Dark Lover

The Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1

By: J. R. Ward

Narrated by: Jim Frangione

The first novel of J. R. Ward's New York Times best-selling Black Dagger Brotherhood series features a unique take on vampire lore and heavy doses of sensuality.

The vampire Darius fears for the life of his half-breed daughter, who is unaware of her unusual destiny. To oversee her transformation, Darius seeks help from Wrath, a dangerous loner and the world's only purebred vampire.

©2005 J.R. Ward (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Fantastic Book Paranormal

I have heard soooo many people talking about the Black Dagger Brotherhood so I thought well let me try this book out and see what the fuss is all about. One thing I can tell you is holy smokes this book has a massive hotness factor!

Paranormal isn't really my cup of tea but i enjoyed this book a great deal.

This book is full of hot alpha males, vampires, the plot is definitely intriguing, the characters are well developed, and the dialogue was witty and kept me swiping my kindle.

There were a couple points where I think maybe I got a little overwhelmed or confused because there were several different POV's and so I had to change paces really quick as one chapter would end and another began.

Beth was awesome she is a fiesty soul, independent and strong, and her whole world is about to do a complete 360 and she has no idea.

"And then the extraordinary happened. As he stopped in front of her, she felt a blast of pure unadulterated lust. For the first time in her life her body got wickedly hot. Hot and wet."

Wrath, Rhage and Tohrment ... these names are rocking and surprising the vampires aren't as horrible as their names sound (LOL)

I can't wait to dive further into the story and see what happens!

Jim Frangione was outstanding with the delivery of the story

Pleasantly surprised

When I started "reading" this book, I honestly couldn't find myself getting into it. As I entered into the second part...I found that I was getting more into the tale. It's becoming a compulsion to listen to the remaining tales... Nothing at all like Charlaine Harris or Stephanie Meyers... Pure fluff reading.. but an escape all the same....

Interesting take

My mom recommended this series to me as we both like the same genre. The story had an interesting take on the paranormal. I would have given 5 stars, but there were too many sex scenes that lasted too long. A few are fine, but I found myself skipping sections every morning as I listened to the book.

Great Adult Angle for a Vampire tale. Great Start

I love this introduction of a vampire world different from the traditional world of
Anne Rice vampires we have come to know. Ms. Ward removes the stereotypical evil beings, with their viral feeding / killing off of human race angle that has been used in the past to tells the tale of vampires. She has created a world that exists unknown to the human race consisting of their independent traditions, birth, death, rituals and problems. I love the way J. R. Wards lays out the language of this new world with words like Needing Period, Doggen, Glymera, Lessening Society, Scribe Virgin and my favorites being Hellran and Shellan .In the written book form of the story Ward has included a literal glossary of terms and proper nouns. It’s like a verbal equivalent of watching the construction of a new building, first the foundation which is Wrath the King, then the frame- the Brothers, plumbing, wiring,. Etc.; being everything else in the creation and evolution of this series. Her story line pulls you in slowly giving you time to learn and adjust to a new perspective on these supernatural beings. I love the journey of Wrath being a troubled lone and reluctant king, coming to terms with his history, place and responsibilities to his race and his world. How Wrath unexpectedly finding and falling in love with Beth helped him come to terms with his past prejudices and fears allowing him to step closer to his destiny as a ruler of his race and the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Wrath being a huge sexy hot guy that you would not throw out of bed for eating crackers, coupled with a few hot sex scenes with Beth doesn't hurt the story line either…..Great start to a series.

I’d say about 3.63 stars

I wasn’t feeling it for this title at first. There was just so much machismo going around it was slightly ridiculous. Forget “cultural appropriation”, this was a cultural carjacking—I was moderately disturbed about it as there wasn’t a black person to be found. But I’m a sucker for a passionate romance between man and woman, and the story got me right in the sweet spot. However the ’love’ scenes all struck me as a teenage virgin’s fantasy. I mean peaches for goodness sakes. PEACHES?! Naw...don’t spread that around or somebody is likely to be in for a rude awakening when the time comes. Ultimately the story grew on me and I’m interested in the next installment in the series.

Best audiobook I've ever listen to!!!

Idk where to start at!!! The voices, the scenes, the story, the characters ALL OF IT is perfect!!! The Warden got a hell of a novel here! Over 15 books more to go and I am just anxious as hell to continue ❤️

Love the book but...

Absolutely love the book and Jim Frangione was true to form! Excellent. My only gripe is the editing of the audio book. The extremely long pauses between paragraphs and chapters made me want to pull my hair out. This needs to be fixed.

surprisingly good!

I've heard of JR Ward alot! and I needed a new Author to read and thought I'd give it a try. At first I didn't want to finish because im not s fan of 3rd person stories. it annoyed me a little. but I loved the story line! and the characters. I liked it so much more than I thought I would.

frits is amazing and I just adore him!

Great book!!

The only thing that really took away from the story was the editing. The pauses they were either non existent or way too long.

Good Paranormal Romance

I have read these books a while ago and enjoyed the story. JR Ward writes very masculine and it works very well with the story. The narrator did a good job capturing the feel of the story.

What I liked most about this series is that each book focuses on each guy in the brotherhood. Each guy is unique with his own issues so it is 8nteresting in each book to dive deeper into the characters and the story with the Omega builds in each one too.

I would have given the story higher but as a single book it is okay. As you read each story and the plot thickens the drama and intensity drive better and you get more invested into the brothers and their world.