Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward
Series Name: Black Dagger Brotherhood
Volume Number: 4
Genres: Contemporary, Erotica, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Urban, Vampires
Intended Age Group: Adult
Publisher: Signet/Penguin Group (USA)
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-451-22968-7
Rating: 4/5
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Description from the Book
In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a war raging between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other – six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. But now an ally of the brotherhood is about to encounter his own dark desires….
Butch O’Neal is a fighter by nature. A hard-living ex-homicide cop, he’s the only human ever to be allowed in the inner circle of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And he wants to go even deeper into the vampire world – to engage in the turf war with the lessers. He’s got nothing to lose. His heart belongs to a female vampire, an aristocratic beauty who’s way out of his league. If he can’t have Marissa, then at least he can fight side by side with the Brothers….
Fate curses him with the very thing he wants. When Butch sacrifices himself to save a civilian vampire from the slayers, he falls prey to the darkest force in the war. Left for dead, he’s found by a miracle, and the Brotherhood calls on Marissa to bring him back. But even her love may not be enough to save him….
Personal & Info
Again, for the third in a row, my copy has a different Signet logo.
It’s been over a year since I read this one. Unfortunately, my notes are practically nonexistent, so I can’t guarantee I will have much to say. I remember I like this volume. I gave it a 4/5, but I think I like Lover Eternal more, which also has a 4/5.
Content Warnings
At this point, I’m just keeping a running list of content warnings that have been in the series so far, from what I can remember. If you’re reading the series, or considering reading the series, and you have sensitivities, you might want to know these. The list so far: abuse, attempted rape, drugs, kidnapping, sexual themes, rape, and violence.
Characters
Butch is the male lead for this book. He’s not a Brother, but he’s been around since volume one, so I suppose he deserves one. It would make little sense to keep him around if he didn’t get his own story at some point. If I recall correctly, Butch opens up about his not so great family to teach us a bit more about his background.
Vishous and Butch have a hard core bromance going, so it would be hard to have a Butch story without significantly including V.
Marissa has also been around since the first volume. I felt bad for her, so I’m glad she gets her own love story. She’s had to wait far too long.
Havers, Marissa’s brother, obviously would need to be in a story where she is significant. He’s not a character I ever liked, and he doesn’t make himself any more likable in this volume.
Rehvenge will probably be a consistently mentioned character since his sister Bella is with a Brother from the pervious book. He has connections in multiple parts of the story, because he also deals red smoke to Phury.
John Matthew seems to be significant in every book. There’s a slow build going on with his story leading up to his book, which is…volume eight, according to a series list.
Xhex is introduced early on in this one. I can’t remember for sure, but I don’t think she was mentioned much, if at all, before this volume. She is head of security at Rehvenge’s club.
Qhuinn, I think, is introduced in this volume. I couldn’t find his name from skimming until now, so that’s what I’m assuming. He and Blaylock are best friends, and will be around John a lot, because it seems they are the friends he’s made in class.
Story & Thoughts
I’d say this is the first book where the Omega makes a move personally. Or at least a significant move not orchestrated and carried out by his army. Is it really to his advantage? I’m not so sure.
Butch and Marissa make a good couple, but they’re terrible at communicating. Most of their drama stems from lack of communication. It’s a cliché in romance. They work it out eventually, because as a romance it has to have an HEA, but I think it’s strange how difficult a time they had being open with each other initially.
Honestly, I would have also been fine with V and Butch being paired. I think they would have made a good couple. They already have good banter and a blatantly obvious bromance.
John’s had a crappy life. It’s unfortunate he has to deal with depression and bullies right when things start looking up.