Before I read Lover Enshrined, I heard so many people complain about just how horrible Phury was. So I was a bit nervous about reading it. Now that I have read it, I must say, really everyone? He’s not that bad! Okay, so there were a couple times when I really just wanted to hit him upside the head but I devoured Lover Enshrined almost as fast as I devoured the rest of the BDB series.
In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly war raging between vampires and their slayers. And there exists a secret band of brothers like no other—six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. And now, a dutiful twin must choose between two lives…
Fiercely loyal to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Phury has sacrificed himself for the good of the race, becoming the male responsible for keeping the Brotherhood’s bloodlines alive. As Primale of the Chosen, he is to father the sons and daughters who will ensure that the traditions of the race survive and that there are warriors to fight those who want all vampires extinguished.
As his first mate, the Chosen Cormia wants to win not only his body but his heart for herself- she sees the emotionally scarred male behind all his noble responsibility. But while the war with the Lessening Society grows more grim, and tragedy looms over the Brotherhood’s mansion, Phury must decide between duty and love.
Phury had a ton of self-esteem/self-image issues that he dealt with by doing drugs. But unlike Jackie, I didn’t see him as a “whiny little bitch.” Yes, I did want to tell him to grow a pair, yet I also empathized with some of his problems. It really does suck when your parents spend more time paying attention to/thinking about the other sibling more than you (his parents totally deserved their ultimate demise for that alone, in my personal opinion). Phury did put others’ wants and needs ahead of his own…when he wasn’t sleeping off his high. He tried to do what he thought was right with Cormia, but usually ended up getting stoned instead of talking to her because he was so scared. Of course, throughout Lover Enshrined, he was coming to terms with how he was destroying his life and those around him with the drugs.
Cormia was sweet and absolutely adorable. Having lived as a Chosen with the Scribe Virgin all her life, she had no idea what life outside of that was like. For her entire life, she wasn’t supposed to feel anything other than joy at being chosen to reproduce kids for the primale. Then she was shoved into a world full of color, where she was able to finally feel all the emotions she’d had locked up inside her entire life. Because it was all still so new to her, she was extremely timid around everyone, and just like with Phury, it was understandable but still kind of annoying.
The chemistry between them was the least explosive out of all the brothers. It took forever for both of them to finally decide to act on their lust but the build-up didn’t make it hotter. It was more of a wow-can-you-come-up-with-anymore-excuses before they caved.
Unlike with Lover Unbound, Lover Enshrined focused on so much more than just Phury and Cormia. The lessers came back with a bloody vengeance; creating all kinds of epic battle scenes for the brothers. John Matthew and his friends, Qhuin and Blay, also played a major role. That scene with Qhuin and Blay in the PT room is my favorite scene out of the entire freaking series. I would gladly/happily reread Lover Enshrined a million times just for that one scene. Although, it would probably just be easier, and less time consuming, to just read that one scene.
Overall, Lover Enshrined wasn’t the awful, terribly slow, frustrating book that I thought it was going to be. It wasn’t the best BDB book, and it’s certainly not my absolute favorite, but I really did enjoy it.
Read Order:
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Revealed
Lover Unbound
Lover Enshrined
Lover Avenged
Lover Mine
Lover Unleashed
Lover Reborn
Lover At Last (2013)
Father Mine: Zsadist and Bella’s Story
