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.