A review by allingoodtime
Lover at Last by J.R. Ward

emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Quinn has done so much growing over the last year, the last couple of books for the readers, and I couldn’t wait for Blay to realize the changes that had taken place. The problem with when you’ve known someone almost their whole life is that it’s sometimes hard to see the change because you misread their intentions at every turn. Since that was the way this story was being laid out, I would get impatient when the POV in the book changed away from the Quinn/Blay story. Every time I thought Blay was going to truly see Quinn, it didn’t happen and the book veered to a different storyline.

Knowing these books always have a lot of different storylines going on, all of them being important in some way either now or in the future, I knew I had to be patient. The good thing about that is I ended up fully invested in Assail’s part of the story and cannot wait to see how that all plays out. And while I’m not thrilled with the Band of Bastards, I am curious about the Xcor/Layla pairing. I love Layla and her journey has been fascinating to me. She still has so much to learn and so much to reconcile about her life before and her life now. I just want her to be happy, but I am having a hard time seeing how that will be with her current attachment to both Quinn and the Brotherhood and Xcor.

Back to Quinn and Blay. Even with the growth Quinn has had, there were still some things he had to come to terms with. I don’t know that it had to drag out through the length of the book. The good thing is that the two couldn’t stay away from each other even when one thought they were “the other man” and the other thought he was just scratching an itch for the other guy, so there was plenty of heat and emotion throughout the book. Yet Blay was keeping quiet about his breakup and then getting mad at Quinn when he would back away. Quinn thought he was taking his cues from Blay. It was all a mess and I understood it to a certain extent, but think it went on too long before things were sorted.

I’ve seen criticism that this book didn’t have a lot of relevant stories being told. I disagree. Although there isn’t a lot happening in the Brotherhood itself, I think the stories being told will have significance in the future. I wasn’t crazy about Trez’s story, it was the one I was most annoyed with overall. Yet I know that down the road I’m going to be glad I got the information that was presented to me here. His story will eventually be told and it seems it could involve one of the Chosen. So it may not be what the die-hard readers wanted or are interested in at this moment in the series, but I know it will play out eventually as all this author’s little threads tend to do.

I’m just happy Quinn finally has a family (multiple families!) who love him unconditionally. The little neglected child is now an adult of great worth who is much loved and respected. If that’s not revenge on those who shunned him I don’t know what is. 
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