Lover Mine by J. R. Ward
Hardcover, 512 pages
Published April 27th 2010 by NAL
In the darkest corners of the night in Caldwell, New York, a conflict like no other rages. Long divided as a terrifying battleground for the vampires and their enemies, the city is home to a band of brothers born to defend their race: the warrior vampires of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.
John Matthew has come a long way since he was found living among humans, his vampire nature unknown to himself and to those around him. After he was taken in by the Brotherhood, no one could guess what his true history was- or his true identity. Indeed, the fallen Brother Darius has returned, but with a different face and a very different destiny. As a vicious personal vendetta takes John into the heart of the war, he will need to call up on both who he is now and who he once was in order to face off against evil incarnate.
Xhex, a symphath assassin, has long steeled herself against the attraction between her and John Matthew. Having already lost one lover to madness, she will not allow the male of worth to fall prey to the darkness of her twisted life. When fate intervenes, however, the two discover that love, like destiny, is inevitable between soul mates.
John Matthew has come a long way since he was found living among humans, his vampire nature unknown to himself and to those around him. After he was taken in by the Brotherhood, no one could guess what his true history was- or his true identity. Indeed, the fallen Brother Darius has returned, but with a different face and a very different destiny. As a vicious personal vendetta takes John into the heart of the war, he will need to call up on both who he is now and who he once was in order to face off against evil incarnate.
Xhex, a symphath assassin, has long steeled herself against the attraction between her and John Matthew. Having already lost one lover to madness, she will not allow the male of worth to fall prey to the darkness of her twisted life. When fate intervenes, however, the two discover that love, like destiny, is inevitable between soul mates.
Lover Mine in other words:
Lover Mine is the eighth book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It’s about second chances. About circumstances and relationships coming full circle. About revenge, trust, friendship and love. But most importantly: it’s about John Matthew.
John Matthew, aka Darius reincarnated, is undoubtedly one of the most popular characters in the series. When we meet him in Lover Eternal, he’s a scrawny little mute who lives in a run down apartment and carries a big secret with him. In Lover Mine he has turned into a beautiful vampire male with a warrior body who lives with the King of his race and fights with the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Warrior body or not, inside John Matthew feels small, empty and out of place. He wants to belong to someone and his object of affection is Xhex.
Now Xhex must be one of the most controversial characters of the series. With her athletic body, her strong features, her men’s haircut and her tough as nails attitude, she’s hardly your typical romance heroine. But there’s much more than meets the eye to Xhex and John is drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
To me, the great thing about John and Xhex’s relationship is that it has been running for a couple of books. We experienced their initial awkwardness followed by sexual tension, tentative trust and full on implosion. Lover Mine finally gives them their HEA. But to accomplish this they need to overcome the burdens of the past and learn to truly trust each other.
Unlike previous books, the love story had a prominent role in this one. In previous editions, the secondary plots set up back story for the next books. This book introduced a few new characters but pretty much left it at that.
The focus was on love and closure. John and Xhex got a truly wonderful love story which turned out to be of epic proportions due to Darius’ involvement. Their scenes were emotional, exciting, heartbreaking and scorching hot and these two characters ended up being much more alike than anyone would have thought.
The secondary plot which also focused on love was about the relationship between Qhuinn and Blay. Oh… the tension! The mixed and missed signals! The angst! It was really hard to bear and many times left me on the edge of my seat or screaming “noohoooo” to the book.
Another great thing about Lover Mine was the villain: Lash. Lash truly is the best thing that ever happened to the lessers. He single-handedly changed the lesser scenes from boring and skip-worthy to exciting, not to miss, sometimes hilarious. He is bad with a vengeance but he’s engaging and interesting and funny.
After all this raving and the 5 star rating you would think I’d absolutely adore this book but sadly: no. There were many things, small and big which irked me.
First of all: the fashion in which Muhrder’s character was introduced left a lot to be desired. The whole story about the camera crew seemed redundant and Muhrder didn’t leave a good enough impression to be even considered interesting.
Another story line was a flashback about Darius. Since this book is about closure and looking to the future, I (and everyone with me) had expected a final moment in where the JM/Darius connection would come out in the open… or to an end…. or would transition or…. anything! But no. The way this situation was resolved, or not resolved, was really anticlimactic.
There were lots of loose threads throughout the book. Things being said or mentioned, never to be picked up later on. Too many things happened in the last 20 pages which made the ending seemed wrapped up and unfinished.
There were also quite some inconsistencies. The timeline didn’t make much sense, characters disappeared for short parts of the scenes and popped up in the end, characters who had a relation before did not talk at all (Ehlena and Xhex), etc.
Certain situations defied all logic: like Xhex not having seen John’s tattoo till pretty much the end of the book, despite all their wild love making. Or Xhex being able to follow a rant in ASL after she’d just learned to spell the alphabet… and then have JM sign slowly to her the next day.
So there was some seriously sloppy writing going on (please Ms Ward, find yourself a new editor!) and for a book that is about closure, too many questions were left unanswered. And that makes me sad because there’s no guarantee that they will be answered in the next book and not be forgotten.
Another thing which makes me sad is that this book seems to mark the end of an era.
Much has changed throughout the books but John Matthew’s narrating was a constant factor which saw us readers through the series. It was wonderful to see the world through his eyes but now that he got his own book, I’m very much afraid that we will lose him.
I'm still holding out hope though... because of this dedication from Ward to John Matthew in the beginning of the book:
John Matthew, aka Darius reincarnated, is undoubtedly one of the most popular characters in the series. When we meet him in Lover Eternal, he’s a scrawny little mute who lives in a run down apartment and carries a big secret with him. In Lover Mine he has turned into a beautiful vampire male with a warrior body who lives with the King of his race and fights with the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Warrior body or not, inside John Matthew feels small, empty and out of place. He wants to belong to someone and his object of affection is Xhex.
Now Xhex must be one of the most controversial characters of the series. With her athletic body, her strong features, her men’s haircut and her tough as nails attitude, she’s hardly your typical romance heroine. But there’s much more than meets the eye to Xhex and John is drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
To me, the great thing about John and Xhex’s relationship is that it has been running for a couple of books. We experienced their initial awkwardness followed by sexual tension, tentative trust and full on implosion. Lover Mine finally gives them their HEA. But to accomplish this they need to overcome the burdens of the past and learn to truly trust each other.
Unlike previous books, the love story had a prominent role in this one. In previous editions, the secondary plots set up back story for the next books. This book introduced a few new characters but pretty much left it at that.
The focus was on love and closure. John and Xhex got a truly wonderful love story which turned out to be of epic proportions due to Darius’ involvement. Their scenes were emotional, exciting, heartbreaking and scorching hot and these two characters ended up being much more alike than anyone would have thought.
The secondary plot which also focused on love was about the relationship between Qhuinn and Blay. Oh… the tension! The mixed and missed signals! The angst! It was really hard to bear and many times left me on the edge of my seat or screaming “noohoooo” to the book.
Another great thing about Lover Mine was the villain: Lash. Lash truly is the best thing that ever happened to the lessers. He single-handedly changed the lesser scenes from boring and skip-worthy to exciting, not to miss, sometimes hilarious. He is bad with a vengeance but he’s engaging and interesting and funny.
After all this raving and the 5 star rating you would think I’d absolutely adore this book but sadly: no. There were many things, small and big which irked me.
First of all: the fashion in which Muhrder’s character was introduced left a lot to be desired. The whole story about the camera crew seemed redundant and Muhrder didn’t leave a good enough impression to be even considered interesting.
Another story line was a flashback about Darius. Since this book is about closure and looking to the future, I (and everyone with me) had expected a final moment in where the JM/Darius connection would come out in the open… or to an end…. or would transition or…. anything! But no. The way this situation was resolved, or not resolved, was really anticlimactic.
There were lots of loose threads throughout the book. Things being said or mentioned, never to be picked up later on. Too many things happened in the last 20 pages which made the ending seemed wrapped up and unfinished.
There were also quite some inconsistencies. The timeline didn’t make much sense, characters disappeared for short parts of the scenes and popped up in the end, characters who had a relation before did not talk at all (Ehlena and Xhex), etc.
Certain situations defied all logic: like Xhex not having seen John’s tattoo till pretty much the end of the book, despite all their wild love making. Or Xhex being able to follow a rant in ASL after she’d just learned to spell the alphabet… and then have JM sign slowly to her the next day.
So there was some seriously sloppy writing going on (please Ms Ward, find yourself a new editor!) and for a book that is about closure, too many questions were left unanswered. And that makes me sad because there’s no guarantee that they will be answered in the next book and not be forgotten.
Another thing which makes me sad is that this book seems to mark the end of an era.
Much has changed throughout the books but John Matthew’s narrating was a constant factor which saw us readers through the series. It was wonderful to see the world through his eyes but now that he got his own book, I’m very much afraid that we will lose him.
I'm still holding out hope though... because of this dedication from Ward to John Matthew in the beginning of the book:
I cannot believe you and I have come so far
Your book is not a goodbye, however-
just another beginning
But you’re used to that…
Your book is not a goodbye, however-
just another beginning
But you’re used to that…
About the author:
J.R. Ward is a New York Times and USA Today Best Selling author of erotic paranormal romance. She lives in the south with her incredibly supportive husband and her beloved golden retriever. After graduating from law school, she began working in healthcare in Boston and spent many years as Chief of Staff of one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation. Writing has always been her passion and her idea of heaven is a whole day of nothing but her computer, her dog and her coffee pot.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7046495-lover-mine
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