Lover Unleashed

Lover Unleashed: Number 9 in series (Black Dagger Brotherhood) - J.R. Ward

It seems months since I read Lover Mine. The main reason for taking a break from the Brotherhood was because I didn’t want to reach the end of the line with too long before the next book is due out. Only when I picked Lover Unleashed up and found myself submerged from word one as I sank back into Ward’s writing like my most comfortable PJ’s did I realise how much I had missed the brothers.

To be honest, I did expect this book to totally suck. I’d heard rumblings about Mannie having some kind of bloodline and I instantly thought, ‘oh, lordy, surely she’s not pulling a mirrored Butch stunt on us’. Also, I think it might have had something to do with the fact that the headlining vampire was a female. I needn’t have worried.

1) as far as Mannie’s bloodline went? I didn’t see it coming. Not what I expected to find at the end and it made it way less contrite than I anticipated it to be.

2) There was so much of V in this tale that the dude almost stole the show from his twin anyway. Did I mention I adore V? As far as Ward’s tale spinning and tossing in something new each time I’m expecting the series to get tired, I can offer no argument.

However, what stopped this one from getting full marks from me was Payne’s character. From what we had been introduced to of her previously, I expected her to be feistier, maybe even a little meaner. The compliant characteristics she showed just seemed almost out of character for her. And the moments where she did stick up for herself or kick a little ass were shown via a different pov, and so I felt as though they didn’t get highlighted strongly enough to make any kind of point about her personality.

That being said, I still enjoyed this one, and I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.