Lover Unbound - J.R. Ward

Lover Unbound
J.R. Ward
Signet Eclipse
Copyright: 2007
9780451222350

From the cover of the book:

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly war raging between vampires and their slayers. And there exists a secret band of brothers like no other—six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Now, the cold heart of a cunning predator will be warmed against its will…

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.

Not my favorite of the series, but Lover Unbound was a really good read nonetheless. I did find the bad language to be a bit much, which is one of the reasons it moved away from my favorite slot.

Vishous, well he fits his name, and it was interesting to find out more about his background and also about Vampire society and culture. This is one series where the plots are twistier than they look at first glance.

Darius keeps coming up in background references, making me wonder if there's something more to this character who hasn't been seen for several books. It seems as though the author is building up to something with him.

John Matthew, the pre-trans found by Bella and Mary back in Lover Awakened is growing into more and more of an interesting character. He has a role that seems to be growing through each book.

Things are building up for Phury's book, Lover Enshrined as well, but Vishous is really caught between a rock and a hard place. Of course, because the novel is found in the Romance section of the bookstore, we all know there will be a happy ending. The question is how are they going to get to that point?

One thing about the series, and this may simply be because I'm reading the sixth book now without a break (other than for textbooks), but I'm starting to wonder if it is possible to have a main character who had a normal, happy life. So far, all of them have had really nasty lives in their pasts.

Still, I really recommend the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations for more books that are similar.

The other books in the series are:
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Revealed
Lover Unbound
Lover Enshrined
Lover Avenged