Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward
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Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #6
Source: Personal Library
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
In this “frighteningly addictive” paranormal romance saga there’s a war raging between vampires and their slayers. Here are the stories of a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. And now a dutiful twin must choose between two lives…
Fiercely loyal to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Phury has sacrificed himself for the good of the race, becoming the male responsible for keeping the Brotherhood’s bloodlines alive. As Primale of the Chosen, he is obligated to father the sons and daughters who will ensure that the traditions of the race survive, and that there are warriors to fight those who want all vampires extinguished.
As his first mate, the Chosen Cormia wants to win not only his body, but his heart for herself. She is drawn to the noble responsibility behind the emotionally scarred male. But Phury has never allowed himself to know pleasure or joy. As the war with the Lessening Society grows grim, tragedy looms over the Brotherhood’s mansion, and Phury must decide between duty and love….
A clear departure from the Black Dagger Brotherhood…
For better or worse…
(
(BEWARE OF SPOILERS)
“For fuck’s sake, get off the cross. Someone else needs the wood.”
I’ve taken a few days to gather my thoughts before writing this review. Truth is, I did not love this book… But, I didn’t hate it either… It was just different from the other books in the series and didn’t live up to my own expectations. That’s not the author’s fault.
One of the main problems: This was supposed to be Phury’s moment in the spotlight, but I’m not sure he really had his chance to shine. There was so much going on in the Brotherhood (and in the Lessening Society) that Phury had to share a lot of pages… However, Phury and his “woe is me” attitude was driving me crazy, so maybe that is a good thing?
I’m still not sure.
One thing is for certain, there was a serious problem with supposedly bad-ass vampires being little pansy-ass babies…
PHURY
He tapped the artificial leg. “I am not whole.” True, she thought sadly. He was not whole, although it had nothing to do with him missing part of a limb.
Phury’s meltown outshines all the other melodraptic moments over the course of the series. Combined. He could best be described as self-loathing wrapped in drug addict and dipped in haunted past. That’s not the kind of sundae you want to indulge in.
His only redeeming quality is the one which got him in so much trouble – he has an over-active savior complex and was named Primale in the previous book to save his brother from the fate.
CORMIA
“As much as we have free choice, absolute destiny is immutable. What is meant to happen does, through one measure or another.”
Cormia is a chosen. Virginal, naieve, and bland as her all-white-food diet. She wasn’t nearly as obnoxios as Marissa (Lover Revealed) but she wasn’t amusing, entertaining, or even interesting.
You know that this review needs? A personal anecdote used as a metaphor!
I had a friend in culinary school, and it was our job to taste all of her homework. She was amazingly talented in the kitchen and created theses stunning masterpieces of cakes, cookies, chocolates, & candies…
*drooling just thinking about it*
But when the class moved on to fruit-filled tarts, my friend was useless. For all her talent, the girl couldn’t bake a tart to save her life… It always left a bad taste in your mouth… Were the tarts inedible? No. But we had come to expect this superlative level of achievement out of her, so our own expectations let us down.
See where I’m going with this?
Lover Enshrined might not have been the most awesome installment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but as a whole, everything fell into place.
I loved the whole side-story of my boys – John, Blay, & Qhuinn. That was the best part of the whole book in my humble opinion…
I liked meeting the Angel, Lassiter, and I hope to see more of him.
I absolutely adored the fact that Thor is back… even if he’s barely alive… I loved the way emotions washed over John in the wake of seeing his adopted father again.[the fact that Thor is back… even if he’s barely alive… I loved the way emotions washed over John in the wake of seeing his adopted father again. (hide spoiler)]
And speaking of fathers: Lash as The Omega’s son is going to make the Lessening society a far more interesting place… And I’m loving Mr. D the Texan[Lash as The Omega’s son is going to make the Lessening society a far more interesting place… And I’m loving Mr. D the Texan. (hide spoiler)]
I’ve already started reading Lover Avenged, so obviously there’s no love lost between me and the BDB…
Two more things:
- The texting language and slang was WAY over the top in this book. I know the Brothers enjoy their Pop Culture references, and are as modern as can be, but seriously… Tone it down. You’re hundred of years old, quit talking like a 12 year old.
- I’ve been quiet for too many books about the sheer number of brands that are mentioned by name in each book. Stay tuned, because I’m writing down every brand name mentioned in the next book, and I’ll have a visual representation ready for you in my next review which will literally illustrate my point.
Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward
The Smutsonian 