Where Winter Finds You (Black Dagger Brotherhood #17.5)

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

I must confess that I am struggling with this book. I dont feel like giving it 4 stars, but 3 seems a little low so lets say its 3.75.
The main problem with this book for me is that it sort of reopened a wound that for me was already healed. Selenas death in The Shadows was devastating. I honestly grieved her death for many months. But I learned to move on, I found comfort in the next books and focused on the other stories and characters (e.g. Rhun and Saxton!) and even though I still felt sorry for Trez, I just knew that he would be fine eventually, just like Tohr after Wellsie. It would take time, but it would happen. So when we first met Therese I was a little worried about how this whole reincarnation thing would play out and after reading this book I can say I was right to be worried. Yes, I am thrilled that Trez finally got his HEA. However, the whole reincarnation thing felt too forced, as I imagined it would. This is Jane turning into a ghost all over again. A sort of Deus ex machina that is supposed to right some wrong. It didnt convince me though. I think I would have preferred if Therese had been someone else entirely different. And maybe Selena would just show up to give her blessings to Trez. Or if this whole reincarnation thing had at least been hinted still at The Shadows to give us something to look forward to. As it is, it was a little too late to bring Selena back and a little too soon to have Trez fall in love with someone else. Which is really confusing, hence my mixed feelings about this book. I dont hate it. I just feel that maybe the timing for this story had been completely out of the mark. Despite all that, I really liked Trezs plans for the future and I wanted to see more of that. Going back to school, changing careers, living with the in-laws, becoming and uncle! Those were things that I wanted to see in the epilogue yet, unfortunately, were just briefly mentioned.

I love vampire romances! Ive read all of this authors books, and for a while this was my favorite series. Nowadays the BDB books are hit or miss. This one was a miss for me. The premise was only barely intriguing – Trez, recently widowed of Selena, meets a woman who looks like his dead wife – but I was excited about reading a Christmas BDB book. The heroine, Therese, was not very compelling – pretty and nice but immature and bland. The hero, Trez, wasnt any more compelling – handsome and strong but sad and confused. They didnt have much chemistry. The storyline was far-fetched, and the writing was flat. Overall, disappointing.

Where Winter Finds You isn’t a standalone. You need to be familiar with the BDB series and you need to read book 13 THE SHADOWS in this series before reading this book.
This book was not as well written as J.R. Ward’s first 5 or 10 books. The editing has certainly gone down hill and the prices have gone up since Simon and Schuster took over.
Trez Latimer is a Shadow who not long ago sacrificed everything to mate with Selena, a Chosen. When she died after their short time together he lost the will to live. His brother and those in his life who care for him worry about this and are concerned that hell take matters in his own hands, which he has been tempted to do. But recently, a young woman named Therese comes to work for iAm in his restaurant as a server and stuns everyone from the brotherhood who sees her because shes a dead ringer for Selena. Therese has come to Caldwell to escape a rift with her family. The revelation that she was adopted and not born into her family shakes the foundations of her identity, and she is determined to make it on her own. Her attraction to Trez is not what shes looking for, except the sexy Shadow proves to be irresistable.
So, Trez gets his HEA. Yay! The ending wrapped up a little too quickly and easily though. There was very little action and danger in this story. There was a tiny amount near the end. The story dealt with mostly the romance between the H and h.
You get glimpses of other members of the BDB family. I love when that happens.
It seems that J.R. found a way to explain the Darius/John conundrum in explaining how the Selena/Theresa thing was able to happen. Go Lassiter!
Does anyone else get perturbed at how J.R. describes something simple with a pound of adjectives, adverbs, analogies and metaphors? Sometimes I just want to get the story plain and simple.

Now that was a HEA worth waiting for!!! Ever since I read The Shadows I’ve been dying for this book and I was not disappointed ( not that I ever am ). The Warden has done it again. Every time I think it cannot get any better she proves me wrong. Now every time I do a re-read of the series I can consol myself with the thought of this book giving me the much needed release from grief and passing me into a place of happiness. Thank you for this book!!!

Trez’s book was so superb, what was once lost has been found again thanks to an angel with a heart for love. Therese who once was at dought for what and who she was and Trez doughting the reason to live have now found all the answers needed. Thank you to the fallen angel. I loved this story and how Trez found his HEA with Therese forever.

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