Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #2
Published by Signet on March 7th 2006
Genres: Paranormal
Pages: 468
Goodreads
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.