Book Review: Lover Unbound by J. R. Ward

Review: Lover Unbound
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood – Book 5
Author: J. R. Ward
No of Pages: 502
Release Date: 25 September 2007

In Caldwell, New York, war rages between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers – six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Now the cold heart of a cunning predator will be warmed against its will...

Ruthless and brilliant, Vishous, son of the Bloodletter, possesses a destructive curse and a frightening ability to see the future. As a pretrans growing up in his father’s war camp, he was tormented and abused. As a member of the Brotherhood, he has no interest in love or emotion, only the battle with the Lessening Society. But when a mortal injury puts him in the care of a human surgeon, Dr. Jane Whitcomb compels him to reveal his inner pain and taste true pleasure for the time – until a destiny he didn’t choose takes him into a future that cannot include her...

My Thoughts:

Lover Unbound almost surpassed Lover Awakened as my new favourite in this series, until the ending.

Vishous is the intelligent one, the ruthless one, the cursed one. With his birthday just around the corner he gets a visit from the Scribe Virgin telling him that he is destined to become the Primale, a warrior who lives amongst the Chosen and is charged with replenishing the race. But when he gets shot in the chest and rushed to a human hospital, a wrench gets thrown in the works in the form of Jane, the doctor who saves him.

I have loved Vishous from the first book. He’s dark mysterious ways and his unique, calculating nature was all explored in Lover Unbound. His odd sexual tastes that seem to stem from his violent and traumatic past involving his father all come to the surface as Vishous is ripped apart and put back together again because of his attraction for Jane who was at the centre of his first vision in a long time.

Jane is a strong woman, nothing much fazes her and she is only interested in surviving and saving lives with her work. After losing her sister when she was young Jane went into the medical field to try and save as many people as she could, so they would never have to go through what she went through.

I loved Lover Unbound; I loved exploring Vishous’ nature and the inevitable barriers of falling in love after being traumatised by people he should have been able to trust. I loved Jane’s and Vishous’ relationship in general Jane’s no nonsense attitude when it comes to what she does best. She doesn’t care if Vishous is a dangerous monster as long as he is well.

Lover Unbound was beautifully written as the others are in the series and gave us further insight into John’s story and that of the Scribe Virgin. Lover Unbound was almost perfect, I say almost because of one thing. The last fifty pages.

The ending of Lover Unbound was absolutely atrocious. Ward created an unneeded problem and then created an even worse solution. She had laid all the ground work for an ending that would have worked perfectly giving each party what they wanted in the end, but no, she had to rip one apart and give all of the control to the other.

It was unfair on the couple, and unfair on Vishous what she did to them, she couldn’t just leave him alone to finally be happy. Perfect ending right there, I’ve found what I’m looking for, I am a complete person now let me take my woman home and be happy. But no.
The ending disappointed me, not because it didn’t end how I wanted it to, but it ended stupidly and unnecessarily. It makes me worry about what is in store for the rest of the series if Ward is willing to destroy a perfect book in the way she did.

Of course I am eager to continue on, because I want to get to John’s story, but I have become wary of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series in general now because it was moving along swimmingly, until this.

Also in this series:
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Revealed
Lover Enshrined
Lover Avenged
Lover Mine
Lover Unleashed

Book Review: Enticed by Jessica Shirvington

Review: Enticed
Series: Violet Eden Chapters – Book 2
Author: Jessica Shirvington
No of Pages: 413
Release Date: 29 March 2011

CONSEQUENCE HAUNTS EVERY CHOICE

Violet Eden is Grigori – part angel, part human. Her destiny is to protect humans from the vengeance of exiled angels.

Knowing who to trust is key but when Grigori reinforcements arrive it becomes clear everyone is hiding something. Even Lincoln. The only thing Violet does know...Phoenix’s hold over her is more dangerous than ever.

The race to find the one thing that could forever tilt the balance of power takes them all to the sacred mountains of Jordan, where Violet’s own powers will be pushed to the extreme. And the ultimate betrayal exposed.

My Thoughts:

Enticed made for a brilliant sequel that had me glued to every page.

Violet is still reeling over Phoenix’s deception and what she saw in the desert when she embraced, so when Lincoln deserts her again to go off on a secret mission while she is left to figure out why Phoenix wants the sacred Grigori scriptures, and when he is going to come after her.

Violet once again astounded me with her strength. Granted she is not the sharpest tool in the shed and not nearly the strongest, but her sheer will to power through her troubles and not let anyone get her down has me cheering her on through each new obstacle she faces. Violet is coming into her powers now and hopefully it seems, her fighting ability but she is still getting distracted by Lincoln, with whom she is still in love.

Lincoln is so far from being in my good books that he is going to have to do something astounding in Emblaze to even begin to make me like him. His character is a good one because you know he is the good guy but he is just so incredibly mean to Violet. He’s on a crusade to avenge his mother and instead of telling Violet what is happening, instead of being there for his partner when not only she, but his race needs him is incredibly selfish. I would want to avenge my mother too, but for a guy that was in love with a girl for two years and able to control himself every time he was around her to a loose cannon that doesn’t care what happens to him as long as he destroys this one exile is awful.

Phoenix crops up from time to time in Enticed as well, to remind Violet that he is all powerful and can kill her with a single thought, but there is still that connection between them that has me rooting for him to come good.

I also can’t wait to see more of Onyx – the exile turned human – who has taken on the role of comedic relief to help ease the tension of impending doom. Shrivington’s secondary characters all have their own personalities and aren’t hidden by the main which takes this series to that extra level.

Enticed was yet another whirlwind dive into the beautiful picture that Shrivington’s created with her words. Her superb historical elements of the story and completely believable explanations for how some exiles have lived out their existence on Earth has had me looking at the skies from time to time over the last couple of days.

Violet’s story has me enthralled with intense anticipation of what is to come in Emblaze and I absolutely cannot wait until I can get my hands on it as soon as possible.

Also in this series:
Embrace
Emblaze

Book Review: Blood Song by Cat Adams

Review: Blood Song
Series: Blood Singer – Book 1
Author: Cat Adams
No of Pages: 364
Release Date: 8 June 2010

Bodyguard Celia Graves plies her trade in a world where vampires roam the alleys of Tinseltown and movie stars openly practise witchcraft, where street corner psychics have real powers and cops use memory enhancement spells on witnesses. An ordinary human, Celia relies on street smarts and charmed weapons to protect the rich and famous from mortal and supernatural threats.

She’s landed a plum job protecting the prince of a small but politically vital nation while he tour’s Los Angele’s least savoury hot spots. But what should be a routine assignment goes badly wrong: Celia is attacked by a master vampire and knows she is about to die.

To her shock, Celia wakes on a cold metal table in a university lab. Celia Graves has become an abomination, neither fully mortal nor fully vampire. Her “master” is hunting her, to destroy her or finish what his bite began. She’s accused of murder, and the cops aren’t sure whether she should be locked up or staked. And then there’s the demon she glimpsed during the vampire attack....

Struggling to cope with her new powers and trying not to terrify everyone she meets with a flash of fang, Celia reaches out for help from her once (and future?) lover, a powerful mage; his warrior-priest brother; a handsome werewolf who keeps his lupine nature concealed from the world; an elderly clairvoyant; and one trustworthy cop.

Celia Graves has three days to save the world, her sanity, and her soul.

My Thoughts:

Blood Song was definitely not what I expected, but I am in two different minds about whether or not I like it.

Blood Song follows the story of bodyguard Celia Graves. On a very high profile assignment, she is attacked and turned into an abomination a partially turned vampire. She can still go out in daylight, but the sunburn is terrible, isn’t affected by holy items but can only consume liquids.

Celia is tough; there is no questioning that, she has the training, the knowledge and the intelligence to put it to good use. Yet I didn’t connect with her at all. I think this was my main drawback with Blood Song. We were told that she was traumatised as a child, but that was it, no depth to that, no details no show of emotion. Instead of feeling what Celia was feeling, we were just told. For a good chunk of Blood Song I thought she was a weak minded whinger because we weren’t told anything.

Blood Song was a shallow read, even though it kept me coming back for more. There was an extremely funny part that had me laughing out loud, but I can’t actually remember it. There was a smattering of secondary characters that made no impact on me and I had a hard time remembering who they were when they were mentioned later on.

I loved Adams version of vampires though. They are the old-fashioned truly evil mind controlling kind. Not sexualised with people wanting to join their ranks, but with people holing up in Holy places just so they feel safe.

The world of Santa Maria de Luna was interesting enough. Adams created it from scratch, although not everything made sense, it was easy to picture and the strongest imagery was created when they described the ocean through Celia’s eyes. I could hear the gulls and taste the air as well.

From the description, you expect a story about a bodyguard. You don’t get one though, you get a half vampire chick that is constantly driving somewhere and losing weapons. But that in itself is realistic in an odd way. The way Celia reacted, fought and dealt with the situation – sometimes crumbling, trying to keep it together, looking for help – was realistic. I think that was the draw point for me. She was playing tough chick, but not to the point where you thought you wouldn’t do it yourself.

Although I had trouble connecting with Celia, or really feeling much of what was going on for the duration of the story. I want to go back into that world. I want to find out what happens even though we seem to be taking a completely different turn. I want to find out if anything will ever happen with the obviously forming love triangle.

Blood Song draws you in, and doesn’t let go even if you are confused for a good chunk of the story. It becomes a need to find out what will happen, and I intend to find out.

Also in this series:
Siren Song

Book Review: Burned by PC Cast & Kristin Cast

Review: Burned
Series: House of Night – Book 7
Author: PC Cast; Kristin Cast
No of Pages: 323
Release Date: 27 April 2010

Y’all need to get yourselves together. Here’s a newsflash from the only High Priestess you have left at this dang school: Zoey isn’t dead. And believe me, I know dead. I’ve been there, done that and got the fricken t-shirt.

Zoey Redbird is the youngest High Priestess in the House of Night history and is the only person – vamp or fledgling – that can stop the evil Neferet from raising all kinds of immortal trouble. And just she might have a chance if she wasn’t so busy being dead.

Well, dead is too strong a word. Stevie Rae knows she can bring her BFF back from her unscheduled va-cay in the Otherworld. But it’s going to take a lot more than hoping to bring Zoey back. Stevie Rae might have to give up a few secrets of her own...

My Thoughts:

The seventh instalment in the House of Night series has somehow kept me intrigued in continuing on in Zoey’s journey.

Continuing directly on from Tempted, Burned launches straight into the predicament that Zoey’s soul has been shattered and Aphrodite must work with the nerd-herd and Stark to get her back. We also have Stevie Rae’s ongoing struggle with her feelings for Rephaim, the raven mocker.

I did like that Burned didn’t focus wholly (it ended up being rarely) on Zoey and all her “me, me, me”. We got a good insight into the other characters, Stevie Rae especially. It felt like nearly the whole story was flipping back to Stevie Rae whenever it could. It wasn’t entirely bad, but in the middle of Burned, it became extremely tedious to hear her stuff up and summoning evil beings by accident.

I think my favourite character, apart from Stark and Zoey (yes, I like her even if she is self-centred), is Aphrodite. She is continuing to grow into what it really seems Nyx has planned for her. Everything that is thrown at Aphrodite she completely takes in her stride, whilst also managing to keep everyone else together as well and still successfully pulling off her “I’m a bitch” routine.

It was Aphrodite that kept Zoey’s body safe, Aphrodite who figured out how to help her and ultimately, Aphrodite who saved the day, which was really cool on her part considering her lack of Vampyrness now.

Although I do love the Cast ladies writing style, I am really starting to get over the language. It’s not bad or vulgar; it just seems to try way too hard now. Before it was cool, unique and well done. Now it’s just overused and really tiring to think you just read someone speaking terrible English and having to go back and confirm that the House of Night doesn’t teach grammar lessons.

Aside from the characters voices, the only other thing that is puzzling me is how on earth they are going to drag this out for another five books...I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Kalona and Neferet are only so evil, there isn’t too much more that they can do.

Aside from those things though, Burned kept me intrigued for the most part, and I think we’re in for Zoey, Stark, Aphrodite and especially Stevie Rae to do some major maturing in the next couple of books because it looks like Zoey is going to be taking on some pretty big roles in the next instalment, one in which I am looking forward to reading.

Others in this series:
Marked
Betrayed
Chosen
Untamed
Hunted
Tempted
Awakened