The Bourbon Kings (The Bourbon Kings #1) by J.R.Ward

★★★★★

SYNOPSIS

For generations, the Bradford family has worn the mantle of kings of the bourbon capital of the world. Their sustained wealth has afforded them prestige and privilege—as well as a hard-won division of class on their sprawling estate, Easterly. Upstairs, a dynasty that by all appearances plays by the rules of good fortune and good taste. Downstairs, the staff who work tirelessly to maintain the impeccable Bradford facade. And never the twain shall meet.

For Lizzie King, Easterly’s head gardener, crossing that divide nearly ruined her life. Falling in love with Tulane, the prodigal son of the bourbon dynasty, was nothing that she intended or wanted—and their bitter breakup only served to prove her instincts were right. Now, after two years of staying away, Tulane is finally coming home again, and he is bringing the past with him. No one will be left unmarked: not Tulane’s beautiful and ruthless wife; not his older brother, whose bitterness and bad blood know no bounds; and especially not the ironfisted Bradford patriarch, a man with few morals, fewer scruples, and many, many terrible secrets.

As family tensions—professional and intimately private—ignite, Easterly and all its inhabitants are thrown into the grips of an irrevocable transformation, and only the cunning will survive.

REVIEW

I have so many mixed feelings about this book. There was a lot going on and you really needed time to process everything. This is a book that has more stories rather than just one and it jumps from a character to character and each of them has something interesting to tell and something interesting is going on with them.

This is the book that shakes you to the bones at some scenes. I really had to put it down and stare at the wall, processing some things. This book is dark. It has love in all kinds of forms, but there's so much of the forbidden love or love at the wrong time, wrong place. It almost makes you mad reading about it because you see good people struggling and you see bad people winning. 

But Lizzie and the younger Bradford son happen to get a fairytale ending. Their story, however, isn't a fairytale one. It's full of struggles before they get to where they were at the end. Lane Baldwin, despite being the younger one in the family, suddenly has this weight on him after coming back to save the family because he's the one that finds out their family is getting ruined all because of their father. 

Lane has his head pretty set on what he wants and that's Lizzy. He burned her once, but he's doing everything he can so he can show her he's not going to hurt her ever again. He needs her by his side, especially after everything that goes down in their family. 

“You’re the love of my life, whether you’re with me or not.”

And then there's Lane's sister. My heart hurt for her when I was reading her story. She was in love with a man, who's a family friend and lawyer, but they were both too proud to admit their feelings to each other and they rather played games like mouse and cat. But when Gin is put into a tough position by her father, she goes to him in desperation, admitting her feelings, but it doesn't go as expected and another faith awaits for her that would most likely kill her whole soul. 

And then we have Edward. His story is pretty tragic. He had a terrible childhood that resulted in him being badly hurt, inwards and outwards, for his whole life, all because of his terrible father. He had unrequited love when young and then, when she comes back after years, neither of them is the same. 

This book has it all. The sweet, the bad, the violent ... The writing is excellent and it's easy to follow different stories at once. It's safe to say this book has completely blown me away and I'm easily giving it five wonderful stars!