Review: Lover Reborn

English Hardcover

German Cover Part 2

German Cover Part 1

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‚Lover Reborn‘ by J. R. Ward

Black Dagger Brotherhood # 10
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First Sentence:
“ ‚The bastard’s taking the bridge! He’s mine!‘ Tohrment waited for an answering whistle, and when it puddles, his legs going piston, his hands fisting hard.“

Last Sentence:
“ ‚You bet your ass I am. Eternally grateful… I am … Eternally. Grateful.‘ On that note, he kissed his female… and bit into his Big Mac.“

Synopsis:
Back in the Brotherhood – and unrecognisable as the vampire leader he once was – Tohrment is physically emaciated and heartbroken beyond despair. When he begins to see his beloved in his dreams – trapped in a cold, isolating netherworld – Tohr turns to a self-serving fallen angel in hopes of saving the one he has lost. When he’s told he must learn to love another to free his former mate, Tohr knows they are all doomed . . .
Except then a female with a shadowed history begins to get through to him. Against the backdrop of the raging war with the lessers, and with a new clan of vampires vying for the Blind King’s throne, Tohr struggles between the buried past, and a very hot, passion-filled future . . . but can his heart let go and set all of them free?  (Source: goodreads.com)

My thougts about the book:
To quote Vishous‘ words – this book was just ‚fan-fucking-tastic’ awesome!!!
I had high expectations for this book because to me it seemed as if I had to wait an eternity for it. But it has completely paid off and for this book it would be even worth to wait another year – although that would have killed me – and the book has more than only fulfilled my expectations, in every area. I love this book and now it is definitively one of my favorites in the Black Dagger series!

I had so much fun while reading that I can’t form it into proper words. It was always thrilling and emotional and I have read it within 4 days, although the book has 572 pages and was in English! To be honest I’ve not only read it, but have formally soaked it up, almost inhaled it like a drug addict. And I’ll read it soon for a second time, only to make sure that I haven’t missed the smallest detail.

After the weak 9th book ‘Lover Unleashed’ with the story of Payne and Manny, we got the tenth book, in which finally Tohr has his time to get his ‘happily ever after’, who I already liked from the first two books and who I took to my heart. But up to that point he had to suffer, as well as we as the readers, great pains.
His book was full of desperation, sadness, disbelief and fury, because of the too early and cruel murder of his pregnant wife Wellsie. Oh God; he was in such torture and also I’ve poured many tears for him and his gone family and I was also caught by his loss and desperation, which at first seemed to come to no end, to no salvation.

But it wouldn’t be a real Ward-book, if there wouldn’t be also a happy-ending for Tohr and No’One, for which I’m incredibly grateful. Although there were moments in which I thought, there is no going back again and an unhappy-ending is unstoppable, Ward has made it again and presented us an end which made me totally happy. *great*

In this book not only Tohr and No’One got their chance to speak, but there was also a great part of my beloved John Matthew in it, who had, unfortunately, more than only little fights with his Shellan Xhex. But in the end they could also figure it out, which I already hoped for in the beginning.
However, honestly I must admit that though I like Xhex alone as a character, I was already in ‘Lover Mine#8’ not very happy by the constellation of Xhex and John as a couple. In my opinion Xhex is just too hard and on the outside too emotionally cold and for John I would have wished for a softer, more soulful female by his side, after everything he already had to go through. But well, this is not for me to decide, but a fact which disturbs me a little and which I wanted to mention here.

In ‘Lover Reborn’ wasn’t much about the lessening society, although there were fights over and over again against them, but the focus in this book lay unmistakably on another enemy. Namely the Band of Bastard (BoB), the barbarian group from the old country, headed by Xcor, has achieved a fatal hit against king Wrath. Whereby now the fights and the attention of the Brotherhood were directed on this group and have won their priority. I find this constellation of those two groups and their aggression against each other, incredibly exciting and I can’t wait to get to know how it will go on in this remorseless fight.

What I really liked about Ward was, that she presented Xcor not only as an evil/bad person or as a monster, although he has already committed many scandalous doings, but Ward let us also look behind his facade and his internal conflict, and showed us that he became this bad beast because of his education and his training. And I’m sure that he also gets his book soon and I already have a very strong foreboding with which female he will end up. 😉

The best in this book was that it has addressed in me all my emotions. I’ve cried with Tohr and Wellsie. I was sad and bitter with No’One, Qhuinn or Layla. Despaired and lost together with John or I was also able to have fun and laugh with the other brothers or also with the angel Lassiter. And about all in the end I could be happy and finish this book with a pleasant smile on my lips – entirely content and satisfied. 😉

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Okay – actually, I didn’t wanted to spoil too much, but because some members from the book forum already asked me, I just have to give away some great SPOILER. Hence, please don’t read on if you don’t want to know – for all the others – keep on reading! 🙂

I don’t know where I should begin exactly because it happened so much in these 570 pages.

* At first I know that some of you are interested in the right name of No’One‘. Previous in the old country her given name was ‚Rosalhynda‘, but, unfortunately her surname was never mentioned in the book (although some guys have already an idea with whom she could be related beside Xhex ^^).
Later in this book she got a new name by Tohr and he called her ‘Autumn’ because he likes the colors, the strength of light and the beauty of this season – like ‘No’One’ is for him.

* Everybody can still remember that in the sixth book Qhuinn was beaten up so brutally by his own family that he almost died, right? Can you also still remember that he stood before the door of the ‘maker’ and that he saw there a little, blond child with two different colored-eyes?! YES – you can remember – great! Guys, I think that this will soon become reality because Layla had her needing in this book and she asked Qhuinn to serve her in this time.
But no worries – they don’t love each other and they only want to have a child. Actually, they are more like good friends but without any sexual feelings.

* Layla has fallen in love with another, or better to say – she fantasizes about a man, although they have never spoken a word to each other. And the biggest problem is, that she can’t be with him because he is the enemy and brutal and beastly – but she didn’t know that at first when she fed him and while that she has looked into his eyes, behind his facade, directly into the heart of …. -> Xcor and I’m almost 100% sure, that they both will end up together in the future. (Like in ‘The Beauty and the Beast’? ^^)

* Also Qhuinn isn’t in love with Layla and they only hooked up because she begged him and he also wanted to get this child, which he saw at the door of the ‘maker’. They both have nothing of their own and they two just want to belong somewhere, to somebody and they think they will get this with a baby to care for and to love.

* News about Qhuay: I’ve a feeling that we’ll finally get our Qhuay – HEA soon and that maybe hopefully the next book is about Qhuinn and Blay. Do you want to know why? Because of these quote at the end of the book ‘Lover Reborn’:

„Enough, Qhuinn thought.
Enough with the excuses, and the avoidance, and the trying to be someone, anyone else.
Even if he got shanked, even if his precious little ego and his dumb-ass little heart got shattered into little pieces, it was time to stop the bullshit. It was time to be a male.
As Blay started to straighten, like a message had been received, Qhuinn thought, That’s right, buddy. Our future has come.”

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Geeee, how fantastic sounds that and how promising that the next book # 11 is about the both of them?? I can’t wait for it! *great*

* Do you also would like to know which books will come certainly, then here are the already signed ones:
Qhuay,  Lassiter, Trez, iAm, Murhder, Throe and Xcor. …

EDIT: 02.04.2012: It’s official now- Ward has revealed on a signing that QHUINN and BLAYS book are next and they will get a real Hardcoverbook and not just a novella – and that already next year!!! Can’t wait to read it and it’s just fab!! *I’m soo happy* 😀

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Paperback Cover:
I really like cover so much and I think it’s great that finally a guy is on the cover, who looks really similar to the character in the book. Moreover I like the colors and the blood drop which hangs down the letter.

All in all:
I can’t say how often I’ve already mentioned it that I LOVE this series by Ward, as well as this book and I’m sure I’ll say this much more often in the future. For everybody who hasn’t read the books yet – damn it – just get the books and start reading it and let yourself drag also in this crude, but at the same time also thrilling, compassionate, emotional, lovely world of the Black Daggers.

Rating:
5 of 5 points

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Quotes: (guess this time my quotes are a litte more than usual^^)

Tohr (thinking): ‚As he sat with his brothers and the shellans and guests of the mansion, everything was a distant, hazy blur.
Well, almost all of it.
There was only one thing in the vast room that made any impression on him.
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Tohr: ‚I miss you…‘ He stroked the indentation of the gown where her waist would have been – should have been. ‚I miss you so much.‘
…. Why couldn’t his memories bring her back? They felt strong enough, powerful enough, a summoning spell that should have had her magically reinflating the gown.
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Rhage: „And if that bastard’s innocent, I’m the fucking Easter bunny.“
„Oh, good,“ someone quipped. „I’m calling you Hope-along Hollywood from now on.“
„Beasty Bo Peep,“ somebody else threw out….
„People,“ Rhage barked, „the point is that he is not innocent and I’m not the Easter bunny –“
„Where’s your basket?“
„Can I play with your eggs?“
„Hope it out, big guy –“
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Thor (thinking): He took, the took hard and ravenously, drinking deep, and wanting more than just the vein.
He wanted the core of this female.
He wanted in her as he drank from her.
And this was just true even as he was acutely ware that his was not this Wellsie. ….
But he still wanted her.
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No’One to Tohr: „I used to watch you sleep – back in the Old Country. I spent hours memorizing the way he low glow from the peat played over your closed eyes and your cheeks and your jaw.“
Tohr: „Why?“
No’One: „Because you weren’t like the sympath at all. You were dark and he was pale. You were big and he was thin. You were kind to me… and he was not. You were the only thing that kept my from going completely mad.“
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No’One: „Eventually she whispered, ‚I must be getting heavy.‘
Tohr: ‚Not at all.‘
‚You’re very strong.‘
Man, that did his ego good. Matter of fact, she hit him with anything like that again, he was going to feel like he could bench-press a city bus. With a jet plane parked on its roof.“ (*lmao*- I love this quote^^)
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Succession:

# 1: J. R. Ward –    Dark Lover »»
# 2: J. R. Ward –   Lover Eternal »»
# 3: J. R. Ward –   Lover Awakened »»
# 4: J. R. Ward –   Lover Revealed »»
# 5: J. R. Ward –    Lover Unbound »»
# 6: J. R. Ward –    Lover Enshrined »»
# 6.5: J.R.Ward – BDB: An Insider’s Guide »»
# 7: J. R. Ward –   Lover Avagened »»
# 8: J. R. Ward –   Lover Mine »»
# 9: J. R. Ward –   Lover Unleashed »»
# 10: J. R. Ward – Lover Reborn »»
# 11: J.R. Ward – Lover at Last »»
# 12 J. R. Ward – The King
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copyright: http://www.jrward.com/

About the author – J. R. Ward:
J.R. Ward is a #1 New York Times and USAToday Best Selling author of erotic paranormal romance. She lives in the south with her incredibly supportive husband and her beloved golden retriever. After graduating from law school, she began working in healthcare in Boston and spent many years as Chief of Staff of one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation. Writing has always been her passion and her idea of heaven is a whole day of nothing but her computer, her dog and her coffee pot. (Source: http://www.jrward.com/)

Visit her Website »»

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