Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1)

by J. R. Ward

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There also exists a secret band of brothers like no other - six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Among them, none relishes killing their enemies more than Wrath, the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood...The only pure-bred vampire left on the planet, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But when one of his most trusted fighters is killed - orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate - Wrath must usher the beautiful female into the world of the undead...Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn't there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of brotherhood and blood frighten her. But his touch ignites a dawning hunger that threatens to consume them both...

• ISBN10: 0451216954
• ISBN13: 9780451216953
• Publish Date: 6 September 2005 (first published 1 September 2005)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 11 October 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
• Imprint: Signet
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Caitiebelle]

Oh...my...goodness!
I am blown away! I absolutely LOVE the world J.R. Ward has made here.
The vampires are fantastic, the 'lessers' are a great enemy!

The language is fantastic, and you end up falling in love with these men (and women) very quickly!

The glossier at the beginning of the book is very handy, so you don't end up not knowing what on earth is going on.

I could not put this book down, and I've already started on the next one.

Wrath's story is... I wanted to cry more than once. The love scenes are just yum yum!

It's an all-around fantastic start to this very very long series of books - I am completely hooked!

It's been a long long time since I read a book where I was crying, smiling, laughing and also at the edge of my seat.

Well done to the Author!!

[Molly J(Cover To Cover Cafe)]

*This is a re-read for me, but my first review of the books*

A stellar novel of angst, suspense, blood sucking and romance when you least expect!

J.R. Ward is a phenomenal story teller. She pulled me from page one, and held me captive with Wrath's angst and pain, and with Mary's confusion and love. These characters weren't just created....they were molded into beautiful creatures of the night, and woven into the story line in just the right way.

This story of pain, unexpected love, sorrow and confusion is one that will sit with the reader long after the last page is turn. The Brotherhood is family now, and I look forward to continuing the journeys of each Brother's love story.

Definitely recommended with the highest of 5 stars!

[Leah]

So, I loved this. I'm not really one for paranormal romance - in fact, my paranormal errs on the side of teen, if I'm being completely honest, but I was intrigued by JR Ward's books simply because there's a lot of her books at my local library. I figured why not start at the beginning and work my way through (little did I know that the Black Dagger Brotherhood books ALONE are like 15 or 16 so yelp) and I really loved this.

I loved the set up, I loved how all of the brothers are going to get a book, and I'm particularly intrigued by Zsadist's. I have no idea if I've spelt that correctly and I'm baffled as to why Wrath is the only one whose name *isn't* spelt different from the norm??? IDEK.

I loved the romance, and I just love how it's all set up to yes, follow new characters (or brothers), but to also still include those we've already met. I want more Wrath, more Beth, more Butch even(!) and Fritz! I WANT A FRITZ IN MY LIFE, PLEASE. He's just freaking adorable, man.

I'm so excited to get stuck into more from this series and see where the war with Mr X goes.

[thebookdisciple]

Not sure why I waited so long to read this! Maybe because I thought it was vampire erotica (its not)...Regardless, I'm glad I read it! There are lots of characters to introduce and a bit of world building in this book. I really liked the uniqueness of the world Ward has created. There is a bit of insta-love between Wrath and Beth and he does change his mind about her so many times it will give you whiplash. But, once he decides she is 'it' for him, things move CRAZY fast.
Overall, I loved the twists Ward has created in her vampire world and am curious to get to know the other brothers better.

[Vicki]

2.5 stars

[kimbacaffeinate]

Dark Lover is a paranormal romantic suspense featuring the Black Dagger Brotherhood. They are a group of ancient, kick-ass vampires who defend their race and humans against the soul-less Lessers governed by the Omega. Wrath, Phury, Zsadist, Tohr, Rhage, Vishous and Darius make up the brotherhood. I loved these warriors they gave us humor, bonding, banter and fear. The Scribe Virgin aids them and I enjoyed their origins story and hierarchy. Wrath’s position and history was shared and we caught glimpses about the others. This is a dark bunch, who have witnessed some seriously messed up shit.

When we first meet Wrath, he is pretty much a heartless bastard. One might even go so far to say the man has a few issues. *winks* Darius his second in command and probably closest friend asks for his help. He has a half-human daughter Beth. She is nearing her transition and he wants Wrath to aid her. Ward’s vampires are not your typical garden variety. These vampires are conceived not turned and need vampire’s blood to survive. They feed infrequently and still enjoy food. Of course, Wrath refuses, but after an incident, Wrath feels the need to intervene and fulfill his friend's request.

Wrath and Beth's romance takes center stage but, Ward created a suspenseful tale as she introduced us to this world. She avoided information dumps and weaved key facts throughout the tale seamlessly. The suspenseful plot of Dark Lover involved local police, the Lessers and Wrath’s role in the brotherhood. I easily slipped into the story and enjoyed the darker vibes this story had to offer. I found the way Ward weaved in the lessers, and the local police to be clever and believable. Her world building is solid and while I want to know more I feel I have a firm understanding of their world.

Secondary characters from Z to the doctor added some freaky moments and interesting threads. The banter between the brothers and the friendship that developed between V and the cop was hilarious. I adored Darius's butler and was excited to learn he will continue to aid the brotherhood. There was a sweet secondary romance and I was delighted with their thread.

I adored the romance and while it began with lust, it quickly moved to something deeper. Seeing Wrath turn into a puppy one minute and a bloody killer the next was wonderful. I enjoyed seeing his growth throughout, and any man who can apologize for being an arse is ok in my book. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[neddieb]

I will admit I almost gave up on this book. But, I am happy I didn't. Elizabeth and Wrath are really good together. Loved the bond he shares with his brotherhood and his love for Elizabeth. The book started slow and I was pretty much skimming the beginning until I got to the middle of the book and it got my attention and I stopped skimming through as much.

[celinenyx]

Instead of doing one of my (admittedly) rigidly structured reviews for the BDB books, I'm just going to ramble a bit about them.

My first encounter with the BDB books was through Goodreads. I'm a member of a lot of paranormal romance and urban fantasy groups, and the BDB books are often recommended for paranormal readers. I'm usually more of an urban fantasy reader, but I thought I'd try out those books I heard so many people raving about. This was in June 2011.

In quick succession, I read the first three BDB books. I'd recently graduated from high school (damn, I'm getting old), and summer was my time to read. I devoured them. I can still remember how I read the third book, Lover Awakened, in front of our tent in Italy. But as it always does, summer came to an end, and so did my free reading time. During the first months of university I barely had time to read, and I forgot about those leather-clad brothers.

Fast-forward three years. The box set of the first six BDB books has been on my wishlist for years, and on my birthday this year I finally got it. Almost exactly three years after I first read the books, I'm rereading them. I totally forgot why I enjoyed these books - was it just my teenage self fascinated with hot vampire loving, or was it more? After rereading Dark Lover, I find out: I still love these books just as much - and I have no idea why.

They're not my usual genre. I do enjoy vampire stories, but I'm definitely not very much into romance. Most romance books bore my to death (sorry) and I just can't make myself to care about their push and pulling around. Neither am I much into macho stuff. All of which the BDB books do have: they're lovey dovey stories with guys exhaling testosterone built like body builders. They call their women "females" and once they have their eyes on you, you will be "theirs". They listen to hard core rap and casually talk about killing humans. None of which would qualify them in any way as "my type".

Feminism aside, there are plenty of problems with the world. It has often been called classist, elitist, and I personally would like to add that the vampire - human relationship is also kind of racist. Humans are to be used, and killed when they're in the way. Plenty of people have wrote about these issues in better ways than I ever could, so I'm not going further into that here.

There are two factors that can explain my enjoyment of Dark Lover. First of all, all male alpha-ness and killing aside, the core of these books is super cute romance. All brothers are big wussies underneath all that aggression, and all they want is to find their mate. They're often very contradictory in their ways of seducing said mate, but in the end they're big teddy-bears. They're always there for their loved ones. The second factor is that they're such a close group of friends. I love all the banter between the brothers and moments of bonding. I really appreciate that Ward manages to keep them into character, yet lets them talk about their feelings in a non-weepy way. It's done in a very realistic way that I can imagine guys actually talk like.

Although Wrath isn't my favourite character, Beth totally makes this story for me. She knows when to let Wrath do his vamp protectiveness thing, but she also knows when to say no. It helps that she's also a very nice person, and she fits perfectly within the Brotherhood. I'm really looking forward to see more glimpses of her in books to come.

[Berls]

Review coming soon.My Initial Reaction…
You ever leave a book and think, “man, I wish I’d gotten a bit less of the main characters and a bit more the supporting characters”? That was my feeling at the end of Dark Lover. I loved the world building and mythology, I loved pretty much ALL the supporting cast. I just never fell for the leading male – Wrath – or the TSTL heroine – Beth.

The Narration…
Jim Frangione is both great and horrible. LOL let me explain. For the male characters he was pretty much spot on. There was great variance between the different male voices, great emotional expression, and appropriate pacing. But then we get the women. Jim is a narrator that, in my opinion, should be paired with a female narrator. Because he cannot do female voices. I think, his one saving grace, is that he seems to be aware of this and doesn’t really even try. Their voices are different – a little softer, sometimes a bit squeaky (because apparently that’s feminine?) – but for the most part, they just sound like quieter men. I’m torn on whether I will continue listening – I don’t think it hurt the book for me in the long run, though I do wonder if it made it that much harder for me to connect to Beth.

The Characters…
Let me start with the two central characters – who you already know I don’t love. Wrath is the leader of the brotherhood – and basically king of the vampires, though in title only – and for the word go, you get the sense that he is all tough and rough – without a gentle bone in his body. It’s quite clear though that we’re supposed to connect with him because he has this softer, more vulnerable side. For some reason, that never happened fully for me. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate or even dislike Wrath by the end of the book (I did hate him early on, to be fair), I just didn’t love him. His softer side didn’t really work for me because it either felt like he was just feeling sorry for himself (there’s this scene where he “opens up” to Beth and I rolled my eyes at least 100x!) or it hasn’t something to do with his ridiculous insta-love / testosterone driven “ownership” (for lack of a better word) of Beth. Both annoyed me and didn’t make me completely fall for his softer side. And his rough side – well let’s say he really could be an ass. But frankly, his regret at being an ass towards Fitz or Tor spoke to me more than his softness toward Beth. It felt so much more sincere. Like this is a guy who doesn’t want to be an ass, he’s just awkward as all hell.

And then there’s Beth. I liked Beth, probably more than Wrath. She’s an independent woman and she’s had a hard life as an orphan that has left some scars. There are some really truly great moments when she’s with… well just about everyone BUT Wrath… that I enjoyed seeing. Beth, though, suffers from what has been called TSTL Syndrome, or Too Stupid To Live Syndrome. Beth just made one stupid decision after another. What made it worse, was that generally speaking, her stupid actions worked out most the time. So I rolled my eyes right out of my head when it came to Beth. Oh and what’s with every male just loving her? I’m telling you, she had men falling all over the place for her and it just got way old.

On the other hand, I pretty much ADORED the supporting characters. The Brothers all clearly have interesting stories and histories and I want to get to know them better. Especially Tor and Zadist – there the ones I want to know the most. I also had a soft spot for Butch, a police detective that is friends with Beth (and would perhaps like a bit more – which I routed for!). He has a story that we get bits and pieces of and I would really like to know better. And then there’s Marissa, Wrath’s blood donor basically. She’s supposed to be so much more, but he has never cared for her and treats her like a blood donor. I felt so bad for her most the book – even though, to be fair, it’s not all Wrath’s fault – and it didn’t help me like Wrath any better. Her’s is a story I’d really like to know better. Oh and then there’s Ftiz – the butler. He was most definitely my favorite character in Dark Lover. He’s just so warm and loving to everyone. And he has these little comedic moments, where he’s not trying to be funny at all, but I laughed my ass off. A really fantastic supporting cast.

The Story…
The story for Dark Lover had a lot of high points for me, though it kind of ended on a lackluster note for me. The basic premise surrounds Beth, who (unbeknownst to her) is getting ready to go through the change to become a vampire. Wrath has been asked by Beth’s father to help her with the transition and that’s what brings him into her life. In addition to her change, though, is what’s going on in the human world. There’s been a string of recent murders and the detectives are getting closer and closer to their supernatural community in their efforts to solve the mystery. We know what’s going on all along and it’s like watching an inevitable car crash… that never happens. Which is good for a car crash, but not so great for Dark Lover. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the final events of the book were extremely anti-climatic for me. I wanted to see Beth get all bad-ass, but she doesn’t. And I thought there was going to be like an epic battle, but really it was just a fight at best.

What I absolutely loved about Dark Lover was the incredible world building and I suspect that that’s why the story was a little lack luster. I’ll forgive that, because the world promises some incredible books in the future. The vampire mythology is like nothing I’ve ever read (which is saying something) and I’m really excited about what’s to come in future books, based on how things were setup. I also hear that future books switch to the other Brother’s lives, so thank heavens for that.

Concluding Sentiments…
Although this wasn’t my most favorite read, I’m excited about the world Dark Lover introduced me to and love most the characters. I look forward to exploring the Brotherhood even more in the future.

*This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.*

[stacey_is_sassy]

WOW

This book was amazing. I liked the dynamics of the brotherhood and their loyalty to each other. The characters are strong and the relationship between Wrath and Beth was beautiful. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.