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natalie_reads_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
idratherbereading542's review against another edition
3.0
Read Count: 2
- Main Couple: Butch(human then vampire)/Marissa(vampire)
- POVs Included: (will add later)
- Book Playlist (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series Playlist)
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UPDATED REVIEW 5/3/2022:
UPDATED RATING (3 STARS)
So this is my second time reading this one (first time about 12 years ago, see my original review below). It was a bit different this time around but some things the same. The main difference I found is my opinion of Butch.
The first time I read this series I didn’t really like Butch. He seemed so out of place in this world of vampires and I didn’t know what to make of him. But this time around I had the perspective of remembering what happens to him (for the most part), mainly about his destiny to be the Dhestroyer and a vampire of the Brotherhood. Having this perspective really helped me to love his character more even from the beginning of the series.
And I do love his character. He’s loyal and fun and real and I have really come to love the cop.
But boy did this story have some very frustrating things about it. It actually made me anxious at times with how frustrated I was. And honestly I just feel a little bad for this being Butch’s love story. I adore how things turned out for him in terms of the Brotherhood and his destiny. But with Marisssa? Boy he got a crap deal there.
The problem isn’t with Butch, it’s 100% Marissa. I liked her in the first book we meet her. Her and Butch’s meeting was sweet and promising. But in this book she becomes a total selfish condescending bitch. She seems to go out of her way to make Butch feel bad about himself —- she won’t feed from him even just a little, makes him feel bad for being a “weak human”, and totally ruins their first time being intimate by bitching and making him feel completely inadequate despite him being gentle and kind to her. She absolutely doesn’t deserve him.
And then…then… he finds out there’s a way he can change into a vampire so he can finally “be enough for her” (his words, poor guy) and guess what? No! Marissa doesn’t want that because he could get hurt. When he survives the change and is now a powerful vampire, now she insists that he doesn’t fight with the Brotherhood because she doesn’t want him to get hurt! When is it ever enough woman? Are you his mother or his mate? She is totally controlling and honestly a bit emotionally abusive towards him, and he deserves so much better than her. The way she tries to “protect” him is so offensive against his ability to be an alpha male. Poor guy.
Which brings me to who Butch should have really been with… Vishous. I mean, I’m not even into reading M/M romances, but these two characters had exponentially more chemistry and sexual tension than Butch had with Marissa. What’s up with that? I mean, really? I’ve read through Vishous’ book and know nothing comes from this (clearly) sexual tension between them, so why build it up like this? It’s weird that it was even portrayed this way if Ward never intended to bring them together in a romantic relationship. And no, this isn’t just wishful imaginings. There are scenes where it is pretty blatant the direction of their feelings (especially the scenes where we hear Vishous’ thoughts about licking Marissa’a arm after Butch fed from her, and the scene where he bites Butch during the Brotherhood initiation).
The whole thing just made me feel terribly bad for poor Vishous, who treats Butch with the utmost respect and love. This poor guy is hurting so bad and my heart burst into a thousand pieces when he had his breakdown on the balcony and told Butch he wanted to fly away. Oh my gosh. I can’t stand his hurting! It slays me! So why Ward? Why did you tease about a relationship with these two that clearly never progresses in this way? It’s just weird and confusing and honestly downright frustrating to me. Why tease like that?
Aside from these issues, there were lots I did like about this book. I liked the Brotherhood in general, the glimpse we got if Zsadist and Bella (so much love for these two!), John (love love love him so much), and Rhev (he’s growing on me BIG time). I also like how the story arc with the lessers and how Butch ties in with them played out in the book. Very interesting and can’t wait to see how that progresses.
Overall the book was good. It would’ve easily been 4 stars if not for Marissa, who ruins every page she’s on. Too bad for that. But pretty much everyone else was good, I even liked the lesser POVs better than her — go fig!
Excited for the next one. Poor Vicious needs a HEA dammit. Big fat glowing *hugs* for him.
Marissa you can just fade into the background now, k thanks, byeeeee!
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ORIGINAL REVIEW (9/24/2010):
ORIGINAL RATING (4 STARS)
In this fourth Black Dagger Brotherhood book, we get to learn about Butch and Marissa's story. At first, I wasn't too excited about this one. I'm normally really excited by the strong dominant male and being that Butch was a human, I wasn't sure I would be into it.
But I really liked how this story played out. Some really important things came to pass in this book and it seems that Butch's role is much more important than it originally seemed.
I think it's so great that he's officially part of the Brotherhood and that he's a vampire now. I'm so happy about that.
Zsadist is still my favorite though. He still has a mysterious air to him, and I loved hearing about the little playful exchange between him and Bella in this book. I really wish Ward would write another one about them. I know there's Father of Mine as the 6.5 book, but that's not in print.
Anyways, back to the story at hand. I liked this book because not only did it make me like Butch and Marissa more, it also still had the other brothers and the other shellans in the story as well. The previous books seem to not really bring them into it, so I liked that. I also think that Ward is getting a lot better at setting up the plot for the next book. As she was very focused on V and his story.
Overall, it was a great book. I gave it four stars because it didn't compare to Z's story to me. I really enjoyed reading book #3 about him and so I was comparing it in this case. Also, it seems that the sex has been toned down a little bit, although there was some. So I kind of was disappointed there.
Anyways, I'm anxious to read about V's story next and we'll see where that goes.
- Main Couple: Butch(human then vampire)/Marissa(vampire)
- POVs Included: (will add later)
- Book Playlist (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series Playlist)
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
UPDATED REVIEW 5/3/2022:
UPDATED RATING (3 STARS)
So this is my second time reading this one (first time about 12 years ago, see my original review below). It was a bit different this time around but some things the same. The main difference I found is my opinion of Butch.
The first time I read this series I didn’t really like Butch. He seemed so out of place in this world of vampires and I didn’t know what to make of him. But this time around I had the perspective of remembering what happens to him (for the most part), mainly about his destiny to be the Dhestroyer and a vampire of the Brotherhood. Having this perspective really helped me to love his character more even from the beginning of the series.
And I do love his character. He’s loyal and fun and real and I have really come to love the cop.
But boy did this story have some very frustrating things about it. It actually made me anxious at times with how frustrated I was. And honestly I just feel a little bad for this being Butch’s love story. I adore how things turned out for him in terms of the Brotherhood and his destiny. But with Marisssa? Boy he got a crap deal there.
The problem isn’t with Butch, it’s 100% Marissa. I liked her in the first book we meet her. Her and Butch’s meeting was sweet and promising. But in this book she becomes a total selfish condescending bitch. She seems to go out of her way to make Butch feel bad about himself —- she won’t feed from him even just a little, makes him feel bad for being a “weak human”, and totally ruins their first time being intimate by bitching and making him feel completely inadequate despite him being gentle and kind to her. She absolutely doesn’t deserve him.
And then…then… he finds out there’s a way he can change into a vampire so he can finally “be enough for her” (his words, poor guy) and guess what? No! Marissa doesn’t want that because he could get hurt. When he survives the change and is now a powerful vampire, now she insists that he doesn’t fight with the Brotherhood because she doesn’t want him to get hurt! When is it ever enough woman? Are you his mother or his mate? She is totally controlling and honestly a bit emotionally abusive towards him, and he deserves so much better than her. The way she tries to “protect” him is so offensive against his ability to be an alpha male. Poor guy.
Which brings me to who Butch should have really been with… Vishous. I mean, I’m not even into reading M/M romances, but these two characters had exponentially more chemistry and sexual tension than Butch had with Marissa. What’s up with that? I mean, really? I’ve read through Vishous’ book and know nothing comes from this (clearly) sexual tension between them, so why build it up like this? It’s weird that it was even portrayed this way if Ward never intended to bring them together in a romantic relationship. And no, this isn’t just wishful imaginings. There are scenes where it is pretty blatant the direction of their feelings (especially the scenes where we hear Vishous’ thoughts about licking Marissa’a arm after Butch fed from her, and the scene where he bites Butch during the Brotherhood initiation).
The whole thing just made me feel terribly bad for poor Vishous, who treats Butch with the utmost respect and love. This poor guy is hurting so bad and my heart burst into a thousand pieces when he had his breakdown on the balcony and told Butch he wanted to fly away. Oh my gosh. I can’t stand his hurting! It slays me! So why Ward? Why did you tease about a relationship with these two that clearly never progresses in this way? It’s just weird and confusing and honestly downright frustrating to me. Why tease like that?
Aside from these issues, there were lots I did like about this book. I liked the Brotherhood in general, the glimpse we got if Zsadist and Bella (so much love for these two!), John (love love love him so much), and Rhev (he’s growing on me BIG time). I also like how the story arc with the lessers and how Butch ties in with them played out in the book. Very interesting and can’t wait to see how that progresses.
Overall the book was good. It would’ve easily been 4 stars if not for Marissa, who ruins every page she’s on. Too bad for that. But pretty much everyone else was good, I even liked the lesser POVs better than her — go fig!
Excited for the next one. Poor Vicious needs a HEA dammit. Big fat glowing *hugs* for him.
Marissa you can just fade into the background now, k thanks, byeeeee!
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
ORIGINAL REVIEW (9/24/2010):
ORIGINAL RATING (4 STARS)
In this fourth Black Dagger Brotherhood book, we get to learn about Butch and Marissa's story. At first, I wasn't too excited about this one. I'm normally really excited by the strong dominant male and being that Butch was a human, I wasn't sure I would be into it.
But I really liked how this story played out. Some really important things came to pass in this book and it seems that Butch's role is much more important than it originally seemed.
I think it's so great that he's officially part of the Brotherhood and that he's a vampire now. I'm so happy about that.
Zsadist is still my favorite though. He still has a mysterious air to him, and I loved hearing about the little playful exchange between him and Bella in this book. I really wish Ward would write another one about them. I know there's Father of Mine as the 6.5 book, but that's not in print.
Anyways, back to the story at hand. I liked this book because not only did it make me like Butch and Marissa more, it also still had the other brothers and the other shellans in the story as well. The previous books seem to not really bring them into it, so I liked that. I also think that Ward is getting a lot better at setting up the plot for the next book. As she was very focused on V and his story.
Overall, it was a great book. I gave it four stars because it didn't compare to Z's story to me. I really enjoyed reading book #3 about him and so I was comparing it in this case. Also, it seems that the sex has been toned down a little bit, although there was some. So I kind of was disappointed there.
Anyways, I'm anxious to read about V's story next and we'll see where that goes.
alejandra_guerrero's review against another edition
3.25
I liked it, though I’m not sure I appreciate the love polygons the author is trying to force everywhere… Also, the author keeps with the unnecessary and inconsequential stuff that only seems to serve the purpose of fluffing up the word count. Here is Butch’s human family. The only mildly interesting part about them was the epilogue, the rest should have been left out. And the way the author keeps ending chapters in the middle of the action and moving to another character in the next chapter, only to return to the previous action was annoying. It breaks the pace constantly and at times seems disjointed.
The way Marissa acted, paired with the way she’s described, gave me really weird vibes. She’s too childlike for my taste at the beginning. Thankfully, that stops quickly. Though I didn’t appreciate the way she kept pushing Butch away because she “didn’t want him to get hurt”. He gives way more than she does, he makes concession after concession only for her to come up with some other bullshit she doesn’t want him to do. It goes this way almost to the last freaking page, to the point I thought they weren’t going to end up together. I wish they hadn’t. Vishous and Butch made way more sense as a couple, on so many levels.
Zsadist got a personality transplant, but at least Rhage is back.
And please stop throwing “h” in the middle of a word and calling it another language.
The way Marissa acted, paired with the way she’s described, gave me really weird vibes. She’s too childlike for my taste at the beginning. Thankfully, that stops quickly. Though I didn’t appreciate the way she kept pushing Butch away because she “didn’t want him to get hurt”. He gives way more than she does, he makes concession after concession only for her to come up with some other bullshit she doesn’t want him to do. It goes this way almost to the last freaking page, to the point I thought they weren’t going to end up together. I wish they hadn’t. Vishous and Butch made way more sense as a couple, on so many levels.
Zsadist got a personality transplant, but at least Rhage is back.
And please stop throwing “h” in the middle of a word and calling it another language.
secretmagic's review against another edition
5.0
I put off reading ‘Lover Revealed’ for so long and I’m angry at myself for doing so. It was a really good story. I love Butch, he’s funny and sensitive and SUPER sexy, and I should have known his time in the spotlight would be just the same.
I love the relationship between Butch and Vishous. They’re two guys who really connect with each other. The Brotherhood seem to be friends, although sometimes they get very frustrated with one of more brothers; but Butch and V have formed a very strong brother-like bond (sometimes it hints at more, but I doubt it’ll actually go that way; especially when you see how much Butch loves Marissa). It’s interesting to watch them interact with each other.
I was really impressed with the way Marissa develops. She’s so innocent and sheltered, having only really had contact with Wrath for most of her life. I know her brother was around and she was active in the community, but she hadn’t really lived. You see her get past the social boundaries she’s so used to, and while I was annoyed at her a few times for trying to stop Butch from fighting, she really stepped up as a person.
I thought there were a heap of twists in the last book, but so much happens that I wasn’t expecting in Butch’s book. They kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through the book. I kept trying to guess what would happen next and was desperate to find out how the story would end.
Despite how important the lessers are in ‘Lover Revealed’ they didn’t annoy me as much as they have in the past. I don’t know if that’s because I’m accepting their role in the series more, or the fact that they weren’t in the story is much as in previous books; but either way I found them a lot easier to handle.
Really looking forward to Vishous’s book.
5/5 stars
I love the relationship between Butch and Vishous. They’re two guys who really connect with each other. The Brotherhood seem to be friends, although sometimes they get very frustrated with one of more brothers; but Butch and V have formed a very strong brother-like bond (sometimes it hints at more, but I doubt it’ll actually go that way; especially when you see how much Butch loves Marissa). It’s interesting to watch them interact with each other.
I was really impressed with the way Marissa develops. She’s so innocent and sheltered, having only really had contact with Wrath for most of her life. I know her brother was around and she was active in the community, but she hadn’t really lived. You see her get past the social boundaries she’s so used to, and while I was annoyed at her a few times for trying to stop Butch from fighting, she really stepped up as a person.
I thought there were a heap of twists in the last book, but so much happens that I wasn’t expecting in Butch’s book. They kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through the book. I kept trying to guess what would happen next and was desperate to find out how the story would end.
Despite how important the lessers are in ‘Lover Revealed’ they didn’t annoy me as much as they have in the past. I don’t know if that’s because I’m accepting their role in the series more, or the fact that they weren’t in the story is much as in previous books; but either way I found them a lot easier to handle.
Really looking forward to Vishous’s book.
5/5 stars
jcoonzie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
amyjo1205's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
thenovelcourt's review against another edition
3.0
Ughhhhh, I hate having to give this 3 stars because I love Butch, I love his comical narrative, and most of all I love his character (and wardrobe) development. But Marissa irritates the fuck out of me.
The couple had such a strong start but this book was a journey of falling out of love with the idea of them (cough and further into the idea of Butch and V cough). And despite enjoying Butch as the centered character, I couldn't help but note the lacking of the beloved Twins in the narrative (already bad enough that two of the brothers are out of the picture).
But did I still read this in less than 24 hours? Yes. Would I be immediately going on to the V's story now? You bet.
The couple had such a strong start but this book was a journey of falling out of love with the idea of them (cough and further into the idea of Butch and V cough). And despite enjoying Butch as the centered character, I couldn't help but note the lacking of the beloved Twins in the narrative (already bad enough that two of the brothers are out of the picture).
But did I still read this in less than 24 hours? Yes. Would I be immediately going on to the V's story now? You bet.