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Lover Revealed

J. R. Ward

Published 2007             455 pages

Synopsis

The war between the vampires and their slayers still rages at night on the streets of Caldwell, New York.  Only a small band of select vampire warriors, known as The Black Dagger Brotherhood, stand between the civilian vampires and the lessers who would destroy the vampire race on the orders of their master, The Omega.

Butch O’Neal, human and ex-homicide detective, is the only non-vampire to have ever been allowed into the Brotherhood’s inner circle.  Rough and tough, Butch would like to be allowed a greater role in the work of the Brotherhood but as a human he can only stand on the sidelines.

Hopelessly in love with an aristocratic female vampire who is way beyond his reach, he decides that if he can’t have her he can at least fight side by side with the Brothers protecting the vampire race.

Out one night without the Brothers he has the chance to save a vampire civilian from the lessers.  He saves the civilian but he is hopelessly outnumbered and is captured his enemies.  Tortured for hours, he refuses to reveal any of the secrets of the Brotherhood.  Expecting death, Butch is spared by The Omega who has other plans for him.  The Omega cuts Butch and then seals some of his own evil essence inside Butch’s body, leaving Butch where the Brotherhood can find him.  The evil will then infect all the vampires Butch comes into contact with.

The Brotherhood never leaves a man down and sure enough they find Butch.  Sensing the evil on him Vishous, Butch’s vampire room mate and best friend, manages to spot the evil and remove it from Butch but that is not enough to pull him through his ordeal.  Battered and broken it will take the love of Marissa to save Butch and bring him to his destiny.

The Review

Lover Revealed is the fourth book in the popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. Ward.  Established fans of this series will approach this book with high expectations and Lover Revealed certainly won’t disappoint them. 

If you haven’t read any of the previous Black Dagger Brotherhood books, you could start with reading this one and not be confused about what is going on because each book is a complete self-contained story but I would recommend that you start with Dark Lover and then read the books in order.  The world of the Brotherhood is so well crafted and the readers understanding of that world, and the complex characters in it, deepens and develops so much with each book that you would miss out if you didn’t read them in order.  Besides, these books are so good that once you read one you are going to go out and buy the rest anyway (trust me on this) so you may as well start with the first!

Lover Revealed is a romance so it concentrates on Butch and Marissa’s relationship.  Their relationship is also my one small gripe with this book.  Butch and Marissa have some previous misunderstandings between them but their problems do have quite a trivial feel to them.  There are no problems between them that better communication can’t sort out and as a result their relationship lacks something of the heart stopping emotional rollercoaster ride romance that has been present in the previous books.  To be honest I found Butch’s physical development as a warrior and the development of his relationship with Vishous to be more exciting than the romance between him and Marissa. 

However, this doesn’t stop me from strongly recommending (if you like paranormal romance) that you should read this book.  Lover Revealed is a fantastically good read, a fast paced exciting page turner that you won’t want to put down.  The Brotherhood series goes from strength to strength and each book finds new perils for the alpha male vampire warriors to face.  Characters from the previous novels are present in Lover Revealed but Vishous gets most of the supporting character action in this book - leading nicely to his own story which should be up next in Lover Unbound.  Can’t wait.

If I could give books in this series more than 5 stars I would (but I don’t have a graphic for that…!)

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