Broken Heroes

...I am not a big fan of really broken heroes. Back before she totally went over to the dark side, writing in medieval English with no concession to modern readers, Laura Kinsale had seriously broken heroes. Stroke victims, childhood rape, balance issues, you name--she found a way to use it. I started getting a little antsy after the fourth one. I don't mind a hero with issues, but to make it a staple of my reading diet?

I like fantasy. Real life, unless it's drawn big, doesn't cut it.

I can't stand stories about divorced people--yes, I know it happens, but like kids and babies, I want it to happen to someone else.

But on the rare instance I read something that slides close to erotica, I want a plot. I've always like JR Ward because despite all the people who bash her for her relentless hip-hop slang and off the wall plots, what she does works. I guess it's all that time she spent writing Silhouette Special Editions. Her last book, Lover Unbound, was a little weird. I had to read it twice to get all the nuances. Sometimes, when you're all caught up in the story, it's hard to stop and go...oh, so that's why she did that.

I just finished Lover Enshrined, and for a book I really liked--damn it's getting some bad reviews. It's too urban fantasy? Yeah. That's all I can say. My definition of urban fantasy must not be the same, because I'm thinking the stuff that comes out of the sci-fi section, and it's nothing like JR Ward. It's not hot enough? My GOD, every third page is someone stroking themselves, stroking other people, thinking of sex, just had sex, or getting ready for sex. How much more sex do you need?

The hero isn't heroic.

Now that one got me.

Phury isn't heroic in the alpha male, pound his chest sense of the word. He's a decent guy with serious issues. An addict on the verge of a split personality, he's fighting self-esteem issues and a spiraling habit.

I admired the way he got clean, and I admire the way Ward shows him going to twelve step. Sure, he's a well hung vampire warrior with great hair, but if that was all there, the story would be a novella, because what would be the point? He gets it on with the Chosen, one after the other? Please. There are only so many ways to have sex, and repetitive sex with random strangers is as annoying as white room syndrome.

Anything else going on in there that doesn't have to do with an orifice?