The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood delivers the first novel in an enthralling new series set amid the shifting dynamics of a Southern family defined by wealth and privilege—and compromised by secrets, deceit, and scandal…. 

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.

Series:

The Bourbon Kings

Book 1

Book Type:

Genre fiction

Review: The Bourbon Kings

Southern opulence, closeted scandals, feuding families, dysfunctional romance, and a bourbon empire on the cusp of collapse. This is the backdrop of the fantastically captivating and vividly depicted world imagined by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author JR Ward in her latest novel, The Bourbon Kings. In this sweeping, soap opera like drama, Ward introduces us to the Bradford family… the kings of bourbon. For generations, the Bradfords have not only dominated the industry, they’ve also relished a life of privilege, prestige and power, while living at their lavish estate, Easterly. With a household staff of seventy two, every luxury is theirs to enjoy, every whim is theirs to be satisfied.

But behind closed doors, dirty, dangerous secrets lurk as money, sex and power dominate. In Ward’s typical style, we experience multiple point-of-views, uncovering the characters’ tortuous and duplicitous lives. There’s the head of family, the depraved William Baldwine, whose malice and apparent greed drive a violent fracture through the family. Virginia Bradford, the dynasty’s matron, spends her days in a drug-induced haze. And finally, the heirs to the empire—Lane, Max, Gin and Edward—each have a story to tell. A story steeped in heartbreak, scandal, sex, and of course, secrets. We also meet some richly developed secondary characters, with intertwined histories and thorny secrets of their own.

One of the central characters in this first installment, is Lizzie King, Easterly’s head horticulturalist. Not so long ago, Lizzie let her heart wander past the uncrossable line between the help and the privileged, falling in love with Lane Baldwine—the irresistible playboy and prodigal son of the family. But now, more than two years later, Lizzie tries to heal, despite being reminded of a love gone horribly wrong each time she encounters Lane’s pretentious wife. But when Lane surprisingly returns to Easterly, wounds are savagely reopened and dirty, buried secrets are unearthed that threaten to bring down the Bradford dynasty… and perhaps even their renowned bourbon empire.

The Bourbon Kings is fantastically and compulsively engrossing, as readers will undoubtedly fall through an irresistible rabbit hole that leads to murder, adultery, kidnapping, embezzlement, sins, lies and love.