The legacy of the Black Dagger Brotherhood continues in this gripping spin-off series from #1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward.Paradise, blooded daughter of the king’s First Advisor, is ready to break free from the restrictive life of an aristocratic female. Her strategy? Join the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training center program and learn to fight for herself, think for herself…be … herself, think for herself…be herself. It’s a good plan, until everything goes wrong. The schooling is unfathomably difficult, the other recruits feel more like enemies than allies, and it’s very clear that the Brother in charge, Butch O’Neal, a.k.a. the Dhestroyer, is having serious problems in his own life.
And that’s before she falls in love with a fellow classmate. Craeg, a common civilian, is nothing her father would ever want for her, but everything she could ask for in a male. As an act of violence threatens to tear apart the entire program, and the erotic pull between them grows irresistible, Paradise is tested in ways she never anticipated–and left wondering whether she’s strong enough to claim her own power…on the field, and off.
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One of the very best series out there!! Highly recommend these well written stories and characters!! JR Ward’s is outstanding at building and blending this incredibly sexy, paranormal world!
As with all of J.R. Ward’s books I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This book was about self-discovery, not just about Paradise but quite a few others.
One of the things I really enjoyed was that of misconceptions. Due to misconceptions, we can look at others differently and even expect different things from them because of it. They can even cause lack of communication.
Ward used all of these to weave a story arc that held my attention from beginning to end. So much that I did not want to put it down. I just found myself saying…one more paragraph, one more page, one more chapter. Never wanting it to end. There were times I needed tissues and others a pillow to punch. These are the stories that I love the most where characters are real and it all comes to life.
J R Ward never disappoints!
Original review: https://myshelfbooks.wordpress.com/2020/10/25/review-blood-kiss-by-j-r-ward/
Paranormal Romance, Vampires: This is the first book of the spin-off of the Black Dagger Brotherhood saga by the same author. It has been a bit hard to relocate my mind in the correct spot of the timeline and I think the writer should have helped with that task instead of assuming everyone reads the book in the order they are published. Anyway, that sense of being lost lasts a pretty short time and it doesn’t diminish the enjoyment of the book. It seems this saga was born to bring the main characters back to the front page, while introducing new ones at the same time. Can anyone explain to me which is the difference with the main saga? None. The last bunch of books of the main title already follows that schema. I guess this spin-off is just to keep milking the cow, but I’m glad that at least we are given a good story in the process.
Mystery: The main story of this book is a classic whodunit in a no so classic world filled with vampires. And it is a pretty nice mystery to follow, even though it is solved in a rather unremarkable fashion. What kind of serial killer keeps leaving evidence all over the place? It is rather absurd to be honest.
What?: The way the Brotherhood uses to select the trainees is very elaborate but pretty crazy in an unbelievable way. When they started using real bullets in the middle of that chaos my brain just couldn’t take it. If they are as good as the author explains, they shouild already know that bullets do not follow orders. Many things could have gone wrong. It left me cold and rather sad that these guys would employ such extreme measures.
Fumes, Drugs: I’m not going to blast my usual rant about this issue. I only will point out that this story is very VERY annoying in that field. I wish the author would remove that kind of drug abuse from her books…
Listened to The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series many times. Love it
Paradise, blooded daughter of the king’s First Advisor, is tired of being forced into the gymera mold. She wants to be her own person and protect herself. She joins the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training program to find herself. What she doesn’t expect is for it to be so difficult and painful. It also doesn’t help that she is falling for her classmate Craeg, who is a civilian.
I really enjoyed this one! Paradise was strong, courageous, and determined to live her life the way she wanted. She refuses to be another pretty glymera noble who does nothing. Not only is she courageous, she is very kind and compassionate about others. She sees everyone as the same, no matter their class and wants to help everyone. Paradise really reminded me of Melissa, who is also featured in this book, and how she broke away from the glymera for Butch and opened Safe Place.
“If working around the King had taught her anything, it was that no matter what class you were in, tragedy didn’t discriminate, justice could always be served, and nobody got out of this life alive.”
Craeg was a civilian who lost his family during the lesser attacks. He only has the training program left. Craeg was a protective alpha male who I instantly loved. He was gruff, standoffish, and at the same time kind to Paradise. He was everything I love in a grumpy alpha male. I loved everything about these two and I really can’t wait to see them in future books.
This book also features Butch and Melissa, who are having some marrital problems. They both have painful pasts that they have just pushed aside for years without dealing with them. That only works for so long though and in this one they finally have to deal with some of the issues. Butch has to stop seeing Melissa as the perfect good girl woman on a pedistal and Melissa needs to work through the trauma of what Haver’s and the glymera did to her. These two have a hard time but they come out stronger for it, which I am so happy about because Butch is one of my favorites.
“Here’s what I know to be true. We can bury the past all we like. We can use a hundred thousand distractions, some of which are healthy, some of which are not, to keep it under the ground—but when something isn’t processed, it will absolutely, positively come back and bite us on the ass.”
Also, I finally realized who Lassiter reminds me of! It’s just taken almost the whole series to figure it out. Lassiter reminds of the Dean from Community!
https://imgur.com/zbyqet2
Overall, I loved this book and look forward to more from this side series. I can’t get enough of this world and meeting characters who are not the brothers is always fascinating.
4.5 stars! Blood Kiss was a seriously awesome way to kick off a new series in the Black Dagger Brotherhood world. The first book in the Black Dagger Legacy series was an exciting read with new, fantastic characters and I absolutely loved it!
J.R. Ward does it again as she creates a spin off series for the Black Dagger Brotherhood. In the first installment of the new series that follows a group of young trainees in the BDB world who want to become soldiers in the war with the Lessening Society…modified former humans with super strength to hunt the vamps. Craig and Paradise meet just once prior to starting as trainees which isn’t surprising, as she is a higher class member of vamp society while he is a lower class civilian. They should not interact, let alone get involved and but sometimes…things get complicated. As we follow the youngsters, Ward also features one of the main couples —Butch & Marissa who take on the job of finding a killer who brutalized a young civilian vampire. There are plenty of appearances from the other couples used to describe the routine of the new school and for comic relief. I especially liked the sequence where the trainee wannabes have to pass their “hands on” series of trials to make it to the program. Ward does an excellent job of interweaving the two big storylines into one and wrapping it all up to move forward with the recruits.
I loved Craeg. I loved Paradise. I didn’t mind the more young adult feel of the book, it was actually different and fun.
Like other reviewers, I felt that the ending was a little rushed.
Also, I was kind of disappointed there was so much Marissa and Butch romance in this book. It is supposed to be a spin-off. Have the brothers teaching, awesome. Have the shellans appear and have cute moments, more awesome. But half of the book wasn’t about Paradise and Craeg, but instead about one of the brothers and his shellan. That is not a spin-off. That’s story should have been a novella within the main series.
I wanted more Craeg, dang it!
Great series. Loved it!!
You can never go wrong with a JR Ward book!
Blood Kiss (Book #1 Black Dagger Legacy) by J.R. Ward.
Vampires, Black Dagger Brotherhood, The Legacy Training Group: Paradise, Craeg, Peyton, Axe, Anslam, Novo, Grave, Primus, Butch, Marissa, Vishous, Doc Jane, Mary, Rhage, Manny, Lassiter, Havers, Abalone, Glymera, B&D Sex Club, Murdered Females, Safe Place, The Clinic, The Compound.
I have read everything but The Bourbon Kings Series from This Incredible Author & there hasn’t been a single book I didn’t thoroughly enjoy if not down right Love, Love Love!
Mrs Ward has a way of writing that grabs you by the short & curlies, hard & holds you tight in place till the book’s read then releases iron her grip & hold on you!
What I really loved about this book:
It’s more character driven, less about the war & fighting, there was little to no Lesser Society fights in this book with only a sentence of writing about a fight but we read none of it only the after effects on Butch the Destroyher & V.
This Series is all about the New Recruits, their relationships, Mates & forming Friendships & Bonds & having each others back!
We also delve deeper into Butch & Marissa & their hardships into the forefront of each others minds & the deficits in their relationship, in the Vampire community as a whole & I think I See where this series is headed.
It’s my belief Butch, Marissa, Paradise & Craeg (possible new crew) will become the Black Dagger Police Department with Craeg’s promise to not Ahvenge the Death of his Father
It’s been a few years since I read one of J.R.’s Books & boy did I miss the quality writing, a world hiding in the mist & shadows of our very own.
The dynamics of the relationship of a bonded couple the Shellan & her Hellren, or the Banded BD Brothers bought together by training, war & camaraderie & keeping the rest of their species safe from the horrificness of the Lesser Society & their sick wacked out murder, madness & mayhem ways!
Mrs Ward has created a one of a kind world, it’s so unique, there will never be a duplication of her world, characters, or writing style.
It’s always eventful, has you on tenterhooks, is fast past & delivers action like a blockbuster movie in each & every book!
This would make an absolutely Awesome TV Series!
This talented Author has such a way with words and writes the greatest sex scenes with ease, at times it seems very masculine like, but it comes both from a woman’s & a man’s perspective but using terminology that doesn’t make me gag when I read it.
Yes it’s different, And Yes it’s amazing, but it’s never too vulgar or crass and it never makes me feel sick to read it or makes me want to gag on the words like many romance novels do. Thank you J.R. from the bottom of my heart & especially my stomach!
I rate Blood Vow 4.9 out of 5
I Borrowed This Paperback From My Local Library & This Is My Fair, Honest & Impartial Review
Reviewed By : Jewlzped
From the
(Bye Love From The Crazy Australian BookWorm)!
I absolutely loved BLOOD KISS!
This spin-off series of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is just what the doctor ordered! The book is almost 400 pages, yet it was an unusually fast read. I couldn’t put it down!
J.R. Ward goes back to her roots and brings us a story reminiscent of DARK LOVER. Since DARK LOVER was the first romance book I’d ever read, it was like coming home. I love the concept of a series around the warrior training program and loved getting to see some new faces.
Paradise, daughter of Abalone, the King’s First Advisor was first introduced in THE KING (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #12) and had a few appearances in the last book, THE SHADOWS (#13). She was raised in the aristocracy of vampire society known as the glymera and has been greatly sheltered all her life. Paradise wants to find her own way and not be limited by the glymera’s misogynistic gender roles for females. She feels she can do that by joining the training program. It may not be the path for her, but it’s something she’s dreamed of doing.
I really loved Paradise’s character. We’ve seen her polite and confidant but we don’t get to see the “real” her until BLOOD KISS. Her strength is astounding and she has a solid core of steel. She’s also loyal, kind and is an all-around badass female. I loved her. She is a brilliant character and a perfect fit for Craeg.
And Craeg…*dreamy sigh* this male is amazing. He’s not from a rich family but he is strong, determined prideful and a bit stubborn. In many ways, he reminds me of Zsadist, John Matthew and Rehvenge. Craeg’s characteristics are similar to theirs but he is clearly his own character. He is also brilliantly crafted and was made for Paradise. Their romance was very steamy and I loved watching them both fall.
Marissa and Butch also have a storyline in the book and it’s pretty serious. Some past and current issues are plaguing the couple and it takes a lot of strength, courage and determination in order to set things to rights. Vishous, as always, is by Butch’s side and brings his wisdom and overt sexiness to the story. Doc Jane and the rest of the medical staff have a few honorable mentions as well as Tohr and Rhage. The ladies of the mansion have a girls’ night and it is hilarious! And then there’s Lassiter who titillates and disgusts us with a few “unusual” apparel choices 🙂
I’ll say it again, reading BLOOD KISS was like coming home again. It was so comforting and so wonderful. The entire book is amazing. I laughed several times as well as teared up at a few places and was left with feelings of peace and contentment.
Readers will fall in love with this new series and be clamoring for more!
Thank you J.R. Ward for bringing us all “home” again.
***I was gifted an eBook copy from the publisher via Net Galley in November 2015 in exchange for an honest review. All conclusions reached are my own***
I never miss a JR Ward. She is a fantastic writer and this book is no exception. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
My favorite of the BDL series. Butch and Marissa are HOT! Butch is amazing. Vishous is perfect. Craeg and Paradise are sweet.
Blood Kiss is the first book in the spin-off series Black Dagger Legacy from the Black Dagger Brotherhood world. In this series we meet the new trainees for the Brotherhood as well as check in and refall in love with couples from the BDB. This book is about Paradise and Craeg as well as Butch and Marissa. What I loved about this book is that it was just from the two couple’s pov not a million other peoples pov like the last few BDB books have been. It really cuts down on the confusion and chaos of jumping from story line to story line and it felt more intimate. More like her earlier BDB books.
I felt the two couples complemented each other well as they were very much alike. Marissa and Paradise both are good girls, from good bloodlines, founding families, members of the glymera. Both don’t like the restrictions of their births. Both fall in love with blue collar commoners. Both are sweet, brave and smart. Butch and Craeg are both common, poor hard working men. Both feel they are not good enough for the women they love. Both have dark past that effect who they are. Both are men of honor, and both are sexy as hell! I loved Craeg and Paradise together. They had great chemistry. I also really enjoyed getting reacquainted with Butch and Marissa. I loved that they are still very much in love with each other and that they seen the problems they had and worked on them.
I felt like both couples had the same underline problem which was the men putting the women on a pedestal. But I felt that both couples were sexy and sweet in their own right. I really liked the other trainees as well. Especially Novo and Axe. I can’t wait to read their stories. I also can’t wait to get some more of V and Doc Jane. The girls movie night part was so funny. I adored the girl bonding and thought it was too cute how the men freaked out over the girls watching Magic Mike XXL. Lassiter God Lassiter was funny as hell I really need Lassiter to get his own book, but truefully I have no clue who would make a good mate for him. I have to say I was a little sad that I didn’t get any Z in this book as he is my favorite and I always want some Z, but over all I loved this book and can’t wait for the next one to come out!
Love the new characters and the old ones too. Great new series based on the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Lots of old and new mixing.
Loved it, just like most J. R. Wards books
I LOVE LOVE LOVE J.R. Ward!!
It is a must read.