Blood Kiss by J.R.Ward

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Blood Kiss by J.R. Ward

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The legacy of the Black Dagger Brotherhood continues in a spin-off series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author…

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. 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.

I thought Blood Kiss was Ok. It was not as good as the Black Dagger Brotherhood IMO considering it is in the same universe. Butch didn't quite sound himself and I never cared for Marissa and those were the only other couple from the BDB who had a role in Blood Kiss. Vishous and Doc Jane, Mary and Rhage were also present. Abalone, the aristocrat in the Glymera, is the King's right-hand man and his daughter, Paradise is the leading character. She isn't impressed with being a woman of the Aristocracy, meaning she isn't your typical stereotype to be treated the way woman are treated. Her passion is for fighting, and she enrolls in the BDB training program, along with 60 others. She was the last one standing and therefore named the Primus. Excellent for her and her dad should be proud, except he wouldn't have seriously allowed her to join the training program save for Paradise telling him a lie like she wasn't planning on fighting the wars against the Lessers.

Another story within Blood Kiss is that of Butch and Marissa. Safeplace was for domestic violence and abuse cases mostly all women. Marissa witnessed an injured female badly beaten and in trauma but she couldn't get help from the brothers who were all in a meeting so she phones her brother Havers. Their relationship hadn't been a good one so she kinda had to force herself to ask him for a favor. If he would look after the injured female. I didn't care about the injured female, but I suppose the story ended on a good note in some ways but meh.

The true proverbial hero of Blood Kiss is Craeg. For the sole reason of rescuing a damsel in distress the daughter of the Glymera, Paradise. We see their romance and downright lusty eroticism between these two, that much was to be expected. Yay. They are both tough characters and I find no qualms about them. They make a good addition to the BDB. I mean with Paradise, even though she is an aristocrat, I warmed up to her more than I did to Xhex.

Peyton, I seem to recall from the BDB but I would have to go back and read The Beast or Lover At Last to remember him. He was Paradises' best friend. I'm sure we will hear more about Axe and Novo, who were two others who made it through the BDB's training program. It was a really tough course and out of 60 participants, only 7 made it. (view spoiler)[Btw, Anslam was the bad guy (hide spoiler)]

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