For BDB fans' eyes only

Never, ever, wait for something so much that you think about it every day, gasping as you mark off your calendar and sighing with happiness-in-anticipation. The thing is, you will be disappointed, as sure as the sun will rise, with or without you on the planet. JR Ward's fans have been wanting the story of Blay & Qhuinn since she first started her BDB series, and while Lover At Last has a great deal of what makes Ward the best in her genre, the suckfest arrives from the very beginning. Priatkus obviously has no editors. There are mistakes and missteps. The first is painfully obvious, but the second, well that's the difference between the good and the great, and if you aren't producing great books, you may as well be the kind of 'writer' who endorses marriage websites on TV as a day job. I'll tell you the worst misstep: there's not enough tenderness, not enough of the great dialogue that Ward usually gives her lovers, and that's what we were all waiting for. Add to that the multiple story lines, some so dull they barely lifted off the page, (yes, Trez, that means you), and I failed to go to bed clutching the book to my chest in full foetus position as is my wont when reading Ward. But you know, enough whining, there is still so much to make me thrilled to have read the book. When there is the requisite obsessive love that we can feel and listen to, B&Q are lovely. I especially liked Saxton getting his when Qhuinn thinks he's a love rat, or B&Q at the gym and the club. They take too long to reach an understanding which was frustrating but Ward gives us two new, marvellous couples to keep the juices flowing: Assail (anyone who loved Rehvenge will know what I mean) and Sola, and Xcor and Layla. Alpha males, strong females, great chemistry and interaction; no one can beat Ward when she's very, very good.