Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1)
Signet - Signet
Release date: 2005-09-06
Mass Market Paperback
Author: J.R. Ward
American Light Romantic Fiction, Fiction, Fiction - Romance, Romance: Modern, Fiction / Romance / Paranormal, Romance - General, Fantasy fiction, Love stories, Vampires
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Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1)
Date undefinedI have never read any kind of "paranormal" type of book. Strangely, the author is from my hometown and through a friend of a friend, my mother ended up with an autographed copy of this book. I swiped it from her house on Thanksgiving Day, needing a good read for the weekend. Got to admit, the title seemed pretty interesting. What can I say, I read the whole thing in two days. If it weren't for my kids and my husband, I probably would have read it in one. I didn't want to put it down. Not only is the whole concept of vampires interesting, but it is a juicy romance that finds you hiding somewhere in your closet from your family trying to get to the next chapter to find what happens next.
I will go out today and get the next book. I am afraid though, I could never like anything as much as I liked this story. It was so romantic and on the edge of your seat. I will keep this book...mom won't get it back!
Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1)
Date undefinedI loved the Twilight series and search for more vampire love stories. This series is so interesting! I finished the first book in 2 days. I wanted to read more! Highly recommended if you want romance that's naughty and nice!
Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1)
Date undefinedAfter reading the reviews here, I, like others, expected a great read. Overall, it was a decent read, but though I tried to really like it, I couldn't. J. R. Ward is unquestionably very talented as a writer, and perhaps her greatest strength in creating this series was her imaginative take on vampires. It was unique, refreshing.
There were some things I enjoyed about this book. I liked the flawed hero, I liked the romance between the hero and heroine (though it was brief-just a few days- and looking back the only thing they did together until the end was have sex). I did enjoy the banter between the secondary characters, the easy friendship. Often, however, as has been pointed out by others, the language was outdated-thug-juvinile. Not exactly my image of my hero and future heroes. But the dark,dangerous and leather-wearing hero was cool. I never thought he was psycho. I liked his protectiveness.
That said, the names of the Black Dagger Brotherhood are a real turnoff. They just flat sound juvinile. I kept waiting to find out what the hero's and brotherhood's real names were, hoping these were some sort of assumed names they took on when they joined the brotherhood. If a man introduced himself to you as "Rhage," wouldn't you have raised eyebrows at the very least? Especially since Rhage is hundreds of years old, and was born to be king, not a warrior, Rhage CANNOT be his real name. AND since the other aristocratic vampires portrayed have semi-normal names. How these silly names are supposed to further the plot or make the characters more endearing, I'll never know.
I also thought there was too much focus on this "lesser" war. It didn't seem to further the story overmuch, and I patiently suffered through this subplot waiting to get back to the hero and heroine. I agree the classification of this serious maybe ought to be rethought, since the romance seemed to take a backseat to the action.
So, if you can overlook these flaws, try to just accept them as a different reality, you have a thrilling, oh-so-sexy hero biting the bra off the heroine in their first real encounter (after the one where she passed out in fright). What a nice fantasy. I just wish it were a more believable fantasy.
