"Lover Reborn," by J.R. Ward

Synopsis: Ever since the death of his shellan, Tohrment has been unrecognizable from the vampire leader he once was. Physically emaciated and heartbroken beyond despair, he has been brought back to the Brotherhood by a self-serving fallen angel. Now, fighting once again with ruthless vengeance, he is unprepared to face a new kind of tragedy.

When Tohr begins to see his beloved in his dreams—trapped in a cold, isolated netherworld far from the peace and tranquility of the Fade—he turns to the angel in hopes of saving the one he has lost. But, because Lassiter tells him he must learn to love another to free his former mate, Tohr knows they are all doomed...

Except then a female with a shadowed history begins to get through to him. Against the backdrop of the raging war with the lessers, and with a new clan of vampires vying for the Blind King’s throne, Tohr struggles between the buried past and a very hot, passion-filled future…but can his heart let go and set all of them free?

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I love J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. She writes with great eloquence and really seems to connect with each of her characters, no matter how great or how small a part each takes. Each book portrays a new brother and his life. I love how she carries her characters throughout the entire series, only to write about each individual brother in his (or her) own book.

Lover Reborn, written by J.R. Ward, is book ten in her Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I have love Tohrment throughout the entire series, even worried about him when he came back to the Brotherhood. He seemed to be the strongest, most well balanced brother in the beginning. However, when his enemies murdered his shellan, he completely fell apart. In my mind, Tohr was suicidal, but not in the way you might think. He couldn’t take his own life by means of eating his own bullet, or slashing his wrists. That would mean that he couldn’t cross over into the Fade. No, he was suicidal by means of starvation, or at the hand of his enemies.

Tohr dreamt often about his passed shellan, Wellsie. Each dream seemed to be less and less of her. Through the subtle coercion of his fallen angel, Lassiter, Tohr learned that Wellsie was not in the Fade. She and their baby boy were stuck in the In Between, a Purgatory of their own. Tohr needed to figure out how he could help them move on into the Fade.

Tohr reaches out to No’One as a confidant. Their friendship grew throughout the book. They both had issues that needed work. As their friendship grew, their love blossomed. As they begin to fall in love, Tohr tells No’One that he hates her name and ends up giving her the name "Autumn".

The part that really bothered me, and I suppose this is why I give this book four stars and not five, really has to do with the ending. I felt the ending was weak and unrealistic. With all that occurred, we read that they go to eat hamburgers as if nothing happened. For some reason, I felt gypped.

I struggled with another storyline in this book. John Matthew and Xhex were experiencing marital problems. John Matthew found it more difficult to watch his shellan fighting with their enemy, which made it difficult for Xhex to accept. Xhex was a fighter, not a lady in waiting. So, I began to worry that these two might become divorced or at least separated long term. However, like many other times, we see John Matthew come around to accepting that he chose a mate that was a fighter just as he was and therefore he needed to find a compromise that both could accept.

I found myself drawn to Blay and Quinn in this book as well. It seems as if their love for each other was brought out a little bit more and, hopefully, we’ll get to hear about their relationship in the next book in this sequence.

I still feel loose ends with the Band of Bastards. I’m left wondering if perhaps Throe may be Autumn’s brother. Will there be a relationship between Xcor and Layla?

I have heard many rumors but until Ms Ward writes the next book, we will never know.

If you have not read any of these books, I recommend you do. If you’re just not sure about this book 10, it is well worth the read. You will struggle to put your book down. You will cry, laugh, swoon, and root for your favorites.

You can order your copy of Lover Reborn from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.