Lover Revealed by J. R. Ward

I know I say this after every Black Dagger Brotherhood book I read, but forget all the other brothers, Butch is the one I want!

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a deadly war raging between vampires and their slayers. And there exists a secret band of brothers like no other – six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Now, an ally of the Black Dagger Brotherhood will face the challenge of his life and the evil of the ages. 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, 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, found by a miracle, the Brotherhood calls on Marissa to bring him back, though even her love may not be enough to save him…

Oh, Butch. Where do I even start with that gruff, yummy, smart ass who spends way more time on his appearance than I do? He was this big badass, who wore outfits that usually cost more than $10,000, and was so completely smitten by Marissa that he had this almost boyish charm. When we first met Marissa in Dark Lover, she annoyed me because she was so passive and had no backbone whatsoever. It finally showed up in Lover Revealed, though she was still no where near being a strong heroine.

Originally, Marissa was Wrath’s shellan, in name only. That meant, she feed Wrath but never did any of the other duties of a shellan. That went on for about 300 years, even though she didn’t like it, because like I said earlier, she was so acquiescent that she never even breathed a word of what she really wanted in life. But that all changed in Lover Revealed when she was forced to move out of her brother’s home about an hour before the sun rose. That was the catalyst that finally brought our Marissa’s backbone.

There wasn’t as much fighting with the lessers, mostly because Butch was human and the brothers didn’t want him getting mortally wounded.  That didn’t mean there wasn’t any fighting as there were several intense ass-kicking scenes. I just felt like there was less in Lover Revealed than in Z’s or even Rhage’s story. Despite that lack of fighting, the plot was packed with so much that I was never bored. There was a lot about John, the mute vampire who is about to go through his change. V also played a major role in Lover Revealed, which explained why he convinced the other brothers to let Butch into their fold.

Was I the only one who would scream, “Just kiss him already!” every time Butch and V were in the same room together? There was some seriously hot, sexual tension between them though they both preferred women. It really added to the subplot and has made me desperate to get my hands on Lover Unbound. Because if V’s story is anything like Butch’s, then I’m going to devour it in one sitting.

Dude….what about the prophecy and what Butch becomes? He becomes a major player in the war on the lessers. Is that worth mentioning?

Lover Revealed was many things. It was a sweet love story between Butch and Marissa; an almost “coming-of-age” story for Marissa; filled with all the badassery of the Brotherhood  and a seuxal tension so hot (between both Butch and Marissa and Butch and V) that I’m still feeling it. In other words, it was perfect.

Read Order:
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Revealed
Lover Unbound
Lover Enshrined
Lover Avenged
Lover Mine
Lover Unleashed
Lover Reborn
Father Mine: Zsadist and Bella’s Story