Review: Lover Mine by J.R. Ward

TITLE: Lover Mine

AUTHOR: J.R. Ward

SERIES: Black Dagger Brotherhood #8

RATING: 5 out of 5

BLURB: John Matthew has come a long way since he was found living among humans, his vampire nature unknown to himself and to those around him. After he was taken in by the Brotherhood, no one could guess what his true history was- or his true identity. Indeed, the fallen Brother Darius has returned, but with a different face and a very different destiny. As a vicious personal vendetta takes John into the heart of the war, he will need to call up on both who he is now and who he once was in order to face off against evil incarnate.

Xhex, a symphath assassin, has long steeled herself against the attraction between her and John Matthew. Having already lost one lover to madness, she will not allow the male of worth to fall prey to the darkness of her twisted life. When fate intervenes, however, the two discover that love, like destiny, is inevitable between soul mates. (from goodreads.com)

John Matthew was and still is by far my favorite among all the BDB warriors (with the exception of Blay and Qhuinn, but those two come in a pair, so...). We met him in the begining when he was just a scruffy pre-trans – mute, depressed, forgotten by the world, broken. And then Thor and Wellsie took him in, all the Brothers accepted him, Lash nearly broke him all over again, then he transformed and despite the huge body he had gotten, he was still that little boy we all came to love. In past books I anxiously waited for his paragraphs, for every single insight into his and Xhex's relationship. Right from the start I just knew that those two MUST be together. Boy, how right I was!

When it comes to Xhex, BDB fans are divided. Some love her, some not so much. She basically is one of the fighters – she is part of the team. And therefore could be called an alpha-female. So what happens when to alphas collide? Pure fireworks, I'm telling you. The build up to this couple was painfully sweet, hot and dramatic. From their first encounter to their first time together. Everything was divine. I love it that she wants to stand her ground, be strong, fight along JM's side. She'll never be the damsel in distress even when Lash kidnapped her and tortured her and raped her and basically tried to break her. She was strong and strong-minded, not giving in to the pain, determined to save herself.

But I really do think that Xhex and JM saved each other. How Xhex overcame her fear of hospitals to be with John Matthew, how they both sacrificed a lot to be with each other and had to put all their trust in one another. This one might be one of my favorite BDB books if not a favorite one. We saw more of Payne, more of Qhuay (these two still break my heart everytime they come on scene or open their mouth). I'm not really sure what the whole purpose of reviving Lash and bringing him on as a fore-lesser was, since he's now dead after 2-3 books. But as said many times before – I couldn't care less about lessers. 

AUTHOR'S WEBSITE | AUTHOR'S FACEBOOK 

Review: Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward

TITLE: Lover Avenged
AUTHOR: J. R. Ward

SERIES: Black Dagger Brotherhood #7

RATING: 5 out of 5

BLURB: Caldwell, New York, has long been the battleground for the vampires and their enemies, the Lessening Society. It's also where Rehvenge has staked out his turf as a drug lord and owner of a notorious night club that caters to the rich and heavily armed. His shadowy reputation is exactly why he's approached to kill Wrath, the Blind King and leader of the Brotherhood. Rehvenge has always kept his distance from the Brotherhood-even though his sister is married to a member, for he harbors a deadly secret that could make him a huge liability in their war against the lessers. As plots within and outside of the Brotherhood threaten to reveal the truth about Rehvenge, he turns to the only source of light in his darkening world, Ehlena, a vampire untouched by the corruption that has its hold on him-and the only thing standing between him and eternal destruction. (from goodreads.com)

There were many reasons why I was so excited to finally climb my way up to Rhev's book. One, his mohawk. Two, his amethyst eyes. Three, his sympath side. Four, he's a drug lord. Five, he's a night club owner. Six, you just know there's more behind all that hard surface. I've been on a BDB marathon these past few weeks but for some reason it took me a whole three to read this book – mostly because something kept getting the way but other things too. Like how there was always some other side-storyline interrupting Rhev and Ehlena. I didn't mind some of side-characters kicking in, however others pissed me off.

Once again I noticed I couldn't care less about the world between the vampire society and the Lessening society. If there would be no lessers I wouldn't mind at all – they seem to be there just to throw in some action and to mess up main characters. But reading their chapters and paragraphs usually bores me to death. I also hoped to learn more about sympaths, especially about the sympath princess Rhev's been sleeping with – but I didn't, unfortunately. It would be good to see a nice well-mannered sympath in the future though, Rhev and Xhex are after all just half-breeds. 

Those cons aside I loved the books as all those before. Rhev made my heart break with his longings after a normal life, after having a family of his own. He never even dared to hope for it since he was always trying to control his sympath urges, drugging himself up and denying himself any sorts of real pleasure. But Ehlena made him see things differently. As for Ehlena... at first I was really impressed by how she held her own, despite his flirty comments. I liked how she slowly opened herself up to him and how in the end she turned out to be quite a fierce heroine.

Blay and Qhuinn will kill me one of these days, I'm telling you. I almost always tear up as these two show up, especially when Blay is looking at Qhuinn with all that desire and he's just... ruining himself. Not to mention how much I adored John Matthew and Xhex. Their book is next and I'm fully prepared to start it right away. These were the side-stories that didn't bother me and were the ones that made me really anxious to read the next in series. These books are beyond addictive!

AUTHOR'S WEBSITE | AUTHOR'S FACEBOOK