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Lover Eternal

J. R. Ward

Published 2006          449 pages

Synopsis

In Caldwell, New York the vampires and their slayers are engaged in their eternal struggle for dominance. For the vampires it is a battle for the survival of their species.  For their slayers, the lessers, it is the whole purpose of existence. 

The lessers were once human.  After showing an aptitude for murder (and generally being all round nasty men) they are recruited into the Lessening Society where they lose their souls but gain the freedom to torture and murder vampires.  Once they are inducted into the Lessening Society they no longer need to eat, drink or have sex and they also no longer age.  The lessers are in the service of the Omega a brutal pain loving mystical figure who hates vampires and wants them to be wiped off the face of the earth.

The vampires have been hunted to the brink of extinction.  Vampires are a separate species from humans and although they live longer than humans the average vampire has no superpowers.  The vampires have their own deity, the Scribe Virgin, who is the creator of their species.

The only thing stopping the annihilation of the vampires is the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a highly trained band of vampire warriors, who have been the product of centuries of selective breeding amongst the vampires.  The Brothers have super strength and superior healing abilities which they need as they are never far from a fight.

Rhage is a member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.  He is highly aggressive, one of their best fighters, but suffers under a terrible curse that the Scribe Virgin has laid upon him.  The curse means that Rhage is possessed by a monstrous beast whenever his anger is out of control.

Mary is a human who stumbles into the vampire world by chance at a time when her own world has been turned upside down by the end of the remission of her cancer.  Once Rhage sees Mary he wants to meet her again but lessers, his fellow Brothers and Mary’s illness are just some of the obstacles in his path.  Luckily he’s not a man who gives up easily.

The Review

I really loved this book.  If you love paranormal romances I think you will love the book too.  The story has a strong romance theme, yet also has a kick ass story line that is packed full of exciting adventure.

The author has created a whole new vampire world in her Black Dagger Brotherhood novels which is sufficiently different to what the other authors in the vampire romance genre are writing about, so even if you are fed up with paranormal romances this book feels refreshing and new.

Rhage and Mary’s story is by turns touching and thrilling.  The narrative has a sharp erotic edge to it and while there are plenty of sex scenes in the story they don’t go on for chapter after chapter which means that the pace of the adventure part of the story is not interrupted.

All the Brothers are strong alpha male types but each has his own strengths and weaknesses so you don’t feel like the author is recycling heroes (which unfortunately sometimes happens in serial romance novels.)  Each brother has his own secrets and personal mystery about him and although the author gives tantalising hints about the other Brothers in this book, she only gives hints - which means that I personally will be buying the next book in this series as soon as its available because I’m really curious as to what I’ll find out about the Brothers next!

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