Dark Lover

I enjoy reading romance novels and not just any certain kind. I’m pretty open-minded but sometimes there can be a part in a story that just ruins it all.

And that’s what happened with this book.

It started out really good, and I was soon encaptured in the story. And the moment came when Wrath was to meet Beth. And they had sex. Wait… what? He comes into her apartment and she is so scared he is going to kill her so she has sex with him? I know that’s not why she does but come on! Her lust is so strong that she just has to have him now? And not even 24hours ago she was nearly raped.

This ruined it for me. However I kept reading because… well dammit I spent money on this book so I’m getting my money’s worth at least. The rest of the book was good though. I enjoyed the characters (even though I laughed at their names… wrath, lol phury?). There was enough action to keep me entertained and I did enjoy the romance between Wrath and Beth.

The one thing I can’t stand is when an author writes about about a woman having sex with a stranger (someone they literally just laid eyes on) because the lust is SO strong, that they just have to. I mean come on. Maybe other people like that or think it’s sexy. That’s fine I’m not judgmental. But in my eyes ,it just makes the heroine look weak and desperate.

Before I bought this book, like I do with any book I buy, I read the reviews. Good and bad I read them to get an idea of the book and whether it will be good. A lot of the reviews were good and I actually expected better from this book.

Maybe my expectations were too high, but I honestly can’t see why this is so big. This is my first J.R. Ward novel, and I’ve been dying to start the Blackdagger Brotherhood series, but I wasn’t that impressed. It’s good. I loved they had their own unique creation and the villains are bad, but I was expecting more. None of the characters were relatable, in my opinion. None of their reactions were believable, even for a supernatural world. First, Beth is so one dimensional to me. It’s like every attempt was made to make her likeable. I get that readers want to like the protagonist, but come on, she is liked by EVERYONE, every male in contact with her is in love with her, even married men(it says that), she’s beyond attractive, but she’s not interested in anyone, but shortly after a sexual assault, she’s fine with having sex with a complete stranger? Okay, that’s fine. I have no problem with a woman being pretty or liked, but it was shoved in your face that everyone wanted this woman, and she was just incredible all around. No faults, yet she grew up in the system. It mentions her having a hard life, but nothing specific other than she grew up in several places. Besides that, the Brothers(brotherhood/vampire warrior) did not seem like wise, deadly vampires. Other than the occasional ‘my lord’ when addressing Wrath and said ancient language and prayers, they were just average, nothing special than their reputation. Wrath is supposed to be a badass, but he goes down pretty fast and he’s injured more than once. I don’t’ know. Like I said, I thought it was good, and it was a unique take on vampire lore, but it just wasn’t fantastic. I expected the most talked about vampire series to be mind-blowing, but it was pretty much an instant-lust story, somehow this deep love got recognized. Like how did Wrath who cared for no one but his brothers, who is a ‘force of nature’ just turn into a sappy guy? Besides Wrath being hot and protective, i didn’t buy the love they had for each other. It also makes it seem the villains are stronger than these elite vampire warriors. I guess I just think it’s lame for the woman to save the deadly vampire. Nothing against a woman fighting, but I’ve read too many books where the vampire or werewolf is so strong and feared, but he gets wounded and the once normal female comes out a hero. It’s just a poor way to make a strong female heroine. I’ll try the next book to see if I want to continue this series, but none of the vampires have me curious, and I’m not interested in reading ‘perfect’ women(zero flaws)they just don’t exist. And I’m ready for vampires who are the bad*sses they’re said to be.

I really wanted to like this book but:

1. the Bad Guy is transphobic, misogynistic and on top of being painful, rude, and awful to read its just _lazy_. Villians can do better.
Lots of dead hookers, but that’s sort of ok, right? its just part of the plot. 🙁

2. there is a scene where after _never_ ever seeing or hearing the Bad Guy having dogs, he has pitbulls, and they are set upon the heroine, to attack her / kill her. Another bit of super painful reading because pitbulls don’t already have enough bad press we need it to be a _random_ way to allow the heroine to be attacked. Worse is when a line about guards can be set to fight each other is used to set the dogs to fight one another. Its awful and completely irrelevant to the actual scene.

3. others have mentioned the names. They are laughably bad.

The writing, sex, and hero/heroine are actually great. I love Beth a LOT, she puts up with a lot without backing down, and that’s pretty awesome.
sadly, wouldnt recommend this

One of my co-workers recommended this book because I mentioned Paranormal / horror fiction. As soon as I picked it up, I knew I was going to regret it. The character names are ridiculous and for being ancient vampires, they act like a bunch of 15 year old gangster wannabes. It is poorly written (understatement of the year) and dull. I skipped chapters just to get to the next plot point… If you’d call anything in this book close to a plot. I’ll stick to Anne Rice for vampire angst and gore, thanks.

Just reread this after a few years and can’t believe I never reviewed it!
So before you skip off trust me on this I’ve read 100’s of book’s from erotica to paranormal and this is the first book in an awesome vampire series. Years on from this first one we’ve got another 11 novels and with quite a few spin off’s. Don’t get me wrong there are one or two not quite up to 5* but you’ll read them because they become part of your life.
Every vampire warrior gets his/her story. The stories will make you laugh and cry and that’s only because you get know each individual one along the way.
This first book will forever hold a piece of my heart. It helped me recover from an illness that made me feel numb.
Wrath the king of the vampires and Beth his new wife were what stories were meant to be. A warrior who would kill for the woman he loved while sheltering her from a new life that changed her world completely.
The Brotherhood are a band of alpha male warriors fighting an evil that would kill anything that got in its way.
Loved the whole world of vampires living amongst us and where dreams can and do come true.
Oh! and the sex was hot and passionate 😉

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