Lover Unleashed: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood [Import] [マスマーケット]

******SPOILERS*******

Lover Unleashed, book nine in my beloved Black Dagger Brotherhood series is Manny and Payne's book - or so we were told. But honestly, this book is Vishous's. True? Vishous steals the show. Manny and Payne have a romance, but their story is nothing compared to V's. Nothing. There is also no way this one can be read as a stand alone - you need V's backstory throughout the entire series to get anything from this book.

I was definitely disappointed with the ending of V's book Lover Unbound, when Jane was turned into a ghost. Not only with the ghost aspect, but I just wanted more of a closure with V and Jane but we get it in this book. V is not in a good place. Payne comes to his side, paralyzed from a sparring session with Wrath. Vishous has had no idea in the 300 years he has been alive that he even had a twin sister. The Scribe Virgin, their mother (who is not in this book which is a shame), has had Payne imprisoned. Now she is here, in his life, and the protectiveness V feels for her is out of control.

When Jane calls Manny in to help operate on her, there is that instant "mine" between them (even though Manny is a human). This does not go over well with V, as Butch and the other brothers struggle to keep him from killing Manny. As time goes on, V goes into an even deeper downward spiral. Payne doesn't heal as she should, and when Jane attempts something shocking, he walks away - from Jane. This scene is very moving and well done. What we really get is V coming to terms with his abusive father, his negligent mother, and his role as a hellren. Yes he loves Jane, but can he overcome his past, and his current broken self to give her what she needs? Can he fulfill the new role as a brother to Payne?

Butch plays a very important role in "saving" V. I won't go into specifics as to not spoil too much, but this issue had to be addressed. He is in love with Butch as we all know. We finally get a little more exploration into this relationship - the one we were teased with in Lover Unbound.

Before I started the book I thought how in the world will anything happen between V and Butch with both of them mated (to Jane and Marissa). But it works out totally fine. And it is not the actual scene that fulfilled me, but a scene with them later - a very quiet peaceful moment that to me, lets me breathe a sigh of contentment for these two males. I still don't know if JR Ward gives Butch and V a fair shot - the big scene with V and Butch is kind of short. But I'm glad she does what she does.

And I have to say, I actually liked Jane in this book - crazy, right? I think JR Ward does a nice job with the emotional turmoil between these two. There is one scene where V just walks away from her - and it is heartbreaking. But I get her more. I understand her more. I like her with V now. I'm content with their relationship.

Let's move onto Blay and Qhuinn, or as they are called "Qhuay." They had such a presence in Lover Mine I am disappointed with the lack of progress in their relationship. I hear a novella might be in the works for them so maybe JR Ward is saving up for that - but still, there is no Qhuay in this book. We get a tiny bit with Blay and Saxton. And we get a little more than that with Qhuinn and Layla (OMG - I can't even go there right now). We get a big reveal with Qhuinn - something that will happen in the future. We need to discuss this my friends....soon.

No Lassiter or Tohr in this one. No Murhder, which surprised me since we were introduced to him in Lover Mine. There is also an odd side story of a serial murderer. Now in it, we are introduced to Jose de la Cruz's new partner Thomas DelVecchio Jr, or Veck. I can only hope Veck plays some kind of role in the next book because otherwise I have no idea why this storyline is in it. Unless I missed something. Veck does have some strange...ways, so I assume there is more to come of him. I'm very intrigued.

We meet some new vampires, not necessarily brothers, but six men (although we really only meet three) that fight lessors. They fought under the Bloodletter until he died, and the Xcor took over. Along with Throe and Zypher, they are a secret band of "brothers" - I use that term loosely because they are not necessarily like The Brothers. They fight together -killing lessors, or humans. They are much more violent without as many morals. They have been living in the old country, but have realized, most of the lessors have moved to where the Brotherhood now reside. Xcor wants one thing - to be king. So they move near Caldwell and start to set things in motion. So, yes they fight lessors, but they are not necessarily friendly with the brotherhood. I am interested to see how this plays out. The brotherhood is aware of Xcor, but we don't get any details of the how or why. It looks like the new conflict might be moving away from the lessors and more towards a fight with Xcor for the King.

I suppose I can't leave Payne and Manny out. Honestly, they did nothing for me. If I had to hear Payne say "Verily" one more time I might have thrown the book. For some reason I thought Payne was going to be similar to Xhex, but she ends up more like Layla. She has a few kick ass moments towards the end but I didn't feel like she was a warrior or a brother like Xhex is. There was just nothing that stood out about them. I like Manny - he had nice interactions with Jane. And I liked out he stood up to Vishous and his interactions with Butch are fun. But for the actual romance between these two - it did nothing for me, which makes it really hard to rate this book. Also - the way Payne ends up healing is so corny. I'm sorry - but I just didn't get it.

While Lover Mine really took us back to the romance, away from the UF feel after book 3, this one takes us right back. In a way, I don't want to complain because the spotlight is on Vishous. And I LOVE Vishous. Before I started this book, my one hope was that we got a lot of Vishous material. Little did I know he would be the entire book. He even announces at the end that he is officially mating with Jane (tattoo on his back etc). Seriously, this is his book.

Bottom line is - I have very mixed feelings. The book entertained me. I read it in one day. I love this series, I love the brothers, I really enjoy JR Ward's style of writing. I love that we get tons of stuff with Vishous. I think Vishous's story needed to be continued, but it was at the expense of the main characters. Honestly, I wasn't invested at all in Payne and Manny, so not getting a full story from them isn't all that heartbreaking to me. But - this is their book. And they get jipped. With the lack of Blay and Qhuinn after such a build-up in the previous book, I can't help but be a little disappointed.

I also want to note that no one is really set up to be next in the series - and that is driving me crazy!!! I'm very curious to see who it is!!!!

From the first page of this novel, I was sucked back into the world that JR Ward creates... not hard to do considering I've read the previous 8 books MULTIPLE times.

I'll start with why I DIDN'T give it 5 stars... There are flat out inconsistencies... Payne said in Lover Mine she thought Vishous was dead. That's not the case in this book. Vishous thought Blodletter was killed in a lesser attach, yet he doesn't react at all when his sister mentions killing their sire... not likely...I also thought Xcor's personality seemed inconsistent from the beginning to the end of the book, but I'm not sure I really know the character well enough to make the judgment.

That's it... those are the ONLY problems I had with this book... and as much as I like to pretend it's reality... it is in fact a book.

That being said, I"m surprised by all the negative reviews, and most of them seem to be because readers feel that Ward neglected THEIR agenda.

There were several complaints about this ignoring the "main characters." Perhaps Ward has come to the point in the series where she needs to stop saying this is "insert your name here"'s book. CLEARLY, this was not Payne and Manny's book... this was a brotherhood book that helped to further the relationship between Manny/Payne/Butch/v?jane... and it did an incredible job.

Others were annoyed that the relationship with Qhuinn and Blay wasn't developed any further. I would disagree. They didn't speak a WORD to each other... not one single word... yet they committed themselves to each other forever... I think that's just really good writing.

I, too, miss the interaction with the brothers... I wish the books were four million pages long each and I couldn't read the whole thing in 7 hours...

...but here's the thing... when I look at BDB... I think of it as we get a glimpse at a few days in their lives. Ward opens a window, and we can peek and see what's happening on THOSE days... and on some days maybe my favorite is not doing much, but I do get a chance to interact with some of the others.

PLUS I really like the fact that she keeps referring to some mysteries from earlier books and two BIG ones are touched upon here.

This is not meant to be anywhere near a finale in this series... With any hope, we've got a looooooooooooong way to go... and I hope Ward continues pouring her heart and soul into each installment.

*Beware... spoilers if you haven't read the other 8 books*

When it comes to J.R. Ward's writing and world building skills, I'm simply astounded by what she has created. Not only does she write some of the best male friendships I ever read in literature, but has left me aching desperately for her next book. J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood books consume my life, so much so, that I jokingly call them my crack. Now nine books in, Ward has begun to tie up loose ends, while introducing new story lines, including a new set of characters that will most like carry on this series for another nine books. Unfortunately, no matter how much I adore this series, I feel that it's close to running its course. I wish I could say this book blew my mind away, but because of the weak primary romance and a boring new villain, not to mention I was more invested in the secondary stories more so than the primary, Lover Unleashed is comparable to Lover Enshrined (book # 6). Lover Enshrined is the one I ignore and act as if it doesn't exist. If not for the Vishous, Jane and Butch, Lover Unleashed would have been DOA.

Lover Unleashed starts off right after the events of Lover Mine. Payne, the sister V never knew about, is paralyzed from the neck down because of a bad break in her back. Now she has come down to Earth, thus ending her imprisonment by her mother, the Scribe Virgin, in the Phade. V feels immense guilt over Payne's situation and allows his mate Jane to fetch the one man who can save Payne- Dr. Manny Manello. V hates Manny since Jane and Manny were very close when she was alive. But since V's glowing hand of power can't help Payne, Jane will end up scaring the beejuses out of Manny when she asks him for help since she's a ghost and he did think she was dead.

Manny has had a rough year. He still can't get over Jane's death and his only solace is a racing horse he owns. As he's at Jane's tombstone feeling dejected, she poofs in front of him and explains Payne's situation. Manny becomes super surgeon and goes off with her thinking she's working undercover for the US government. Soon the joke will be on him. When he meets Payne, he is stunned by her because SHE'S THE ONE HE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR ALL HIS LIFE. If Manny was a brother, the bonding scent would come out full force. Manny falls headfirst in love just by seeing Payne's face and luscious braided hair as she lays horizontal unable to move. And how Manny cures Payne will have you in hysterics like it did for me. A certain Marvin Gaye song comes to mind in regards to these two.

Things between V and Jane are not good. V loves Jane more than his day glow hand of power, but can't get over his psychological pain fetish. Wax dripping on his dippy doo, and fighting with lessers only stop his uncontrollable need for more pain for short periods of time. Jane feels she's losing him. The only hope is Butch to break V down. And if Butch does what Jane is asking of him, he may lose a part of himself in the process.

A new group of vampires, led by Xcor, leave the old land and come to Caldwell. Xcor wants revenge against the woman who killed his father, the Bloodletter, while causing problems for Wrath. Then we have Qhuinn. Poor confused Qhuinn aches for Blay, but can't have him because he has so much internal turmoil. He thinks Blay will never want him since he has found happiness with Saxton, who accepts him for all that he is.

This is only a small taste of what's within Lover Unleashed, and while there are some great scenes, I was sorely disappointed. Panye and Manny, or ZZZayne as I like to call them, are too dull to be memorable. Their relationship feels forced and their chemistry lacking. Manny acts and thinks like a BDB brother, which makes no sense to me. I was very annoyed by this personality transplant. Also his relationship with his horse was tacked on in a sloppy way that really had nothing to do with the overall plot.

The characters who shine here are V and Jane. These two made the book for me. They had some of the steamiest scenes in the entire book. You will ache alongside V for what he's going through. He's close to destroying himself and only the second half of his soul can save him. Jane is very much the woman of his heart. Butch is a part of his soul, but sorry to say, not in a sexual way readers have been dying for. Ward puts to rest their underlying sexual relationship with a powerful and gut-wrenching scene. It all comes down to the deep seated trust these two have for one another. A gag ball and a spoon are involved, which works wonders on V's breakthrough.

The most angsty character of all is Qhuinn. He feels as if he doesn't belong anywhere. The only time he did was when he was with Blay. Now that he has pushed Blay away, he's barely living. And even though he comes to the conclusion on how Blay makes him feel, he can't have him because of what he has done. He suffers silently and has blocked all forms of communication with Blay. It's going to take a very long time for these two to even speak to one another, let alone be together in that way the readers want.

There are two big things that really irked me as I read. The over use of "true" and "verily", as well as the word "and" being written as- aaannnnddd at the beginning of some sentences was like nails on a chalkboard. Also Ward has adamantly stated she wouldn't do something between two characters, but she has done that, and I'm "verily" annoyed over it. This plot point is almost a slap in the face because it's so contrived, ridiculously soap operaish and an easy way to get around a character's longevity.

Lover Unleashed does have some strong points, but has a major lack of appeal as if Ward has done all she can with this series. I'm now only invested in reading for the Blay and Qhuinn finale.

My craving has now dimmed. I really can't say I'll be on pins and needles (or sphoons) as I have been in the past for the next book.

Katiebabs