Book Review: JR Ward LOVER REVEALED

Review: LOVER REVEALED by JR Ward

Lover Revealed, 455pgs
JR Ward
Penquin/Onyx Books
March 2007
ISBN: 978-0-451-41235-5

From the back cover: 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 Marissa, 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 on Marissa to bring him back. But even her love may not be enough to save him....

The Brotherhood is back and they are fighting mad. With all the changes within the vampire world, the battle with the lessers is adapting as well. In this book, the war takes another drastic turn... for the better! For the past months Butch has been on the fringes of the war. Daytime investigations, 'crime scene' workings, and being on-call to help the Brother's around when someone is hurt; he's become depressed and disappointed that the Brothers won't allow him to do more.

When the story begins we find him in the current local watering hole, Zero-Sum. After coincidence brings him to the aid of a civilian vampire under attack by the lessers, Butch is captured and tortured by the fore-lesser. When the Omega appears to examine the captive, Butch discovers that there are somethings in life that he is afraid of. After the Omega taints him, Butch is left as the proverbial Trojan horse for the Brotherhood to find and save. Vishous is able to track him because of the incident in the Pit where he forced Butch to drink some of his blood. Upon finding him, the Scribe Virgin appears and instructs V on what needs to be done to save his friend.

Nursed back to health by Marissa and Vishous, Butch and Marissa are able to talk about the issues that have plagued their non-relationship to date. As a result they realize that they might have a chance at being together after all, only to have circumstances stand in their way once more. After his release from Haver's hospital, Butch comes to the quick conclusion that while he may be physically fit and restored, not all is as it was when a quick fight with some lessers comes to an unexpected end-for the lesser. This gives him just one more thing to worry about.

Meanwhile due to his discovery of Marissa's relationship with Butch, Havers kicks her out of their home. Left with no where to go and no one else to turn to, Marissa shows up at the compound seeking the aid of Wrath, Beth, and the rest of the Brotherhood. Quickly enveloped by the warmth and love of both Beth and Wrath, Marissa settles in to take stock of her new situation. Upon discovery that Butch is recovering from another battle with the lessers, Marissa insists on seeing him. With her at the compound and Butch at the Pit they realize they couldn't avoid eachother, even if they wanted to and try once more to make things work between them.

Things go well until Marissa needs to feed and due to the fact that he's human she must feed from someone else. Dropping once more into a depression of feeling like less than adequate, Butch ends up once more at Zero-Sum where he proceeds to get thoroughly drunk. Vishous takes him home and Marissa comes to the Pit to take care of him. In that moment they take a major step in their relationship that neither is fully prepared for.


One thing leads to another, several plot twists and hair pulling moments later and readers of the latest Black Dagger Brotherhood book are left with a warm and fuzzy feeling surrounding their heart and a numb, awe-inspiring sense of dread as to what could possibly happen next in the series....

Once more JR Ward has written a story that is fresh and exciting, and keeps it's readers on the edge of their seats throughout. Since the conception of the BDB, the Warden has enthralled her readers with a world where vampires reign and evil truly exists, all with a backdrop of modern-day Upstate New York. The series has caused a movement in the vamplit world and a vast number of 'cellies' will agree with me when I say that this book is just one more reason why everyone should read and love the Brotherhood. Now we have only to wait for next installment in the BDB series, Lover Unbound, which continues the story from Vishous's POV and comes out this October.