From the publisher, because who can describe a book better: 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.

J.R Ward is amazing as always. If you like family intrigue & romance, this is a great book for you. I am glad that I read this book because I loved it and I loved the others in the series. This is a seriously messed up family. There are many secrets and scandals that this book sometimes reads as a soap opera, but that is one of the reasons that I loved it. It is sprawling and big in scope and the intertwining stories of the different siblings really works here.

The Short Answer
Classic JR Ward -- lots of story threads, wealthy lifestyle, daddy issues. Fair to middlin'.

Excerpted from long-form review at link below:
I found this book oddly dated-feeling. It reminded me of an 80s mini-series, or mainstream fiction book by Judith Krantz or Sydney Sheldon. It felt like a prime-time soap opera pilot episode: there was even a reference to Alexis and Krystal.

The romance here was just OK, in my opinion. Still better than Phury and Cormia, but that's a low bar. I found that the romantic resolution was not quite enough for me to feel like the book really ended well, because pretty much everything else was left hanging, and the romance was not the biggest or most exciting thing going on.