I received my copy of J.R. Ward’s Lover Mine yesterday, and as of yet, I haven’t started it, even though I’ve been anxiously waiting for it to arrive for months.

The problem is, I’m afraid it’s gonna suck Great Big Hairy Balls.

The last book that I really looked forward to reading this much was Sarah McCarty’s Promises Reveal and that story didn’t have a happy ending. In fact I never even got to the end because the book sucked. A lot. Sigh.

Am I the only person who feels like this about the last book in a series?

Which Last Book are you guys afraid wont live up to the build-up and the hype?

I read Lover Enshrined yesterday, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here are some quick observations/comments:

1. I loved the whole John/Qhuinn/Blay dynamic. I was most fascinated with the plots involving all three of them.

2. I think the Qhuinn/Blay story was probably how Ward wished she’d have handled the Butch/Vishous story. Of course I never had a problem with the way she handled them in Lover Unbound in the first place. I didn’t see the mutual male/male romantic love till the blog version of Chinese whispers started.

3. I can’t wait for John’s story.

4. I think Ward’s handling of Phury was fine. He was a drug addict at the end of the day, so not bound to change overnight. Very angsty, but not annoying.

5. I can’t wait for John’s story.

6. Ward seems to be a specialist in portraying strong male friendships. There seems to be an intensity to them that’s severely lacking between any of the female protags. She should sort that out.

7. I can’t wait for John’s story.

8. As much as I hate the lessers, I’m glad they were back in LE, I think they’re a necessary evil in the the BDB books.

9. I can’t wait for John’s story.

10. I wonder if Xhex is really going to be John’s mate when he gets his book. I bet Ward changes her mind just like Lisa Kleypas did with the Cam and Daisy.

11 I can’t wait for John’s story.

12. Lash is a twat.

13. I can’t wait for John’s story.

14. I was surprisingly sympathetic towards Cormia. I didn’t hate her at all. In fact, I found myself liking her a lot, especially when her knickers started defrosting, and she grew a backbone.

15. I like Jane The Doc, even if she is a ghost.

16. I can’t wait for John’s story.

17. I’m happy about what happened to the majority of the Glymera, they were assholes.

18. I can’t wait to read John’s story.

19. I wonder if Ward is feeling the pressure to make John’s book the best of them all?

20. I still have a very soft spot for Zhadist and Bella. I love their pairing.

21. How many of you are also looking forward to John’s story? *g*

Reader beware: spoilers up to the sixth book peppered willy-nilly throughout, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, please don’t keep on reading. Thank you.

And with that taken care of, let’s dive in.

This here is not a review, and please note that I’m not trying to bash JR Ward—nor complaining about where I want her to take the series or what I want her to write or anything remotely like that.

No, really, that’s not it.

It’s more like a rambling wondering as to why and how this series is still so successful—and there is no doubt it is successful. Not only is it selling like crazy (just count the number of reviews up in the blogosphere) but it definitely engenders strong emotions in the vast majority of its readers (check out the many threads discussing the series).

I don’t know if I can shed any light on the matter, but that won’t stop me from trying. (It never has, really.)

Personally, I am a firm believer that, you either drank the Kool-Aid and will remain addicted—either as a guilty pleasure or as a rabid fan—for a good long while; or you didn’t, and therefore are unable to understand what the big deal is.

Me, I’m still addicted, albeit reluctantly.

Bottom line, though, what is it that makes this series so addictive?

Generally speaking—as in, ninety nine times out of a hundred—faulty world building will yank me out of a story. Now, excellent characterization may compel me to overlook shoddy world building in favor of concentrating on the characters, caring for them, and wanting to know their fate. By the same token, I may enjoy a story where the world building is superb while the characterization is flat.

But frankly, neither is really the case here.

I mean, the world building becomes shakier the more complicated it gets—all sorts of questions from the previous installments pop up again and again, and the contradictions abound.

For example, if only the Primale** can impregnate the Chosen—which was established in Lover Unbound and reaffirmed in Lover Enshrined—then why had the Chosen hoped that Rhage would take Layla—whose needing time was near—in Lover Eternal, the second book? And let’s not even think about the inbreeding! *shudder* and *shudder* and *shudder*

And all those poor abused “h”s! Just imagine trying to actually read these novels out loud—huh?

It is not the characterization.

I know for a fact I’m only one in a long list of people who wonder (and not in a good way) at many of the characters in these books. The more frequent complaints stem from Ms Ward’s heroines and their doormat tendencies, but then there are also the lessers (equal parts stereotypical villain and boring placeholders) and Lash (the stereotypical popular, spoiled, insufferable, rich, only child) and the doggen (Fritz, butler extraordinaire, need I say more?) and the glymera (fancy name for a Regency era London aristocracy transplanted, awkward dress and all, to the present), and the Omega (oh teh eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebol, it’s so bad) and the Scribe Virgin…

Ah, someone may say, I know what it is—it is the writing!

Well… no.

Beyond the fact that characterization and world building are definitely part of ‘the writing’ there’s this other little thing…

The writing is not all that extraordinary either.

The brand name dropping and the weird slang that all of the characters use (all of them, from males in their early twenties to vampires hundreds of years old, male and female—one voice), often interrupt the flow of the dialogue and the narrative. People like me—and really, I’m not on the endangered species lists, I promise—often have to pause, read again, and wait until our brains find the meaning behind the similes, comparisons, etc.

Then there’s all the tell tell tell and never show thing. For example, from the first book onward we are told that Zsadist is true to his name, a bastard of Olympic proportions. Butch “senses” it pretty much upon laying eyes on him for the first time. All the Brothers say this—and they’ve known him for close to a century. Hell, Phury knows this about his twin. Yet, at no time does the reader see Zsadist behaving in any way that justifies all the mistrust and distance and what not—quite the opposite, in fact.

Drop in a bit of Deus Ex Machina every other book (two examples: Butch has Wrath’s blood and the Omega can travel back in time, and track his son once the latter dies—convenient much?) and I would normally scream in frustration and never look at the books again. (Instead of, you know, re reading each of them several times already, as I have done with the BDB)

So really, I ask again, what is it that makes this series so addictive that I read Lover Enshrined in one sitting—even as I bemoaned the contradictions, and the language, and the characterizations, and the writing?

I know, I know! It is the originality in the themes and elements and…

No, sorry, not that either.

We are swamped with vampire books these days (romances, urban fantasy, romantic comedies, you name it, we have it, by the dozen) but even back when the first BDB came out there were several ongoing series with vampires with different myths and boundaries. Christine Feehan’s Carpathians and Maggie Shayne Twilight vamps come to mind, but I’m sure many readers out there who read much more widely than I do can name several more.

Okay, what is it then?????

It has to be the Kool-Aid.

**(am I the only one who wants to read primaTe there each time?)

Is anyone tired of seeing reviews for this one all over the place? Well, tough luck, it’s my turn and I’m not forfeiting it, so there!

*ahem*

(Besides, this one is going to be much more superficial than most of my other reviews, so it’s not as if you’ll learn anything interesting here.)

Lover Enshrined is the sixth installment in Ms Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. While the first five installments are mostly paranormal romance, this novel seems to take this universe in a slightly different direction, more into the urban fantasy saga with romantic elements subgenre.

To begin, trying to get into the series by starting with this book would not be a good idea. While the first three books (Dark Lover, Lover Eternal and Lover Awakened) can be read out of order with minimal gaps, and focus on the romance between each main couple, the next three are increasingly more dependent on the overall arc to make sense. There is also much more detail in the world building to keep track of.

If you have read the first five books, follow me down the rabbit hole…

This is the back cover blurb:

In this “frighteningly addictive” paranormal romance saga, 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…

Going by the blurb, one would think that this novel focuses mainly on the romantic relationship between Phury and Cormia. That’s not really how it is, though. The novel has a much wider scope than the romance.

There are something like… six? seven? different plots running through the book. Three, no, four of these are overarching plotlines—John Matthew and his sidekicks Blaylock and Quihn; Tohrment’s fate; Rehvenge, Xhex and the whole sympath bit; the Lessening Society, the Omega, and the war. Then we have a few other secondary plots started in Lover Unbound, the previous novel: Bella’s pregnancy, Layla dealing with John Matthew’s rejection, oh, and the Scribe Virgin dealing with Payne—her daughter, Vishous’ twin.

On top of that, we discover in the prologue that time is not fixed in this universe, and near the end of the novel we also learn that apparently the BDB’s Pantheon is not closed of but has some sort of *ahem* relationship with Judeo Christian religious traditions.**

I lost track of how many points of view there are, but that didn’t bother me—personally, I thought it was well done because it helped me keep track of the many different threads.

What did bother me—beyond the usual complaints about brand name dropping, and the Brothers’ cutesy slang, and the flat characterization of the heroines, and the abuse of those poor “h”s (really, won’t anyone think of the poor “h”s???)—was the willful breaking of the rules within the BDB universe.

At this point in time, there are many rules to keep track of, and some of the previous rules suddenly don’t apply. Major pet peeve of mine—started in Lover Unbound but it was repeated in this one—is the whole “only the Primale can impregnate the Chosen” thing. Then, if I may ask, what was the whole deal in Lover Eternal with Layla, and her needing, and “we have been waiting to serve the Brotherhood and for the Brothers to give us children”?

And, if the Primale has to “lie with all the Chosen” then why are only some of them trained in ehros? How could there be sequestered Chosen, if they are all the Primale’s mates?

Oh, and Marissa can vote for her family—since she’s the eldest sibling—and override a majority voting (Lover Revealed), but a female cannot lead the glymera council?

*ahem*

Not that these things bother me or anything.

And yet, I liked Lover Enshrined. I liked it enough that I read it in one session, pretty much inhaling the thing.

I liked it despite all the many things that bothered me, and for the life of me I can’t point to any single thing and say, “I liked that, that was good.” I really don’t know why I liked it; I only know that I did.

And so, I cannot give this one a grade.

I can tell you, however, that I’m definitely not following the BDB to hardcover, so I’ll have to wait *wail* until the paperback release of the next installment, Lover Avenged (hardcover out sometime in 2009).

I can also tell you that this series is, indeed, addictive.

** For readers familiar with the BDB forums, the character in question is, apparently, rather well known. For every other reader, the entire thing is completely left field.

You can purchase Lover Enshrined from Amazon.com here, and from Amazon UK here.

The second book that I read this weekend just gone was J.R. Ward’s Lover Unbound.

Here’s the blurb from Ward’s website:

Ruthless and brilliant, Vishous son of the Bloodletter possesses a destructive curse and a frightening ability to see the future. As a pretrans growing up in his father’s war camp, he was tormented and abused. As a member of the Brotherhood, he has no interest in love or emotion, only the battle with the Lessening Society. But when a mortal injury puts him in the care of a human surgeon, Dr. Jane Whitcomb compels him to reveal his inner pain and taste true pleasure for the first time- until a destiny he didn’t choose takes him into a future that cannot include her.

I recognise that Ward short-changed Vishous somewhat by not leaving a long enough timespan between him pining for Butch, and then falling head over heels in love with Jane.

I didn’t have a problem with the HEA, such as it was. My main problem was that I didn’t think that Book 5 should have been V’s story. He should have been given time to get over Butch. I think more people would have been convinced about his and Jane’s relationship, had Ward left his story ’til much later.

I have to say, it didn’t stop me from enjoying LU though. I hated the fact that we often had to endure the POV of the Lessers in previous books, so I was happy that there was none of that in Unbound.

I liked Jane as a character, and if Ward had waited to write her and V’s story a few books from now, her presence would have been much more noticeable. I’ve always adored Vishous anyway, and this book certainly didn’t change that, although at times he did seem to be a shadow of his former self.

I like that Ward gives us a few other POVs in each of her books, and I’m especially fascinated with John’s story. I always feel like I want to give him a big hug whenever he appears in a scene. I really can’t wait for his story.

If I’m honest, were it not for the John pretrans and the Phury/Zhadist/Bella sub-plots, I may not have enjoyed LU as much.

So, all in all, not only wasn’t it a bad read, I quite enjoyed Lover Unbound, even with all its back-tracking, and the slightly dodgy HEA. Once again, I’m eagerly anticipating the next batch of mind candy book.

If you groaned when you saw the title of this blog, then the following isn’t for you. Seriously, leave. Now.

Gwyneth Bolton has a really interesting blog about the popularity of the Romance Novel Sheik. She posted a couple of excerpts from an essay written in BITCH magazine, which focused on the very subject of Middle Eastern men in romance.

The excerpts were interesting, but this comment from Gwyneth was what ultimately caught my eye:

“Given all the recent talk on various blogs about racism in romance land, I thought this article raised some really interesting questions. We have been having this discussion based on the things that most white romance readers won’t read–African American romance novels.

But what happens to the conversation when we really interrogate the ever-so popular reads: the sheiks, the Native Americans, the Latin Lovers. What happens when we really interrogate how men of color are objectified and made into the exotic other”?

She asks some interesting questions don’t you think?

A lot of the comments that were made during my Racism In Romance posts, seemed to hint that one of the reasons why white women seldom read AA romance was because they couldn’t relate to the characters, or the vernacular. (Or should I say, the assumed difference in vernacular)

Hmmm…

I never bought this at the time, and quite frankly, I still don’t, because if that were true, then J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series would have sunk big time.

Ward writes about vampires who are into hip hop, bling, and expensive threads, and call each other “My Brother”.
Sounds like the stereotypical black man to me, except of course, the Brothers aren’t black, are they? They’re white, and that I’m afraid, is the key to her success.

Had Ward made The Brothers black, how many books would she have sold? Would readers have rushed out to buy her books in their thousands? Would she have inspired the same kind of fangirly following that she has? Even with her gift of turning the written word into a thing of beauty?

I really don’t think so.

Why do I think this? Simple, I just don’t believe that Average Jane Reader finds the black man sexy, and she definitely doesn’t see him as a romantic hero. Now before y’all go and get all defensive, and twitchy, think about it. Seriously.

If you really, truly think about it, you’ll probably come to the uncomfortable conclusion that I’m more right than wrong.

So, considering the current social, and political climate that we exist in today, considering the repercussions from 9/11, considering the current unrest in the Middle East, considering the fact that the majority of men from this part of the world believe that women are ultimately inferior to males, why is it that the Middle Eastern Man, is so much more acceptable to The Romance Reader, as hero material, than The Black Man?

Anyone hazard a guess? Anyone totally disagree with my assertion? Would you have bought Ward’s Black Dagger series, if the Brothers had been black? Honestly?

Apologies for the lack of posts, but I’ve been travelling around, thus no time for blogging. I’m back home now, so all’s right with the world. Although as we speak TTG seems to be taking my bicycle apart in the backyard, and he’s cussing a blue streak.

Anyway, I decided to start Lover Revealed on the train, and I’m glad I did. I really like it so far, although, there’s far too much blood sucking going on (yuck), and Vishous is definitely showing some gay tendencies… OK, he’s showing some major homosexual tendencies, but hey, nothing wrong with a bit of man-on-man love…