Book Review: Lover Revealed by J.R Ward

Review: Lover Revealed
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood – Book 4
Author: J.R Ward
No of Pages: 455
Release Date: 6 March 2007

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there’s a war raging between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other – six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. But now an ally of the Brotherhood is about to encounter his own dark desires...

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...

My Thoughts:

Lover Revealed told the story of Butch, the only human fighter associated with the Black Dagger Brotherhood. While being slightly predictable it was still an excellent instalment in this fantastic series.

Butch is in love with Marissa one of the social elite in the vampire world, but it doesn’t seem that Marissa wants him back after shunning him repeatedly. When Butch gets into trouble though and looks close to dying Marissa is there by his side to help him through a sickness brought on by the Omega.

Butch was always one of those characters that kind of annoyed me. I felt like he was mooching off the brothers money and hospitality even though if he left they would have to kill him for what he knew. He was even punching above his weight when it came to Marissa, she is rich, one of the most beautiful vampires there is and she is heir to one of the most powerful families in the BDB world.

But as the spotlight was shone on Butch I couldn’t help but like him, all he wanted was what was best for his friends and Marissa. Sure he's not as strong as any of the other fighters because he is only human but he still contributes by using his experience as a cop.

I still don't particularly like Marissa though; she is too frail and helpless for my tastes. Marissa relies far too heavily on others to be much help to anyone, even when she had the opportunity to strike out on her own and leave all of her rules behind like she said she so desperately wanted she still went running to the nearest powerful vampire to her.

Thankfully she toughened up right towards the end but it wasn't enough to make up for the weak character she was portrayed as for the entire time she has been in the series.

Although Lover Revealed wasn't entirely focused on Vishous he made quite a strong appearance because he is Butch’s best friend. I loved Vishous’ story even more than I loved Butch’s and I can't wait to get into Lover Unbound so that all of the focus is on him.

Lover Revealed definitely isn't the strongest relationship wise, but it does further the story immensely. We are getting deeper into the back story behind Rehvenge and the fight between the vampires and the lessers is starting to get more intriguing.

Lover Revealed is a hot action filled story and although the main characters weren't as strong as previous novels in this series the plot progressed very interestingly and has left me eager for the next instalment in this fantastic series.

Also in this series:
Dark Lover
Lover Eternal
Lover Awakened
Lover Unbound
Lover Enshrined
Lover Avenged
Lover Mine
Lover Unleashed