Thursday, October 11, 2007

Week 41 ~ Lover Unbound

Week 41 ~ Oct 8-14, 2007

Lover Unbound
J.R. Ward
(paranormal romance)

Lover Unbound is the 5th of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and focuses on Vishous. However, the story is not completely centered on him, spending time to update the reader with the other brothers too. There has been some complaint that not enough time was given to V, but I actually liked the split. Because of the way JR Ward is writing the series, attention must still be paid to the entire brotherhood, even if each story is specific to one pair. Each individual story ties in to the main plot well enough that I don’t have an issue with this division of time.

My biggest problem with the book was with the ending. (Let’s see if I can do this without spoilers…) I had heard rumors that V’s story ended with an unconventional HEA (‘happily ever after’ in romance-speak) and I was glad, because I think that he’s the best of the brothers to deal with that. However, once I reached the ending, it seemed pretty darn conventional to me. I can see where the claim would come that it’s unconventional, but I disagree. (If you want to talk specifics, we can do it via e-mail or something else to avoid spoilers.)

And my favorite part? Probably watching Jane adapt to her new surroundings. Jane, being human, had a lot to get used to. And yet, she did so in a very believable way. She was a strong heroine without being anti-feminine, and she was smart while not being a machine. I really like Jane. My take on Vishous, though, hasn’t changed. I still like him well enough, but he’s not my favorite of the brothers. His book, too, I like without it being a favorite.