The Brotherhood story of Rhage was good. Can't decide if I like this or book 1 better but I am looking forward to book 3! ( )

Anyway, This book is a the classic tale of beauty and the beast, with a bit of a twist, the beast is a vampire cursed by lexicon's deity, and the beauty is a relapsed cancer survivor. Perfect right? Nope.

I love this book...it is one of my all time favorites, Ward writes with such conviction for each of these characters, they seem without a doubt real. Rhage and Mary are absolutely perfect together, nothing like the ladies man being brought down by the women who is no where near his type. There is also a very heavy plot line here that continues from the first book "Dark Lover", and it is excellent. We see a new character introduced here, who is one of my favorites as the series progresses, and also say good by to a strong secondary character. You will mourn with the brothers for her loss, trust me, I cried. Don't miss this one, its excellent. I liked this one a lot, but it is not my favorite of the series, if you can believe it.

Also posted: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/2... ( )

Brother Rhage's story of how a human woman with leukemia tamed the beast within him. Being known as a "ladies man" Rhage sees Mary and is instantly enthralled by just hearing her voice. No other woman has ever made his body react in such a way, just by talking. Rhage decides he must have her, and no one else. Mary on the other hand, is still fighting her leukemia, and it seems that it has returned with only a couple months to live. Rhage and Mary's time begins to run out, but their love will live on eternally. ( )

So after falling in love with the first book, I can now say I loved the second book as well. I was very surprised at how much I enjoy reading this series so far. I was even tear jerked by this book, which cought me completley off gard. The book was amazing, Loved it, Great Read, simple as that!!!! ( )

It was lots of fun revisiting the characters from Dark Lover. This was Rhage's story, the stunningly beautiful vampire. What's not to like about a gorgeous hunk hero falling flat on his ass in love the instant he 'sees' the heroine? Mary Luce is a cancer survivor with a lot of inner strength that I admired. However, I thought she held back from Rhage a bit too long with the "oh, I'm not beautiful enough for him, what's he see in little ol' me" routine. Rhage is under a nasty curse put on him when he pisses off the Scribe Virgin (aka Scribe Bitch (SB), since I thought she was overly cruel to Rhage). He turns into a horrible beast when he gets stressed out. Lots of fighting or lots of sex keeps the beast at bay.

There were several other storylines interwined that were equally as fascinating with a glimpse of Zsadist and his story that will be coming up in the next book. Overall, this was a compelling read with a few nitpicks that others have mentions such as those silly names for the brothers. And those phrases like "you feel me?" or "my brother". For the ending, I wasn't too crazy about how the Scribe 'Bitch' was going to make Rhage miserable for eternity (because she loves him ... yeah right!) but eventually takes pity on him. (Grade: B+) ( )

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly war raging between vampires and their slayers. And 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 appetite. 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. Possessed by this dark side, Rhage fears the times when his inner dragon is unleashed, making him a danger to everyone around him. When Mary Luce is unwittingly thrown into the vampire world, she must rely on Rhage's protection. Knowing that Mary feels the same intense animal attraction, Rhage must make her his alone...

Let me just start off saying I LOVE BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD SERIES! o.k. so, i read this book a while back, but it's still fresh in my memory. I have to say this book and Lover Awakened are more favorites.

The second book in the series continues pretty much where the first one left off. More info about the brothers and their slayers. With each book we get a background on the brother centered with each story. With this we learn all about Rhage and his "demon" side.

So this book is and the brother Rhage, Rhage is a womanizer at first,i didn't like him in the beginning but, as the storyline progressed and his true nature starts to reveal itself, he was easily one of my favorite heroes of all time. I mean for such a bad-ass, he was so tender and loving with Mary. His sacrifice at the end for her was amazing. I loved him. He is worthy of a happily ever after.

Mary is also my favorite character. I really liked her. I felt her insecurities, her hope that she may get better and the love she had for Rhage and the beast within him.

It's a great story with more of the same action, romance and story as the previous book. If you've read books one and two, keep reading they just get better and better. ( )

For a full review see our posting at:

http://vampsrus.blogspot.com/2009/07/... ( )

Talk about one phenomenal book! Holy smokes! I finished Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward last night and could barely hold myself together until I could get to a computer and tell you all what a wonderful book this was.

I became an instant fan of Ward after reading Dark Lover, the first installment of her Black Dagger Brotherhood series. The story of love found and the fight against evil was a great escape and quickly turned into an instant addiction. I couldn't help but to run out the door and pick up the second book, Lover Eternal right away. As with any book that I'm in love with, once cracking the cover I probably would have finished it in one sitting if it weren't for the other books that required reviews or that darn thing called a job. Regardless, I constantly found myself drawn back to the story, cuddling up with a blanket and losing myself in Ward's newest tale of good versus evil.

Lover Eternal has, as the name suggests, a heavy theme of love. It's quite the passionate book as I'm beginning to understand all of her books are. This book centered around the story of Rhage, one of the Brothers. Rhage, or Hollywood as he is sometimes referred to, is a total chick magnet and absolutely gorgeous. He can, and does, have his pick of any female out there. What could be wrong with this scenario; most guys would love to be in this situation, right? Well, for Rhage, he's tired of the centuries full with meaningless love. He longs for the time when he can find a female that truly loves him and not just his image. That might be near impossible though because he has a secret hidden deep within him; a beast that comes out in times of extreme stress or excitement. A beast that's capable of eating a Lesser whole and then going back for more.

When there's a strong hero, we've got to have a strong heroine and Ward does a fantastic job with this. Mary is our lovely heroine with a musical voice and steel-grey eyes. She's a fighter, a tough chick, a survivor. She has to be after having beaten the odds and survived Leukemia. The treatments from her disease have left her body scarred and misshapen. She's afraid of intimacy and has lived a life lonely life working and volunteering, but without any true companions save for her next door neighbor Bella. When Mary finds herself face to face with Rhage, however, will her insecurities be enough to quell the fire growing between them? Will Rhage be able to control the beast within or will his passion for Mary be her ultimate demise?

With side stories including the ongoing war with the Lessers, a new Brother found and some serious romantic tension involving Bella and a couple of the Brothers, Lover Eternal turned out to be a really great read. At first I was irritated that the viewpoints kept changing as Ward brought us from one story to the next, but the irritation lasted only a couple of words or so as I became totally engrossed in where she led us. And the ending! Oh my word the ending! Seriously, first you throw a fantastic book at us and then throw a fantastic end in along with it. You spoil us Ward! ( )

Book 2 in the BDB series focuses on one character. The other Brothers faze out a little. The characters are amazing and connectable. ( )

I couldn't put this book down. I really liked the first one too. I wasn't sure about Rhage, in the first book I wasn't interested in him. I just thought he wouldn't be that deep of a character. But I totally fell for him. I find the curse really isn't that bad, it's pretty cool. I'm so glad his relationship ended the way it did. Great book. ( )

I really liked "Dark Lover" and I was looking forward to Zsadist's story in book 3, so I figured I rush on through this one to get to his story. I was completely swept into this book! I didn't care for Rhage/Hollywood too much in the first book so I certainly wasn't expecting to find him one of the best, most fun male characters I have read about in a long time! The first date scene where Rhage has dinner with Mary was so cute and endearing...for both of them. I loved Mary and I could see how Rhage feel for her so quickly. Though not conventionally beautiful, and scarred from her battles with cancer, Mary was a friendly, compassionate and accepting person. She learns he is vampire and wants to help. She learns about the 'beast' and wants to help. She sees the beast...and I wont' spoil that by saying how that goes...but this is obviously a caring and compassionate human being. I read some of the reviews here where readers didn't feel she was deserving of Rhage because she was whiny. She had battled cancer before, and now it was back worse than ever. She had battles of chemo treatments to look forward to..losing her hair... I have had some experience with people close to me having cancer. This woman had every right to be whiny and it wasn't even like it was over the top. I didn't think she was really even whiny as I read the book. She wanted to protect Rhage from watching her become sicker until she died. Like she had watched her mother. For the first time in a long time, I could really understand the attraction between two people that leads them to fall in love in the span of a book. Kudos to J.R. Ward for making me believe in this romance. Also, the other portions of the book were likewise amazing. The story of Z's fascination with Bella...the warrior to be being taken in by Wellsie and Tor..the lessers getting crazier by the minute. This book was chock full of good stuff. Put me on the side of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Even though I may have to hide the titles when I am out in public, I am hooked! ( )

http://allbookedup-elena.blogspot.com... ( )

Great book! Rhage is a great warrior who has a curse cast on him by the scribe virgin. It deals with him finding romance, fighting lessers, and finding himself. Loved the book - love the series so far. ( )

Rhage is a member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. He is a warrior and with the help of his fellow brothers he fights those that kill vampires living a life of violence and loneliness. Not only does he have his vampire life to deal with there is the added matter of the curse put on him by the Scribe Virgin. It forces him to live a life without being allowed to feel and love...that is until Mary comes into his life. Mary is sick. Her leukemia has come back to haunt her and her options are few and than she meets Rhage. This handsome man is more then she has ever allowed herself to imagine. He's handsome, strong, and he wants her? Will she live to see her own happy ending? ( )

Lover Eternal is Rhage's story. When Rhage was younger, he was careless and used his killer good looks to get what he wanted. One day Rhage went too far and infuriated the Scribe Virgin. He was cursed for 200 years.

Mary Luce is a woman living on borrowed time. She has lukemia and it's come back with a vengence. When she and Rhage first meet Rhage is instantly attracted to her. Mary thinks her friend Bella has set the two up together because she is dying. Needless to say when they go for their first date, it's pretty interesting.

I had a hard time figuring out how the author was going to make a human-vampire relationship work, but she did. I'll admit I had a hard time finishing the book because I wasn't 100% sure what was going to happen. This is a great book and so far a great series. It's made me a believer in vampires! ( )

Mary was going to die from leukemia until Rhage makes a deal with the Scribe Virgin and agrees to keep his Beast forever. Mary makes a 'pet' of Rhage's Beast. Both the Beast and Rhage bond to Mary, and she accepts them both. ( )

Second in a series called the Black Dagger Brotherhood. ( )

Lover Eternal is Rhage's story in Wards wildly popular Black Dagger Brotherhood vamp series. Rhage is a hottie. So perfectly handsome, his brothers in the BDB call him Hollywood. But he has a demon inside, (literally), as a result of a curse put on him by The Scribe Virgin, who seems to have an almost god-like quality she wields against The Brotherhood.

To keep the beast in control, he must feed it- two ways preferably. Either with blood pumping, mind numbing fist-a-cuffs or ... anonymous sex.

SO. We start off the book with Rhage informing us that he's sick of all the anonymous sex and is fervently wishing for what two of the other bros have already- one woman to come home to. One woman who is his soul mate.

While he's saying this, we find Mary Luce in another part of town meeting the vehicle which will bring her to Rhage. A young pre-pubescent-cum-vamp named "John"( but somehow I don't think that's what he's gonna be called when he finally vamps out) who has connected with Mary. When Bella, Mary's neighbor, is promptly introduced to John, she realizes he isn't all what he seems to be.

Being part of the vamp world, Bella knows what John will one day become, even though John has no clue himself, being orphaned and dropped off at an orphanage as a baby. Bella calls the Brotherhood in to reclaim one of their own.

Because John is mute, to communicate with the Brothers, he needs Mary to translate for him, for she rather conveniently knows the sign language he uses to communicate with.

While at the brotherhood compound she meets Rhage who, though weak from having just released the inner beast, falls instantly for Mary's sweet, soothing voice. A voice that apparently soothes and enflames both Rhage and the Beast. (The only thing that has ever truly soothed the savage beast since Rhage acquired it.)

He's hooked and helplessly drawn to her, despite the fact he should not be with a human.

Of course the main conflict involves him being with her while controlling the beast and of course, dealing with the Big Bad, a group called the Lessening Society- an Order of slayers convened by the Omega, (a malevolent, mystical figure who has targeted the vampires for extinction), for the purpose of eradicating the vampire species.

IMO, the conflict with The Lessening is way more less interesting then the internal conflicts of the Brothers, and I suppose that's why this book felt right to me.

J R Ward has created a paranormal world similar to what we've seen recently in a multitude of other vamp series.

But she does it with panache. (I thought of SK's Dark Hunter's while readiing it. In fact Zsadist mirrors SK's Zarek very closely. But The DH's seem almost juvenile when compared to the dark, tortured Brothers that Ward gives us.)

Yeah I'm hooked on this series. ( )

Excellent book, even better than the first! Great plot, romance, action, and suspense. The only thing I did not like was Mary's initial characer. It was hard to read through her constant self pity. She eventually got over it though and the rest of the book was fantastic. ( )

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly war raging between vampires and their slayers. And 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. Possessed 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. Her faith in miracles was lost 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…


( )

The story of Mary and Rhage is both beautiful and heartbreaking. What he is willing to do to save her brings tears to your eyes. Also, the fact that Mary is willing to accept Rhage as his true self is inspiring. Great read! ( )

I still don't like the way she names her vamps (heaven help me when it's time to read Phury's story), but once I settled in to the story, it flew by. Ward's good at making her vamp world seem realistic, and she threw in a couple of little twists into the story that I didn't see coming -- always appreciated. While I expected the hero and heroine to end up together, Ward keeps up the overall suspense level by some nifty juggling of multiple plotlines, some of which started in the first book in the series.

Will future books rise to the level of five stars for me? I don't know. Right now she doesn't seem inclined to kill of any of her major characters in the series, which is common in the romance genre but puts a lid on the amount of suspense I can feel as I'm reading. She does a good job of showing consequences of people's actions otherwise, but it feels as if there's this one big line she's not willing to cross. We'll see. ( )

Rhage's story isn't doesn't stand out as much to me as some of the others in the series. I never really liked his character too much-- all that pretty boy charm he is supposed to have didn't win me over, it kind of grated instead.

Also, I think this is the point where I started to be a little embarrassed of my addiction to the BDB series. Sure, I can own up to enjoying the alpha male style of romance book, but Ward's weak-ass women, the "hardcore" language (Book 1 is amusing, here I start to snort in derision of "gangsta" vampires) , constant brand dropping, the friggin baby powder smelling villains? Just explaining the series at book two starts to make me cringe a little. ( )

A little disjointed. I was not too fond of the ending. Does not really have the good-evil ambiguity that great vampire fiction much have. ( )

Plot: Compared to Dark Lover, more side plots are set up in this book to flesh out the minor characters. The romance is well-paced, though it relies on some stereotypes to cover the occasional plot hole. A deus-ex-machina ending slightly spoils things, though it was to be expected. The villains, once again, fail to have any actual impact.

Characters: More time is spent on fleshing out the side characters in this book, which helps to make them more interesting. The heroine is a little flat, partly because her story arc gets cut short. What unfortunately is getting worse are the physical descriptions - they're bordering on the grotesque.

Style: A little less street slang might have worked well because it just doesn't feel authentic. The descriptions are not extensive. What is annoying is the increase of using just initials instead of full names - a serious problem because this is what identifies the bad guys, so when it's done for the good guys as well, the lines blur.

Plus: More attention for the side characters, not just the focus character.

Minus: The character descriptions. Villains who fail to live up to the name.

Summary: Good story, but with flaws and an ending that avoids a more controversial path. ( )