Review: Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 9) By J. R. Ward

Lover Unleashed is the 9th book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, so keep in mind that this review is going to have spoilers. If you haven’t read any of the books from this series go ahead and buy Dark Lover, you won’t regret it.

This new book about the brothers is focused in several histories; first we have the hero Dr. Manuel Manello, a character that was introduced in Lover Unbound and even when he didn’t appear again in the series –after all he is just human, right?- you knew that he was going to have an important role in the future. This important role is to save our heroine, Payne, Vishious’ twin sister. Payne is injured in a training fight against Wrath in the other side. After refusing her mother’s help, she is taken to the Brotherhood Mansion to received medical attention from Dr. Jane; however, her injuries are serious and require the intervention of Dr. Manello. When he sees her for the first time he goes all MINE, which is a clue pointing to where the story in going. Dr Manello saves her and her legs, but he has to apply a not so orthodox (and really steamy) method to do so.

What I really liked about Lover Unleashed is that the story between Vishious and Jane is completed. For me there were a lot of things that needed to be worked out between them and even more V’s issues with his mother, his father, and now with his sister, those were the huge black sadomasochist elephant in the room.  So in this novel, Vishious and Jane (and Vishious and Butch) reach a new level in their relationship, kind of like what happened between Zsadist and Bella in the novella Father Mine.

Like in the last books, the plot was really interesting; I’m dying to know what’s going to happen in the Glymera with the arriving of these new characters and how this is going to affect Wrath and the Brotherhood. When I begun reading this series I was only interested in the romance between the lead characters, but now the plot is a huge part of the reason why I keep reading it. There is a new twist in the series that is hard to catch at the beginning, so be prepared to spend some time lost in the first chapters, keep reading because is going to be worth it.  

There are some stories that remain unfinished, like the relationship between Blay and Quinn (please, please! they need a HEA soon), and there are others that I still don’t get, like the role of Detective De la Cruz and his new partner, I have a hunch that the new detective and a certain evil deity are going to have some business in the future. Go and read this new instalment, is a little slow and confusing at the beginning, but is going to let you wanting more. Is not like the first books, Lover Awakaned is my favourite, but is certainly better that the last ones, or so I believe.

Review by Marie

Grade: 4

Sensuality: McBurning

Synopsis

Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, warrior cloth as her brother:  A fighter by nature, and a maverick when it comes to the traditional role of Chosen females, there is no place for her on the Far Side… and no role for her on the front lines of the war, either. 

When she suffers a paralyzing injury, human surgeon Dr. Manuel Manello is called in to treat her as only he can- and he soon gets sucked into her dangerous, secret world.  Although he never before believed in things that go bump in the night- like vampires- he finds himself more than willing to be seduced by the powerful female who marks both his body and his soul.

As the two find so much more than an erotic connection, the human and vampire worlds collide … just as a centuries old score catches up with Payne and puts both her love and her life in deadly jeopardy.

Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 9) by J.R. Ward
New American Library; March 29, 2011