Dark Lover

My rating: 4 stars

This is the first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. This series is constantly gracing my Goodreads News Feed. Many of my friends have suggested I start it. So, I happened upon a copy at Wal-Mart and said guess I will start now!

This story is told from various viewpoints, some I enjoyed more than others. I found when I was reading Mr. X’s viewpoints, I was aggravated, but I guess that is the point as he becomes a leader in a sect of vampire killers. J.R. Ward takes vampire lore and just changes everything. Thankfully, she gives a mini dictionary at the beginning of the book because there were new terms I had never heard of before. Yes, this is a series about vampire warriors that are in a group called the Black Dagger Brotherhood. The main goal of this group is to protect the vampire race from the Lessening Society, which are a bunch of men (lessers) who literally sell their soul to the Omega and hunt vampires. The Black Dagger Brotherhood is run by a vampire named Wrath, who also happens to be the Vampire King that refuses to be king and lead his people (who are desperate for a leader).

This story follows Beth, the daughter of one of the Black Dagger Brotherhood (named Darius) who is killed in the beginning of the book. Apparently, in J.R. Ward’s world, vampires are born not created. You can either be born into a vampire family or be half human half vampire. You cannot be human and be bit and changed. At a certain age, these children “transition” into vampires. Usually in the early to mid-20s. When a person transitions, they have to suck the blood from a vampire of the opposite sex. Many people do not make it through the transition, especially ones that are half human.

This book is the same love story, told differently. Wrath is an asshole, pushes everyone away, bad boy, reckless. Beth is the girl everyone wants, yet hates her life and feels like it is going no where. Darius requests Wrath to be the blood donor during Beth’s transition, which he said no at first. Wrath is one of the only pure vampires left, and his blood would help Beth survive the transition. Basically, Beth tames Wrath. Beth makes Wrath suddenly have purpose and want to live. What made this story fun and interesting is the challenges faced along the way. The way each character becomes important, even if they aren’t the main. Every character has a specific role. You either hate them, or you love them, or you know that they are just misunderstood.

This is no small book, and I read it within a day because I couldn’t put it down. For being a romance novel, I did feel like there wasn’t enough “romance” but the side story was fun and enjoyable. I think, at this moment, there are about 12 books in this series. So if you like reading series that are further along when you start, you should be able to read through these before the next book comes out, which should be next year.