READING : Dark Lover 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 exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing more than Wrath, the leader of The Black Dagger Brotherhood. The only purebred vampire left on earth, 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-leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate-Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead-a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams.

Let me begin this review by saying that it has been years since I last read a hardcore PNR book.I think the last one was The Obsedian Butterfly by Laurell K. Hamilton 5 years ago!I am not an expert in the genre,so maybe my opinion on the book should not count for much.

That being said,I have to admit I liked this book very much.To be honest,I was terrified of reading it because of all the praise the series has gotten over the years and mainly because of my refraining from the PNR genre,so I was sure I    was getting my hopes up for nothing.I am glad to tell you that was not the case.

I loved the story and the world Ward has created.I loved that the vampires are the warriors and the protectors.Granted, they are lethal and unbelievably dangerous, but come on, by the end of the book you know that they are loyal and honorable,the good guys.I loved that the bad guys,the lessers, are dehumanized people who lose their characteristics with age, I loved all the brothers with no exceptions and the word game that was their names, I loved every teeny tiny detail Ward has added to her world.

What I didn't like very much were the very rushed love between Wrath and Beth.I am not a fan of the two-second-soulmate thing,so I didn't really care for it here,either.Also, it may be that I haven't read PNR for a long time, but was it me or there were one sex scenes too many?What was the point in that?We got that they were madly in love the first 2 times!However, Ward's writing of B and M's sexual attraction and how it pleasurably tortured them, without actually writing a sex scene, was brilliant!

Overall, I highly recommend Dark Lover to all PNR lovers who were late in discovering the Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB) series like me, even though I doubt they are many left!

One useful tip:each book in the series deals mostly with a specific character.Stories intertwine and characters from previous books are also referred to, but the main story is about a single character.So, there is not a serious continuity problem,at least at the beginning.It's always preferable to start from the first one, though.

4/5