Review: Lover Unbound

Title: Lover Unbound
Author: J.R. Ward
Publisher: Signet
Original Date of Publication: 2007 (released yesterday)
Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal Romance
Part of a Series? Yes, it is A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood

It is an unfortunate fact that I can't ever seem to put J.R. Ward's novels down until they are entirely finished, so I missed all four of my classes today polishing this one off. Next time, I'm going to have to try to save it for the weekend.

Lover Unbound isn't as good as the other novels in the series. It resolves the homoerotic elements in the last novel that I loved so much in a way I find kind of offensive (V just hadn't met the right woman), and the language style has become more valley girl than badass gangsta (e.g., "so" is used constantly, as in "I am so all over that"). It also just seemed...generic in relation to the others. They're beginning to all be very similar, and even with the few new characters that were introduced in this novel, the circle seems uniform and a little ho-hum. I hope in the next novel she spices it up by adding something different to the plot.

However, despite these disappointing features, I loved Lover Unbound. I like how she's complicated the sexual history of the Brothers, so that they have issues to work through -- somehow it makes them seem sexier than if they were totally confident studs. I also really loved the ending of this novel -- it was a twist that I wasn't expecting but that fit perfectly. And as with the other novels in the series, I finished this one anticipating the next few -- I'm especially eager for John's novel, now.