Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Darius looked around the club, taking in the teeming, half-naked bodies on the dance floor..." (more)
Key Phrases: Billy Riddle, Scribe Virgin, Good God (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Signet (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451216954
• ISBN-13: 978-0451216953
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (411 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,813 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

144 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Vampire Series That Entertains!!!, January 27, 2006

By	Kristi Ahlers (Illinois) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Wrath is a vampire who prefers to be alone, and work alone. When his good friend Darius asks for Wrath's help with his daughter he is turned down by Wrath. Knowing going into the request it would probably be a negative answer he still attempts to reach Wrath's softer side. Darius's daughter is half human and she is getting ready to change over but will need the help of a strong vampire male. Wrath thinks he has been able to walk away from that commitment and responsibility but then Darius is killed. Now he must look over his friend's daughter. Too bad the human, Beth speaks to the long buried part of him he thought dead. Will he be able to walk away from her after her transition?

Beth has been noticing changes in her body but has been largely ignoring them as she goes about her business as writer for a local newspaper. But one night she thinks she dreams about a dark, large man who has fangs and it scares her. When she realizes it was not a dream but reality she at first wants to freak out...but then she also can't get over how sexy he is. When she finds out the truth about herself and Wrath will Beth be willing to accept what fate has in store or will the Lessers get to her first?

Ms. Ward's new vampire world is a delicious addition to the sub-genre of vampire fiction. Her story is a little dark, and little erotic, and a whole lot entertaining. She has taken the vampire legend and has made it her own. With an eclectic group of secondary characters, her own creatively drawn bad guys the reader will not roll their eyes with boredom. I highly look forward to the next in the series.

94 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Violent than Sherrilyn Kenyon but with a WONDERFUL Romance, September 22, 2005

By	Cat Lover - See all my reviews

What an excellent writer this is! Dark Lover will easily make the best seller lists and win awards. I love paranormal romances (as well as all other kinds of romances - having read hundreds of them) and this is top quality. At first, I was dismayed by the level of violence and cussing in this book, it being even grittier than Kenyon's and Feehan's works. Still, I think Sherrilyn Kenyon fans will love this. The romance was superb - not overboard on the sex but plenty of detailed sensuality - just perfect! We get to meet several lovable(ha!) characters which will make up future books in this series and I will read them all, even if I am flinching a bit at all the blood, gore and language. The romantic line is worth it.

57 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dark Lover, September 24, 2008

By	LTR "Love to Read" (BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1) (The Black Dagger Brotherhood) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ugh. I hated this book. With all of the rave reviews given to this book I was extremely shocked to find how much I hated it. Finding one stitch of intelligent dialogue in this book is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Sadly, my original review of this book has been deleted so here I go again.

Here are the characters:

Beth, the heroine. She's half vampire and half human but knows nothing of her vampire heritage. Her food consumption consisted of Twinkies, fish crackers, cookies, chinese food and cola. Good god I felt unhealthy after reading this book. I was just waiting for her to rip out her pack of cigarettes and start chain smoking. Beth's dialogue is simply terrible. When the author delves into her thoughts it is even worse.

Wrath, the hero, and I use this term loosely. He wants to protect Beth while she is going through her transition. He normally doesn't have anything to do with humans but Beth smells good so he makes an exception. He will basically kill anything that gets in his way although the author claims he's quite honorable. He's blind, leather-wearing, (pants too) emotionally weak and the leader of the vampire mobsters. His homeys consist of Tohrment, Rhage, Zsadist and Phury. They are also leather-wearing, sword-weilding vampires who sit around listening to rap. One of them likes to rape and kill. Cool.

We have some really wonderful baby powder scented villains (no I'm not joking) who are trying to kill all the honorable vampires. Mr. X as he's called is the most one dimensional villain that I've ever read. His scenes are really quite disgusting. There must only be 26 of these soulless, zombie villains because we would run out of letters pretty quickly otherwise and would have to think up real names.

Butch is a stereotypical, macho cop who's in love with Beth. He actually hiked up his pants when he was going in for an arrest. Yep.

There are a few other cardboard characters within the book but they are really not worth mentioning.

Within the book you can read such wonderfully original prose:

"His throat was raw, and it felt like he'd french-kissed a blowtorch."

"He looked like he was smuggling paint rollers under his skin." (refers to six pack abs)

These are probably the worst similes I have ever read. There are many more in the book though if you like that kind of thing.

I know I didn't really get into the plot but I think you get what I'm trying to say. This was a bad, bad book. Unfortunately I bought a few of the other books in the series at the same time. I've learned my lesson.