Jason (Anita Blake, #23) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Jason by Laurell K. Hamilton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Jove
Format: ebook
Date/Year: December 2, 2014
Series: Anita Blake, #23

This book was provided to me through NetGalley for an honest review.

“Enjoying pain with your pleasure is something you either get, or you don’t. If you get it, then you don’t really need it explained, because you know how good it feels, and if you don’t get it then no amount of talking is going to convince you it makes sense.”

But sometimes you have to explain the unexplainable, especially if the love of your life needs to understand, or she’ll leave you. Jason Schuyler is one of Anita Blake’s best friends and favorite werewolves, with benefits. J.J. is his lady love, an old flame from childhood who dances at one of the top ballet companies in New York. She’s accomplished, beautiful, and she’s crazy about him, too. Neither of them wants to be monogamous, so what could go wrong?

J.J. is enthusiastically bisexual, with an emphasis on the female side of things. She plans to keep sleeping with women, because Jason can’t meet that need, just like she can’t meet Jason’s need for rough sex and bondage. J.J. doesn’t understand why Jason isn’t content to go elsewhere for a need she can’t fulfil, so Jason asks Anita to help him explain.

Anita is having her own relationship growing pains with her only female lover ever, Jade. Jason suggests that J.J. might be able to help Anita with her girl problem, while she helps him with his kinky explanations. With some encouragement from a few other lovers in Anita’s life she reluctantly agrees, and J. J. makes plans to fly into town for an experience that none of them will ever forget.

I love the Anita Blake books. Some of them more than others, just like any other series, but I love them. I know a lot of reviewers have issues with the extended sex scenes, but I enjoy them.

This book, however, starts out as being about just the sexual relationships. It has too much dialogue with nothing else happening. There is no plot besides the relationships. There is not a bad guy/vampire/demon/etc. for Anita to fight. It is all about the people.

And you know what? It worked.

I especially liked the fact that Anita is forced into recognizing she can’t be the emotional support for everyone she is linked to. She has said that before, but in this book I believe she really accepts it and realizes she has to take a stand with some of her partners.

My main criticism of the book is that neither Jean Claude nor Micah make an appearance. I love both of these characters and I want my fix!

However, beautiful, beautiful Nathaniel does have a large part, so I guess I can’t complain too much.

Yes, this book is all about the relationships, especially the sexual relationships, but it really does add a lot to Anita’s emotional growth. I can’t wait to see how that is manifested in the next book: Dead Ice. The release date is June 5th, 2015.

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