Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 2)

Sheila M

It's Like the Hulk's Love Story

""God, he really was . . . beautiful." THE STORY: Rhage is one of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a group of warrior Vampires who protect civilian vampires and humans against the Lessening society (humans without souls who are killers). Rhage is known as Hollywood because of this incredible good looks, but Rhage is cursed with a beast inside him that comes out when he loses control. Rhage meets Mary Luce and cannot get her out of his mind even though it is against all the rules of the brotherhood and his own personal struggles make a relationship impossible. Mary is a human and very fragile physically although she is incredibly strong in other ways. She is determined to be alone because of her own past but she can't stop thinking about Rhage either. OPINION: This is a beautiful love story with being overly mushy. Rhage and Mary are both people with a type of invader inside them. Both has become solitary because of it and it impedes them living a full life. In a real sense, they end up curing one another. I love how they both struggle against being vulnerable to one another wanting to protect the other. I love how Mary makes Rhage sweet and loving and how Rhage gives Mary a purpose and belief in herself. They both have needed someone to love them unconditionally. Beyond Rhage and Mary, there is also more wonderful views of the other characters in the series. I especially love the relationships between these people. WORTH MENTIONING: This book also begins the story for the next book LOVER AWAKENED. There are also continuing threads of storylines that are not resolved here so readers should be aware. FINAL DECISION: This is an angst filled book that I loved. Rhage changes so much during the book and he and Mary have such a painful journey to their HEA. This is a book where the character development is a paramount and the plot doesn't overshadow the deep emotional connection between the characters. CONNECTED BOOKS: LOVER ETERNAL is the second book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood. It can be read as a standalone although some of the series mythology is not repeated from the first book so readers will have to make some inferences to catch up. STAR RATING: I give this book 5 stars. ["

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April 3, 2015 Verified Purchase

Donna

Amazing Read

"Just finished this book today. Read it with my best friend as our September read. It was so good. Ms. Ward truly makes you feel for all the charters. This book was about Rhage and Mary. I loved their story and really felt for them, but this book just made me want Z's book even more. The way that his past spoke to me and almost had me tears. Rhage learned so much about making sacrifices for other people. He learned so much about excepting the things that he had no control over. He took so much time to figure things out and to make sure he did things the right way. Mary had to learn to depend on other people and to let her guard down. It took her time to stop pushing people away that truly wanted to be there for her. I understand that she didn't want them to go through what she did, but at the same time she needed to learn to let people in so that she actually had something to live for. I highly recommend. I can't wait to for the second season to come out. I am excited to see how Mary is presented in the movie and to have so many feelings when watching. Thank you J.R. Ward for writing such an amazing series that I am excited to keep diving into. ["

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September 30, 2025 Verified Purchase

Ellen

Sexy and Witty and Unexpectedly Addictive!!

"I’m a new fan of the BDB series and I loved Rhage and Mary’s story! He is cursed for what seems like an eternity and is a lonely, misunderstood character. He is destined to live with a barely controlled monster and avoids intimacy lest the monster within is unleashed. “And tonight? You’re going home to Wellsie. I’m going home alone. Just like I did yesterday. Just like I’m going to do the day after. The whoring isn’t fun for me, and it’s been killing me for years, so please give it a rest, dig?” Mary is also lonely and suffering from a serious illness. She doesn’t consider herself anything special but she attracts the attention of Rhage. He’s immediately attracted to her but their relationship slowly builds and is incredibly sexy and loving. Rhage shivered, a balmy rush blooming out all over his skin. The musical lilt of her voice, the rhythm of her speech, the sound of her words, it all spread through him, calming him, comforting him. Chaining him sweetly. He closed his eyes. “Say something else.” “What?” she asked, baffled. “Talk. Talk to me. I want to hear your voice again.” This is a witty, sexy and action-packed paranormal romance that is perfect for fans of Alpha heroes and hot romance. I’m not sure why I liked this book so much but everything just clicked. And bonus, this is really two love stories in one. Zsadist and Bella begin their story here and I must say I can’t wait to read their book. There’s lot of back-and-forth here between Rhage and Mary. He’s afraid of harming her and she’s sure that Rhage could never be interested in someone like her. “There was absolutely nothing about her that courted notice. She wasn’t anything like the females he went for. And she held his attention like a marching band. “Hello, Mary,” he said softly. I can’t imagine another character in this series with depth of the warrior Rhage. I loved his unwavering loyalty to the Brotherhood and the lengths he would go to for Mary. Even if you’re not a fan of paranormal romance, this story is fantastic and inventive and thoroughly engaging. It’s unexpectedly funny and very, very sexy. Lucky for me that I have the whole series on my Kindle! All the praise to J.R. Ward for writing a very different and very memorable paranormal romance. ["

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January 3, 2018 Verified Purchase

Mrs Dee

Best book I've read in a LONG time.

"Right off the bat, I have to say that this is the best paranormal romance I've ever read, and maybe one of the best romances, hands down. I've got to give J.R. Ward credit where it's due, although I've been very critical of other authors in this genre. From an analytical standpoint, Lover Eternal is well written, well plotted and extremely well-edited (which is becoming very hard to find in this genre, particularly). It's a quality product from start to finish, although I would have liked to have seen what she'd have done with maybe 5-10 more pages at the end of the book. Whether or not you're a fan of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, whether you think their names are silly or not, you can't help but be drawn into this love story. Rhage (also known as Hollywood to his Brothers) is a vampire warrior who was given a nasty curse by the Scribe Virgin- any time he loses control over himself, he becomes the dragon tattooed on his back. Although the beast is useful in battle, Rhage controls it by having lots of empty, meaningless sex with humans which isn't too hard when you have a face that belongs on the big screen and a killer body. Mary Luce is a human woman who finds out that she's dying of leukemia in her early thirties. When circumstances put Mary in Rhage's path, he's immediately struck by her bravery, strength and beauty (which Mary of course doesn't see). As attracted as Mary is to Rhage, she tries to push him away because she doesn't want him to see her sick and in pain... but he won't take no for an answer. Then again, Mary seems to threaten Rhage's control over his beast and when he tries to resort to his old methods to keep it in check, there are some serious fireworks. Now, if any other male character had behaved this way, I wouldn't have been able to continue with the book. It's a true testament to Ward's skill with her characters that this feels justified. It also feels very genuine, as does the majority of the book which is really saying something given that it's about *vampires*. The alpha male vampire is a character that's been done to death, but Rhage is definitely three dimensional, with a very convincing vulnerability to match his physical strength. Similarly, Mary isn't a common-or-garden storybook heroine, and she compensates for her fears with a core of steel and a level-head. I didn't have any trouble understanding or sympathizing with these two, and through the course of the book I shed tears for both of them. The author's attention to detail and layers within this piece make it a very accomplished piece of work, as well as a truly beautiful story. She even manages to work in the roots for her third book throughout the second half of Lover Eternal in ways that only contribute to this story, instead of over-complicating it. This book is very different to Dark Lover in many ways, which is only right given the differences in the characters and plot. This may sound like a no-brainer, but I am absolutely sick to death of certain paranormal series where, if you've read one book, you've pretty much read them all. It's as if once the authors achieve any kind of success, they become a little lazy. Well.. this book puts them to shame. This book is an absolute keeper as far as I'm concerned, and from now on, J.R. Ward is going to be the only author I have on auto-buy. ["

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March 7, 2006 Verified Purchase