Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward

JRWard-Lover RevealedWith all the hype over J.R. Ward’s latest novel Lover Unleashed, I have decided I NEED to get through this series ASAP to get caught up with, well, the world.  I’ve been in the chaos that is moving over the past few weeks (feels like years) and managed to find Lover Revealed, the next book for me in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  I read this puppy every chance I got and I’d like to say it helped me get through the move…the hubs may disagree.

Butch O’Neal is a fighter by nature. A hard living, ex-homicide cop, he’s the only human ever to be allowed in the inner circle of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. And he wants to go even deeper into the vampire world to engage in the turf war with the lessers. He’s got nothing to lose. His heart belongs to a female vampire, Marissa, an aristocratic beauty who’s way out of his league. If he can’t have her, then at least he can fight side by side with the Brothers…

Fate curses him with the very thing he wants. When Butch sacrifices himself to save a civilian vampire from the slayers, he falls prey to the darkest force in the war. Left for dead, he’s found by a miracle, and the Brotherhood calls Marissa to bring him back. But even her love may not be enough to save him…

When Butch was first introduced in Dark Lover I wondered if he would stick around, and with every book since, I’ve been wondering just what his role is for the Brotherhood.  In Lover Revealed, you get a glimpse into the ginormous role he has in their world.  It’s one I didn’t see coming, that as far as I can remember, you don’t even get a hint at in earlier books.  I’m not going to kill it for someone who like me is still catching up, but needless to say Butch is a HUGE character in this story.  This makes me happy, because I like Butch, but then again I like most characters in this series.  He’s a smart ass, he’s clever and damn useful in sticky situations.  He’s also has this boyish charm that is so very cute.  But I didn’t really like Marissa when she was introduced in the first book as well, and can’t say that I feel any different.  I think it may have to do with her being a rather fragile and delicate kind of character.  She always seems so weak and lacking personality to me.   Many have mentioned, and I’m starting to agree, that J.R. Ward’s females are much weaker characters than the males.

Anyway, I really liked the fact that Butch, who is a human, has the hots for Marissa, who is a vampire, and her him.  I like that Romeo and Juliet, warring families/species kind of twist.  It adds some spice.  It makes the relationship a little more unique.  Both of them actually grow with the relationship, especially Marissa.  She goes from being extremely feminine wearing corsets and gowns to wearing jeans and pulling her hair back in a ponytail.  And Butch, he stops trying to exist and get by and starts to live and make his mark.  But the part that I really liked was that instead of them instantly judging situations and hating each other, they actually thought things through more realistically vs. the normal dramatic, romance novelesque way.   And the path that Butch takes…well its one hell of a way to compromise for the sake of a relationship.

Lover Revealed isn’t just about Marissa and Butch and them finding a way to make their relationship last/work.  It’s also about Vishous, aka V.  There’s been this strange bond between Butch and V from the get go.  You get a good peak at what is going on, but there’s so much left to happen, so much left that’s just dangling in front of you like a tasty carrot.  It really has me itching to read the rest to see just where this new path is going to lead.  But back to V, you get to see him and his gloved hand in action in this book.  You also get to see just how tormented he is by his gift of knowing the future as well as seeing how lonely he feels even in his own skin.  Makes me want to give the boy a big hug.

But this book seemed…almost distracted, more focus was put on the lessers and the minor character John, the new mute vamp, than normal.  I love these side stories, they give information and add some more personality to the storyline.  But something about this book, and it may be due to me being distracted with moving, seemed more all over the place than normal.  It felt like more time was spent on side plots than the main one, making it harder to connect to the story of Butch and Marissa.

Read Order:
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Revealed
Lover Unbound
Lover Enshrined
Lover Avenged
Lover Mine
Lover Unleashed

Also reviewed by: Forbidden Reviews, Feeling Fictional, Story Wings, Vampire Book Club and Dear Author

About Nikki R 120 Articles
SAHM of 2, happily married bookworm, blogger and aspiring author. If I could read/write all day, every day, I would. Luckily I have a very understanding, and patient, husband who lets me get away with it as much as possible. Now if only the kids would understand my obsession, and the house would clean itself, then I'd be all set.

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