Lover Mine

While I always love a kick-ass female in books and it was really good to see one here, finally!, and one who will be joining the Brotherhood (along with a new female character I see coming into her own), this book was just too disjointed for me. I had trouble slogging through all of the irrelevant side stories. Another irritation is that the blurb promised John would have to integrate his past life with his current one, and that was almost a throwaway at the very end….and it didn’t seem as though it really gelled.

Also, while I’m A-OK with gay marriage and slash, I just don’t find Quinn and Blay that compelling, not enough for their own book. With all the extraneous side stories, I think the whole Mhurder/ plantation distraction could have been filled with their story arc (to a satisfying conclusion). Since it wasn’t, now I feel like I’ll probably have to slog through another book about just them and more boring, irrelevant side story filler having nothing to do with the main plot. Or even worse, a whole book of Quinn’s inner whining and self-recrimination and angst. And that simply doesn’t interest me.

I might come back to this series at a later date but for now, I’m done. Kudos to the author. It was a hell of a ride! 🙂

FINAL DECISION: Mult-character driven book, this story is angst filled. I thought that the story between Blay and Qhuinn stole the show from the main “romance”. At the same time, I was happy for the conclusion of John Matthew’s story.

THE STORY: John Matthew, is a vampire who is also the reincarnation of Darius who was killed earlier in the series. As this story begins, John Matthew is struggling with the disappearance of Xhex, the half sympath, half vampire assassin. The two have had a difficult relationship as John Matthew has wanted her since they first met, but Xhex has turned him away believing herself unworthy of being cared for by a man of worth. John Matthew is grieving but at the same time determined to find out what happened to Xhex. In truth, Xhex has been abducted by John Matthew’s biggest enemy who will do anything to keep her.

OPINION: Longtime readers of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series know that John Matthew’s story has been going on in one form or another since the beginning. This book brings a great deal of closure to the story. I especially liked the use of Darius’ story which winds around and then gives a satisfying sense of completing the circle and bringing closure to the story.

This book, as is true with the last several books in the series, is really a set of stories being told simultaneously. The stories are each at different stages and while John Matthew and Xhex’s stories is largely resolved, others are just beginning or are continuing. The stories in this book (John Matthew/Xhex, Blay/Qhuinn, and Murhder) have a nice sense of connection that made this mullti-story telling work well here. (There is also the story of Payne but that one is only a small part here). The real issue is that the Blay Qhuinn story steals much of the emotional center of the story here. By breaking up the stories between multiple books, there is more interconnectedness and continuity in the overall story, but the emotional climax of each of the stories is somewhat muted.

This book benefits from the fact that both the John Matthew/Xhex and Blay Qhuinn stories are filled with angst and are so well written here. I loved how the stories progressed in both cases and that kept me reading through the many hundreds of pages. Both stories are so strong that they support the length of the book.

Even with that, this book is one of the better ones in the series for long time readers. There are a lot of significant appearances by the core Brotherhood characters which makes this book more enjoyable. I’ve determined that I need a break between these books because there is so much going on in all these books. They are long and intense and somewhat crazy and it helps me to not try too hard to put all the pieces of the stories together. There are a lot of holes in the overall story and some space helps me to take these books less seriously. These books are definitely not ones to binge to me beyond the first couple of books.

But this is one of the books in the series that I could see myself reading again.

WORTH MENTIONING: This series has abandoned its paranormal romance beginnings. There are still romances but there is less emotional connection between the characters and more plotline. That’s okay, just not what I think makes the early books so amazing.

CONNECTED BOOKS: LOVER MINE is the eighth book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It should not be read as a standalone as it is not a complete story on its own.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4.25 stars.

I loved this series and Im sticking with it but it the first books were about the brotherhood and the main love story but each book kept all the brothers involved but Phurys book lacked that completely never again did u read about him and Cormia after they got together nothing same for rehv and Elhania nothing no happy ever after like for wrath , rhage, z, or even butch and vishous his ending was a cop out but at least it was about them and all the brothers were involved still except phury is just an after thought now this book and the last had so much going on and jumped around to so many different plot lines I was getting frustrated I realize new characters need to be added but between lash John and xhex Blay quhinn saxton payne vishous murdher flashbacks it was like jr ward was trying to cram ten things into one book like shes getting bored herself and wants to wrap up this series in as few books left as possible if she kept to the original plan she could have done justice to all these characters in a dozen books and kept the story ongoing and real to her readers and been more in-depth with all those characters and still kept all the brothers involved in each story instead of barely writing about them at all for instance if butch didnt suck up lessers nothing would have been said about him at all marissa never came up except in passing same for Bella nalla etc she wrote more about a bunch of unimportant lackey lessers than she did about wrath for god sakes and the scribe virgin who was so revered and all powerful created of the race is a lonely alone pathetic entity now what a shame I keep hoping if I keep reading it goes back to what it was or Ill be so disappointed

John Matthew (AKA Darius reborn) has, up until now, really shaped the story, whether the character realise it or not. I was apprehensive on reading this – will it live up to my expectations?

Yes. Yes it will.

JR Ward has delivered a beautifully executed novel of love, life and revenge, crafted through history and brotherhood. From John and Xhex (Hex) to the Quinn and Blay and the rest of the Brothers, the pacing was seamless. The storyline flew.

And wow. Emotions? JR Ward can deliver those by the sky full, let alone the bucket.

The premise of the story is simple, but effective: John, against the orders of the Brotherhood, continues searching for Xhex and once shes been found, helps her to get her revenge against her captor, Lash – the complete and utter maniac of a villain that he is.

Beneath or behind that though we have: Xhex and Lash, Torment and John, Quinn and Blay… I could go on forever!

A fascinating world has been created, and I was so happy that this novel lived up to my hopes and expectations, not just of JR Wards genius, but of her characters.

This man who has faced such horrific treatment in his early years, has been abandoned, shown love and then abandoned again but still has the most beautiful soul. In an effort to try and protect himself from further heartache, he is just more tempting in his isolation and Xhex finds herself unable to turn away from him but is it soon enough, or does Lash finally have the upper hand? He has tortured her for long enough, tricked John into thinking her lost to him for good when she is closer than ever to him…..wow this is just such an amazing story with such torment and pain seeping from the pages that you cannot remain untouched by either party. Cracking writing. This series just keeps getting better. 5 stars without fail!

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