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Lover Awakened by JR Ward

Grade: B+ There’s a reason why I’ve never been able to fully enjoy JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It’s well-written, has plenty of action, some pretty entertaining dialogue, hot sex scenes, and though the pacing is hit or miss, I’ve found plenty of things to like about it. I’m going to sound a little crazy here, folks, maybe even a little paranoid, but every time I read a book from the series, there’s always a leaden feeling in my stomach that I can never quite get rid of. Maybe I’m just a little brown girl with delusions of persecution, but all the talk in the books about “preserving the race” and the brotherhood stuff has never failed to make me queasy. I know the lessers are supposed to be evil and we’re supposed to hate them and stuff, but the way that the Brotherhood hunts them with glee just kind of makes me sick. Just imagine a group of these leather-clad dudes, talking about protecting their women and children and preserving the race by killing these other guys. Doesn’t that kind of send a chill down your spine? I don’t know, maybe it’s all in my head. Or maybe I’d feel better if there was actually one actual “brother” in the group. Or if one of the brothers hooked up with an Asian or a Latina chick. You know, kind of like an affirmative action for vampires. All the lily-whiteness combined with the race talk kind of squick me out. Pushing my paranoia aside, I thought this contribution to the series was a lot better written than the other two. I think what really did it for me was the heroine, Bella. She’s a lot smarter and stronger than the previous sappy bitches and she was quick on her feet, too. I mean, she didn’t take shit from nobody and went after what she wanted. Good for her. As for Zsadist, however, I was a little disappointed in him. He was pretty scary (I mean PSYCHO scary) in the previous books, but in this one, he was a bit of a baby. All it took was a little titty flash from a girl and he’s slavering over her like a puppy. Bitch, please. As for the GAY… oh, it is back and there is plenty more. The GAY in this one is a glorious thing, a veritable cornucopia of homoerotic tension and God help me if JR Ward didn’t have a lot of fun piling it on for the pervos like me who LURVE the GAY. Gay, gay, and MORE gay, please! Thank you, you awesome bitch!

Our boy Zsadist is the tortured, emotionally scarred, possibly mentally damaged, woe-is-me type that probably wouldn’t be a lot of fun on a first date. Or the second or the third. Especially since you gotta comfort him every five seconds when he starts beating himself up and blubbering at your feet, saying shit like he doesn’t deserve you. Sicko. That’s gotta get tiring after a while. For the female, I mean. Oh, and HE CAN’T READ, Y’ALL (but of course he can’t. He’s been abused in all sorts of fucked up ways already, so why not have him be illiterate too? Let’s just jack up the pity factor some more)! Anyway, Zsadist is the way he is because when he was a wee little baby, he was abducted from his cradle by his crazy ass nanny, taking him away from his wealthy, aristocratic family. After the nanny dies, Zsadist is sold as a slave at two years old to a crazy ass rich lady named Catriona. He is put to work in the kitchens, serving ale and scrubbing shit until he grows up to be a rather good looking kid. The lady of the house takes notice of him and thus begins Zsadist’s (I keep wanting to type Zarek) life as a blood-slave (someone that the vampire lady feeds from) and a sex slave. He is forced to service her as well as her male and female friends with his GIANT PENIS for years and years, that is until his twin brother Phury saves him and takes him away from his life as a dildo, snack food, and toilet. Many, many years later, Zsadist is the most unstable member of the Brotherhood and tends to freak the shit out of everybody. He doesn’t eat because he’s afraid that his food is tainted and he only feeds from back alley whores because everyone else is afraid to allow him to feed off of them. This is why he looks like a fucked up heroin junkie. Combined with the shaved head, the scary tattoos, and the scar carved down the middle of his face, dude is only hot in a Mad Max villain sort of way. In the previous books, the other brothers would shit a brick every time he got near their girlfriends and pretty much treated him like a rabid dog. Dude, no wonder the dude is fucked up. As if that’s not enough, he’s extra super duper weirder now because the girl he had been crushing on got abducted by the bad guys, so he spends his days trying to track her down or hanging out in her abandoned house and sniffing her panties. Or he just rolls around in her bed. Whatever.

[Note: for some reason, the song “He’s So Shy” by the Pointer Sisters kept playing in my head when Zsadist was around. I think that’s why I couldn’t take him seriously.]

Our girl Bella is tough. Tougher than Zsadist, I think. In the previous book, she was abducted by a creepy guy named Mr. O and has been with him for several weeks. In fact, everyone believes that she is dead, especially since the lesser are not known to take prisoners. She is beaten, starved, and mentally tortured every day, but she has stayed strong because she believes deep in her heart that Zsadist will come and save her. It is the only thing that has kept her going. That and she doesn’t want to give her abductor the satisfaction of seeing her die. Not that she doesn’t have any ammo of her own. Her abductor Mr. O has fallen deeply in love with her, believes her to be his wife, so she uses his feelings to her advantage. Basically, as he mindfucks with her, she mindfucks with him right back until Mr. Psycho would pretty much do anything for her. One day, Mr. O brings her a vampire civilian to feed from and while Mr. O is not looking, Bella sets him free. In turn, Mr. Disposable Vampire calls the Brotherhood and lets them know that Bella is alive. ALIVE! The Brotherhood comes riding to her rescue and she is swept away to the Brotherhood mansion where she commences to show Zsadist how grateful she is to him for saving her and trying to fix his psychotic ass with some sexual healing. Naturally, Zsadist is all, “no, no, I don’t deserve you! I’m all dirty and stuff!” But Bella knows what she wants and goes for it. Even when Zsadist is shoving her towards Phury, the good looking twin who just happens to be enamored with her, Bella sticks with Zsadist and says shit like, “No, I will fix you, my broken man!” Okay, she doesn’t, but you get the drift. Meanwhile, Mr. O swears revenge and does all sorts of crazy shit to get Bella back, but the Brotherhood tries as hard to keep him away.

I think what I liked about Bella is how resilient she is. Bitch had her eyes sewn shut, had a name carved on her stomach, and was beaten regularly every day, but she doesn’t spend all day whining and crying about it. She doesn’t let anybody push her around and even when Zsadist tries very hard to shove her away, she just shoves right back. She’s smart, you know? She’s also a survivor and isn’t the kind of heroine who rushes headlong into danger to get herself or other people killed. What I also enjoyed about this heroine is that she knows which side of her bread is buttered. She knows that the Brotherhood mansion is the safest place she could be and doesn’t try to escape the Brothers’ protection like the two other DUMB WHORES of the previous books.

What I also enjoyed about this book is the tender moments between Zsadist and Phury (my beautifully tormented celibate junkie). It’s obvious that these two guys love each other and though they’re supposed to be manly men and stuff, the two of them don’t hesitate to show their affection each other. Sometimes even in a creepily close, almost incestuous way. Which was kind of hot, actually. Yeah, yeah… like I was the only one turned on by these two. Shut up, bitches.

What’s most impressive about this book is the sheer number of characters that JR Ward introduces and the skillful way that she blends them all into the storyline so that they don’t overwhelm the reader. They don’t just stand around like sequel bait and stuff. All of them in this book actually have a purpose. I don’t think the book would have been as good if the other characters were taken away because they really are a Brotherhood and JR Ward does a good job of portraying the camaraderie between the guys. Maybe a little too good, if you know what I mean and I think you do! I’m sorry, I don’t give a fuck if they’re vampires or whatnot, but WHAT KIND OF HETEROSEXUAL MEN PILE UP IN ONE BED AND SLEEP TOGETHER ALL NAKED AND SHIT? The straight dudes I know can’t even look each other in the eye when they’re peeing next to each other in the restroom, for God’s sake. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with it, per se, but it’s just not a very realistic portrayal of heterosexual dudes. There’s all this talk about one of the Brothers being kinky and shit, so why not just come out and say that some of the Brothers like to smoke a little cock now and then? It’s TOTALLY ohbvhious, man! I do not know any straight dudes who look at each other appraisingly and compliment each other on their clothes and how well it fits them. That shit is gay, yo, and gay is a-okay with me. For example? Vishous is totally gay… queer as a three dollar bill… and that’s OKAY!

By the way, for all of you who’s ever asked, “if Tohrment is already married, how is he going to have his own story,” that question is answered here. Make of that what you will.

Yeah, I definitely enjoyed this book a lot more than the previous contributions to the series. The characters here are more realized and none of them just stand around like advertisement mannequins for the next books, SHERRILYN KENYON! There are those of you out there that may find the relationship of Bella and Zsadist a little hard to accept because both of them are severely damaged and neither of them could pose for the cover of Sanity Monthly, but I thought JR Ward did a pretty good job in getting these two kids together. At the end of the book, neither of them are entirely healed, but JR Ward made me believe that LOVE WILL HEAL ALL, DAMN IT. I wish there had been more “quiet” moments between these two crazy kids outside of the bedroom, but JR Ward packs in a lot of shit in this book that there would not have been any room. I was cool with it, though, ’cause I got to know the other folks a little better. This book really felt more like an ensemble piece than a straight romance, but that’s okay because JR Ward really weaves them all together pretty well. There are a couple of threads that she could have tied up or snipped off entirely AND THE NAMES OF THE CHARACTERS ARE STILL PRETTY FUCKING STUPID and I couldn’t stand the whole adding an extra “h” thing to perfectly good words, but at the end of the book, I was pretty satisfied. The next book in the series is about Butch, the human de facto member of the Brothers, and the vampire girl he loves, so I’m definitely looking forward to that, especially if there are shower scenes with Butch and Vishous. Come on, JR, throw us hags a bone! Oh, and while you’re at it, how about some color to offsite the whiteness, eh? It’s a little creepy, for real. Surely there’s ONE person of color in Caldwell, New York?

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 16th, 2006 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Books, Grade: B, Romance: Paranormal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

34 Responses to “Lover Awakened by JR Ward”

  1. Kat O+
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
    1

    I loved the book but then I’m a self-confessed BDB fan. I did think the ending was a bit too sweet and abrupt. I would have liked to have seen a little more interaction between Z and Bella outside the bedroom and some of the secondary plots to have been tied up a little more. But yeah, I’m a sucker for JR Ward and I have the next book on order already. :-)

  2. jmc
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
    2

    Awesome review! Like Kat, I was a little let down by the ending, but otherwise impressed. And the whole homoerotic thing? I don’t care what Ward says, Vishous and Butch are more than just “roommates”. I’d pay lots to read about V&B and the vampire chick in the next book, but I’m assuming she’s not going to go there.

  3. AngelaDionne
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
    3

    I’m all for Vishous having to ’share’ his book with another member of the brotherhood. I’m not frightened of a little man on man action…. throw a girl in the middle and I would totally be on that shit like white on rice. Hmmm… maybe he will make an ‘appearance’ in Butch’s book.

  4. AngelaDionne
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
    4

    By the way, good review. You had me laughing through the whole thing.

  5. Lynne Simpson
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2006 at 7:39 pm
    5

    Phury saves him and takes him away from his life as a dildo, snack food, and toilet.

    Bam, you’re priceless. :-)

  6. Evangeline Anderson
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
    6

    Mmmm,I love unresolved homoerotic tension. I may have to check this one out. And I’m glad to see you’re reviewing again. I guess you’re taking a break between manuscripts? : ) Evangeline

  7. L.E. Bryce
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
    7

    I’ve missed your reviews.

  8. Laura
    Posted: Sep 16th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
    8

    Another un-closeted BDB fan….
    love the boys, love ‘em. Totally agree about all sorts of undertones; methinks JR Ward realllly wants to get kinky-but also likes that NY Times Bestseller list. If she wrote kinky, I’d buy two copies, ’s all I’m saying.

    You’ll like V’s book–Butch bitch or not, she’s come right out and said V is all about B&D. :)

  9. LorelieLong
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 1:41 am
    9

    I keep reading “Phury” as “furry.”

    I’ve got this one waiting in my cart at Amazon. Is it necessary to go back and read the earlier ones for this one to make sense?

  10. Milady Insanity
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 4:46 am
    10

    Awesome review, Bam!

    Ward’s endings so far…lack something. The first two, she used the Scribe Virgin to fix things.

    This time…Well, this time didn’t have that “Awww….” factor either

  11. Anonymous
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 8:42 am
    11

    Loved the review - can’t deal with the names. Honest, every time I see Phury I snort. Would be awkward to read the book.
    Interesting comment about the ethnic cleansing going on. It seems the bad guys just have to be bad and that’s it - sort of like the Slytherins, I could never figure out WHY they were bad. Are the lesser lesser for a reason?

  12. KimD
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
    12

    Great review. Overall I really liked the book and I have to give uber credit to Ward for always being able to pull of quiet, emotional scenes. There were some moments with Zsadist & Bella, Tohrment, and Phury that absolutely wrenched my heart.

    But I agree with those who were slightly let down by the ending. A bit too neatly wrapped up for my taste. Then again, there is a “traumatic” event in the book and maybe this was Ward’s way of providing some relief from that?

    Also, I was a bit disappointed in Zsadist. Part of what I loved about him from previous books was his cold, ruthless persona. Of course we all knew he was severely damaged underneath it all but….sigh, I just know is there were times I was like, “Dude, man up.”

    But like I said, a very good book overall and the gay undercurrents? Yummy!

  13. katieM
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
    13

    I would like to see more color, too. A black girl or two would be nice as well as asians and latinas. BTW, great review.

  14. Evangeline Anderson
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
    14

    All right, Bam, I just ordered the first book, Dark Lover from Amazon. Since I almost never read romance, this is unusual for me. I’ll let you know what I think.
    : ) Evangeline

  15. Anonymous
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
    15

    The books sound intriguing, but, like other commenters have said, I don’t know if I could get past the names. Zsadist, Tohrment, Phury, Rhage, Vishous, and who else? Do their parents name them that?

    If Ward throws in a few character names like Timh, or Zsteve, then I might be more accepting.

  16. CindyS
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
    16

    Yep, I’m a slavering fangirl and love the guy scenes. V and Butch? How in the world can Butch feel anything for Marissa when he’s gone all GAY!! Love the V and Butch scene. Yep.

    I also thought this was the best book of the three so far and I loved Z and his damaged ways.

    CindyS

  17. Bam
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 9:59 pm
    17

    If Ward throws in a few character names like Timh, or Zsteve, then I might be more accepting.

    Anonymous, I’m not planning on having kids, but if I accidentally have one, I’m naming him Zsteve or Bhob, thanks!

  18. bettie
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
    18

    Anonymous wrapped my reservations about this series up neat as a Christmas package with her Timh & Zsteve comment. (hee!) I hate fucked up spellings for their own sake. You want characters name Sadist and Fury? Just fucking name them Sadist & Fury.

    I know I’m hardly one to comment on the idiocy of using more letters than are strictly needed to spell one’s name, but superfluous silent h’s & z’s do not make characters sound unique or bad-ass, it just makes them sound like the screen names of 14-year-old boys on AIM.

    Phury:Dude, I p0wned UR ass @ Halo last nite.
    Rhage:N UR dreemz, a-hole. UR so gay.

    “bhettie”

  19. Bam
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
    19

    Phury:Dude, I p0wned UR ass @ Halo last nite.
    Rhage:N UR dreemz, a-hole. UR so gay.
    Phury:I’m n0t gay. uR gay. uR as gay as Vishous.
    Rhage: bItcH. uR momz gay. dId u c Vishous and bHutcH lock themselves up in dur room yesTURday?
    Phury: Yeah. They said they wuz playin World of Warcraft.
    Rhage: Whatev. Their a couple of cocksmockers.
    Phury: uR momz a cocksmoker.

  20. Jane
    Posted: Sep 18th, 2006 at 7:59 am
    20

    ohbvhious

    I love it. I also love that this book, while good reading, also makes for good reviewing.

  21. amf0001
    Posted: Sep 18th, 2006 at 8:43 am
    21

    laughed out loud funny. Great very, great comments. I agree with everything.

  22. Evangeline Anderson
    Posted: Sep 18th, 2006 at 9:04 am
    22

    Bam,
    Now I’m really getting into this and can’t wait for the first book to show up at my door. Speaking of gay, did you go to JR Ward’s site and read the deleted scene? *Very* gay. She said she deleted it because her publisher thought it was ‘too much’. Maybe you should go comment that you can never have too much homoerotic tension. lol Evangeline

  23. Ames
    Posted: Sep 18th, 2006 at 9:07 am
    23

    Excellent review! It was right on and hilarious.

    Was I the only one that felt like the last two chapters should have been titled Epilogue 1 and Epilogue 2? LOL

    Oh yeah, I love the gay too. :P

  24. Anonymous
    Posted: Sep 18th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
    24

    I really think I’m one of the few people who really hated this book. The slang killed me (”180 us” For real? “Messie me”. “Bennie” Oh for Christ’s sake!). Z was whinny and had me missing the scary-ass vampire we met (and fell in love with) in DL.

    I think we let JRW get away with a lot we as readers would never allow another author to get away with. DL was fantastic, even if the names were silly, the scenes with the lessers was borning and went no where. Nonetheless, Wrath and Beth were alazing and we got to meet some great vampires. LE was meh. Mary was just an awful heroine. Rhage was the shit. The brothers were still great. Then came LA. I’m done. I expected Z to be so much more. So much better. After all, it’s what JRW promised us. What we got was a run-of-the-miss vampire with a few scars.

    Oh, and did I mention the slag…????

  25. sarah
    Posted: Sep 18th, 2006 at 4:51 pm
    25

    That does looks like a Bplus book, but how about an A plus book that you would love. It is a can’t put it down laugh out loud chick lit book. “The What if Guy”- by Taylor Wilshire. More info at www.thewhatifguy.com.

  26. FerfeLaBat
    Posted: Sep 20th, 2006 at 11:11 am
    26

    Love your rheviews ;-) I think you nailed this one. I disagree on two things.

    a. Fiction does not have to be racially diverse.

    b. Why B+ ? I give it an A.

  27. Colleen Gleason
    Posted: Sep 21st, 2006 at 8:36 am
    27

    Loved your review, Bam. And I second those who’ve said they’ve missed your book reviews–I have too.

    Thanks.

  28. Evangeline Anderson
    Posted: Sep 21st, 2006 at 2:04 pm
    28

    I am *still* waiting on my copy of this from Amazon. And I paid for expedited shipping too! Grrr!

  29. Evangeline Anderson
    Posted: Sep 25th, 2006 at 9:52 am
    29

    Ha, this thread is long dead but I have to post anyway. I finally got the first book and devoured it on my weekend trip to Houston. Got the second at a bookstore there and was halfway done by the time the plane touched down in Tampa. Now I have sent hubby out for the third book. Who knew something shelved in the romance section could be so good? Maybe I sercretly love romance but just not the mushy Harlequein variety. Can anyone else point me in the direction of more JR Ward type books? I love her quick wit and punchy wriing style and her love scenes are hot, even if she has to use words like ‘core’. More Please! : ) Evangeline

  30. Sana-chan
    Posted: Sep 26th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
    30

    I’m also jumping on the late bandwagon. After hearing about the big rigmarole on the J.R. Ward fanboard with the bannings and stuff, I decided to check out an excerpt from Amazon. So I clicked on the “look inside” option for Dark Lover… and pretty much ran screaming the other direction.

    I completely agree with one of the anonymous commenters on the slang. I can’t stand it when people try to write slang and get it wrong? Reading “that’s whacked” made my eyeballs almost roll out of my head. That right there my friends? That’s called trying too hard. And also, a grown man saying “I’m outtie” is too stupid for words, not to mention so very, very dated. She’s obviously trying to cash in on the hip-hop/rap culture, without really understanding it.

    I admit that my judgmental side is hanging out because I haven’t actually read the books, but the problem is, based on what little of them I’ve seen, I think I’d throw the book across the wall in less than five minutes.

  31. Sana-chan
    Posted: Sep 26th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
    31

    Love your rheviews ;-) I think you nailed this one. I disagree on two things.

    a. Fiction does not have to be racially diverse.

    Wow… I couldn’t disagree with you more if I tried. No, fiction doesn’t have to be “racially” diverse, but it should be. Maybe where YOU live everyone is the same color, but my world comes in a variety of different hues. Since fiction, even in its wilder forms, is supposed to reflect life, having a fictional world populated by the people of only one “race” is not only inaccurate, but downright creepy.

    OK, I’m getting out of this thread. Like Ms. Ward’s slang, it is giving me a headache.

  32. Anonymous
    Posted: Sep 30th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
    32

    hated the book. She turned Z into a pussy bitch… though the only redeeming factors with the “homoerotic” shit and the conversations about a potato gun. ooh And Rehv is pretty hot… other then that I felt like i needed to ask for my 7.99$ back.

  33. Em
    Posted: Oct 29th, 2006 at 4:35 pm
    33

    bam, there will be some color added to the brotherhood gang. there’s a human, latino doctor named Manuel Manello

  34. Jackie973
    Posted: Nov 20th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
    34

    Are you any of you guys on JR Ward’s Message boards?

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