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45 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lover Revealed- Butch's Story, March 6, 2007
After every Black Dagger Brotherhood Novel I read, I find myself with a new favorite character. After Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1) it was Wrath, after Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 2) it was Rhage, and after Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 3) it was Zsadist. So I suppose I really shouldn't have been surprised when upon finishing this novel I decided that Butch is my new favorite character.
"Lover Revealed" by J.R. Ward did not disappoint me in the least. Be warned that if you haven't read the previous three books in this series, that you will not understand a large portion of the story.
The story focuses on Butch, and his relationship with Marissa. We also learn quite a bit about his past. There were moments were I was a bit teary-eyed so be prepared. I also loved seeing the friendship that Butch has with the rest of the Brothers. And I was glad to see that young John was back in this book, even though he had not completely recovered after earlier events (who can blame him?).
I'm already looking forward to the next addition to the Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels. At the end of this story we get a small sneak peek of Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 5). Keep up the good work J.R. Ward, I can't wait to read more!
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, Sensual and Satisfying, March 6, 2007
I admit that when I read the first novel in this series a while back, I wasn't overly impressed. I thought it was just ok, and I didn't intend to read any more Black Dagger books. But then a lot of people recommended the later books to me and I found myself excited about giving this series another chance. And I'm so glad I did. Although I'm not super-devoted, ardent fan-- i.e. I don't think I'll be spending time on any message boards discussing the novels in depth-- I thought Lover Revealed was a very satisfying read with a compelling central romance and tons of intrigue, passion and great dialogue. In fact, I think that because my expectations weren't sky-high, I found this book even more enjoyable and worth the money/time than I anticipated.
The story has already been summarized by many other reviews, so I won't do so again here. But I found Marissa and Butch's coming together to be very sweet and sexy. Many have said they didn't necessarily feel their connection, but I certainly did. They had an intense, immediate attraction, first introduced in the initial book of the series, that developed into infatuation and then love. Marissa and Butch's mutual loneliness at the beginning of the novel had me rooting for them to finally find each other again and once they did it was sweet, but full of the kind of angst and conflict needed to give the story its momentum.
A few things I liked: first, how expertly J.R. Ward weaves in secondary characters and subplots. This book does an especially good job of developing V's character (his book is the next one and I can't wait for it), including his sexual issues and deep loneliness. There are some homoerotic moments, as other reviewers have mentioned, but they're pretty ambiguous, and overall the point of them seemed to be to show a) Butch and V's intense friendship (very moving) and b) to set the stage for V to realize that he wants and craves real love and intimacy from a woman.
Also, I loved how, at 400+ pages, this book kept me engaged and left me feeling completely satisfied. I truly appreciate that the author releases new titles so quickly and keeps them packed with great storytelling and interwoven narratives.
There's a lot of gritty suspense involving the Omega, Butch's true nature is revealed (hence the title) and we see Wrath, Beth, Zsadist and Bella again-- all of which kept me happily turning the pages.
I recommend this book to anyone who loves or simply likes this series. You can read it by itself, but it is better read as part of the series.
I was hooked from the first page and even though the darkness of these novels can sometimes feel a bit heavy, there are always sexy, romantic moments that balance them out. J.R. Ward is also an author you can trust to deliver plots and characters you can care about.
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78 of 94 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
How Butch Got His Groove Back, March 26, 2007
You know, I've about had it with J.R. Ward's urban vampire series. The first one was great, but every book since them has been the same book, same formula, and same issues, just with a different main character. In Lover Awakened, JR Ward introduced us to the Black Dagger Brother, hardcore vampire warriors out to protect their race from the evil Lessening Society, their mortal enemies. The Brothers are really manly men. Tattooed, leather-wearing, trash-talking, rap music at the dinner table kind of guys with the occasional missing limb. Then there is Butch, the human side-kick.
Poor Butch. He had a awful childhood, used to have a coke addiction, currently is an alcoholic, got kicked off the police force, and being the Brotherhood's human mascot isn't helping his self-esteem any either. Things get even worse for him even the Lessers kidnap him, beat him up, and put a ball of pure evil in his stomach. His blood and other unmentionable fluids start turning black and he starts gaining weird powers. While recuperating he meets back up with Marissa, the beautiful vampire aristocrat that is the jilted ex-wife of Vampire King Wrath. Butch has been pining away for her for several novels, as an unfortunate misunderstanding instigated by Marissa's brother has him thinking she wants nothing to do with him.
The main problem with JR Ward's series is that these books at just bloated with repetition. The same series of events seem to play over and over again until the novel reaches a resolution. It goes something like this: Brothers fight the lessers. Cut to Brotherhood trainee John polishing his fighting skills. Cut to lesser boss Mr. X plotting evil. Butch and Marissa have a misunderstanding because the woman won't tell him anything. Back to Mr. X plotting Evil. Butch gets drunk and pines for Marissa. Back to Mr. X again. Brothers fight lessers again. Butch and Marissa have another misunderstanding which sends him back to the bottle again. Back to John. And it seems to go on like this for four hundred and fifty pages.
I am seriously starting to hate the lessers and how much time is spent on them. As villains they are totally ineffective. Compared to the Brothers, they are like the minions on a Saturday morning cartoon. They have superior numbers, but not the skills to back it up. The Brothers mow through them every time, and all Mr. X can do is shake his fist and say "Curses! I'll get you next time!"
Another fatal flaw of the series is that while Ward usually creates interesting heroes, her heroines are practically non-entities. Marissa might as well be a blow-up doll for all the impression she makes. Scratch that, she does make impression but it isn't a very good one. The woman has a talent for pushing Butch away, not explaining why, and them wailing to herself that no man wants her. A practical misunderstanding on legs is Marissa. I wanted to give this woman a big slice of clue cake the entire novel. Butch isn't that great of a leading man himself. It seemed like the entire novel he was either drunk, sick, or beaten black or blue. I couldn't help but think that Ward was more interested in Vishous, one of the other Brothers, than she was in Butch.
I wish Ward would ease up on the urban slang. This book practically needs you to be at UrbanDictionary.com to decipher it at some points. If there is a slang term for anything, Ward is going to use it place of the proper word. The made-up vampire language is also starting to grate on me. Ward takes English terms and starts adding random h's and z's and calls it a new language. Seclusion becomes sehclusion and fearsome becomes phearsome. I dohn't knohw zwhy buht it izs zstahrting to ahnnohy me. I think it's because in my head I always picture the Brothers saying those words like I imagine Goofy from Disney cartoons might.
I'm just burned out on the Brothers, I guess. I think I'm giving Ward one more chance to add some variety to the series or I'm writing it off.
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