The Devil’s Cut

The Bourbon Kings, Book #3

By J.R. Ward

ISBN# 9780451475305

Author’s Website:  http://www.jrward.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

The Baldwines’ Bourbon Empire is falling down around them thanks to their father’s embezzling before he died.  Lane is trying to salvage what he can, but they are being sued by several banks they owe money to and the outcome is looking rather grim.  At this point they need a miracle.

Gin is discovering that marrying for money may not have been the smartest decision.  Richard is vile, controlling, and abusive and Gin realizes that’s she’s married a man that is just like her father.  The father that they spent their entire childhoods being afraid of.  And, sadly he still affects their actions even as adults as none of them can completely shake off their pasts.

Edward is in jail for the murder of their father, but Shelby comes forward with some evidence that may prove his innocence.  However, Edward doesn’t want to be cleared of the charges.  Lane knows he’s protecting someone and fears that getting one brother out of jail could be putting another one there in his place.

Meanwhile, Miss Aurora’s health is going from bad to worse.  Lane is struggling to balance spending time with her, trying to save the company, and giving Lizzie what she needs as well.  But could all of this be too much?  Could saving his family cost him the one woman he loves with his entire heart and soul?  And, how will he ever survive losing his momma?

I love J.R. Ward and was hoping this final installment of this series would knock my socks off.  Sadly, it didn’t.  We saw more and more things piled onto Lane’s shoulders and his siblings didn’t seem to have any interest in helping him, even though he was trying to save the company for their sakes as much as his own.

I still loved Samuel T in this one, and he may be my favorite character of the series if I’m being honest.  I’m glad to see that Gin finally came clean with him.  Even after being hurt and betrayed, he was able to look past all of that and do what he knew in his heart was the best thing for him and those he loves.  We didn’t get to see his jokester side in this book, but I still loved him anyway.

I was really shocked that there wasn’t any backlash after Gin cursed Chantal’s baby except the initial fallout.  Although at the time it was kind of funny, but not so much after what happened shortly after.  It was just one other thing for Lane to have to worry about.

I really felt this book was too rushed towards the end.  Ward was trying to tie a nice pretty bow around everything to end this series on, but I think it needed another book or two to do it justice.  Poor Max got no airtime on his relationship, and honestly I would have liked to have gotten to know him better as I felt we barely scratched the surface.  Edward and Sutton barely got more than Max, and what they got was only because they were introduced earlier in the series.  And, let’s face it, I wanted to see how the next chapter in Lane and Lizzie’s life progresses as well.  I just felt like there was a lot of story to tell still, and a lot of things that got missed so they could cram it all into one book without making it too long of a read.  This was an okay read, but I just wanted more!  I’m a greedy bitch, what can I say?