BDB Read-Along: Lover Revealed Discussion

Welcome to the Lover Revealed Discussion!  A month ago we started off the Black Dagger Brotherhood Read-Along with Dark Lover over at Dark Faerie Tales, but today we’re focusing on the human Butch with Lover Revealed.  In this fourth installment, JR Ward focuses on the human who stumbled into the Black Dagger Brotherhood and the impossible relationship he wants to have.  The war with the Lessers has just become more interesting with the appearance of a long lost prophecy.

While we see many of the Brothers in Lover Revealed, for today’s discussion, we are only focusing on those events within Lover Revealed and any characters that impact this story.  Many of us have read ahead in the series, but no spoilers please.

Here is the read-a-long schedule:
Dark Lover is now posted over at Dark Faerie Tales
Lover Eternal is now posted here at Literary Escapism
Lover Awakened is now posted at Dark Faerie Tales
Lover Revealed is now posted here at Literary Escapism
Lover Unbound – Discussion hosted by Dark Faerie Tales
Feb 24th – Lover Enshrined – Discussion hosted by Literary Escapism
Mar 9th – Lover Avenged – Discussion hosted by Dark Faerie Tales
Mar 16th – Lover Mine – Discussion hosted by Literary Escapism
Mar 23rd – Lover Unleashed – Discussion hosted by Dark Faerie Tales
Mar 30th – Lover Reborn – Discussion hosted by Literary Escapism

JRWard-Lover RevealedButch 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. His heart belongs to a female vampire, Marissa, an aristocratic beauty who’s way out of his league. And if he can’t have her, then at least he can fight side by side with the Brothers.

But 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 on Marissa to bring him back, though even her love may not be enough to save him.

Note: Direct quotes from the book are in italics.

The Brotherhood & Vampire Society

Butch

Butch finds out about the Brotherhood through is connection to Beth, prior to her mating with Wrath. Because he stumbled upon them and learned their secrets, his life took a drastic change.

“Sometimes fate takes you in fucked-up directions.” Six months ago he’d had nothing in his life. No woman. No family he was close to. No home to speak of. And his job as a homicide detective had been eating him alive. Then he’d gotten canned for police brutality. Fallen in with the Brotherhood through a bizarre series of events. Met the one and only woman who’d ever awed him stupid. Also had a total wardrobe makeover. [Butch]

Due to his human nature, Butch is often left out of the “fun” of the Brotherhood tracking down lessers and disposing of them. He is not amused to know that he is considered “kept” because he’s not as powerful as his new vampire family.

“Why are you doing this? You’re just a human – “ / “I am so sick of hearing that. Leave!”

Is best friends with Vishous. V had a vision of Butch and convinced Wrath to let him stay with the Brotherhood.

“I liked you, cop. From the moment I met you. No… not the first moment. I wanted to kill you when I first met you. But then I liked you. A lot.” [V to Butch]

[V thinking about Butch] “What the hell was he going to do without that smart-ass, tough-talking, Scotch-sucking SOB? The rough bastard somehow smoothed the edges of life, probably because he was like sandpaper, a scratchy, persistent wrong-way-rub-that left everything more even.”

His life undergoes even more changes when he saves a couple of civilians from three lessers, who in turn, capture him and surrenders him to their Forelesser. Knowing of his ties with the Brothers, the Omega plants a piece of him within Butch in order to get inside the Brotherhood. The plan ultimately fails.

“You are letting him go,” the Omega said…”The Brotherhood has among its weaknesses a paralyzing loyalty, do they not? Yes, paralyzing fidelity. They claim what is theirs. It is the animal in them.” The Omega held out its hand. “A knife, please. I am of a mind to make this human useful.”

Butch gets to the point where he doesn’t want to be the “kept human” and after surviving the blood drink Vishous slips him in Lover Awakened, the Brotherhood wonders if Butch has a little vampire in him. Vishous is able to do a ancestor regression and it turns out…

“What was the result? he asked, panicked. V…what did you find out? What was – “ / Wrath smiled broadly, his fangs so very white. “What’s doing…cousin. Course, I always knew you were a royal. Just didn’t think it went past the pain-in-the-ass part, is all.”

Marissa

Was Wrath’s shellan in name only and has since been thought of as undesired. No other male will approach her because the glymera believes something is wrong with her since the last pure blooded-vampire did not accept her as a shellan.

The forsaken female. The one left behind. The unwanted, defective, spinster virgin who not even a purebred warrior like Wrath had been able to bear sexually even once, if only to rid her of being a newling. And thanks to his repulsion, she was ever unmated, though she been with Wrath for waht had seemed like forever. You had to have been taken to be considered someone’s shellan.

Butch fell for Marissa the first time he met her.

Marissa undergoes huge changes in Lover Revealed as Havers shows just how messed up he is and kicks her out after he catches her with Butch.

“You need to leave this house. / I – I can’t have you near me anymore. I don’t trust this anger you bring out in me. It triggers acts of such violence.”

She has been forced to learn how to survive on her own. She realized she hadn’t been living before and sets out to try new things.

“You know what?” Marissa eyed the blue jeans the queen had on. “I’ve never worn a pair of pants before.”

“I’ve got two pairs here if you want to try them out.”

Well, wasn’t this a night for firsts. Sex. Arson. Pants

Vishous

Vishous begins to realize that his life is going to take another drastic change. His visions are still dried up and he feels like he’s losing his best friend now that Butch is with Marissa.

You were the only friend I had.” More with that god-awful laugh. “Even though I had my brothers, you were the only one I was close to. I don’t do relationships well, you know. You were different, though.” / “And you weren’t like those others, you never cared I was different. The others…they hated me because I was different. Not that it matters. They’re all dead now.”

John Matthew, Qhuinn and Blaylock

Jon is still sleeping in Tohr’s office, but begins to take his meals up at the big house with the other residents. He also begins his training with the other pre-transition males. They learn about different styles of fighting, a variety of weapons, and anything else warriors would need in order to protect their race.

Qhuinn and Blaylock are two of the other young vampires going through training with John. They help pull him out of his shell and become his first friends.

He had always wanted to have friends. Not a big group or anything. But a few, solid, strong…friends. The kind you could rely on ‘til death. Like brothers.

Havers

Havers shows exactly what kind of man (vampire) he really is after he finds his sister alone with Butch – a conceited, vain egotistical male who only thinks of himself.

As the heat drained away, clarity came, and for the first time, she truly saw her brother: brillant of mind, devoted to his patients, loving of his dead shellan…and utterly rigid. A male of science and order who liked rules and predictability and enjoyed a precise vision of life.

And he was clearly willing to protect that worldview at the cost of her future…her happiness…her very shelf.

By clinging to the past and trying to force his will on his sister. He refuses to allow Marissa to make her own choices and treats her no better than one would a wayward and headstrung child.

Rehvenge

Rehvenge is beginning to appear more and more throughout the series and it becomes very apparent that he’s going to be playing a bigger role at some point with how much development he’s receiving.

Rehv is a symphath, which is a species within the vampire race that has the ability to manipulate emotions in others for the purpose of an energy exchange. Symphath’s are normally hunted or discriminated against, so Rehv has to hide his true nature, although the brotherhood does know.

Also known as the Reverend who owns ZeroSum which caters to any desire both human or vampire could want – durgs, sex, alcohol, etc.

The Reverend, aka Rehvenge, aka Rehvenge, aka brother of Z’s shellan, Bella, owned ZeroSum and took a cut of everything that went down. / Everyone knew the place was a drug hole and a sex pool…you could walk in any night of the week and see dozens of legal infractions, most of them happening in tandem. [Butch]

Now that Marissa can no longer go to Wrath to feed, she begins to visit Rehvenge who is more than willing to offer himself. Even though she has said that she is in love with another, Rehv develops feelings for Marissa. When Butch found out that Marissa was feeding from Rehv, he went crazy and tried to kill Rehv with his bare hands.

“Why did it have to be you?” Butch yelled into the fray. “I fucking like you. Why did it have to be you?”

Lessening Society

Mr. X

Mr. X is brought back as the Forelesser after Mr. O’s demise in Lover Awakened.

The fact that Mr. X was back on the flipping planet and in this role once again was still a shocker to him. But it seemed as if the master had grown tired of his revolving door of Fore-lessers and wanted to make one stick. As Mr. X had evidently been the best of the lot in the last fifty or sixty years, he’d been called into service for another round.

After being returned to the Omega and then returned to being the Forelesser, Mr. X has begun looking for a loophole to leave the Omega’s service completely. He believes he finds it in an old prophecy and goes about making it happen.

Lessers

They are experiencing turmoil within their ranks. Too many changes in leadership in too short a time. Now their leader is concentrating on saving himself and not fighting the vampires.

Discussion

  1. What did you think of Butch?
  2. What did you think of Marissa? What did you think of her change since Dark Lover? Did she become a strong heroine?
  3. Did you believe in their relationship?
  4. What did you think of Butch and V’s relationship? Were you hoping they’d kiss, at very least, once?
  5. What was your favorite scene in Lover Revealed?
  6. Who was your favorite character in Lover Revealed?

Glossary of Terms and Proper Nouns

Vocabulary from the previous novels can be found on their discussion pages:

Dhunhd (pr n.) – Hell

lheage (n) – A term of respect used by a sexual submissive to refer to her dominant.

mhis (n) – The masking of a given physical environment; the creastion of a field of illusion.

newling (n) – A virgin.

the Omega (pr n.) – Malevolent, mystical figure who has targeted the vampires for extinction out of resentment directed toward the Scribe Virgin. Exists in a nontemporal realm and has extensive powers, though not the power of creation.

phearsom (adj.) – Term referring to the potency of a male’s sexual organs. Literal translation something close to “worthy of entering a female”.

trahyner (n.) – Word used between males of mutual respect and affection. Translated loosely as “beloved friend”.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.