Finished Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward. It’s the second book in her popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

This one is about Rhage, a vampire cursed to carry a dragon-like beast inside his body for 200 hundred years. The dragon-beast comes out whenever Rhage’s emotions get out of control, so he uses anonymous sex and violence against lessers (the bad guys) as outlets to keep himself under control. But all that changes when Rhage meets Mary, a human woman who’s dying from leukemia. One look at her, and he’s in lurv, as my significant other says.

I enjoyed Dark Lover, the first book in the series, and I was looking forward to another great read. But Lover Eternal really disappointed me. The main reason? I just didn’t like Rhage. I thought he was arrogant and cocky and bordered on being a psycho stalker, the relentless way he kept pursuing Mary.

For example, Rhage calls Bella and basically tells her to set her friend Mary up with him. That he’s coming to get Mary one way or another, and Bella can either make it a nice date … or not. Yuck. Plus, there was an implied fact that this behavior was okay, that the BDB vampires can do whatever the hell they want to women as long as they kill lessers. This moral code did not sit well with me. I wanted to take that whip thing the brothers use on Rhage and give him some lashes with it myself.

I liked Mary okay, but I thought she deserved someone a lot better than Rhage. Someone who didn’t try to control and bulldoze her into falling for him at every turn.

Plus, I found myself much more interested in the other characters than I did in the romance between Rhage and Mary. For example, I loved the scenes between Bella and Zsadist, and John’s story was pretty interesting too. As for the bad guys, I didn’t get the sense they were up to anything in this book – they didn’t really seem to have a nefarious plan to kill all the vampires. The bad guys and their actions seemed like more of a stop-gap to set up Book 3 (Bella and Zsadist).

I’m going split decision on this one. Thumbs down to the Rhage-Mary romance; thumbs up for the world building, advancement of the series, and other characters (especially Bella and Zsadist).

Up next: Not sure yet. Something from my ever-growing to-be-read pile.

Now, I’m bracing myself for the onslaught of comments from people who absolutely loved this book …

Finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

There is so much stuff in this book that I will (very simply) summarize it by saying the book focues on Shadow, an ex-con who gets caught up in a war between the “old” gods (Odin, Easter, etc.) and the “new” American gods (Media, Technology, Credit Cards, etc.). It appears the new gods want to knock off the old folks, but nothing is really as it seems.

Shadow takes a job working for Odin, and the two of them basically go from city to city, old god to old god, recruiting them for the upcoming war. There’s a lot of talk about blood and power and what sacrifices mean, interspersed with some stories about how immigrants brought the old gods to America simply by believing in them — and how those gods are all but forgotten.

My significant other and I had a long discussion about this book. He absolutely loved it. I was a bit more ambivalent. My SO said Gaiman thinks differently from any other writer he’s read. I agree with him there. Gaiman sees the world in a unique way, which really flavors his writing.

My main quibble is that there was too much of some things and not enough of others. Gaiman had some really wonderful descriptions (like comparing veins in a woman’s breast to those in blue cheese). But there are just so many dream sequences that meander here and there, they lose their impact after a while. Pages and pages go by, and nothing much seems to happen (except the dream sequences). I wanted him to pick up the pace.

I also wanted to see more of the “new” gods. The book is called American Gods, but we really only get the perspective of the old folks.

Gaiman also spends a lot of the book on characters that don’t seem to have anything to do with the main plot (the war between the gods). This really annoyed me until I got to the last 50 pages — and then he tied it all together with a big red bow in a clever twist I didn’t see coming at the end.

I liked Gaiman’s short story collection, Fragile Things better, but American Gods is one of those books that will make you stretch your mind. And it’s always good to do that. 😀

So, thumbs up.

Up next: Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward.

What about you? What are you reading now? Inquiring minds want to know …

Finished Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh. I am on a reading tear! 😈 Also, this post has some spoilers, so beware.

Yes, this another book I got at RWA. I met Nalini at the Berkley signing. She was lovely, and since she’s from New Zealand (I think I’m telling you right), she has a gorgeous accent too.

Visions is the second book in Nalini’s Psy-Changeling series. It focuses on Faith, a Psy, or woman with psychic powers (foretelling the future), and Vaughn, a changeling, or shapeshifting jaguar. Faith uses her powers to predict business trends, but lately, she’s had visions of a serial killer — and sees the murder of her own sister. So, she seeks out Sasha, another Psy who’s gone rogue and lives with a group of changelings, which includes Vaughn. But the killer senses Faith and begins to pull her deeper and deeper into his visions …

And the fur really starts to fly. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist). 😀

I’m not even scratching the surface with my synopsis. There’s a lot of stuff in this book — about emotions, about family, about being human. It’s an interesting read on a lot of levels, even if you’re not really into romance books.

Visions is basically a fantasy-science fiction hybrid. I’m usually not a big fan of science fiction, but Nalini’s concept is really cool – all the Psy folks have cut off their emotions to curb violence and are telepathically linked by a Net — and really well executed. (Although I did get a little tired of the Net and light descriptions toward the end).

There was a lot going on in Visions I didn’t understand right away (like all the Psy distinctions), mainly because I haven’t read the first book in the series. A problem I intend to rectify, especially since the third book, Caressed by Ice, comes out next week. A glossary in the front still would have been handy, though.

My only real quibble was the ending. There’s all this buildup to finding and catching the serial killer. And then, he’s just taken out. Poof! A former assassin (Judd, the hero of Book 3) does some sort of mind mojo on him, and the killer is dead. I wanted a face-to-face confrontation with Faith and the killer or more danger or … something. We never even learn the killer’s name, and Nalini hints that he was possessed, but we never learn that for sure one way or the other. (And honestly, I thought the killer would turn out to be Kaleb, another Psy battling Faith for a position on the Council, or governing body).

Despite that, the book is very well done. I can see why folks are buzzing about Nalini. So, thumbs up.

Up next: American Gods by Neil Gaiman.