Five Brothers Book Review: A Book by Penelope Douglas

Today I’m going to be sharing my Five Brothers book review. And believe me, I was not expecting to write this review so soon. It’s a really long book (554 pages according to goodreads). But once I started reading I got sucked into the world of Jaegers. I had to know what would happen next.

Because that’s the thing. Penelope Douglas created a world (which she first wrote about in Tryst Six Venom) so chaotic that I truly had no idea what was coming next. These characters were wild and spontaneous and made bad decisions repeatedly. But they were also likable (or at least some of them were, some of the time). 

So keep reading for my full Five Brothers book review because I have a lot of thoughts about this new Penelope Douglas book. It’s a gripping story where you won’t have any idea what’s coming next.

What is Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas about?

One woman learns the secrets of the five Jaeger brothers in the new romance from New York Times bestselling author Penelope Douglas.

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. (from Amazon.com)

Who is Penelope Douglas?

Penelope Douglas is a bestselling author known for writing contemporary romance and new adult novels. Her work often features intense emotional and romantic elements, and she is praised for her character development and engaging storylines. Her romance novels are typically in the dark romance sector of books. Some of her most popular titles are Birthday Girl, Credence, Punk 57, and Bully.

I Had a Hard Time with the Character Names in this Book

I’ll admit, I am very judgmental about names. I don’t mean to be. I just hate weird spellings and unusual names. Haha. It’s a personal problem and I know I need to get over it. So the names in this story drove me crazy! Nearly all the Jaeger brothers have unique names (Army and Iron) for example and Krisjen and her sister have unique spellings. Which maybe is because her family is rich? Idk. It didn’t really make sense to me and probably about a quarter of the way through I got used to it but it was tough going for a while. Oh and I didn’t realize Clay was female for a while so that was confusing for me. Lol. But that’s on me for not reading Tryst Six Venom first.

Krisjen Conroy

I found Krisjen to be a little immature, but also very likable. There was just something sweet about her, which I think was why most of the Jaeger brothers were so taken by her. First Trace, who was her summer hookup. And then his group of brothers who turned out to all be potential love interests.

It was a little annoying when she acted like she knew everything about college and jobs and what it takes to make it in the world. But let’s be real. We were all like that after high school.

Different Perspectives

This story is told mainly through Krisjen’s perspective, but also through the perspectives of some of the brothers. Krisjen’s chapters were my favorite but I liked how we learned about the backstories of the Jaeger brothers through their chapters. 

Family is Everything

A huge element of this story is family. After their parents passed away, the Jaeger brothers (and Liv, Krisjen’s best friend) were left to fend for themselves. That left the older brother Macon in charge. It took a tremendous toll on his mental health to suddenly be the sole guardian of his younger siblings.

Meanwhile, Krisjen is in a similar situation although her parents aren’t dead. They just suck. Her 5-year-old sister has a nanny who takes care of her, but Krisjen tries to spend as much time as possible with her sister and 12-year-old brother. Some of my favorite scenes were when she took them across the train tracks to spend time at the Jaeger house with her. Paisleigh was really cute and I loved her excitement at spending time with her big sister.

Some Things in this story just Didn’t Make Sense.

I had a lot of questions while reading this book but the weirdest part to me (besides the opening scene) was the plot line of Krisjen’s mother trying to like, set her up in an arranged marriage? To a much older man. I just didn’t think things happened like that in the United States. I know they live in Florida but even Florida has rules. Especially he’s basically a predator who threatens to send sexual pictures of the fmc. Shame on you, Jerome Watson. Shame on you!

Maybe I’m Thinking Too Hard

This book is basically just a giant soap opera. Los of arguing.  Lot of family drama. Lots of… relationships for lack of a better work. It’s not that deep. When it all comes down to it, Five Brothers is a story with a lot of older sibling trauma. The characters fight but they also learn (kind of) and forgive. The Jaeger siblings fight a lot but it did make me happy at the end when it actually seemed like they could be good friends.

Is Five Brothers a Standalone?

Five Brothers is a standalone novel. But Five Brothers is set in the same world as Tryst Six Venom, a sapphic bully romance. That is the story of Liv and Clay, two girls who meet at private school and make each others lives miserable. But somehow manage to work things out in the end.. So while Five Brothers is not a sequel, it does tell the story of some characters who were mentioned in the first book.

In Conclusion

I guess I’m not not the intended audience for books like this one. I don’t mind romances with a significant age difference and I enjoyed Birthday Girl and Credence. But it’s hard for me to get into a lot of dark romance books because the men just seem kind of dumb. In this story I did like Army and Macon but everyone else was kind of meh.

Was it a fun book? Sure!  Did it have a happy ending? Yeah, it did. So while it wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, I did like some things about it. It was just very messy and maybe too dramatic at times.

I’m curious if the autor will write any more books in this series. I have some unanswered questions about other brothers and would be curious to see if we get any answers. We got to learn about some of them through the different viewpoints of this book, but I know there’s more to tell.

Thank you for checking out today’s book review! If you’re looking for more romance recommendations click here.