Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward

Title: Lover Avenged
Author: J.R. Ward
Info: Website | Facebook
Release Date: April 28th, 2009
Publisher: Signet
Pages: 642
Format: Paperback
Acquired: Bought
Interest: Series
Others in the Series: Dark Lover, Lover Eternal, Lover Awakened, Lover Revealed, Lover Unbound, & Lover Enshrined
Age Group: Adult

Caldwell, New York, has long been the battleground for the vampires and their enemies, the Lessening Society. It's also where Rehvenge has staked out his turf as a drug lord and owner of a notorious night club that caters to the rich and heavily armed. His shadowy reputation is exactly why he's approached to kill Wrath, the Blind King and leader of the Brotherhood.

Rehvenge has always kept his distance from the Brotherhood-even though his sister is married to a member, for he harbors a deadly secret that could make him a huge liability in their war against the lessers. As plots within and outside of the Brotherhood threaten to reveal the truth about Rehvenge, he turns to the only source of light in his darkening world, Ehlena, a vampire untouched by the corruption that has its hold on him-and the only thing standing between him and eternal destruction.

Talk about the series moving along. Book 7 and things are starting to move, which I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing that it took this long, but hot damn were things happening.

Again, Ward continues with the multiple story lines, and I kept expecting them to somehow cross, but I have to say she's really good at just keeping them parallel with each other. And this time, the main focus had been Rehv. I was a little afraid of this actually, because up until now I have always been a little afraid of Rehvenge. He was just so intimidating and Ward made it easy to fear him a little. A drug lord, pimp, and apparently a whore as well. Um, that's a long story as in the novel type long. And it was actually the last part that really got my attention and made me see him in a different light.

I think Ehlena was a very good match for him. Though I had wished that, like most of her books, she had introduced Ehlena a little earlier in the series. By this time most readers are very familiar with the Brothers and the extra characters that are mentioned here and there throughout the works, so I was a little surprised by the sudden introduction, but that didn't stop me from loving this book any less.

Honestly, even though the story is getting complicated and the characters are becoming darker and there were moments that made me shudder a little, I have to say that Ward is absolutely amazing. She is detailed, she let's readers get to know the characters, and she keeps bringing them back in order to drill into the minds of the readers, I'm thinking, about this world. She does not just put to bed the characters, which I like since I absolutely hate when authors introduce character and a few books later drop them off like they never happened.

Well, I have to say there were some silver linings. The Brotherhood is slowly getting back on their feet, but just as their are silver linings so are there absolute tortures. Things are not looking good for Wrath, John is slowly becoming a different man, and Lash is out for blood.

Things are happening everywhere and I think it'll take a few books for everything to slowly tie together.

Honestly, I don't know what to say that I haven't said about this series. There are major character developments and I love that.

Ward continues to give a dark, haunting, sexy, beautifully written, extraordinary characters that will live on in the world of fiction for a long time.