Lover Eternal by JR Ward

I couldn't wait to read this book, I enjoyed the first so much and I wasn't disappointed.

We get more of the Brothers and in particular Rhage's story. We find out about his curse, the beast within and his attempts to stay balanced and even. Not always successful. We get a small peek at Zsadist too.

When Rhage meets and falls in love with Mary, he has to learn a new way to accept his beast and all without hurting her, all the more heartbreaking when he finds out she's dying.
How they both cope with her illness and his beast is well written and very touching.

Onto book 3 and Zsadist's story, so glad my friend recommended and sent me this series.

The Killing Floor by Lee Child

I really enjoyed this book, my only problem was the little voice in my head telling me "there's no way Tom Cruise can pull this off". I just can't get the image from the movie trailer of him out of my head. Aside from that, what's not to love. A great big story with lots of twists, a loner in a small town who gets picked up because he looks like a suspect.

It put me in mind of some westerns I used to read when I was younger. There was the lone cowboy, ex-soldier, who rode into town and after a few fights, a few love scenes and offing the bad guy rode off into the sunset.

I'm definitely going to carry on with this series. I'll just have to train my brain to picture some other actor as Jack Reacher. Maybe Dave Batista from WWE. He's definitely the right size and certainly easy on the eyes, unlike Tom Cruise who's just too small for the part.

JR Ward's Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood)

I read this book after a suggestion from a friend. I loved the story and found the characters to be very engaging, I wasn't overly charmed with the guy's names but there again, calling a Vampire Norman or Ralph wouldn't sound right either.

I liked the idea of the Omega and the Scribe Virgin, (I have my own theory about those two but I'm keeping it to myself). The fact that the vampires are the good guys, wear leather and like rap and hip/hop made me smile.

At first I thought Beth was going to be one of those leading ladies who needs to be rescued all the time and is very much a wuss but I'm glad she's not. She may start out needing to be protected but soon shows she's more than capable of rolling with the punches.

The only thing I didn't like was the way the story switched from one persons view point to another. I had to go back a couple of times to re-read a paragraph or two to get back on track, especially during the action scenes.

On to book two, hope its as good as the first one.

Hammer of Angels by G.T. Almasi

I found this to be an action packed, past paced story. It certainly didn't slow down much at all. I would just like to say that even though I haven't read the first book in this series, it's not necessary to follow what's going on. We continue to follow the story of Alix/Scarlet, a Level (super spy) from America as she deals with the fall-out from Blades of Winter.
Scarlet is an enhanced Level, which means her body has had some modifications to it, she's got an artificial right hand, her skeleton has been encased in a type of metal so she's practically indestructable. She's got an eyes-up system in her head which enables her to swap from normal vision through a variety of different spectrums. She can use infra-red to see body heat, she's got a locking display that enables her to acquire target lock when she uses her gun, Lil' Bertha which is partially sentient. She has an in-built med system that allows her to send doses of different drugs as and when she needs them, Madrenaline just before a fight or mission, Kalmers to stop the hallucinations brought on by her last mission. She lives in a world where Germany won WWII, Britain and most of Europe are part of Greater Germany and the Germans now advocate Slavery. There are 4 Super Powers, USA, China, Russia and Greater Germany, all with their own Levels.
In this book we follow Scarlet as she copes with a new partner who is the spitting image of her last partner and lover, Trick, who was killed in the book Blades of Winter. As she is sent on a new mission to start a slave rebellion in London and other areas of Europe, we see how fragile her mind really is, still, due to her previous experience. Working with Brando, her new partner and other Level's to get the rebellion going and then onto another mission to get her father back from the Germans.
In this world we also have to deal with clone's, one of which is her new partner and also her old one , and their other brother. No-one knows about their status apart from Scarlet, her boss and themselves. Whilst on their mission, they come under attack and just when she thinks her number is up, a sniper takes out the enemy. When they finally catch him, as there is no other Level's in their area, she is shocked to see her fathers face. The young man is a clone, made in a secret lab by a high-level member of congress. He was made with her fathers DNA, which had been stolen from a secure area, along with the equipment necessary.
This story flows along at a rapid place and just when you think she's going to catch a break, something else happens to get them on a roll again.
I'm definitely getting Blades of Winter so I can see how this story began and I will definitely be getting the third book when it's released. I would give this 5/5 and recommend it to anyone who likes fast, action packed spy thrillers.