Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #4) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jun 20, 2021 Juliana Philippa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, 0-own-as-an-ebook, pnr-hero-difficult-childhood, romance-paranormal, 0-own, romance-series, 0-own-as-kindle-ebook, 4-to-5-stars, pnr-series, 0-reviewed

"I don't want to lose you."
"I don't want to be lost."

4 stars
I wasn't originally that interested in Butch and Marissa's romance: Butch definitely grew on me over the course of the previous books and I adore his friendship with the Brothers, especially Vishous, but Marissa seemed rather boring from our previous introductions to her. I'm happy to say I ended up enjoying this book far more than expected, thanks both to the romance relationship, but also to the individual hero and heroine.

I loved

"I don't want to lose you."
"I don't want to be lost."

4 stars
I wasn't originally that interested in Butch and Marissa's romance: Butch definitely grew on me over the course of the previous books and I adore his friendship with the Brothers, especially Vishous, but Marissa seemed rather boring from our previous introductions to her. I'm happy to say I ended up enjoying this book far more than expected, thanks both to the romance relationship, but also to the individual hero and heroine.

I loved that part of the focus is on Marissa's character development in terms of striking out on her own, asserting herself, and not letting others define her:

She’d spent three centuries waiting and hoping for a male to notice her. Three centuries trying to fit in with the glymera. Three centuries working desperately to be someone’s sister, someone’s daughter, someone’s mate. All those external expectations had been the laws of physics that had governed her life, more pervasive and grounding than gravity. Except where had trying to meet them gotten her? Orphaned, unmated, and shunned. All right, then, her first rule for the rest of her days: no more looking outside for definitions. She might not have any clue who she was, but better to be lost and searching than shoved into a social box by someone else.

This involves at times confronting to the vampire aristocracy, her brother, Butch, and even the Brotherhood. There were definitely times where I wish she were more transparent with Butch about her reservations and what she was feeling—it would have helped avoid some misunderstandings—but thankfully they're so crazy about one another that they always end up muddling through whatever the issue is not long after.

Butch is a tragic figure in many ways, and has definitely been the "lone rider" character for most of his life:

“So here’s my deal, Marissa. I’ve had a piece missing all my life. I’ve always been different from other people, not just in my family but when I was working here on the CPD force, too. I never fit in…until I met the Brotherhood. (view spoiler) I mean, hell, I’ve been living on the fringes all my life. I kind of wanted to know what being in the thick was like.”

When he was 12 years old, he was the last to see his older sister before she was raped and murdered—he in fact saw her get into the car with the boys who ended up killing her. This shaped his life in so many ways, both good and bad, and has definitely created what Marissa refers to at one point as a "hero complex." You get the sense he's always trying to make up for past wrongs (or a very specific wrong, in this case), to prove himself to be worthy ... of everything—life, love, friends, family.

When the book starts, Marissa and Butch are basically already in love with each other—this happens in Book 1 and even aside from that, this series is definitely one where you really should be reading every book and in order. They both think the other doesn't care for them though, through couple Big Misunderstandings, and so it's annoying because everything one of them says is interpreted the exact wrong way by the other. I was extremely thankful that Ward didn't drag this out too long and about a quarter of the way through the book, that issue is cleared up. Which is also good because they have so many other misunderstandings coming their way—though as mentioned above, this is more about them having thoughts/feelings that they don't disclose, therefore leaving room for the worse interpretation by the other.

As I wrote in one of my updates, at the core of this story is a romance between two deeply insecure people who have never felt at home in the place(s) where they should belong and have always felt they weren't "good enough"—whatever that might mean for each of them. The facts and details of their situations are wildly different, but this mirroring and commonality is done very well. At one point, Butch says to Marissa:

“You know what I want? Just once, I want to be enough for you. Just…once.”
“You are—”

But this could easily have been Marissa saying the same to Butch. They have both been very alone and so very lonely, and it's lovely to see them finally find a place where and a person with whom they can belong. ...more

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Nov 03, 2013 Shan ~A~ rated it liked it

Shelves: borrowed-hoopla, romance, crime, audio, age-gap, virgin, paranormal, in-series-or-trilogy, vampires, 2nd-chance

Updated (01/14/2021)
I started over reading this series because I didn't get past this book the first time. My thoughts on this book is still the same. I honestly didn't know how to rate it, so I'm sticking with middle ground.

Marissa and Butch had too many misunderstandings and due to that hurt one another so unnecessarily throughout this story. The rest of the story that didn't pertain to them was definitely intriguing, so much so I don't remember why I didn't continue past this book the last t ...more

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Jul 22, 2009 Charlotte (Buried in Books) rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal-romance, vampires

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. After the absolute awesomeness of Lover Awakened I was a little bit nervous about reading Lover Revealed, because of one thing - Marissa. I couldn't stand her, but I wanted to know what happened to Butch, so I sucked it back and picked it up.

Once I'd gotten over the initial irritation with the whole "I thought you didn't want me", "No I thought you didn't want me", I kind of got into it. And about halfway through I even began to get a little bit of respect for Marissa (she finally grew a pair). ...more

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Feb 03, 2013 April rated it really liked it

Shelves: amazon-review-posted, audiobook, reviewed, romance, sexy-naughty-books, paranormal, vampires, 2013

Check out my other listens at Eargasms Audiobook Reviews

Wow! So much going on in this book!

I was really ready for Butch and Marissa to get their act together! This was a great story for them with loads of drama!! Glad to see Marissa grown a spine and Butch get what her deserved!

I also loved the ever changing narrative. It was great to see all the their stories unfolding along with the main plot. Can not wait for the next book in the series. Really involved stories emerging but not at all confusi ...more

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Feb 21, 2009 Jane(Janelba) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-read-in-2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 28, 2012 Carrie rated it really liked it

Shelves: vampire, part-of-a-series, paranormal-romance, j-r-ward, pifm-challenge, buddy-group-reads, rrc

I liked this book, it was a little slow starting for me because it had been so long since I had read the last book in the series. So as things happened or people came on the scene I would pause and start to remember bits on the previous books.

I flip flopped so many times with Marissa. One minute I liked her the next I wanted to just glare at her. Same for Butch, he's not getting off the hook that easy. Both of them frustrated me over and over. But I still liked them both. Now Vishous on the othe ...more

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Jan 06, 2011 Stephanie Tuell rated it liked it

i wasn't too crazy about this book. for some reason, butch just didn't hold my interest as much as the others. maybe it was because he was a human and i got used to the whole not human thing. once he changed over though, it did get more exciting. i was really hoping for a butch/marissa/v thing to happen. hopefully it will soon because i like butch and v together. i am not a huge fan of marissa for butch. ...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Suzanne rated it liked it

Shelves: rrrc-2012-books-read-challenge, read-in-2012, sos-black-dagger-brother-2013, dhasg-reading-challenge

This series is ok. It's not my favorite but it's alright. The dialogue irritates me and the narrator on the audiobook just makes the story REALLY cheesy. However, I don't know if it would be any less cheesy if I just read it myself. ...more

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