The Bourbon Kings (The Bourbon Kings, #1)

Romance is the literary version of country music. It's the outlier that prompts folks to say things like “I love all kinds of music ...except country.” I've been meaning to try something from the genre and when I received a signed copy I thought I'd give it a shot.

I thought romance would have been heavier on the salacious but this was pure soap opera complete with the unresolved ending and a “next time on...” preview of the upcoming book. It's Dallas swapping bourbon for oil. A bit of upstairs downstairs, destined lovers who naturally hate each, the debauchery that wealth brings with the honest, hard-working inner beauty of those that work for them. And because it's set in the South, there's even a magical negro. Yeah, all the tropes. And much like a soap opera Ward juggles a ton of different storylines. Maybe this isn't the best representation of the genre.