vishous, too. What is the point of giving each Brother their own novel dedicated to finding their true mate when after only two years together he starts to behave like V has done? It undermines the whole notion of a ‘mated male’ that JR Ward has set up.

I feel the whole series has become a sort of vampire ‘soap opera’ which is not to say it’s not an enjoyable read for people invested in the characters, but it is a different beast from the early books in the series and so The Chosen may disappoint some fans. Personally, I’ll still be back for the next instalment, if just to see Jane hand Vishous his ass.

Another fantastic story in this series! I Have no idea how the author can manage to continue this story and find new things to write about but she does! And blows it out of the water every time!

What a journey of self discovery this book becomes. Not only for Layla and Qhuinn but Tohr, V, Xcor and Wrath. Well, to be honest, pretty much every one of the characters involved are put through the wringer.
This is a really emotionally tumultuous book which keeps the pages turning. Just when I thought I had an idea of how and where it was going something else cropped up and changed the whole direction. Anns this wasnt just a one off thing, but happened repeatedly throughout the book.

I love the character development throughout the series and the snippets we get back in with other couples is great.

I really cant say much without giving the whole thing away but it was fantastic! Everyone should read it!

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