This is the second book in J R Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series (the first being "Dark Lover", the third "Lover Awakened" and, to be released in March 07, "Lover Revealed"). The story takes place a month after the events in "Dark Lover" and with the same cast of characters.

These characters are very well drawn. We have Wrath (the King who has now stepped up to his position with his new wife Beth), Rhage, Zsadist, Phury, Tohrment etc. Very silly and cheesy names which I find disappointing - it's about the only complaint I can make overall about these books!

Anyway, this book follows the story of Rhage, the Vampire Brother with a curse... he has a dragon beast inside him which is released at times of great stress. In order to keep the beast under wraps Rhage has to have sex with women regularly (so THAT'S his excuse!) and get into fights with the lessers, the vampire slayers. He's pretty fed up with life - the seduction of women evidently palls after a while - and he knows he's got 91 years of the curse left before it leaves him.

Mary is a lonely woman who works at a suicide hotline in her spare time and in a law office for her main job. Her mother died four years ago and Mary has recently had leukaemia which is now in remission... or is it?

Mary's discovery of her cancer returning coincides with her meeting a young man who regularly calls the suicide hotline - a man who can't speak but can only use sign language (which Mary understands). Her neighbour Bella (who just happens to be a vampire, unknown to Mary) recognises that this young lad is 'one of them' and contacts the Black Dagger Brotherhood about him.

And thus Mary and Rhage meet. He's instantly attracted to her which of course she doesn't believe, seeing as she's a pretty ordinary looking lass and he's colossally handsome. Their paths continue to cross and Rhage goes against all the advice of his Brothers and continues to be in contact with Mary.

What's good about this book is the continuation of other plot lines and the introduction of the story of Bella and Zsadist which is the focus of the next book. Mary and Rhage's relationship moves slowly as she is so unsure of herself, of him, of her health and of his morals (and rightly so!) Butch the human is still in this book, still mooning unsuccessfully after Marisa, and he adds a little extra to the story.

Overall I very much enjoyed this book - there is character building, interesting plots, the scenes with the Lessers don't quite work for me always but they are few and far between - in fact, the Lessers are pretty weak opponents to the Brotherhood in this series. What was well written was Mary's fears about her illness and what caring for her would do to Rhage in the long run.

Read and enjoy!

A lot of people has written some overview of the storyline so I'm not going to repeat it here.Overall, it was a great read with a very interesting and imaginative alternative reality. The Brotherhood characters totally sizzled and the main plot of plain-jane-gets-prince-charming (sex-god is probably a more apt word to apply to Rhage) is one I personally can never get enough of. There was a lot of action and violence but tempered by moments of tenderness, camaraderie and humorous one liners. All the ingredients were there to bring readers ultimate satisfaction. So, why did I find myself feeling not quite as satisfied and blown away as I should have?
It may have been the silly names (yes, a few readers have commented on the names and I totally agree). Also way the brotherhood characters sometimes talk I found a bit annoying. These males are supposed to be centuries old and yet sometimes they talk like modern hip-hop rappers (or as another reader have pointed out "frat boys"). You'd think that having spent more time living in the pre-20th century era, their speech and manners would be more old world than hip-hop.
My biggest complain however is Mary's character. I think it needed a lot of sprucing up to be more deserving of Rhage. I don't mean a physical sprucing up to make her physically beautiful but certainly something more substantial than just her voice to make Rhage fall in love with her almost at once. Don't get me wrong, I totally loved the idea of using the heroine's voice as the basis for the hero's initial attraction. However to turn that attraction into enduring love almost overnight would require a unique redeeming feature to convince readers that a magnificent warrior such as Rhage could fall in love with the plain jane heroine. So where's the defining strength of character or the engaging wit or the self-sacrificing compassion or at the very least beguiling innocence? Fair enough she's got "warrior's" eyes but all that wallowing in self pity for most part of the book belies any notion of a "warrior's" internal strength. I agree she's been through a lot with her mother's illness and also her own but strength of character is not defined by what life has dealt you but what you are doing with what life has dealt you. Wallowing in self pity and pushing away those who want to love you is a sign of defeat. She would have shown more spirit if she defied the gloom of impending death by not only embracing every opportunity of happiness that comes her way but also giving as much of herself to those who love her with the little time she has left. That'd be more akin to saying up-yours to death and shown a more admirable trait than the meek submission she exhibited. So, instead of empathising with her plight, I was more annoyed each time she shuts Rhage out and pushes him away.
Rhage on the other hand, I totally fell in love with. For beneath that overwhelming masculine beauty and sex-god exterior beats a lonely heart seeking a partner to love and cherish. All that raw power capable of brutal violence subdued by touching tenderness and achingly enduring love. Wow! I only wish he showed a little bit of struggle against the inevitable - especially when he knows he can be lethal when his emotions are in full throttle. I was a bit disappointed that such a warrior with all the makings of an alpha male could fall so easily and yet so deeply with so very little enticement. Not that I'd complain if I was the Mary Luce to his Rhage but unfortunately I'm a reader who wants a heroine that matches up to the hero.
Rhage also did not deserve the brutality he had to endure just because he fell in love with a human. There wasn't even any direct law that prohibits them from falling in love with a human. As to breaking the code of the brotherhood, what greater code of honour is there than love? Even the king (Wrath) and his second in command (Tohr) admit to this.
The last niggling thing about the book which I found a bit disturbing is the ritual of self mutilation. What's the deal with that? I mean, I can understand the Omega dishing out this kind of punishment since he's supposed to be the bad guy but the Scribe Virgin? For a creator with a lot of powers and mysticism, I expected her to be more compassionate and her "consequences" more sophisticated. Cursing Rhage with the beast, I find this poetic justice and I understand that every action always has consequences, and for each give there's a take. But deliberate blood letting for atonement of transgressions is way too brutally primitive for my liking and not at all in keeping with general conceptions goodness and light. I mean, are we supposed to like the Scribe Virgin because I don't. I like her no better than the Omega.
So, overall, it was a great read and had all the ingredients for perfect escapism material, but it didn't quite deliver the ultimate satisfaction for me (to my intense disappointment).

If you haven't already done so, please read Dark Lover before this book, since Lover Eternal is the 2nd in the series.

This author draws you right in to a fascinating tale about Mary, a human, and her unpredictable involvement with the Black Daggar Brotherhood, the super-strong protectors of the vampire race. Mary is a sweet gal with a heart of gold and a serious illness. It is her calming voice that first captivates Rhage, vampire sex-god. He is a tortured hero who has to live with a dangerous curse. This is a fast moving and somewhat touching story. It also does a good job setting up the next book, Lover Awakened.