Lover Mine by J. R. Ward

Title: Lover Mine
Author: J.R. Ward
Publisher: Piatkus
ISBN: 978-0-7499-4178-9
Pages: 653
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #8
Type: Adult Paranormal Romance
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

John Matthew has now passed through his vampire transition and fights along the other Brothers against the evil Lessening Society. John's heart belongs to Xhex, a half-symphath assassin, who has been kidnapped by Lash. The problem is Lash is no ordinary Lesser, he is half vampire and the son of the Omega and has some nasty tricks up his sleeve. John is desperate to find Xhex, but the question is not whether he'll find her but whether she'll survive her imprisionment and whether she'll let herself be found.

This is the eighth Black Dagger Brotherhood novel (after Dark Lover, Lover Eternal, Lover Awakened, Lover Revealed, Lover Unbound, Lover Enshrined and Lover Avenged) and focuses on John Matthew whose story has been told in the background since book two.

This picks up four weeks after Xhex's abduction at the end of the previous book, and John is losing hope of ever finding her. The plot is cleverly written and well paced. The author has managed to find a balance between action and emotion that keeps you turning the pages desperate to see what happens next. John and Xhex's relationship has been slowly developing over the last few books so I was eager to what happened next and how they dealt with their traumatic pasts.

As usual the book has additional storylines running alongside the main John/Xhex perspectives. This time there are flashbacks to when Darius and Tohrment first met, along with a view on Lash and the Lessening Society and a TV show. These sections following the TV crew for Paranormal Investigators in South Carolina detracted from my enjoyment of the book quite a bit. While I understand their relevance to the longer series arc, I found the transition between these segments and John's story to be jarring.

One thing I loved about the book is that John and Xhex were able to develop as individuals, and other characters managed to get some page time. Tohrment and John's relationship regains it's balance, and Qhuinn and Blay's relationship goes through some unexpected changes. The ending was very cleverly done, giving closure to some characters and coming up with some unexpected twists. It also creates a good lead into Payne and Manny's book which is up next.

All in all this was a great read and I can't wait for Lover Unleashed.

Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Cover: 9/10

Overall: 48/50