Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1) in Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group

May 01, 2010 Sarah MacLean rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, paranormal

Ok. I see now how this series is like crack. I'm off to buy the rest....yum.
More here: http://blog.macleanspace.com/2010/05/...
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Sep 30, 2009 CaliGirlRae rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-romance, audiobooks, jr-ward-black-dagger-brotherhood-se

I had a heard a lot about this series and thought I'd dive in. I was already aware of the strange names and 'gangsta' style lingo of the 'Brothers' so they didn't really bother me too much. Okay, they made me giggle but beside that, I tried my best to gloss over them.

First the good. The narrator Jim Frangione is awesome. At first it was weird to listen to a guy narrating as most of the urban fantasies and paranormal romances have female narrators (save for the Dresden Files, which is my fave aud I had a heard a lot about this series and thought I'd dive in. I was already aware of the strange names and 'gangsta' style lingo of the 'Brothers' so they didn't really bother me too much. Okay, they made me giggle but beside that, I tried my best to gloss over them.

First the good. The narrator Jim Frangione is awesome. At first it was weird to listen to a guy narrating as most of the urban fantasies and paranormal romances have female narrators (save for the Dresden Files, which is my fave audio series by far) but he reads with such intensity that you can't help but fall into the story.

I really liked Beth. She seemed like a fun character with a good head on her shoulders (at least in the beginning) and what little we saw of her discovering her true past would have been a more interesting focus in the story for me.

I liked the world building here that JR Ward has created. It seems like she took time to really create a world and a history with her characters to give them a place to go.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like they went very far.

The bad. I'm not a fan of constant cursing and hearing this on audio made me cringe a lot. I know the Brothers are to be presented as hardcore 'gritty' gangsta types but it felt like they were only playing at it instead of really presenting their world. Ward seemed a bit to preoccupied with describing how wet and hard her characters became around each other rather than showing what type of characters they are with ambitions, brains and purpose and then introducing the attraction so they felt like living/breathing people. *looks away at someone yelling in the background* It's an eroti-what? Oh, okay. Well, see that makes sense then. Erotica isn't really my cup of tea because it tends to focus on the body parts as characters rather than really beefing the storyline up and making the characters come alive on their own.

The story's strengths lie more in the police procedural scenes and for me, that was much more interesting than anything else. I couldn't help feeling Beth's fear and tensity when she was assaulted and my favorite scene was when Wrath made her attacker pay for hurting her. Awesome scene.

The story meandered later on with so many characters as Ward tries to introduce everyone and how they fit in with each other while juggling the villain of Mr. X and also the Lessers. For a while it didn't seem like it had a direct purpose other than violent killings, random cursing and Beth and Wrath exchanging heated stares and bodily fluids. In fact, I'm still trying to think of what the point was.

I'll give the rest of the series a go since I hear this isn't the strongest of the series but it probably won't be for a while. I really liked the secondary characters like the butler (who's just a big bowl of awesome). Okay, maybe secondary 'character'. I'm slightly interested in seeing more of the background for this particular vampire mythology in this series and what conflicts may arise.

Overall, I'd say the story was a 2 1/2 while the audio itself is a solid 3. Stylistically, it's pretty light reading although there are some dark scenes that deal with street crimes and coarse language. If you're a fan of romantic suspense and are pretty new to paranormal (and want to ease in without too much fantasy coming at you) I'd give this a go.
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Feb 14, 2010 Lauren⁷ 💜 rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fantasy-sci-fi-romance-romantasy, romance, sexy-sexy-sexy, shelfari-favorites, book-boyfriends

I read Lover Avenged first, loved it and simply had to read the other books. So I bought a copy of Dark Lover. And I am pleased to say that Dark Lover did not disappoint at all, it's very well written and J.R. can do characters like no ones business. Her character growth is usually nothing short of excellent, and like I wrote in my review for Lover Avenged, she really gets you into the character's heads and really helps you understand who they are and why they do what they do. And the romance wa ...more

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Dec 04, 2009 RogueHireling rated it it was amazing

Its a little embarrassing how much I liked this book.

Such a delightfully sinful indulgence it was that I seriously doubt a tub of chocolate ice cream could get better results. You know those commercials where the woman is enjoying a piece of chocolate or some yogurt and looks like she is in blissful heaven. Well thats what reading this book was like.

The only thing that bothered me is that I got the book from the library and had to return it. Thankfully Amazon will send me my very own copy.

Rom ...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Fitriedeeanic rated it really liked it

The fact is I've been reading it for 5 times now, along with all the series and also the Insider's Guide. Call me crazy, but i really have my own vampire world simply by reading all the series. I've never been this attached with books before.

Every characters have their own power that makes me love all of them. This book is just the start of addiction of the series. If you like paranormal romance books, try this one as a start of all the series. Highly recommended.

There's one more thing that mak ...more

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Jan 02, 2011 Joey rated it it was amazing

Loved it! This book is why I started reading paranormals.

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Jul 14, 2009 Larissa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paranormal-romance, 1-favorites-5-stars

OMG I am definitely late to the BDB party but am so happy I came! I loved this first story and look forward to reading the other brother's stories. ...more

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