Reveiw: Lover Mine by J.R. Ward

John Matthew has come a long way since he was found living among humans, his vampire nature unknown to himself and to those around him. After he was taken in by the Brotherhood, no one could guess what his true history was- or his true identity. Indeed, the fallen Brother Darius has returned, but with a different face and a very different destiny. As a vicious personal vendetta takes John into the heart of the war, he will need to call up on both who he is now and who he once was in order to face off against evil incarnate.

Xhex, a symphath assassin, has long steeled herself against the attraction between her and John Matthew. Having already lost one lover to madness, she will not allow the male of worth to fall prey to the darkness of her twisted life. When fate intervenes, however, the two discover that love, like destiny, is inevitable between soul mates.

Before I begin this review I want to take just a minute to talk about reader expectations. I know I've mentioned this in previous reviews. Sometimes, as readers, we start a novel having certain expectations. Sometimes you have low expectations and then are pleasantly surprised by a book. Other times you have such high expectations that no book could possibly live up to and, every once in a blue moon, your exceedingly high expectations are met. Lover Mine is one of these books.

Fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood have been waiting for this book since we met John Matthew as a lonely, scared "pretrans" in Dark Lover. We watched him grow, mature, change, fall in love, and get his heart broken. In Lover Mine, John and Xhex finally get their HEA but, as per usual with the BDB series, not without heartache and pain.

At the end of Lover Avenged, Xhex disappears having been kidnapped by Lash and is now being held prisoner. The Brotherhood, John specifically, is losing hope of finding her alive. However, as we all know, Xhex is a fighter and is not about to sit around and wait to be rescued. Xhex busts through the invisible barrier Lash has erected around her thanks to his waning strength. The rest of the novel is basically John, Xhex, and the rest of the brotherhood hunting down Lash. After a few twists and turns and a road block or two our beloved, John Matthew gets his female. I know this isn't much of a summary but those of you who read the series know the plot, those that don't well, all those details would just be overwhelming!

I was really nervous about reading Lover Mine. This was John Matthew's story and I wanted it to be perfect. But how often does that happen? Like I mentioned, it seems I had such high expectations that I didn't know how Ward would be able to live up to them. But she did. Not only did I love John Matthew and Xhex's storyline but we finally got some more Qhuinn/Blay face time.

One thing I'm really sad about going forward from Lover Mine is, what I assume will be, the lack of John Matthew's point of view. Since Dark Lover, we've always had a glimpse into John Matthew's head. However, Ward usually doesn't revisit previous hero/heroine's POV after she's given them their HEA. One huge exception was the return of Wrath's POV in Lover Avenged as his sight continued to deteriorate. It's just so sad, for me, to think about not having John Matthew's POV anymore. I am looking forward to more from Qhuinn and Blay and I really hope we get their story!

Anyway, I've fallen, like many before me, into a post-Lover Mine funk. I'm not ready to move on from the Brothers just yet. So I started The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide, that's right I hadn't read that yet either. And reading through it I'm half tempted to re-read the entire series. However, I have sooo many books in my TBR pile the idea of re-reading so many books makes me feel guilty! But I'm seriously not ready to move on from the Brotherhood just yet. I am feeling another intesnse read though. I was thinking I might acutally tackle An Echo in the Bone, the newest Outlander book. But I'm not sure...

Lover Mine is vying with Lover Awakened as my favorite BDB novel!

Those of you that read Lover Mine did it live up to your expectations? Also, are there folks out there that STILL haven't read this series? If so, what are you waiting for? (No seriously, that's not a rhetorical question, I really wanna know!)

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