ARC Review: ‘Five Brothers’ by Penelope Douglas
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book from Netgalley, the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Five Brothers
by Penelope DouglasPublished by Berkley on July 30, 2024
SubGenres: New Adult and College Romance
Format: eArc
Pages: 524
Source: Netgalley, the publisher
Audience: 18+/Adult
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One woman learns the secrets of the five Jaeger brothers.
On the other side of town, in the dark glades, under the rain…
Macon is the oldest. Thirty-one. Ex-Marine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile.
Army is twenty-eight. A single dad with the most beautiful green eyes. He has no idea who he is, if not a Jaeger brother.
Iron will be in prison soon. You’d never think it to meet him. He’s a nice guy, actually. But he can’t stop reacting to everything.
Dallas is the one I hate. Twenty-one, cruel, and selfish. He takes and then throws away whatever’s left.
And Trace is mine. Or he was for about two seconds. No one can tame him for long.
Not that I ever wanted to. It was fun, but now I need to go home. Back to my side of the tracks. Away from the swamps and these men. To my parents’ big house. On my clean street. Where I’m never dirty or messy or hot. And I will. I’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. I just want to crash on the couch tonight.
Their house is dark and quiet, everyone else is asleep. Except for one. He sees me crying and comes at me from behind. I let him wrap his arms around my body and hold me tightly. His breath is on my neck, his fingers are in my hair, and he doesn’t stop there.
I don’t think it was Trace.
I read Tryst Six Venom this year (2024) and enjoyed reading Clay and Liv’s story, but when I found out that Penelope was writing a book with the Jaeger brothers (Liv’s brothers), I was beyond excited. I had a hard time putting down Five Brothers when I started reading it. I was fully invested in learning about the Jaeger Brothers: Macon, Army, Iron, Dallas, and Trace. They played an intricate part in Tryst Six Venom. You don’t have to read that book to read Five Brothers, but it would be beneficial if you did.
I know Five Brothers is being compared to Credence, which I have not read yet. I’ve had it on my TBR and need to bump it up to read soon. I’ve read the mixed reviews on Credence, but that won’t stop me because I friggin’ love Penelope Douglas’s writing style, character development, and storytelling. They make my emotions go haywire with their books whenever I read them. They make me feel for the characters and what they are going through, and this is precisely what I felt while reading Five Brothers, which is told mainly in Krisjen but with the brothers having POVs, too.
This book is an Opposite Sides of the Track story where the FMC, Krisjen, has grown up as a Saint from the wealthy side of St. Carmen, while the Jaeger brothers have grown up as a Swamp on the poor side of the Bay. The Saints and Swamp don’t get along. The rich want what the Jaegers and the Bay have and will do anything to have it, but the Jaeger brothers are not someone you want to mess with, especially the older brother, Macon, who has done things to protect not only his family but the Bay from the rich.
I loved getting to know each of the Jaeger brothers individually. Trace is the youngest brother, and he was the first person to be with Krisjen, but it wasn’t a relationship between the two; it was just fun. Dallas is the brother who despised Saints with a lot of passion, and he even had issues with Krisjen at first. Iron was the brother who was always getting in trouble, and he ended up going to jail in this book, but I loved getting to know him, even for a short period. Army is the only brother who has a child, and out of all the brothers, he has the most caring heart, and he’s the face of the businesses that the brothers run. Macon is the oldest who served in the Marines and had to come back home after his parents passed away so that he could take care of his siblings. He was the one that everyone was scared of, and he had a lot of anger built up in him, and there was a reason for it. I felt for his character the most. It broke my heart to find out what he had to do in order to keep his family afloat. He endured a lot that his younger siblings didn’t know about and he was dealing with the most.
I loved the FMC, Krisjen because there was a girl who didn’t know what she wanted out of life. She stepped up to take care of her siblings when her parents weren’t. She also stepped up to take care of the Jaeger brothers and learned all their secrets. The brothers didn’t like her at first since she was a Saint, but once they got to know the real her, they were very protective of her.
No, this is not a Why Choose storyline because, in the end, Krisjen’s meant to be one of the Jaeger brothers. I think the one she ends up with was definitely the one she was meant to be with because he saw things about her, that the others didn’t. She also ends up helping the one who she ends up with, and I was there for it.
This book touches on some tough, emotional topics, especially those related to the Jaeger brothers. Krisjen, an outsider from the family, sees everything and what is happening and takes matters into her own hands to help the family. I loved how she handled things with the Jaegers, even when she was dealing with her own problems.
I could go on and on talking about this book, but I don’t want to risk spoiling it for readers who have been anticipating this book. Yes, this book may be comparable to Credence, but for someone who hasn’t read that book yet, I can’t compare it. I just know I loved Five Brothers so much that I’m still thinking about the story and characters days later after I finished reading it. This is why I’m giving it 5-stars. I can’t stop thinking about it. Penelope’s world-building and character development in this book gripped me in a way that I definitely need to reread this book over and over again. Every book Penelope writes has been that way for me, which is why they are an auto-buy author.
I really hope Penelope writes more books in this world. I need more of the Jaeger brothers because, after reading this book, all the brothers deserve an HEA.
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About Penelope Douglas
Penelope Douglas is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Their books have been translated into nineteen languages and include The Fall Away Series, The Devil’s Night Series, and the stand-alones, Misconduct, Punk 57, Birthday Girl, Credence, and Tryst Six Venom. Please look for The Hellbent Series, coming next.
They live in New England with their husband and daughter.
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My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
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