Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 6)

first off i loved all the bdb books except for number 4 that said this book is different but good. it took me 3 months to buy because of all the bad reviews. so lets clairify what had everyone dissapointed. 1. too much going on/ i personally like reading about everyone and whats going on and i cant wait for all their storys now. 2.not a romance/ sorry ladies but sex does not a romance make .this story is about two people with a boat load of emotional problems they have to find themselfs before they can find eachother. their story is not all wine and roses but thats life. alot of hard work and devotion und understanding. that is a love story. 3. bdbs treatment of phurys problems/ its called tough love. keep all these points in mind and enjoy.

This series just keeps getting better and better with every book. I love where the story lines are going and cannot wait to see what happens next.

Ok, my review is pretty much going to look like everyone elses. I'm pretty new to the PNR world. I love to read and just came across this series in August. I thought, "why not" and bought the first 4 books in the series.

Long story short I loved, loved, loved the first 3 books. I fell in love with the BDB. The dialogue was amusing, the brothers seemed to ooze sexuality, and I'm not going to lie, the love scenes were what sold me. Zsadist, of course was my favorite and I enjoyed his story the most. The fourth book was Vishous's story. This is when things seemed to go down hill. I liked it. Didn't enjoy it like the others. Yet, after reading all four in 5 days I raced out and bought Phury's story, Lover Enshrined.

Phury's was the story I had been looking forward to the most. And like alot of people that have reviewed I was beyond disappionted. It honestly felt like he and Cormia were the subplot of the story. There seemed no romance at all between the two of them. Phury still carried an obsessive torch for his sister in law Bella, and I would have liked to see him work passed that and slowly fall in love with someone. I wasn't given what I wanted though. Out of nowhere he decides he loves her. No real reason why I could see why he would feel that way. Their story was in the background most of the book while he was boo hooing about how awful his life had been and his battle with his red smoke.
(***Which on a side note Ward has said it was just a muscle relaxing type of herb not an illegal drug like weed. So why would jump from something that "harmless" as she makes it out to be on the forums to something as hard as heroin is beyond me***)
Which in my opinion, after what his brother went through, he didnt have it as bad. Then in the last quarter of the book I guess Ward decided she better wrap things up and just throw them together.

Seemed like she spent more time on the relationship between Quinn, Blay and John than anyone else. The real excitement of the book was the revealing of the Omega's son and new Fore-lesser Lash.

From what I hear there are going to be at least 10 books in this series if not more. The next one will be the story of Rehvenge.

Bottom Line: Decent if you like Urban Fantasy, if you're looking for the romance of her past BDB books you will be disappointed if not down right angry.

I just finished reading this book over the weekend. I kept reading hoping that we would get to Phury and Cormia's story, but was truly disappointed. I recently heard of this series and read all the books (in order) within the last two weeks. As other posters state, I liked the first 4 immensely, and the 5th V's story was a little different at the end, but I still liked it. Lover Enshrined left me feeling like I was duped! I was so mad. Where was the romance? I thought that was the base of the series? What changed? JRW writes such interesting plots and characters around the romance, but the main focus in the past was the interaction between the two main characters. This book seemed to just be a set up for future books to come. Darn. I gave it two stars because the rest of the series is so great, but not sure if I will tune in for Revh's story. Ms. Ward, why did you change your writing style mid-series?

I, like everyone else, went into this book expecting Phury's love story. What I got was a bunch of set-up for everyone else's stories and very little of Phury's. (Maybe a third of the total book is about them, and that's being generous.) Not that the rest wasn't interesting, it was written in Wards typical riveting style that's made her so wildly popular. But I felt completely let down! I don't mind an author changing genres, but does it have to be mid-series? I'm beginning to wonder if her plan all along was to suck us in under the guise of paranormal romance, build up a following, and then switch to what she really wanted to do and that's obviously urban fantasy. (After all, how many urban fantasy books do you really see on the bestseller lists?) Interestingly enough, her last book that actually said paranormal romance was lover revealed. (Butch's story) Her last two just said novel on the spine. Of course I noticed this after the fact.

But setting all that aside, there were a couple other annoyance factors in this book and with this author. First, the whole gay/bi-sexual storyline between Blay and Quinn. Enough with that already! It annoyed me when she went that route with Vishous and Butch too! For one thing, I'm willing to bet that 99% of her fanbase are hetero women. News flash Ms. Ward! Boy on Boy love does not do anything for us! I don't find it offensive, merely irritating and preachy. If Ward wants to be an advocate for gay rights than by all means do so! But leave your social and political points of view out of your books. I just want to be entertained not preached at! The other annoyance is the truck-load of hip-hop slang that had to be waded through. I know that this has been her style in this series, but there was enough in this book to choke a horse and it felt like she was really reaching to include it!

Yet even with all that being said It was still a fascinating and compelling read, thus the three stars. I am, however, irritated at Wards self- indulgence with this whole Black Dagger Brotherhood insiders Guide. Just put the next novel out already! I want to decide weather or not I'll continue to read this series. I'm giving it one more chance, and if the next one continues in the same vane I'm done with J.R. Ward! (Sounds like I'm not the only one!)