Review: The Chosen (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #15) by J.R. Ward

AJ

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Review

4.5 ‘All hail Layla’ stars!

This book was a real mixed bag for me. Book #15 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, the build up to this love story has been coming for a long time, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Xcor and Layla’s book. There were shocks and surprises, heartbreak, excitement, huge reveals and heart-pounding excitement. Things I loved, and things (people) I hated, but it was a wild ride, and I could not put it down.

The main focus, of course, is the love story between Xcor and Layla. A secretive, forbidden romance between the quiet, shy and dignified Chosen, Layla and badass leader of the Band of Bastards and enemy of the Brotherhood, Xcor. Their love story has been slowly unfolding in the background of the last few books and now, the secret is out and OMG! I was expecting fireworks, but they came from a direction in wasn’t expecting in a way that shocked me to my core! The emotion, the intensity, it absolutely blew me away, and the fallout impacts everybody involved in ways they never could have imagined.

But it provides the perfect opportunity for Layla to absolutely shine. She is a one fierce female, and I absolutely LOVED seeing her come into her own in this book! Formerly a Chosen, her life was spent in service to the race’s creator, and for the last few books she has been finding her way in the real world And now she’s a proud mama who has found the love of her life and she is strong and fiercely protective, and holy hell she blew me away! I cheered for her over and over as she stood up for herself and her loved ones, and I was so proud of her. She truly is the hero of this book, and I freaking loved it!

And Xcor. Such a complex character who was initially presented one way and who has gradually changed as we’ve seen more and more of him. This book gives us his full backstory, which I loved, as it provides some great depth and insight into his character, and it gets you feeling for him from the very beginning. His relationship with Layla has developed beautifully, and it has changed him, and I loved getting to see the gentler side of him – the honourable, loyal, respectful male so deeply in love with his female, he is both hot and seriously swoony as he finally opens his heart fully to her, and their against-the-odds love story is truly beautiful.

“With all of my black and withered heart, I love you, my female.”

It’s a gorgeous and heartfelt romance, but with the main couple already madly in love, there was lots of time left for secondary storylines, and there are plenty of them! All of the Brotherhood is impacted by Layla’s perceived ‘treason’, and I was fascinated watching them all react to the reveal of her secret, and to the developments with Xcor, but there’s a whole lot of other things unfolding in the BDB world, and I loved the different storylines and POVs.

Qhuinn – As the father of Layla’s young is a big player in the story and just…. Wow.

Spoiler
One of my favourites of the series has had a complete personality transplant and it was like seeing a stranger as he revealed himself to be the biggest douche EVER! OMG! Where has my Qhuinn gone? Who is this asshole of epic proportions? And where the hell does he get off acting the way he does? The way he treated Layla, and even little Lyric, broke my heart, and I have no idea how he justified behaving the way he did. His words and actions were so out of character, and pretty much unforgiveable, and I wanted to junk punch him so hard! I’m so disappointed, and in the end I thought his absolution came WAY too easy.

Blay –

Spoiler
He got totally shafted in this one too. Qhuinn was a dick not just to Layla, but to his mate as well, and after all that these boys have been through, all that Blay has put up with, this is another drama that he doesn’t deserves. He deserves so much better! But he shows his huge heart in his ability to forgive, and I’m happy that it ended well for him because in the end I just want to see him happy!!!

Tohr – His POV was a surprise, but I really enjoyed checking in with him. His part of the story gives a different perspective on the Xcor/Layla thing. But…

Spoiler
his grieving seems to be going on and on, and though I feel for him and his loss, I feel bad for Autumn who loves him so much but still seems like second best. And what was with his blow-up with Layla? Again, it seemed really out of character for him to be so disrespectful to a female! But I guess it shows the emotional intensity of all that he’s going through. And it’s not like he reached Qhuinn levels of dickdom.

Wrath – We don’t get his POV, but he totally rocks it in this book. The Leader of the race shows just why he is such, and I loved him, and Beth. So much awesome.

Trez – Interesting developments there, but is it too soon? I’m curious how it all fits together and how it’s all going to play out.

Spoiler
And I’m hoping that again, it won’t be a situation where Therese seems like second best.

Lassiter – Perfection as always. No great surprise where his storyline is taking him, and I cannot wait to watch it all unfold. I love him.

New bad guy – Again, not a surprise who, but the how is intriguing. Not what I was expecting, but I’m curious what’s going to happen there.

Vishous – OMG, V! One of my absolute favourite Brothers is hitting a wall. It’s not surprising, but my heart aches for him. I’m hoping this book is the lead in to another book for him and Jane. I can’t wait to see where their story is going to go.

The storylines all tie in together really well, and the book builds up to an epic showdown which will change the course of the Brotherhood forever. But for me, the ending felt a bit rushed and I was surprised at how quickly and easily everything seem to be resolved. There was so much hatred and animosity going on for most of the book and then suddenly it’s all over and everybody is happy again. Hmmmmm… it just seemed a bit easy.

But as always, there is lots happening – some of it good, some not so good, but I loved how emotional this book made me. I was completely invested in the story, I loved how riled up I got, and the sweet and swoony moments melted me, and I struggled to put it down. I remain desperate for more as always.

4.5 stars.

 

Check out our Black Dagger Brotherhood page for more info on the series.

 

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