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Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #9)

J.R. Ward

Start date: September 1, 2013

Finish date: September 30, 2013

Discussion: Challenges: What's the Rush

Why we're reading this: Part of our group series (re)read: Black Dagger Brotherhood …more
[close] Part of our group series (re)read: Black Dagger Brotherhood

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Challenges: What's the Rush

* 2025 Series Read: K.N. Banet's "Jacky Leon"
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last updated Sep 26, 2025 08:29PM

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* YEAR-LONG CHALLENGES
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last updated Aug 17, 2010 11:14PM

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What Members Thought

Dec 08, 2012 Tammy rated it liked it

My first instinct here was to put my rating and skip the review .I have always loved this series and this author, so I hesitated to give this book the review I thought it deserved. But that’s not fair is it? People will wonder why I gave it the rating I did, so here is the reason why.
My first issue with this book is the main lead female character. Payne. I found Payne to be a whiny , self centered bore. As much as I wanted to like Vicious sister, I just didn’t .I didn’t hate her by the end of t My first instinct here was to put my rating and skip the review .I have always loved this series and this author, so I hesitated to give this book the review I thought it deserved. But that’s not fair is it? People will wonder why I gave it the rating I did, so here is the reason why.
My first issue with this book is the main lead female character. Payne. I found Payne to be a whiny , self centered bore. As much as I wanted to like Vicious sister, I just didn’t .I didn’t hate her by the end of the book but she never really clicked for me. I liked Manny from before, but this romance was way too clichéd, he lays eyes on her and OMG she’s the woman for me, but oh wait I want to drag this out for 90 percent of the book so there better be some drama that will keep us apart. Hey I know, lets do the old tried and true ( and tired) “ We live in separate worlds your human blah blah blah routine” because you know ,none of the other characters in this series have EVER hooked up with humans……….
My second issue with this book was the fact that the author completely dismantled a previous love story . I understand where she was attempting to go and what she was attempting to do , but again this just didn’t work for me. As entertainment ( which is WHY I read) goes this was a dud. I don’t want to see a couple I loved and rooted for have drama that breaks them apart. These issues would have been better dealt with in their story , not this one. Which brings me to ……
My third issue with this book is that it was Extremely depressing. There were several running storylines. Each more depressing than the other. There was none of the fun witty banter and scenes so associated with a J.R. Ward novel until I hit the 90 percent mark on my kindle. This book wasn’t dark per say it was just depressing. Where were all the other characters? Where were the lessers!?!?!?! Where were bad guys?? What the heck was with all the whining and brooding ? Which then brings me to my last issue…….
My fourth issue with this book was the “filler” . You know the scenes where a character is all alone and “thinking” about stuff. This book was absolutely FILLED with this boring nonsense! One character after another just sitting around thinking depressing thoughts, more than one suicidal .When I pay over 8 bucks for a book I want more than a bunch of scenes where different characters think about how nice it would be to die. Life is depressing enough, without having it pounded into my brain in the form I choose for entertainment! This book was a huge disappointment. I got to feeling more than once that she has run out of stories to tell in this world but is afraid to let it go. I think maybe its time to move on.
I want to stress that I have loved this series from book one until the last installment before this one. I also love the writing style and wonderful way the author has with words. She is truly a gifted writer. In all fairness to her and this book if you are looking for a book full of sex , all kinds of sex mind you ( you name it , and it was pretty much on the buffet) then this is the book for you. She also is brilliant at writing sex scenes. They are always sexy and hot! The sex in this story was better than most of the so called erotica I have read. However if you are looking at this story as part of the Brotherhood series , you may well be disappointed.
This was possibly the hardest review I have ever done. I just felt I owed it to myself to be honest about how I felt about this book.
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Oct 26, 2011 Ruby Jo rated it liked it

Finally, the waiting is over and I got my hands on this book. I can honestly say I devoured it.

Lover Unleashed is a bit different from the other books in the series. There are a lot of new characters, one of which I understand is from Ward’s Fallen Angels series – didn’t read it, but soon, very soon – characters that I can’t wait to learn more about. Unlike the previous books, we don’t get scenes from inside the Lessening Society and that makes me very curious about the whys behind this absence. Finally, the waiting is over and I got my hands on this book. I can honestly say I devoured it.

Lover Unleashed is a bit different from the other books in the series. There are a lot of new characters, one of which I understand is from Ward’s Fallen Angels series – didn’t read it, but soon, very soon – characters that I can’t wait to learn more about. Unlike the previous books, we don’t get scenes from inside the Lessening Society and that makes me very curious about the whys behind this absence. Maybe we’ll find out in the next book.

I loved Payne. She’s so much like her brother, Vishous, and yet different in some ways. I think there are a few details that we have yet to find out, since we don’t know much about the time Payne spent in the human realm before she was imprisoned. I hope we’ll find out more in the future. But like I said, loved the character. She’s such a strong female, stubborn and proud. It’s actually a bit funny to see her and Vishous having an argument and see how he realizes that there is another creature on earth that’s just as stubborn as he is. I also think Payne has no idea yet what her powers are, but I’ll bet they’re totally different that her twin’s.

Manuel Manello is the hero in this book. If you’ve read the series, you might remember him from Lover Unbound. He was Jane’s boss. I’m happy we got to see him again. I liked his character then and I liked it even better now. He’s a great surgeon and he always tries to make things right, even the surgery might seem impossible to some. He’s also full of surprises. I’m very curious about how his character will develop in the series in the future.

Vishous broke my heart in this book. If I thought in his book I’ve learned everything about him, I was surprised. He and Butch went through a very difficult situation and you can see their friendship is the real deal. Some of V’s scenes were really heartbreaking, but I think he’s going to be a lot better from now on.

Another thing that I missed were the scenes from the past. I was really hoping to read something from Payne’s or Manuel’s past, but unfortunately, we get only one scene of that. Maybe in the next books we’ll learn more about their pasts.

If you don’t know who’s getting his/hers story told next, I’m not going to tell you. All I can say is I can’t wait for this next book and I know it will be a looooong waiting period, no matter when the book will come out. But I’m happy we’re finally getting this book and maybe we’ll get some answers to the questions brought out by Lover Unleashed. ...more

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Jan 08, 2011 KarenF rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal, romance, kindle

I loved Manny and Payne. I'm giving this 4*s mainly just for them. My biggest criticism is that I wish there had been more of them. It felt like they were sidelined in their own book. It would go chapters in between hearing from them. The rest of the book, meh, I'm not sure when they turned into the Emo Dagger Brotherhood but I've never seen so many guys crying, wringing their hands over their "one true love" and in general over-sharing their feelings. I miss the old wise-ass BDB, if I wanted an ...more

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May 22, 2011 Diana rated it liked it

Shelves: dnf

3 stars for the qhuinn/blay parts

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Aug 14, 2010 Monique marked it as to-read

Aug 24, 2010 Laurel marked it as to-read

Sep 02, 2010 Gus marked it as to-read-on-kindle

Oct 10, 2010 Michelle rated it really liked it

Oct 16, 2010 Melissa Guthrie rated it it was amazing

Nov 19, 2010 Nici added it

Shelves: series-i-have-started

Dec 04, 2010 ♥The Kat's Meow♥ rated it liked it

Dec 07, 2010 Chelsea marked it as to-read

Dec 08, 2010 Ashley ~twisted_illusions~ marked it as to-read

Shelves: paranormal, fantasy, adult, romance, romantic-couple-cover, vampires-to-read, 9th-in-series, left-to-read-in-a-series, urban-fantasy, cover-love