Book #16 of 2010

Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood Novel #6) by J.R. Ward
Published 2008/534 pages

Fiercely loyal to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Phury has sacrificed himself for the good of the race, becoming the male responsible for keeping the Brotherhood’s bloodlines alive.  As Primale of the Chosen, he is obligated to father the sons and daughters who will ensure that traditions of the race survive, and that there are warriors to fight those who want all vampires extinguished.
As his first mate, the Chosen Cormia wants to win not only his body but his heart for herself.  She is drawn to the noble responsibility behind the emotionally scarred male.  But Phury has never allowed himself to know pleasure or joy.  As the war with Lessening Society grows grim, tragedy looms over the Brotherhood’s mansion, and Phury must decide between duty and love….

I don't even know where to start with this one-- I guess I should start by saying that all of you paranormal romance fans should definitely read these books and start from the first one, Dark Lover. I'd given it to my sister who finished it a few days ago, and her comment was "I think I'm gonna fall in love with all of [the brothers] as I read the books." I have to second her on that one because that's just how it works.

Lover Enshrined, unlike the first five books of BDB, especially Lover Eternal and Lover Awakened, wasn't that big of a romance novel. This sounds negative, but it's not, really, because there was so much more going on.

Phury, unlike the other warrior brothers, puts himself before others first. Having saved his twin Zsadist from slavery after searching for him for an eternity and losing his lower leg in the process, he has his own demons and turns to drugs to ease the pain. As he turns to drugs more and more often, he also steps up to the role of the Primale so his brother Vishous can be with his shellan, which means he's expected to mate with the Chosen-- except he falls for Cormia, the first mate, and doesn't go through with the whole Primale thing. It was rather amazing to see what was going on inside his head, and I very much enjoyed reading him connecting with Zsadist finally.

Apart from Phury, finding out more about the Chosen and the "other side" was rather exciting for me as well. The more I found out about it, the more hated it though because it reminded me of my strict, annoying high school. I was glad in the end when Phury talked to the Scribe Virgin and brought them out of there. I especially enjoyed the last chapter where we get a glimpse of the Chosen's daily activities living all together at Rehvenge's property.

Rehvenge... The next book (and I'm STILL waiting for it to show up at my door) is his. I'm not sure how I feel about him. He's always seemed cool, and I like his sense of humor and everything, but I don't know how exactly I feel about sympaths. I guess I just don't get their whole deal yet. Hopefully Rehv's book will clear that up a little bit.

Like I've said, there's so much going on in this book. My favorite parts were definitely the ones about warrior-to-bes John Matthew, Qhuinn and Blaylock. And I'm very very excited about John Matthew's book, Lover Mine, showing up at my door with Rehvenge's.

I genuinely do think J.R. Ward just keeps getting better and better. Yes, the romances are to die for. But that's not the one main focus of the books, which I think is one of the reasons why they're so addictive. I'm so looking forward to more exciting plots now that Thorment is back and Lash (hate him!) is playing for the enemy's team.