It Takes Blood, Sweat, and Tears

"Life was short, no matter how many days you were granted. 
And people were precious, each and every one, no matter how many you were lucky enough to have in your life. 
And love... love was worth dying for.
Worth living for, too."
--JR Ward, Lover Reborn

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

Publisher: NAL, 572 pages

Publication Date: March 27th, 2012

Source: Bought
Goodreads
Previous Books in Series: Dark Lover & Lover Eternal & Lover Awakened & Lover Revealed & Lover Unbound & Lover Enshrined & Father Mine & Lover Avenged & Lover Mine & Lover Unleashed

Goodreads Description

Ever since the death of his shellan, Tohrment has been a heartbroken shadow of the vampire leader he once was. Brought back to the Brotherhood by a self-serving fallen angel, he fights again with ruthless vengeance, unprepared for a new tragedy. Seeing his beloved in dreams—trapped in a cold, isolated netherworld—Tohr turns to the angel Lassiter to save his former mate. The only way to rescue her is for Tohr to love another. As war with the lessers rages, and a new clan of vampires vie for the Blind King’s throne, Tohr struggles between an unforgettable past and a hot, passion-filled future. But can his heart let go and set all of them free?

My Thoughts

Alright. I’m gonna make this short and sweet because after the 9 books before this we all know I LOVE the Brothers. I LOVE the loyalty. I LOVE the female worship. And I LOVE the romance. Oh and I LOVE the ass-kicking. Out of the way.

Lover Reborn. Let’s discuss the players first. Tohr. I have been told by Asheley for MONTHS to read, read, read so I could get to Lover Reborn and find Tohr. This girl was not messin’ around. We all know how much I love a broken soul and Tohr is the epitome of this. Wellsie is gone and he is broken in every sense of the word. Lassiter is beyond hilarious and his comments and one-liners are not to be missed. No’One breaks my heart as well. I just…she breaks my heart. I loved getting to know her character and I think she is so insightful and blunt and to the point. The fact that she plays martyr a lot didn’t bother me for some reason. Her pity party is mostly deserved but I did want her to open up and feel more. I wanted her to let herself go and be happy. Well, her and Tohr both needed this.

This book had a lot of feels. I cried multiple times in the first 100 pages alone and I just wanted SO BADLY for him to also let go a bit and move on. I get it…I really do. You lost your shellan but he is so toxic at times that he just shatters my heart over and over. I want him to be happy. Same deal with No’One. I just wanted their happy ending SO BADLY. Their interaction towards the end of the book actually broke my heart in half. I was close to sobbing…okay maybe I was sobbing a little. There are things that Tohr says to No’One that are so hurtful and brutal and for personal reasons I identified with No’One so much that my chest hurt. I didn’t want to have to choose but I am Team No’One if I gotta pick sides. Did they get their happy ending? That’s a secret I’ll never tell…

Tohr and No’One are not the only events in this book, though. John and Xhex also have a major storyline in this installment and to be honest…it annoyed the hell out of me. I’ll take as much John as I can get but Xhex pissed.me.off. Where was my thawed out ice queen from Lover Mine? She reverted back to her old self so fast I got whiplash. What the hell was her problem? Did you not understand what commitment you were signing on for? Don’t be so stupid. I felt it was inconsistent with her character that she was so extreme in her actions. John didn’t deserve that and at the end of the day, he was trying to make things work and she just sucked. Not cool Xhex, not cool. Real time—this whole part of the story totally could have been left out. It didn’t really add anything to the story for me except irritation.

The Band of Bastards are also a major part of the story. While I obviously wasn’t rooting for them, I think the addition of these guys is interesting. I am VERY intrigued by Xcor…sorry not sorry. He is a definite evil bastard but I want him to be redeemed…can he be? Honestly? No. Probably not. Especially when I think of what he did in this book. If he hadn’t done what he did, he would so be redeemable. Sad face. And the fact that another character is interested in him romantically totally made my heart swoon. I don’t know guys, it must be the scared faces. They turn me on. Those broken soul, scarred faces get my heart racing. Sorry not sorry.

So, while pieces of the story could have been omitted, I LOVED this book. Tohr and No’One are just incredible and it had SO MANY FEELS!

Should You Read This?  Oh my gosh, YES!! Tohr Tohr Tohr and No’One No’One No’One. :)