J.R. Ward
Lover Unleashed
NAL, March 29, 2011, $27.95
Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark warrior cloth as her brother. Because she is 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.
Who can resist a confirmed and unrepentant bad boy whose prickly (but incredibly hot) shell protects a wounded (but ultimately loving and fiercely loyal) soul concealed within? Not the heroine of a romance novel, that’s for sure: The Wounded Hero is a magnet to which females of worth are drawn inevitably and irresistibly.
Exhibit A: The ruggedly attractive, emotionally complex vampires of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood. The Black Dagger boys are all tough but damaged—Zsadist had a horrific childhood, Phury is a recovering drug addict, Rhage is a recovering sex addict who sometimes turns into a dragon (yes, I know), etc. Through the love of their various women—some vampire, some human, and at least one ghost—the members of the Inner Circle, if you will, of the Brotherhood have all more or less come to terms with their checkered pasts and emerged whole and strong. More or less.
In the brand-spanking-new and VERY satisfying Lover Unleashed, J.R. Ward has a little fun with the whole theme of “love’s healing power.” While neither the main hero nor heroine is a true “bad boy/girl” in the traditional sense of the term (she’s a genuinely kind and lovely ass-kicker, and he’s mostly just sad . . . in a masculine sort of way, of course), the book does give us different flavors and varieties of love—traditional romantic love, manly bromance, and even simple friendship—enabling people (and vampires too) to overcome all sorts of traumas. Call it Chicken Soup (or O-positive!) for the Vampire Soul.
For various reasons we won’t go into here, Payne was held captive by her own mother, the deity known as the Scribe Virgin, for many years. Then, shortly following her release, she was seriously injured during a sparring session with one of the Brothers. That’s where our story picks up, as the Brothers bring her to the highly regarded Dr. Manello’s O.R. (and, seriously, Man-uel “Manny” Man-ello? We get it, J.R.) Despite being a very attractive and successful surgeon in the prime of his life and at the peak of his career, Manny is desperately lonely; in fact, his best friend is a dying horse. But it’s Manny’s love (and I’m not just talking about his high regard for her sweetness and intellect, if you get what I’m saying) that restores Payne to physical health:
Her skin was aglow from the inside out, as if the heat and the sensations he called forth from her had manifested themselves in illumination. 'I know not . . . what this is . . . '
'I think it’s the solution, actually.' He sat down next to her feet. 'Tell me if you can feel this.' He gently touched her lower leg, laying his hand upon her calf –
'Warm,' she choked out. 'Your touch is warm.'
And being around Payne has a remarkably (really remarkably) salutary effect on Manny—not to mention the horse!
Meanwhile, Payne’s twin, Vishous, is re-experiencing the trauma of an unhappy childhood (the Scribe Virgin abandoned him; their father, an evil entity known as the Bloodletter, abused him). The fact that his long-lost sister is in dire straits in the hospital isn’t helping matters, and V is lashing out at everyone around him, particularly his long-suffering shellan, Jane. Jane badly wants to help Vishous—but what he needs, only his closest friend Butch can give him:
'I think we’re dating now.' As V barked out a laugh, the cop shrugged. 'Come on . . . I got you naked. You wore a damn corset. And don’t get me started on the sponge bath afterward.'As their laughter faded, V closed his eyes and briefly shut his brain down. With his best friend’s big barrel chest up against his own, and the knowledge that he and Jane were tight again, his world was complete.
In fact, between Butch and Manny, this book could just about be subtitled “A handbook of unconventional therapeutic techniques that are seriously unlikely to ever be endorsed by any licensing body anywhere.”
Less, um, hands-on forms of emotional healing are also explored, as warrior Qhuinn takes time out of his busy schedule of training, fighting, and pining over his best friend Blaylock to forge an unexpected friendship with the genuinely likeable Layla, one of the Chosen who occasionally services the unattached Brothers. And you know, anything that gets Qwhine’s head out of his own rear end even a little bit is OKAY BY ME. (I mean seriously, Qhuinn. Even Blaylock’s boyfriend is urging you to just talk to the guy. Sack up and own your life, man!)
That’s your basic plot (other than some goings-on with the morally ambiguous vampire Xcor, whose plotline did not end up where I expected it to. Oh, and I guess there’s a serial killer, too; almost forgot about him), which is largely incidental to the relationships being played out—and, of course, the numerous white-hot sex scenes, about which I can only say yowza! (Readers with more conservative tastes are advised that Ward’s, er, adventurous streak is given full expression in Lover Unleashed.) If I have only one complaint, it’s that the BDB universe is so broad that there’s no way to cram all my favorite Brothers in—I need more Wrath and Beth, gosh darn it! But that’s a minor complaint, and I still have Dark Lover on my shelf (high up, where the kids can’t get it) whenever I need it. Overall, Lover Unleashed is an enjoyable installment in the BDB series, and I highly recommend it for adventurous adult readers who still believe in the power of love to heal.
Can't get enough Black Dagger Brotherhood? Check back tomorrow for the BDB KhageMatchh Final.
Kate Nagy is the Editor at Large of Geek Speak Magazine.
