Before The Brothers….. There were the Bachelors.
Submitted by Doll Lil on August 11, 2011 – 12:13 am11 Comments
J.R. Ward is an inspiration to me. Of all the writers I have discovered over the last two years Ms. Ward is the one I want to be when I grow up. Don’t get me wrong I love all authors. Even if I don’t like your book I am a fan. To be able to have the courage to put one’s ideas on paper and allow the masses to read your words and then pick a part, is not easy. I know. I have performance anxiety over a book review and my few attempts at fan fiction left me sweaty and reading reviews through my fingers. For me Ward’s ability to rip into the angst and dark pain of the brothers and the women who love them is like sweet rich chocloate or breaking through the crust of creme brulee and having the sweetness tickle my taste buds. Hold on let me stand up for this…. *sets down cold bitter coffee* Hello. My name is Lil and I am an angst addict. Not only do I love the sweet journey of heartwrenching love and mystery Ward takes on us I am a true fan of a novel I can see clearly in my minds eye. Ward is a master of her words. She takes us to the brink and let’s us push ourselves off. As a wannabe publsihed author I have often disected her words to try and get their in my own writing. I want to touch a reader like she has done for me over and over. And let’s face it, it’s not all about the brothers. The women are just as well written as the men. I am a strong believer not everyone can write both genders. Ward can and it took practice…..
Now you may be wondering where all my babbling is taking us. It’s taking us straight into the world of Jessica Bird. Last year I picked up just for kicks and giggles. I liked it. A lot. I decided to see if I could find anymore Jessica Bird books. I searched high and low and found nothing in any of my books stores so I turned to Barnes and Nobles and my trusty nook app for IPhone and purchased five JB novels. I read them all in 3 days. I was officially a Jessica Bird fan and what really intrigued me was the stirrings of some very similar characteristics between JB’s men and Ward’s Brothers. In A Man In a Million the hero, Spike, is very alpha and just happens to have yellow eyes. I mean hello this is me we are talking about, I adore Zsadist! I honestly can’t decide on a final list of favorite leading men but for one. My list will always be topped by Zsadist. Many Alpha’s have tried but none can puch him off the mountain. LOL Which is hilarious because let’s face it Zsadist would hate the attention. But anyway I digress…..
Last month I mentioned I was going on vacation and I planned on reading the one Jessica bird book I had yet to find. It was released July 5th and I was at B&N that morning picking up my copy. What? Color me freak I don’t mind. An Irresistible Bachelor was the follow up to UL. Let’s just say it was a quick read. I really liked it but it wasn’t my favorite. IB met the my expectations. It wasn’t quite as good as the rest of the books that came after it but it definitely was worth picking it up for a vacation read. To bad I finished before we drove out of Florida. Really it’s my fault. I tend to read fast. I read Dead and Gone in five hours while suffering from swine flu. ;) I did it again didn’t I? Sorry OK back to JB. So to get straight to the point there are seven books that predate our beloved Black Dagger Brotherhood. It’s a human contemporary world filled with angst, romance, humor, and the beginnings of what was so worth waiting for. Jessica Bird doesn’t intertwine her characters stories as much as Ward has but I can see where she experimented with a formula throughout the Moorehouse series. I for one prefer AHC but when it comes to the Brothers I have yet to find a series that has pulled me in so completely. OK possibly the Fever series but that’s it. I know I have lots of favorites. Honestly every book is like a little treasure box to me. Fortunately for us Jessica Bird broke open a boat load of raw gems and Ward was able to give us a crown jewel.
Here is the complete list of Jessica Bird books now available. Beauty and The Black Sheep was retitled and recently released as The Rebel. In the last book, there is a name that made me laugh out loud and brought the world of Jessica and JR colliding… I think I will leave it to all of you to discover it for yourselves.
Jessica Bird Novels:
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7.
Lil is an avid reader who gave up TV so she could greedily read every book she could get her hands on. In the process she discovered a love for contemporary romance heavily laden with humor. Lil is formerly a True Blood blogger who discovered there is more to the world than her annoying love/hate one-sided relationship with the writers of TB. She credits JR Ward for pulling her from the two dimensional world of TV viewing.
Awesome post Lil…true?
:grins:
Great post, Lil! I’ve been wanting to try these books out, but you know how it is: soo many books, too little time. :( Now that I know that they’re sort of a ‘prequel’ to the brothers, I’ll have to move them up my tbr.
I’m glad u liked my little post! Thnx PBD admin for posting it!
I was tempted to pick these books up since I love J.R. Ward so much but one thing that held me back was they are contemporary and I’m not such a fan of contemp unless it has paranormal mixed in. but after you’re post I just might have to check them out.
Hey Kitt! I was hoping you would like it! Phew! But now I have to file my nails to even them out. :/
Hey Donna. I to was simply curious but then I kept seeing little clues & subtle attempts to go deeper while staying within the formula for a successful Silhouette novel.
Lil – awesome post! thanks so much for sharing! It is so strange to think of J.R Ward and not think BDB – I think I have more books for the TBR pile :P
I forgot to mention Jessica Bird aka Ward had planned to release two other books tied to the books above. As far as I can tell it never happened. Also I need a Beta! Like bad!
True Noa. She also has her Fallen Angels series. Envy is being teased on her FB page. I have to check it out! I know not everyone is a fan of all her books but darn it I am.
Would you be thinking about exchanging links?
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