When I first encountered J.R. Ward’s Lover Avenged, I really didn’t expect too much. Up until then, vaguely sinister nightclub owner Rehvenge had barely been a blip on my BDB radar, and as a be-mohawked pimptastic drug lord with an omnipresent metrosexual fur coat and a penis barb (which I refuse even to think about, because ouch), he wasn’t exactly my idea of a romantic leading man. I wasn’t even sure who Ehlena was. What’s more, Lover Avenged immediately followed Lover Enshrined, aka Phury and Cormia’s tale, which I (and quite a few others, evidently) consider to be one of Ward’s less interesting efforts. So it was with some trepidation that I approached this one.
I shouldn’t have worried. Lover Avenged turned out to be my favorite BDB book, hands down. There are several reasons for this, but the big one? Somehow, this bad boy/good girl romance between secondary characters in the BDB universe manages to be the most touching, emotionally compelling installment in the entire series.
Lover Avenged is, of course, Rehvenge’s tale. As owner and operator of ZeroSum, the Brotherhood’s favorite den of sin, he runs drugs, manages a stable of prostitutes, and is overall an entirely unsavory sort. He also has a dark secret (but then, don’t they all?): he’s half symphath, or a sort of telepath who is driven to control and manipulate the minds of others. If the larger vampire community ever finds out, he’ll be shunned and confined to a desolate colony in upstate New York. His secret is known only to a few, including members of the Brotherhood; Xhex, his trusted security chief; and the Princess, a fellow symphath who exacts a terrible and ongoing price for her continued silence. Even his beloved sister Bella—shellan of Black Dagger Brother Zsadist—hasn’t been clued in.
Because he needs frequent doses of dopamine to control his symphath urges, Rehvenge is a regular at the local vampire clinic, and that’s where he meets Ehlena, a nurse there. He wants her, but doesn’t feel like he deserves her, and she’s drawn to him despite her better judgment. The result is a romance that is both sweet and hot; they take things slowly for a BDB book and actually spend some time getting to know one another. A lot of their early “relationship” takes place over the phone, adorably:
Her voice caught as he shifted around. “Wait. Are you…in bed?”
“Yeah. And before you go any farther, you don’t want to know.”
“I don’t want to know what?”
“How much I’m not wearing.”
“Er…” As she hesitated, he knew she was smiling again. And probably blushing. “So I won’t ask.”
“Wise of you. It’s just me and the sheets – oops, did I just spill that?”
“Yes. Yes, you did.” Her voice got a little lower, as if she were imagining him naked. And not minding the mental pinup in the slightest.
Rehv doesn’t even, um, seal the deal until the waning pages of the book, but nevertheless keep things steamy through (among other things) the creative use of a pair of panty hose in a scene that I am not going to quote here in the interest of keeping this site Safe For Work. Suffice it to say that you’ll never look at your L’Eggs in quite the same way again.
However, there are legitimate and serious obstacles standing between Rehvenge, Ehlena, and their HEA; he loathes himself for what he’s become, and while Ehlena could probably deal with his being a half-symphath, she’s rightfully disgusted by the whole drug-dealing, flesh-peddling, Princess-banging scene. So when their HEA finally comes, it’s hard-earned and chest-achingly romantic:
“I didn’t want you to know about any of this. I wanted to…be normal for you. I wanted you to feel safe around me…and I wanted to be with you. That’s the why of the lying. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you. I didn’t want that for you –“
“What did you say?”
“I…I’m in love with you. I’m sorry, but that’s the way I feel.”
Ehlena grew so quiet, he worried that in his delirium he had seriously misread everything between them…Except then she dropped her mouth to his and whispered, “Don’t hide from me ever again. I love you the way you are.”
As if all that weren’t enough, there are two significant subplots in this book, and at least one of them is utterly devastating. (Both are, if you’re a fan of John Matthew and Xhex, about whom more anon.) First, Wrath has been stepping out on his wife, Beth—not to boink another female, but to fight Lessers. When she finds out, she’s understandably furious, and her response to Wrath’s sneaking about is to temporarily leave him, which was as unsettling for me as it was for Wrath!
No sooner does all that get straightened out but Wrath is faced with his greatest challenge yet: his eyesight, never strong, deserts him completely. He wallows in self-pity for about fifteen minutes, then visits the Other Side to confront the Scribe Virgin about his condition. While stewing in his juices Over There, he meets her daughter, Payne. Payne decks him by way of introduction, and an all-out brawl ensues:
She was like water, though, always fluid, always moving, hitting him time and time again until he was forced to manhandle her onto the ground and pin her down.It was a case of brute strength winning out over grace.
Panting, he looked into a face he couldn’t see. “What the fuck is your problem?”
“I’m bored.” With that, she head-butted him right in the goddamn nose.
The other subplot involves Tohrment, back from parts unknown but still mourning the loss of his wife and unborn child, and his foster son John Matthew, who has tried so very hard to be supportive and understanding—until he’s finally had enough of Tohr’s epic wallow, whereupon he decides he doesn’t care anymore. About anything. This would include Xhex, on whom he’s previously had a massive crush, so he goes about stomping on her heart with abandon, just because. In fact, he’s pretty much a douche and a half for the entire second half of the book, and I spent most of his scenes wanting to smack him across his pretty, pretty face and scream “Get over yourself, jackass. EVERYTHING ISN’T ALL ABOUT YOU.” However, the ending does set up Lover Mine very nicely, and I know that Xhex and JM have their fans (mine is not to judge). They do have a truly spectacular hate-fuck near the end of the book, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Finally, the theme of loyalty is very strong throughout the book. At the beginning, Rehv is offered the chance to kill Good King Wrath and take his place (as the bad guy’s puppet, but still). He responds by having the bad guy assassinated. Ehlena cares for her ailing father in the face of impossible circumstances. Bella (when she’s finally brought into the circle of trust) responds to Rehv’s symphath nature with compassion. The Brothers respond to Wrath’s blindness with staunch support and obvious respect and love. And speaking of love, there’s no question that even after everything he’s put her through, Beth is going to stand by her man:
“I stay with you because whether you have sight or not, I see the future in your eyes.” His lids fluttered as she brushed gently over the bridge of his nose. “Mine. The Brotherhood’s. The race’s…such beautiful eyes you have. And you’re even braver to me now than ever before. You don’t need to fight with your hands to have courage. Or be the king your people need. Or be my hellren.” She put her palm in the center of his broad chest. “You live and lead from here. This heart…here.”
There are a lot of other things about this book I really enjoyed—I haven’t even mentioned Ehlena standing up to Xhex, or all the snarky Lassiter goodness!—but the bottom line is that the emotional journeys taken by Rehvenge, Ehlena, and Wrath in Lover Avenged moved me in a way that Vishous and Phury and Zsadist never could. Sure, I’ve enjoyed the other books in the series. But Lover Avenged is the only one that’s ever made me cry.
Kate Nagy is Editor at Large of Geek Speak Magazine.
