Review - Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 3) by J.R. Ward (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Size:  464 pages
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: September 5, 2006
ISBN-13: 978-0451219367
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series
Source: Audio book from Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars


This is the third book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood and I listened to it on audio book.  The audio book was well done.  This was by far my favorite book in this series.  It tells the story of Zsadist and Bella.  As with many other readers of this series Zsadist is by far my favorite Brother.

Zsadist is set to rescue Bella from the Lesser that kidnapped her in the end of Book 2, Lover Eternal.  When he does Bella ends up in his room to heal.  Zsadist can't stand to touch her or be touched by her and what follows is an uneasy recovery. As Bella heals and gains the courage to leave the Brother's House things get complicated.  Zsadist and his brothers are trying to hunt down the lesser that captured Bella but aren't having much luck.  As a result Bella is forced to stay longer at the Brother's House.  Will Bella and Zsadist ever be able to get past Zsadist's dark past?  This story is intersperse with scenes featuring John Matthews as he starts his training with the Brothers, Rehvenge is introduced more fully (Bella's brother), and Phury (Zsadist's brother) also struggles with his own issues.

This was my favorite book of the series.  I love both Bella and Zsadist and loved watching them work out their substantial issues together.  You spend quite a bit of time learning about Zsadist's past and it is just as brutal and horrible as you are given to believe in previous books.  More than any of the couples featured in previous books Bella and Zsadist are on again, off again and really struggle with their relationship.

Both Bella and Zsadist grow substantially as characters throughout the book, I was impressed with the vast character development and was happy with how that was done.  Bella has got to be one of the most gracefully persistent heroines ever, and boy can she kick butt when she sets her mind to it.  I just loved her as a character.  Out of all of the books so far this one had the best and most interesting love scenes too.

The plot between the Lessers and the Brotherhood is woven throughout but definitely takes a backseat to Bella and Zsadist's story.  This book did jump around between characters more than previous books and at times that was really annoying because I just wanted to find out what Bella and Zsadist were doing!  It was nice though to have story built up around John's character, Rehvenge's character, Butch's character, and Phury's character.  The plot also had a couple of big surprises and a heart-breaker in it, so it was more engaging and entertaining than previous books.

Overall this was my absolutely favorite book in this series to date.  I have a hard time seeing how Ward will top this book in future books.  If you liked the previous two books, you will love this book.  These are definitely romance heavy books, but there were some good fight scenes in here too.  After this book I think I am going to take a little break and then pick up with the fourth book, Lover Revealed, next month.  I can only take so much romance before it all seems a bit too formulaic to me.  As far as romance goes these are excellent book though, and this was the best yet.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge

- Audio Book Challenge List