Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward
Series Name: Black Dagger Brotherhood
Volume Number: 2
Genres: Contemporary, Erotica, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Urban, Vampires
Intended Age Group: Adult
Publisher: Signet/Penguin Group (USA)
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-451-21804-9
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book
In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly turf war raging between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other – six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Possessed by a deadly beast, Rhage is the most dangerous of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.
Within the brotherhood, Rhage is the vampire with the strongest appetites. He’s the best fighter, the quickest to act on his impulses, and the most voracious lover – for inside him burns a ferocious curse cast by the Scribe Virgin. Owned by this dark side, Rhage fears the times when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him.
Mary Luce, a survivor of many hardships, is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world and reliant on Rhage’s protection. With a life-threatening curse of her own, Mary is not looking for love. She lost her faith in miracles years ago. But when Rhage’s intense animal attraction turns into something more emotional, he knows that he must make Mary his alone. And while their enemies close in, Mary fights desperately to gain life eternal with the one she loves….
Personal & Info
It’s been a little over a year since I read this, but I clearly remember it’s one of my favorite volumes in the series so far. I want to catch up on these reviews before I continue reading the series at volume eleven, so I’m going to do my best to try to make some coherent sense despite the lengthy gap of time between now and when I read this.
Content Warnings
I’m not sure how important content warnings are. I know they’re important to some people, and others don’t care. There are a few things in this book that might raise some flags for certain types of people. I’m not used to covering content warnings, and I can’t remember everything that happened in the book. I’ll just keep a running list of all the possible triggers I’ve seen (that I remember) in the series as I go. Remember, I haven’t read this in about a year, so I might forget or miss some.
Triggers in the series so far: attempted rape, rape, sexual themes, violence, and kidnapping.
Characters
Rhage is the primary Brother for the romance in this book, and probably my favorite of the six. I definitely like him more than Wrath. Rhage can be a little creep-o sometimes, but I love most of his interactions with Mary, and getting to know his character better.
Zsadist a.k.a Z, gets a more in depth introduction in this book. His book is the one after this, so this one sets up events for that one.
Mary Luce is obviously the love interest. She’s a cancer survivor who works at a suicide hotline. Her house sounds super cozy.
John Matthew is a significant character, with a traumatic backstory, introduced in this volume. The most important thing to know about him that is not a spoiler is he speaks with sign language.
Bella…I don’t remember her family name. Not important, she’s Bella, that’s all that matters. Bella is a lady vampire introduced in this volume. She wants adventure, or a bad boy in her life.
Mr. O is a new guy on the villain’s side. He’s kind of creepy. I’ll leave it at that.
Story & Thoughts
I think this book is better than volume one. That’s usually the case with most series, because the first volume typically has a lot of work to do with character introductions and world building. The story starts out quicker than the first book. Characters are introduced faster, and they meet sooner. All the setting groundwork and initial character introductions are already done, so the pacing for this volume is better.
As with the first book, there are plenty of sexy bits. I’m sure you can expect that as a running theme considering the erotica genre.
I’m not entirely pleased with the ending. No spoiler, but this one is open ended. It sets up the next book, so there’s a major cliff hanger to lead into it. The love story for the volume is completely finished, though.
After reading the first book, I’m used to most of the edge and cringe speak. This one feels overall less edgy and less cringe. The way Vishous always says, “True?” at the end of most of his dialogue is hard to get past, though. At this volume, I was still adjusting to that. I think I did get used to it eventually (since I’m farther into the series at the time I’m typing this).