Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward

24 reviews

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I don't really know what to say about this book.  It's the first one I managed to pick up and finish in a while so it had that going for it but part of that might have been that I wanted to see where the trainwreck go.

So many things were conveniently coincidental.  It was full of tropes that I hate, like fridging, dubious consent, insta-lust/love, etc...

The take on vampires was different I suppose but the secret society based enemy was decidedly wacky.  Will not be continuing the series.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

karelidz's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Meh. it was fine. I think its a good book in the moment but its nothing that will stick with you after. That being said, i didnt really love the relationship between Beth and Wrath; to me it felt like there was no real reason why they were attracted to each other, they had only known each other for 2 days and they already argued as if they had been together for years, to me that felt a bit off.
Also, the pacing for me was a just a tad slow because of the switching of pov's with no real progress in the story. The ending was sorta good but it ofc had to leave it open for the next books, which i will not be reading.

Also also, i have a bone to pick with book covers that sugest spicy themes but they're actually not. This is one of them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Kidnapping, and Car accident

emmablue's review against another edition

3.0

the hottest line:

“I’m going to shoot you.”
“Fine with me. I like bullet wounds.”

the most ridiculous line:

Why couldn’t she have been named Mary. Or Sue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Transphobia, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Murder

smartcookiesca's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Sexual assault, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content and Stalking

Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Rape

allingoodtime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 

This book has been on my radar for a very long time. It comes up in a lot of discussions of paranormal romance and it’s been recommended to me by various people. A couple of years ago I even purchased the book when I saw it was on sale. Well, I’m glad I finally got around to reading it because I believe I’m going to enjoy this series.

Of course, because it’s over 10 years old, there are some problematic elements to the writing. Things like police brutality and there are some elements I found to be homophobic. It wasn’t in your face so it was hard to know for sure if the author was using these elements to show how terrible certain characters are or if it was a product of how blind many of us were to such things and how we spoke 15 years ago.

That being said, there were a lot of surprises to this story. There were a few characters that I really, really, really did not like at the beginning that I ended up liking (and in one case even loving) by the end. The way the author integrated all of the characters by the conclusion of this book was genius. About a quarter of the way in I was a bit concerned about how everything would come together. There were a lot of threads to follow, not just the stories of Beth and Wrath. I was afraid it was too much, although I knew there was a lot of story building needed in the first book of a paranormal series. I quickly forgot my concerns as the author wove an intriguing tale.

Every author who writes about vampires, or any other paranormal type creature, puts their own spin on the lore. These vampires have heartbeats, are more easily killed than most vampires I’ve read about, and don’t live forever. That was something I found myself to be keen on. It added a different element to this story I wasn’t expecting.

Of course, this is also a romance and that part of the story was also delightful. In the beginning, I wish Beth and Wrath would have spent more time together. I wasn’t sure if I’d feel the payoff if they didn’t. Yet when the two of them were in the same room all of the chemistry would light up. And, although Beth was knocked for a loop by what was happening and had a ton of questions, and needed some time, she didn’t wait long to jump in with both feet and allow those that could help her to do so.

There are well over 20 books in this series, not including those still slated to be published and the books from the different spin-off series. I’m looking forward to working my way through them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny and Police brutality

marareading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.0

I really enjoyed this. It is a fun vampire romance. I loved the new take that the vampires don't feed on humans, I haven't seen that in a vampire story before. I also liked that there were the cops, the humans,  the lessers, and the vampires. All balanced and all had a different part of their story. They all came together we'll. It has a great balance of plot and spice.

this story is mainly about Beth. She is an orphan. Half human, half vampire. Yet she doesn't know it. Wrath has been charged to look after her and protect her as she goes through a potential change to a vampire, which is 50/50 at this point given her parentage. As the story escalates, we learn more about the brotherhood, Wrath, The lessers, and the history of the vampires. 

I really enjoyed this and I will definitely continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

stephaniemcuervo's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child death, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, and War

inkdrinkermal's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Just bizarre. Vampires using early aughts slang despite being hundreds of years old was jarring and kept pulling me out of the story. I liked it, but kept wondering why. I'll read the next one and probably feel similarly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Police brutality

pvbobrien's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Torture, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

kaadee's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Ok so I was basically forced to read this book and I have a lot of thoughts.
First of all, I would like to start of saying I am a feminist. The last thing I enjoy is a man being annoying and very misogynistic. That was my main problem with the book, the lack of boundaries the men had. I mean, in one chapter they all grabbed the main character like 10 times. Have they never heard of keeping their hands to themselves?? It isn’t hard. I get that the book is smut and it’s woman’s fantasies (yadayada i don’t care) I’m not a huge smut reader whatsoever so the constant sex scenes was annoying but whatever, if it’s your cup of tea sure go ahead.  I could work around the sex part and enjoy the actual story of the lessening society, sure.
Well, the world building is trash. So, if I wasn’t going to pay attention to the sex part I was paying attention to the plot and the world. It had no substance. I mean, I feel like the author just made up words to describe things and the Encyclopedia in the beginning made me feel like I was about to read a good world building story. Nah. The lessening society is a terrible enemy but I lowkey agree with their actions (just a bit hah sorry) I don’t understand the whole beef with the Scribe Virgin and the Omega like can’t you just fight or something? Why carry on a needless battle for hundreds of years.
Second of all, we are literally introduced to the main character when she is being sexually assaulted. I mean, come on!! Why do women need to be sexually assaulted to further a plot? They don’t! It’s stupid and it makes me hate the author just a little bit more. Also -1 star for all the pop culture references. Jesus, if there’s one thing I hate in a book it’s a pop culture reference just thrown in there for the fun of it. It ruins the fantasy for me especially when they talk about Wrath banging it out to Jay-Z. Who needs to know that? Because I honestly don’t care.
Now that I hated on the book let me go over some things I enjoyed. The dialogue between the side characters. An author who can make side characters loveable is doing a good job. I want more of the side characters and I feel like they all had individual personalities. I enjoyed their banter with each other, like, a lot. It was funny at times, so funny I even laughed out loud. I also enjoy the Scribe Virgin. It’s nice to know there is someone (a woman) that puts these Alpha males in their place.
Anyway, I will be reading the next book but only because I’m interested in seeing if the series gets ANY better (hoping)

2023 return: changing my rating because this is one of my favorite series. You can make fun of me for this review, it’s ok. I was innocent back then lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment