Lover Eternal

I heart this book so much I wish I could marry it. First of all it was my introduction to the BDB. After trying to read DL twice I gave up and hoped this would be better. Thank the Virgin it was not only better but has ended up being one of my favorite books in the entire series. This book is pure, perfect romance.

Rhage is such a beautiful male. Inside and out. Of course he's gorgeous. His openness is charming, endearing and a little scary. I understand why average woman Mary is wary of this hunk of male persuing her so relentlessly but that's what I love about Rhage. He fell in love with her voice first and kept on falling for the whole woman.

The relationship between Rhage, V and Butch aka the troika was hilarious and sweet. They take show more such care with him after he comes back from unleashing the beast. You don't expect it from huge, leather wearing, cold hard killers. They also have fun busting his chops and he takes it all in stride.

The Good:
90% of this book. Really there's very little that's not good. Mary's struggle to accept Rhage's love is intense and believable and Rhage just hangs in there determined to be by her side. His "I'll love you enough for both of us" brought tears to my eyes. In fact, get the tissues. LE will make you bawl like a baby. Several times. From about the middle to the very end. Him holding the moon in his hand. Tearing up. Her running out of the house saying "I'm not ok"? Crying. In the hospital she's praying to stay just a little longer so she can be with Rhage? Bawling. The end? OMFG just weeping.

Other good things about LE? The first glimpses that Zsadist might not be the crazed psychopath he projects. Bella, Mary's neighbor and friend sees something in this dangerous male and damn if she's not going after it.

The Bad:
This seems to only have gotten worse as the series has gone on. Product placement and slang and these oh so bizarre names. On first read I couldn't believe it. Vishous? Rhage? Tohrment? WTF? It grows on you and after a while you won't be able to spell any word in the english lahnguage without a rahndom 'h' thrown in.

The Ugly:
The lessers suck. If you haven't read LE before suffer through their parts because Mr. O is one creepy MOFO and he's in the next book too. Other than that these are the worst villans ever. I wish she'd created a villan that I was really scared of. Unfortunately that doesn't happen until LEn. show less

So I really, really wanted to like this book. And for the first 25% of it I did. I mean I really did. I blew through those pages in no time, and then it slowed. And about 50% of the way I found myself being able to set the book aside and leave it for a while. 60% of the way I had to read lines over because I wasn't paying attention, and 70% of the way I was just going to get through it.

Damn it, I've made it this far, I'm going to do it. I wouldn't say I've stopped reading it or that I hate it or anything, I just . . . got bored. Like, really bored.

I didn't find anything I liked in Mary, Rhage was just . . . typical. Their romance was kind of meh, and overly dramatic for me. The one scene that caught me was when the Brotherhood show more whipped the crap out of Rhage. As a Black woman that didn't sit right with me. AT ALL. And as a reader, I just didn't see a point in the scene. There were other ways for the author to get her point across, and I just don't think that was the right one.

So yeah, if I ever finish it, I might me back and give it a higher rating, but for now, it's just so-so. show less

Living a shadow of life, waiting for when not if the cancer will return to finish the job it started before, the heroine works as a volunteer for a suicide hotline. There one night she has a chance encounter with a young deaf boy that changes her life forever. Her neighbour puts her into contact with a secret brotherhood who can help the boy. Not knowing that the men who work for this organization are vampires, the heroine reluctantly goes along, her need to help overcoming her need to be alone. There she meets the hero. He's linebacker large, agonizingly hansom and light years out her league. The hero lives in constant terror of the beast inside of him getting free and hurting those he cares about. So in an attempt to subdue to show more creature he's been cursed with, he indulges in sex and violence. Each night he desperately seeks out a fight with the lesser and any willing female he can find even though the act of mindless sexual release disgusts him. The he meets the heroine. She has the voice of an angel and the uncanny ability to give him a measure of peace so can anyone really blame him for craving her? But she's human and she's sick. He's aggressive in his affections, making no attempt to hide his obsession with her. She however is life a skittish deer. She flees at every opportunity and is horribly insecure with her looks. She convinces herself that there is no possible way this gorgeous man could ever been attracted to someone like her so she twists his intensions, ignores the signs and when he says or does things that hint at him feeling more for her then friendship, she freaks out and shuts down. She's the type of woman who makes it very hard for someone to love her. Her fears and insecurities make her closed off emotionally and she hides herself behind her walls. But when they are attacked and the heros secret is revealed, it's actually a turning point in their relationship. Yes she is a little afraid at first but it rather seems to draw the heroine out of her shell a bit, or as much as she's capable of. The heroine must protect the fragile human from things she really shouldn't know anything about all the while dealing with the beast inside that makes him crave her relentlessly but also makes him terrified he'll lose control. I loved this book. This author is absolutely amazing. This is because no matter how fantastical or otherworldly these stories are at the heart of them it's always about character. The heroine could very easily become a character one can hated and in fact the hero himself admitted that if he didn't love her so goddamn much he would hate her. This is because she's ruled by fear. Cowardice is the driving forced behind everything she said or did and though it's justifiable considering all she's going through, it makes her closed off emotionally. She's so dependant on her strength and her pride that he refuses to let anyone comfort her or allow herself to trust anyone with her fears. The hero was amazing as always. He has a saying, he doesn't want to be pretty to look at he wants to be useful. And he had every reason and opportunity to give up on the heroine as she uses every excuse to push him away but he makes it clear that no matter what she says or does, he'll be there for her. Despite dealing with his own issues, she was always at the forefront of his thoughts. This was such a great book but that comes at so surprise. This whole series is top notch and a shining star for this genre that proves that it doesn't always have to be smutty romance but rather can be exhibit real solid storytelling. show less

I gave this book 4 stars because I sincerely think the next book will be even better. I liked the first one, _Dark Lover_, and I agree with the other readers that this one is even more compelling. She really creates a world with this series, and as a reader who gave up on romance some years ago (in favor of fantasy), I have to say this series is bringing me back. This isn't your typical Nora Roberts cookie-cutter story. The author has a punchy urban style that has improved markedly between the two books. She creates her own idiom here, like some of the great pulp-fictionists of the past. There are some awkward moments--e.g. it's "wreaked havoc," not "reeked havoc,"--but overall it was good enough to read twice over two days. The women show more in this series are a little flaccid for my taste (pun intended, if you've read the books)--I'd like to see what a really powerful woman would do with these testosterone-flooded vampires--but the world of the Brotherhood is truly seductive. One does need to get over the names. They seem a little silly, and no one seems to notice that they are real words in English--I mean, Wrath, Rhage, Vishous, etc. don't seem to be overly allegorical to anyone in the stories. No one says "Wrath, huh? as in the seven deadly sins?" I pretend they're pronounced Euro-style, and that helps. But as a lit prof who reads a lot of pulp, I have to say this is some of the most promising stuff I've read in awhile. And I swore off vampires after Anne Rice got boring. I can't wait for the next one.. show less

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 show more 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! show less

I did not expect to love this book. I guess I thought that it would be too similar to all the other books I've read, even though I loved the first BDB book, Lover Eternal. I was so wrong. Rhage is different from Wrath as well as the rest of the brotherhood. He has his own demons to face, personality, and way of thinking. The character depth in this installment surprised me. There was definitely more of it in this book than in the first.
Lover Eternal is Rhage and Mary's story. Rhage meets Mary when she and her vampire friend, Bella, take John Matthews, a 23 yr-old mute guy, to see the brotherhood. At this point Mary doesn't know her friend is a vampire and that John Matthews will eventually turn into one. Since John Matthews doesn't show more speak, Mary goes to be the translator using ASL. That is where she meets Rhage. Rhage immediately falls for her, but Mary pushes him away because she has cancer and will most likely die. Despite her best efforts, she falls for him and moves into the house. They have a very bumpy relationship. Mary is constantly having second thoughts, mostly due to her worsening health. Rhage's inner beast/curse wants to come out whenever he is around Mary, putting her in danger. The lessers are also planning on taking Mary.
Goodness, I was gushing throughout the entire book. What Rhage does to keep and save Mary was just so amazing selfless. Now that's true love! I'm not going to give anything away, but its just sooooo cute. Also, the mystery behind John Matthews, the pre-change vampire with the mark of the brotherhood begins. Zsadist story line with Bella starts out in this book and will continue in the next, Lover Awakened. There were many moments in this book that tore at me emotionally. I find cancer to be very scary, even though I've never had it. Mary's struggle with the disease was frightening. Even though J.R. Ward didn't go into too much detail with it, I still found myself getting nervous and scared. Rhage was there for her, which was so nice. Mary needed to stop pushing him away. At one point, I remember saying out loud "Come on! Stop it already. He loves you. Deal with it." Rhage and Mary fought quite a bit, which annoyed me because he was trying to help her. At the same time it was realistic because couples sometimes fight no matter how much they love each other.
The Black Dagger Brotherhood series is about love and fighting for what you believe in. This isn't just a romance novel (and series). J.R. Ward created complicated characters. That's one of the best things about this series. I haven't read too many romance novels, mostly because the characterization is just not there. Many have flat, clichéd characters. The mythology surrounding the world J.R. Ward built is multifarious. The characters inhabiting the world are full of personality and refreshing. Their decisions are ruled by their past and who they are as individuals instead of a formula created by an outline of what is in a romance novel. These books do have romance, don't get me wrong. There is plenty of erotic love for everyone. But there is so much more to these novels then the sex. This is what makes them unique.
I thought this book was fantastic. I liked the first one a bit more, probably because it was the first and my introduction into J.R. Ward's exciting and remarkable word of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. She created an engrossing story filled with love, pain, passion, and violence. show less

I didn't think my heart could break so many times, and I did not expect to find myself sobbing by the end. I loved Rhage. I loved Mary. They're both warriors in their own ways, and they're so perfect for each other.

I highlighted quite a few quotes, but this one spoke to me the most:

“I’m so sorry—”

“Cut out the sorry bit. Whatever that is, you can’t help it, right?”

He nodded.

“So there’s no sorry.” (358)

I'm looking forward to the next book even though I know that one's going to wreck me, as well.