Review: Where Winter Finds You by J.R. Ward

Title: Where Winter Finds You

Author: J.R. Ward

Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #17.5

3 stars – I liked it

First off while this book may be #17.5 it is actually a full novel so don’t expect a quick story.

In the previous book, The Chosen, Trez meets Therese, who is identical to Selena, and is working at his brother’s restaurant. When Therese was introduced I wasn’t happy about it because Trez had just lost Selena and I felt it was too soon. (See my review). Well, I still think this is too soon but I didn’t hate it.

I think my biggest issue with this book was with Therese. The more I learned about her the less I liked her. Her reaction to finding out she is adopted was extreme and mind boggling to me. I also felt like she was a bit of a pushover even though she was trying to be independent. She never asks Trez or anyone else why they had such an extreme reaction to meeting her. Nor does she push Trez to open up as to why he is being so emotional during their relationship. She just didn’t live up to my expectations of what a reincarnation of Selena would be.

I was heartbroken for Trez in The Shadows and reading this book just brought all those feelings back out. This was not a fun read, it was a depressing and emotional one for me. Trez is struggling with his grief and is suicidal to an extent. Everyone is worried about him, especially iAm. Throwing Therese in the mix this soon after Selena’s death was very confusing for Trez because he isn’t distinguishing them as two different people. His mind can’t grasp that she had a life and family before she moved to Caldwell and she is a different person. It was very upsetting to read this and see Trez struggling even more now than he was before he met Therese. I really wish that Ward had not made Therese a mirror image of Selena because it just makes the situation harder on Trez, and everyone else who knew Selena.

This book, while good, felt almost like Ward was just trying to make the people who were angry about Selena’s death happy. Much like Tohr’s book, I felt like it was just too soon to force a grieving male onto someone new, even with her being the reincarnation of Selena.

Putting all these issues aside, I did still enjoy the story, which is why I am giving this three stars.

Goodreads / Amazon

Previous books in the Black Dagger World: