Lover Eternal by J.R. WardSince this series is the hottest thing going, I thought I would do a different kind of review this time.
I started this one when it first came out and could only read the beginning before putting it down. But I decided to give it another shot. I’ll give my thoughts as I read along until I take a break.
Page 75: Mary seems like a rather bland heroine to me. She’s described as average in looks and she comes across as a bit to nicey nice for me. Rhage is an asshole. I don’t care if he does make Brad Pitt seem average in his looks. He’s a jerk and a user. He has just ordered Bella (whom he doesn’t even deign to call by name – he just calls her female) to get Mary to meet him. I don’t like the way he uses Bella. The whole group, while I can understand, need to get John Mathew since he is at a crucial part in his life, are jerks. Yes, I understand they are the warriors, but I don’t really like the collective arrogance they have.
I like Bella. I like John Mathew. Butch seems out of his league and a Brotherhood wannabe groupie and almost pet.
Mr. X and Mr. O give me a severe case of the creeps and I may have to skip the parts they are in.
I’m really disliking all the branding that’s going on.
Now – back to the book.
Page 112: OK – Rhage is beginning to grow on me a little bit after the date he had with Mary and after his confession to Thor.
Page 182: – I’m starting to feel Rhage now. He’s stuck at Mary’s and he is feeding her (food that is). Mary is still a bit to bland to warm up to yet though. I haven’t seen Bella again yet and I suppose Butch is gaining his place.
Page 235: All right – he’s really back in my bad book now. BIG TIME. He’s just gotten back to Mary after his night of screwing other women. I don’t give a rat’s ass how guilty and bad he feels. He loves Mary and he cheated on her! I’m starting to like Mary more now and I hope she makes him SUFFER! This is a biggie for me – when the hero is already emotionally committed to the heroine and he goes after someone else. I know he’s suffering and scared of the dragon – but he done her wrong!!! One thing going for it so far though is – no blood drinking. And these aren’t dead vampires – just another kind of race.
Page 331: Oh, all right. I’ve mostly forgiven him. He was very remorseful and he did feel real bad. And he did go through that ritual thing when all the brothers did their thing to him. I felt bad for Zsadist. I really hate the Scribe Virgin though. I don’t think I’m going to like her at all in this series. I just got past the first “feeding” with Rhage, Mary and Layla and it wasn’t that bad. And of note – I put down that I read this book in my spreadsheet. While not done yet, it’s a sign that this will be not a DNF book.
Page 376: Run Bella Run!!! Now I’ve seen more of Bella and Zsadist and *sigh* I’m glad I have the next one. And I’m won back over again. I loved what Rhage did with the cherry stem.
Page 441: The end
OK – I get it now. She’s converted me. I’m still not getting a tattoo and I still have no intention of joining the message board and becoming a “Cellie” And I will NEVER call her The Warden, but she managed to hook me and hook me good.
And I’m hoping that Chapters, which has 48 copies of Lover Revealed is still open ‘cause that’s where I’m headed
Grade 5 out of 5
'til later
22 comments:
I read the first book of this wildly popular series and it was a DNF. I've bought them all (assuming that I'd like the series) and will give each one a fair shake. I don't quite get it myself but we'll see. I liked your review.
Dammit...now I feel like I need to reread this one! Thanks very much....grin!
Keishon: Trust me - I didn't want to like this one, I really didn't. Few readers could have gone into it as biased as I did. But like I said, she got me. I seriously had tears in my eyes at the end and my throat was kind of clogging up because of Rhage at the end. I thought it much better than the first one. To turn me from hating the hero to almost crying - well, it was quite an accomplishment. So I say - give them a try - at least to see what all the fuss is about *g*
Kristie, I'm like you--I've been resisting too. But everyone seems to have such a strong reaction to them, I think I have to try. Even though I think vampires are generally just icky.
Jennie: It's kind of like there is a party going on. You've been invited and you kind of want to go, but you're not sure. And this one was OK with the blood drinking thing. There was only one scene and it didn't bother me - me a person creeped out by the whole idea of it.
Marg: Now I have a bit of a dilema; whether to go back and reread Dark Lover, go ahead and read Lover Awakened which I'm thinking takes place very soon after this one, reread Lover Eternal or move onto an entirely different book.
This has been the only book in the series I've read, and I'm firmly in the "I'm Sorry I Just Don't Get It" camp. It's pretty much the horrible dialog holding me back. Who the heck says "You feel me?" all the time? Posers, that's who.
I know "why" this series is popular. It's the hunky hunks of hot Alpha male. But between the rabid fans girls, the horrible dialog (did I already mention that?) and the fact the heroines seem to take a back seat - not for me. But I'm fine with being alone in this desolate corner of Romance Novel Land :)
(For the sake of fair disclosure - Bella and Zsadist intrigued me, but not enough to make me want to read their book.)
I definitely fell for Rhage over the course of the book and I was stunned that he had sex outside of the relationship although I understood why. I love these kind of reviews!
The things people have problems with I totally get but I think I jump over things (like descriptions of what every one is wearing - this is why 'shitkicker' and 'wifebeaters' were such a shock to me when someone mentioned them).
The 'my brother' gets worse in the next book but I'm telling you that Z's book is almost downright perfect. And wait till you get a load of Butch and V - yeah.
I haven't started Butch's book (I've heard great things and I have had it bad for Butch since the first book - okay, he's gone a bit 'nancy' on me but I'm hoping the edge is still there) because I know the minute I do, it's two straight days of nothing getting done. I should make up a lasagna so I don't have to worry about dinners for the next few days!
Oh and I HATE the scribe virgin - hate her! And I hear she's in Butch's book - ugh.
Mini-squeee because Kristie likes it ;)
cindyS
I still haven't read this series. I've got the first two books, but I still can't bring myself to reading them.
Wendy: I can still see people not liking this one. And once I come down from the emotional roller coaster that was Rhage I might downgrade this one - then again I might not *g* - don't know, but I'm a skim reader and I just passed over a lot of the stupid stuff - and it certainly is there - like the "my brother" crap and I have no clue what shitkicker boots are and I'm not really sure I care, but reading this on emotion alone, well - it got me. I didn't want it to, her more rabid fans have done her more harm than good I think and if I ever feel myself becoming one, I shall post my address and hope someone comes and smacks me out of it.
Cindy: I wasn't shocked because I'd read that he did, but he did come around. And believe me - I hate saying that!!!! And "um" I think the next book IS Z's book.
Nicole: LOL - I held out a long time too! I went into this one firmly believing I wouldn't like it. But curiosity finally won out. I just had to know why everyone was raving about them so much.
Oh, say it isn't so. The first book was a DNF for me. Can't get into the absurdity of this series. But to each his own. : )
I haven't been able to even start the first one. Just not interested. Maybe it's been all the hype. Maybe the dumb names have turned me off. I dunno. Plus, I'm so not a vamp lover.
I'm with Marg...your review made me want to read them all again. Maybe after I get Lover Revealed out of the way.
She's hooked me too Kristie, but I will never ever get one of those tattoos
Loved your review!
I actually started doing one of this reviews when I first read Dark Lover, and the beginning looked very much like yours. I imagine the rest would have been very similar, too, but I was so sucked into the story that I completely forgot to keep pausing to write my impresssions.
I loved your review! I’ve often written my thoughts down like this while reading a book, but I never thought to post it up—not that my thoughts would be as entertaining as yours! I was cracking up a lot as I was reading this, ‘cause as much as I loved Lover Eternal you had some really good points.
*SPOILERS*
I, too, was disappointed that Rhage cheated on Mary, but at the same time, I wasn’t too bothered because he DID have a very good reason for it. I wasn’t, however, expecting them to sleep together right afterwards. I mean, geez! Is that anyway to punish someone for cheating on you? LOL. But, still I enjoyed the story.
I agree that Tohr and the Brothers were kind of assholes in the beginning while dealing with John M. They didn’t need to be so harsh with Bella and Mary at the compound, IMO, even if they were warriors.
As for the SV, a lot of people don’t like her but I’m kind of indifferent to her—I don’t hate her, but I don’t particularly like her either. She pretty much does nothing for me.
Good review. You pretty much encapsulated my feelings about the book (especially on page 75) except for the end where you wrote "I'm converted."
Seon: I can understand readers who go the other way on this one - I really can *g*, and I was really hatin' him on page 235. So I can see the turnabout not being enough. But it worked for me. It started when he was being whipped by pine cones (and doesn't that sound stupid) and then when he was willing to take back the beast AND agree to never see her again, I was 90% sold. But it was the fact that she wouldn't remember him and he accepted that - THAT'S what did it for me. I don't know if she'll be able to pull that kind of rabbit out of the hat again or not. I'll just have to wait and see :)
DC: I know he had his reasons - but he should have tried more cold showers followed by a long run and another couple of cold showers *g*. And yea - she really made him pay didn't she? (not)
Rosario: lol - I didn't take long breaks away - but it was a day long reading and there were bathroom breaks and lunch and stuff that I wrote before starting in again. And I do love when you do these kind of reviews - it's almost like were there reading along!
Sarah: Thanks :-) I'll have to try it again sometime - since I don't have the talent to do a video review that they do sometimes at DA.
Maria: I'm kind of curious what the tattoos are *g*. Not that I really care - just a mild curiosity that a reader would be so overcome by a series of books that they would do that kind of thing. Of course if I was to get a series based tattoo - mine would be more along the In Death series. Something like "I (heart) Roarke" on my back.
Rosie: I still haven't decided which one to read next - so I went with something entirely different. I'm still kicking and screaming on liking these ones.
Lori: I can relate! But I just got to curious as to what everyone was raving about I just had to give it another go. And one thing this vamp series has going for it - they aren't dead and they don't sleep during the day. It's just the sun itself that kind of fries them.
Anne: They are on the absurd side. I think us normal readers will agree. But there was just something about this one that got me. I'm still not sold on the whole shebang of them. But I will keep reading them anyway. Just so I can feel like I've attended the party *g*
What did you end up thinking of Mary (forgive me if you answered this already, I didn't read the rest of the comments)?
Personally, I didn't care for her. You description of her as bland pretty much sums up my feelings for her. Except for when she was annoying in pushing Rhage away.
Otherwise, I truly enjoyed this book, though. Ahh, the good ol' days. lol
Holly: She grew on me over the course of the story. She'll never be in the running for my favourite herone and she was pretty overshadowed by the power that is Rhage (you know even typing these stupid names is funny) but I could accept her as a heroine. If I don't like the heroine in a book, no matter how good the hero is, the book is likely to remain a DNF so - she was OK.
Kristie, you are so cute...I loved the review. :) I will admit that i love this series (have not had the funds to read Revealed yet but I am next on the waiting list at the library) and am excited by all of them. The next book for you, Lover Awakened is awesome.
Would it shock you to hear I liked the book *g*.
I was shocked when read the first sex scene. And I still love that scene in the car on the phone... love it.
uh of course I admit I am a fangrrl and will be sooo sad the day I read a brotherhood book that sucks for me. But there are too many for one of them to not work for me. Z is still my all time fave.
And LR is really very good and lived up to the expectations I had of it. Did you want Sugar Daddy signed? I didn't even THINK you might and new you already had DoY.
Email me. If you want one I will see what I can do. I have an extra I was gonna give away but it is a general sig. If you want one signed TO you, email me.
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