Lover Eternal (The Black Dagger Brotherhood #2) by J. R. Ward

Book Review

Title: Lover Eternal (The Black Dagger Brotherhood #2)

Author: J. R. Ward

Genre: Paranormal/Romance

Rating: ****

Review: I recently read the first book in this series and loved it and I was so excited when my randomizer for this week gave me Lover Eternal as one of my books. All I know about this instalment is that we are re-joining the Brotherhood but with more focus on Rhage and he is an interesting character for me not only because he turns into a huge rage monster but also because he carries a curse bestowed upon him by the Scribe Virgin which is going to be interesting to see. We are also introduced to Mary Luce, a human who is struggling with her life and it seems that her leukaemia has come back. We then jump back to Rhage, Vishous and Butch, Vishous and Rhage are going out while Butch is going to see Marissa as she hasn’t spoken to him in a few weeks. Vishous has the ability to see the future and when Rhage asks if he has seen anything about him, all Vishous tells him is that a woman is going to come into his life very soon and she will be a virgin which Rhage scoffs at as he doesn’t keep a woman for more than a few nights due to the nature of his curse and I know this is going to be Mary Luce. While working at one of her part time job at the suicide hotline, Mary ends up coming into contact with John Matthew, an orphan who has formed a kinship with Mary, however, Mary’s friend notices the markings on the boy’s wrist and knows they spell Tehrror meaning he is going to transition in a vampire warrior and she doesn’t know how much time he has. She desperately calls the Brotherhood and they are coming to meet John the following evening and Mary will be going to as she knows sign language to translate for John as he is mute.

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As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Wrath calls the others in meaning Vishous and the recently rejected Butch have to take Rhage home but along the way they bump into a group of lessers. A wound up Rhage takes them on only to get shot which causes him to transform, this is the first time Butch has seen it and his reaction was hilarious but he is more than willing to take care of his friend afterward. One of the lessers escapes in the carnage Rhage inflicts but Mr. X doesn’t believe him about the beast and kills him meaning the vampire have the upper hand now since a lot of older lessers have been wiped out but the mystery surrounding the boy intrigues most of them, especially Wrath. When Bella and Mary deliver John to the Brotherhood before John meets anyone, Mary ends up running to Rhage who feels an instant connection to Mary especially her voice and the attraction between them is insane, however, when Rhage asks Mary if she is a virgin, she says no which disappoints Rhage as he was hoping she was the person he’d have a real connection with but I have a feeling she lied. She proceeds to translate for John into his conversation with Tohr where it becomes clear and he is a vampire waiting to transition and we know vampire males need a woman to help them through the transition the same way women need a man but the Brotherhood are planning on wiping Mary’s memories after the meeting which could cause problems especially with Rhage’s interest in her. After the meeting Rhage demands to see Mary again and at first Tohr and Wrath don’t want to give it to him but when they realise, he is willing to just about anything to see her again they give in. Rhage calls Bella setting up a date between him and Mary and he promises her that he won’t force Mary and that she won’t remember him afterwards as he will alter her memory but I have a feeling that isn’t going to happen. Bella also seems to have a connection with Zsadist which was interesting as we very briefly saw a softer side to him in the first book and I hope we see more of him in the future. It seems that Rhage/Hal’s date with Mary isn’t going well as he seems to have an effect on every woman close to him but when he kisses Mary something happens to Rhage that frightens him and he has to leave her. Rhage is filled with an energy that would normally take days to return after turning into the beast and in that moment, he conveniently forgot to alter Mary’s memories but it seems the first one didn’t work that well as she remembers part of the conversation, she had with Rhage before the meeting even though her memories have been altered and I can’t wait to see more of this pair as the story progresses.

As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, I wasn’t enjoying Lover Eternal as much as Dark Lover because I really wanted to focus on the budding romance and all the issues it was going to have but the story arc kept cutting off those moments which was extremely frustrating. When the other brothers find out Rhage didn’t wipe Mary’s memories he is ordered to sort her out and not to see her again but I don’t think that is going to be possible when they arrange to meet that night especially after how Mary lashed out at him but she explains it is because her cancer might have come back which is later confirmed by her doctor and I felt sorry for Mary and I hope she gets a happy ending because this woman deserves it. I also really liked the friendship dynamic between Rhage, Butch and Vishous and it makes for some entertaining reading, however, the most interesting thing was the discontent in the ranks of the lessers, especially with Mr. O who regrets his decision in becoming a lesser and wants to back which is why he dyes his hair to make himself seems like less of a lesser. When Rhage and Mary meet up again they decide to forgo dinner and take a walk through a park where they are attacked by some lessers during some fun times which leads to Rhage killing them and altering Mary’s memory of the incident but they manage to escape with her purse meaning she is now in danger since the lesser will know she is with one of the brothers. Rhage takes her home and stays with her throughout the night to make sure she is safe but he knows it isn’t going to be enough. However, he was given an order by the King and he can’t go against it but he also doesn’t want to leave Mary in any danger since he wants to see more of her which leaves him pondering on what to do next.

As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, the pace seemed a lot slower than Dark Lover and I was hoping it was going to pick up soon since I was really enjoying the interactions between Mary and Rhage. We get one of the first proper love scenes between Rhage and Mary early on in the second half and it was beautiful. From Mary’s side she is extremely insecure about the scars from her chemo and surgeries and she hates what they did to her body even rendering her infertile which is why she constantly shrinks back from Rhage. From Rhage’s side we see that there is a tender person inside the playboy who loves and wants to be loved in return which was hinted at earlier and I can’t wait to see where this goes since Mary knows Rhage is a vampire now meaning sooner or later he is going to have to tell the Brotherhood that she needs to be protected especially since we know that the lessers know one of the brothers is running around with a human female. Rhage knows he has to return to the Brotherhood and he takes Mary with him which lands him in a lot of trouble until he explains that nothing is going to stand between him and Mary not even the Brotherhood and if she can’t stay then he is leaving with her. This shocks most of the other brothers into silence and eventually Wrath relents and lets Mary stay as long as she can keep quiet because she is sick and might not survive which is insanely dark if you think about it. We get another scene between Rhage and Mary which is more intense than the last one and oddly funny too but this is cut short by Rhage as she is stirring something inside of him which hasn’t been stirred by another other female he has been with and he confesses this to Mary although he leaves out the beast part. However, I was worried because Wrath is going to inform the Scribe Virgin about him defying orders more than once and she just might extend the sentence on his curse which would be heart-breaking given that we know how it affects him physically, emotionally, and mentally.

As we cross into the second half of the novel, Rhage is feeling out of the control and with the lessers being suspiciously quiet the only outlet he has is sex and when Mary realises what he is doing she is furious. When Rhage returns she lashes out at him which he welcomes knowing how much he has hurt her but she still wants him and he knows that so he lets her dominate and use him in any way she wants. While Mary does this guilt quickly overtakes the anger as she feels she has uses Rhage but he shows her just how willing her is and explains that he has bonded to her and loves her and that he will find another outlet for the beast. However, Mary admits during this scene she can’t let herself fall in love with him as she knows with the cancer returning that she might not survive but he claims he can love enough for the both of them which was equal parts adorable and depressing. When the Scribe Virgin’s verdict is passed down, Rhage is scared for Mary but the Scribe Virgin agreed to let Mary stay but he has to accept a punishment dealt by all of the brothers which leaves Rhage in an awful state. During this punishment we actually see the normally stoic Zsadist have what I would call a panic attack and only his twin can calm him down. Afterwards Mary makes her feelings about the situation know and chastises most of the brothers when they come to visit Rhage but oddly enough we see what could be friendship developing between her and Zsadist trusting him enough to shower when he is in the same room and leaving him alone with Rhage afterwards. During the time Rhage is healing we get a lot of scenes with him and Mary and most of delightful however, in the morning Rhage awakens and the Scribe Virgin’s curse is gone and Rhage believes that it wasn’t put back on him after his punishment and he uses this time to be with Mary properly without having to worry about the curse getting the better of him. Afterwards he explains to Mary that he is going to need to feed from a female vampire soon in order to keep himself in control and she wants to leave the safety of the house. We know this is Mary’s jealously acting up despite all of Rhage’s honesty with her but he agrees to let her go if Vishous can secure her home and she agrees to come and visit him occasionally. While Mary agrees to the home security, she doesn’t agree to coming to visit him and she doesn’t believe the relationship can go anywhere because of her illness despite Rhage being nothing but loving and kind towards her but eventually anger gets the better of both of them and they seemingly part on bad terms. However, I was wondering about John as he has encountered some lessers who he recognises as his enemy but they don’t recognise him as a vampire but they still scare John enough to call Tohr uses the whistle signal Tohr asked him to use yet we haven’t heard anything about this yet.

As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Mary returns home only to seek out Bella for comfort and security in the absence of Rhage, however, she didn’t tell Rhage she was leaving and he soon finds her. When they see each other, it is a bit awkward at first as Mary explains she doesn’t want to drag him into her illness only for him to suffer and he seems to accept this but when he is leaving Mary throws herself at him weeping confiding in him that she isn’t ok at all and he just holds her before moving her in with the Brotherhood permanently along with Bella and John coming to visit. John is currently living with Tohr and Wellsie which was interesting as Wellsie seems to anticipate what John needs acting almost motherly towards him which is something that John has never had. Tohr also confides in him that the mark he carries is given to all the members of the Brotherhood as it marks them as warriors and that he might be one of them after his transition which was wholesome and heart-warming to experience. However, things get really interesting when Rhage’s curse is returned making him act more cautious around Mary than he has been lately which frustrates her to no end but when his eyes turn in front of the Brotherhood it is Mary who is able to calm him which endures a lot of the Brotherhood towards her as she is taking care of Rhage when he needs it the most. Another interesting thing for me was to see the almost love triangle developing between Bella, Zsadist and Phury. Phury we know is celibate and has been for a long time but Bella is immensely attracted to Zsadist and when he attempts to scare her off only to her wanting him he panics as he remembers his time as a love slave and the rape and torture he had to endure but through it all Bella doesn’t leave him not even when he attempts to rape her because she knows he is only acting out at her and she wants more than anything in that moment to comfort him and yet she knows Zsadist won’t accept it because he sees himself as ruined and beyond the point of anyone ever loving him and I hope we get an instalment following this pair as that would be really interesting to see develop.

As we cross into the final section of the novel, things get even more interesting when Bella is taken by the lessers but not to be tortured for information but because she looks like Jennifer, a human that was very significant to one of the lessers, Mr. O. When Zsadist learns of this we see reactions from him that we have never seen before and when they are checking out the house more lessers arrive to search for Mary only to encounter the Brotherhood which causes Rhage to lose control of the beast. Vishous and the other brothers try to move Mary away from the dragon but Mary seems to know he won’t hurt her after the time she spent with Rhage while the beast was in partial control of his body and she effectively turns him into a little housecat and talks him down which astonishes the other brothers before they retreat home and begin planning on how to rescue Bella. The following day Rhage goes with Mary to the hospital where she is told her cancer is terminal and there is nothing, they can do for her which obviously breaks Rhage’s heart and he pleads with the Scribe Virgin to save her and she agrees to do it on the conditions that his curse is never broken and he can never see Mary again and he agrees because he’d rather live without her than to watch her die. However, Mary comes to him hours later completely cured and he thinks the Scribe Virgin is going to kill him only to learn that Mary is infertile which to the vampire race and the Scribe Virgin is heart-breaking as children are precious to them as most of their women die in childbirth and the Scribe Virgin can’t abide with Mary not being able to have children and taking Rhage from her. This is an amazing moment for the pair as they are allowed to be together until Rhage crosses into the Fade and when Rhage tells Mary of him being stuck with the beast forever, she isn’t bothered by it since she finds him quite cute at times which heals something in Rhage we didn’t realise was broken. We also get a cheeky scene at the end where Butch and Zsadist make a plan to get Bella back as Butch realises that Bella actually means something to Zsadist even if it means slaughtering all the lessers keeping her captive. Overall, I was as keen on Lover Eternal as I was with the first book and that is mainly due to the pacing issues in the first half but after that I loved it especially the scene with Mary and the beast as those were amazing and I can’t wait to get into Zsadist’s story soon.

Buy it here:

Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com

Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com

Also see: Dark Lover