Lover Awakened

Lover Awakened, by J.R. Ward
Published by Signet
Grade: C +

Even within the vampire brotherhood, Zsadist is feared. Still bearing the scars
from a tortured past, he is renowned for his unquenchable fury. Anger is his
only companion, and terror is his only passion-until he rescues a beautiful
female from the evil Lessening Society.

*this review contains spoilers*
I don't even know where to start. My emotions are all over the place with this one.

In the last book, Bella was kidnapped by a lesser. In Lover Awakened, she is rescued by the Brotherhood, and they take care of her while the lesser is still on the loose. There is conflict because Phury has a thing for Bella, but she makes it clear that Z is the only one she wants.

A lot of readers love a tortured Hero, and normally I don't mind them. It wasn't working for me this time. Z had a major case of post traumatic stress syndrome, and because of it he was cruel & mean. I don't feel that he really redeemed himself for the way Bella was treated. He had a nice speech for her in the end, but to me it just wasn't enough.

I guess I should start with the good. I liked Bella. I liked her in the last book, and I continued to like her in this one. She went after what she wanted and did everything she could to help the man she loved. As much as she wanted to heal him, she realized that she could not fix him. When he pretty much cheated on her right in front of her, she backed off. Good girl. You don't have to take that crap from no one!

I like how Z asked for help and learned how to read and write.

I liked seeing Z and Phury become close.

Bella goes through her needing period, and I thought it was funny how all the men reacted. Wrath (he is so yummy) and Rhrage grab their mates and head off to bed, while the other Brothers, along with Butch, are stuck having to deal with it themselves.

Really weird how they all stuck together through it though. They are as horny and hard as hell, yet they hang out in the same bed getting drunk, high and taking turns in the bathroom jerking off. They are also naked.

Yeah, Ok.

For those who have not read this book, the needing period is when a female Vampire is fertile. Any man in the vicinity feels her urges and he gets REALLY horny along with her. Doesn't matter of they are mated, human or Vampire. If a female is in needing, then the male wants to get laid.

As much as the way the Brothers talked annoyed me in the first 2 books, it didn't bother me as much this time. I hate to think that I actually got used to it.

Why, why, why did Wellsie have to die? No reason for it! I went to the JR Ward message board to see if anyone else was as angry as I am about it, and guess what? No one is. Please dear readers, if you are angry, then let me know. She was pregnant for crying out loud!! Why did Ward have to kill a baby??

I mentioned the post traumatic stress earlier, and I gotta say that I didn't buy it. If Z was a human, then sure. In no world do I believe that a Vampire, especially a warrior like him, would suffer it that bad.

I am also left with many unanswered questions. No way to find out the rest till you read the 4'th book. A marketing ploy that I despise. It's a good thing that I started this series from the beginning. If I had started with this one, there is no way I would continue on to Butch's book. Not that this book was bad..it wasn't bad, it was pretty good. I just didn't feel good while reading. It was like watching a car accident.

My reviews of
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal