Quickie Review: Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood #9) by J.R. Ward

 

 

Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, seductive cloth as her brother. Imprisoned for eons by their mother, the Scribe Virgin, she finally frees herself-only to face a devastating injury. Manuel Manello, M.D., is drafted by the Brotherhood to save her as only he can-but when the human surgeon and the vampire warrior meet, their two worlds collide in the face of their undeniable passion. With so much working against them, can love prove stronger than the birthright and the biology that separates them?

My Quickie Review

What I liked about Lover Unleashed:

We get to see that Vishous has a soft side when it comes to his twin sister.  A twin that the Scribe Virgin kept from him.

Payne, being the daughter of The Scribe Virgin and The Bloodletter, has a strong need to fight that resides within her.   She busts Ward’s female vampire stereotypes wide open and yet she can be completely feminine, soft and sensual.  The Warden did a good job with her character, in my opinion.

I finally understand the purpose of Manny!  When he starts putting off a spicy cologne in the presence of Payne, everyone is baffled!

We get a little peek at what’s going on behind closed doors with Saxton and Blay.  Even though I’m team Qhuay all the way, I can’t help but  like Saxton.

• Payne has a special power of her own.
• The gift Manny gives Payne, his most prized possession.
• We learn Butch has some family he can claim.
• Payne is a virgin, so Manny goes to great lengths to prepare her.   So how can we not like Manny, right?

 

What I didn’t like about Lover Unleashed:

• The book felt like it was out of place.  Tohr’s book should have come first.  It seemes like Ward is just trying to stretch the series, but is running out of brothers.
• Qhuinn still has his head FAR up his ass.  Come on man!  You only live once!  You have a true love, go get him!  Ward BETTER give us a full length Qhuinn novel when the time comes.  A novella will mean pandemonium in the streets!
• Xcor and his ragtag bunch.  If they all get books, I may shoot myself.

 

Manny took a breath and reached down deep, pulling himself together. By force of will, he shut off all the questions and the lingering ow-ow-ow in his head and the strangeness of this descent into 007-land.

First thing on his to-do list? Ditch the pissed-off peanut gallery.

He glanced over his shoulder at Goatee. "You need to back off, my man. I want you out in the hall."

The response he got in return was... just fang-tastic: The bastard bared a pair of canines as long as his arm and growled, natch, like a dog.

"Fine," Jane said, getting in between them. "That's fine. Vishous will wait out here."

Vishous? Had he heard that right?

Then again, this boy's baby mama sure hit the nail on the head, considering that little dental show. But whatever. Manny had a job to do, and maybe the bastard could go chew on a rawhide or something.

Pushing into the examination room, he—

Oh... dear God.

Oh... Lord above.

The patient on the table was lying still as water and... she was probably the most beautiful anything he'd ever seen: Hair was jet black and braided into a thick rope that hung free next to her head.

Skin was a golden brown, as if she were of Italian descent and had recently been in the sun. Eyes... her eyes were like diamonds, both colorless and brilliant, with nothing but a dark rim around the iris.

"Manny?"

Jane's voice was right behind him, but he felt as if she were miles away. In fact, the whole world was somewhere else, nothing existing except for the stare of his patient as she looked up at him from out of her immobilized head.

It finally happened, he thought as he burrowed under his shirt and took hold of his heavy cross.

All his life he'd wondered why he'd never fallen in love, and now he knew: He'd been waiting for this moment, this woman, this time.

The female is mine, he thought.

And even though that made no sense at all, the conviction was so strong, he couldn't question it.

"Are you the healer?" she said in a low voice that stopped his heart. "Are you...

here for me?"

Her words were heavily accented, gorgeously so, and also a little surprised.

"Yeah. I am." He wrenched off his suit's coat and threw it into a corner, not giving a shit where the thing landed. "I'm here for you."

As he approached, her stunning icy eyes slicked with tears. "My legs... they feel as though they are moving, but I suspect they do not."

"Do they hurt?"

"Yes."

Phantom pain. Not a surprise.

Manny stopped by her side and glanced at her body, which was covered with a sheet. She was tall. Had to be at least six feet. And she was built with sleek power.

This was a soldier, he thought, measuring the strength in her bare upper arms.

This was a fighter.

And, God, the loss of mobility in someone like her took his breath away. Even if you were a couch potato, life in a wheelchair was a bitch and a half, but to somebody like this, it would be a death sentence.

Manny reached out and gathered her hand into his own—and the instant he made contact, his whole body went wakey-wakey on him, as if she were the socket to his inner plug.

"I'm going to take care of you," he said as he looked her right in the eye. "I want you to trust me."

She swallowed hard as one crystal tear slipped out to trail down her temple. On instinct, he reached forward and caught it on his fingertip—

The growl that percolated up from the doorway was the countdown to an ass-kicking if he'd ever heard it. Except as he glanced over at Goatee, he felt like snarling right back at the son of a bitch.

Which, yet again, made no sense.

Still holding his patient's hand, he barked at Jane, "Get that miserable bastard out of my operating room. And I want to see the goddamn scans and X-rays. Now. "

He was going to save this woman even if it killed him.

And as Goatee's eyes flashed with pure hatred, Manny thought, Well, shit, it might just come down to that...

 

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