After slogging through six hundred pages of nothing much happening except for the cynical additions of several characters and story arcs, I am officially through with the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Lover at Last was supposed to be the highly anticipated culmination of the m/m romance that has been brewing through the last few books. Instead, Blay and Qhuinn’s story was given short shrift amongst the many other repetitious plot lines, and was boring to boot. 
There is so much going on in this book that it’s hard to know where to begin. Supposedly Blay and Qhuinn were the focus of the book, but their story was actually only about one sixth of the total book, at a guess. Blay loves Qhuinn, Qhuinn loves Blay but has been denying it for years. Misunderstanding follows truth withheld follows misunderstanding and argument, then hot sex, argument, hot sex, hurt feelings, hot sex, then love and the end. It was completely sophomoric and a complete letdown.
The rest of the book is a jumbled mish-mash of different story lines. Entire chapters are comprised of a few minutes in time, or one doctor’s visit, or one conversation. Sometimes a story line will have several pages devoted to it, and then disappear. One example; Wrath doesn’t want to have children and Beth does, which we learned earlier in the series. In this book there is one conversation where they talk at cross purposes, and then much later Beth mentions the dilemma to Layla and then the issue is never addressed again. To sum up – Assail’s drug dealer friend sics an assassin/thief on him (I was never sure which if either was her occupation) and Assail finds himself wildly attracted to her. Their story ends in a cliffhanger much like Z and Bella’s. Xcor and his band are still vying for the crown with the help of the council. Why? I don’t know, nor do I care at this point. Xcor wants Layla, but she’s pregnant with Qhuinn’s baby, but begins having difficulties. The lessers are still a problem. The council is still a problem. Various drug deals, sex with prostitutes, the Chosen, blah blah blah. To me there were exactly two things of interest that happened and one of those was the introduction of yet another character.
Ward’s writing is still technically great except for those pesky missing question marks. And while I don’t like having many different story lines in one book, I can admire the author’s ability to juggle them.
I’d like to see this series return to the earlier style where it was fun. Do you remember when Butch woke up in the bedroom with V at Darius’s house and V warned him not to let in the sun or else end up “shitting in a bag”? That was hilarious, and the books were filled with little moments like that. In Lover at Last I can think of only one moment that attempted humor and it wasn’t truly all that funny. Unless and until the Black Dagger Brotherhood regains its amusing quality I suspect I won’t be the only reader leaving forever.
I don’t recommend this one. Save your money this time, and maybe something will actually happen in the next installment.
Grade: C
Book Type: Urban Fantasy Romance|Vampire Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Publication Date: 2013/03
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