“Five Brothers”, Penelope Douglas
Published July 30, 2024
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.
“Some people spend years settling for something, because it’s better than nothing, before one day we finally realize that it’s actually not. Nothing is better than the wrong thing.”
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Truth be told, this story seems to be a reworked Credence. If you are into dark romance, you’ll find that Five Brothers is relatively tame. I rated this book a 3.75—huge point for the smut, but lacking in the resolution. It’s not even the incest-adjacent plot that bothers me; it’s how the author makes the FMC choose the same kind of man in the end once again. It’s Tiernan and Kaleb, round two. It was so obvious that the second Krisjen noticed Macon, the broody and quiet brother, you just knew. The mystery was solved. I wouldn’t have minded as much, except PD wrote such a lovable himbo (Trace), a sexy single dad (Army), and a brat with potential (Dallas). Even the red herring rebel (Iron) who got sent to prison early in the novel was a strong contender for ultimate MMC.
And I’m pissed that Krisjen didn’t have a turn on Dallas. The title is Five Brothers, and when she rode them like theme park attractions (her words, not mine), I expected her to ride all FIVE, not just Four.
In my opinion, Krisjen should’ve picked Army instead. The cop car smut was hot af. I still think about it sometimes. Hall of Fame-level hot. He was the most stable and sane of the brothers…relatively speaking. Did she even properly break up with him? Did she give him closure before moving on to Macon?
The premise of the mystery of Krisjen’s nighttime prowler had so much potential if she had dug more into it outside of tasting every brother. Heck, even exploring her roleplay fantasy depicted in Chapter 1 would have added a bit of a different spice to the plot—alas, that went nowhere.
Despite all those misses, I still had a grand ol’ time reading this book, which is why I rated it as high as I did. The ending might not have been my cup of tea, but it could be someone else’s who enjoyed how Credence ended.
Content Warnings
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of content and trigger warnings.
graphic sexual content • mental illness • suicidal thoughts • alcoholism • toxic relationships
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Owned: paperback from Target