Lover Enshrined - J.R. Ward

Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood #6) - J.R. Ward
Grade: Adult - PNR
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

In this "frighteningly addictive" paranormal romance sage there's a war raging between vampires and their slayers. Here are the stories of a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. And now a dutiful twin must choose between two lives...
Fiercely loyal to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Phury has sacrificed himself for the good of the race, becoming the male responsible for keeping the Brotherhood's bloodlines alive. As Primale of the Chosen, he is obligated to father the sons and daughters who will ensure that the traditions of the race survive, and that there are warriors to fight those who want all vampires extinguished.

As his first mate, the Chosen Cormia wants to win not only his body, but his heart for herself. She is drawn to the noble responsibility behind the emotionally scarred male. But Phury has never allowed himself to know pleasure or joy. As the war with the Lessening Society grows grim, tragedy looms over the Brotherhood's mansion, and Phury must decide between duty and love.... (Description from Goodreads)


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I struggled with 'Lover Enshrined'. Out of all the Brothers, Phury has always been my least favourite. I could never seem to connect with him and his attitude for most of the book didn't change my opinions. I found I was focusing more on the side stories than the main one, and that was what got me through this book.

In the previous book, Phury accepted the role of Primale, the number one male to mate with the Chosen (the women kept safe in the Scribe Virgin's sanctuary). And yet, despite taking the position to help one of the other Brothers, he does everything in his power to avoid the duties he has to perform; most notably 'mate' with Cormia, the Chosen who is assigned as his First Mate. Phury makes multiple mistakes throughout the book they left me uninterested in his journey. I understand the pattern of the series is to have a broken male Vampire in need of finding a way to heal and be better for himself; but the 'broken' nature of Phury didn't impress me at all and didn't inspire any emotions to follow his growth.

Cormia, thankfully, was slightly more interesting. Breaking free of her secluded lifestyle with the Chosen and becoming independent. Although slightly repetitive, as I feel like we saw this sort of journey with Marissa in book 4, it was still good to see her coming out of her shell and discovering technology in the human world.

I loved the side stories. John, Qhuinn and Blay have such a strong friendship. Although they also face a few intense moments throughout the book, it's hard not to smile when they have a chance to sit back and relax with each other. I'm looking forward to seeing more of them in the next couple of books. And Rehvenge, he's got such a hidden history and I love the secrecy surrounding who his is and what he's doing with his like. I can't wait to dive into his book next.

The lessers reappear in this book. Any hope that we were free of them was lost. But J.R. Ward has set the scene for the next few books. We're not just fighting random lessers from now on. 'Lover Enshrined' creates a whole new game plan for the Lessoning Society; and I can only imagine how it'll cause trouble for the vampires.

3.5/5 stars


Kim
(Originally posted on Goodreads)