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.
Release Date: July 28, 2015
Penguin Publishing Group
The Bourbon Kings #1
Liza’s Review:
I really tried to like The Bourbon Kings. I’ve liked some of
Ward’s other contemporary books, so figured I’d enjoy her new series. Sadly, The Bourbon Kings was a DNF (Did Not
Finish) read for me. I loved the 80’s primetime soap operas, but felt The Bourbon Kings was just a little too
over the top for me. Honestly the only main character I even liked was Lizzie
and she basically was a servant to the Bradford family, or at least treated
like one. I wasn’t a fan of Tulane “Lane” at all and couldn’t understand why
Lizzie would have waited around for him. I actually gave up at about 30% so I
can’t say for sure that the story didn’t get better. While The Bourbon Kings didn’t work for me, I believe it will work for
other fans of contemporary books. I do plan on giving the next book in the
series a try, and plan to read it with an open mind.
Even without finishing The Bourbon Kings, there was no way I
was going to miss out on a Ward Q&A session. Luckily, Ward was in Nashville
for release day.
Q&A at Salon@615 in
Nashville, TN at the Nashville Public Library
JR Ward started out talking
about her new series. The Bourbon Kings
takes place in the South, and Ward stated the South is a character in itself.
Ward moved to the South 10 years ago from the Boston area and said it was a bit
of a culture shock for her. When asked it she had trouble moving from writing
paranormal books to contemporary books, she said it wasn’t an issue as she
basically has the same process for all her writing. I have to say she totally cracked me up
trying not to cuss during the entire Q&A, but have to say she wasn’t
successful and soon the f-bombs and s-bombs were flying. J
Once the audience was allowed
to ask questions, the Q&A pretty much turned into a BDB Q&A session,
though The Bourbon King series had a few questions mixed in as well.
Ward currently has 6 books
planned out for the BDB.
She does currently have 3
books under contract for The Bourbon Kings and totally admitted it was very
much like Dynasty/Falcon Crest/Knots Landing from the 80’s. She totally wants
to be Alexis Carrington Colby. Ward said The Bourbon Kings books have good
conflict, romantic relationships and offers multiple POVs. She wants people to
be invested enough to come back for book after book.
Unlike in the BDB series,
Ward actually based some of the characters in The Bourbon Kings books on real
people. She named Lizzie, Greta and a few other characters.
Her writing process is the
same no matter what she is writing. She says she actually sees pictures of the
stories in her head and writes down what she is seeing.
Ward did say The Bourbon
Kings has an element of mystery in the book, and she totally said who died in
the book…one of the first f-bombs that was dropped.
Ward was asked if she drank
bourbon and she said no, that she doesn’t drink. Actually said “could you
imagine this shit drunk?”
Lassiter will be in Blood
Kissed and he wears the funniest outfit in the history of outfits.
Devina will be back at some
point in the BDB books.
Asked if she would write any
other paranormal books and she said maybe…tried to say more, but had to leave
it as maybe.
Asked if iAm and The Queen
would appear in future books or have more stories and she said they were pretty
much done.
People asked about the
pronunciations of the characters changing on the audiobooks. Ward said they had
never asked how to pronounce the names in the beginning, and no one ever thought
to give them out. They changed the pronunciations for The Shadows.
No one will ever find out
John Matthew is actually Darius. She did say Xhex does have an idea that JM is
something more because of the shadows she sees around him, but doesn’t know
why.
There is currently a TV
option for The Bourbon Kings and while Ward can’t talk about it in detail, she
did say she feels the right team of people hare working on it.
She keeps no notes or
drawings about the house or the characters.
Blood Kiss will only have 4
POVs. Butch, Marissa, Craeg, and Paradise.
Layla & Xcor will have
page time in The Beast…she really acted like she wanted to say more, but they
shut her down.
Muhrder will be back. Ward
thought he would appear in The Shadows. We might see him in The Beast. JM has
to get into the Brotherhood first. Plus big issues with Xhex and Muhrder and
their past as we know so little about Xhex’s past after leaving the Symphath
colony.
I really feel like she will
say more about everything at the Louisville, KY signing and Q&A on
Saturday. As the Nashville event started at 6:15 at night, I think her Q&A
session was shorter than normal.
