TEST
I’ve been half-heartedly following the Black Dagger Brotherhood series for the last few years, and Lover Unveiled is a perfect example of why. Fans of the series will recognize the usual setup of insta-love between two strangers set against the backdrop of a new danger facingĀ the vampire race. As with many of the later books in the series, it continues ongoing storylines and assumes a base level of knowledge about the fantasy world, so shouldn’t be read as a standalone.
Most of the story seems to focus around the new danger facing the vampires –Ā which Iāll call the Book of Unspecified Evil (but which is usually just referred to as āthe Bookā.) Since they killed off their old nemesis, the Omega, the universe decided to bring them a new one (to maintain the balance between good and evil and give the reader a good story). The full powers of this Book aren’t yet clear, but it’s definitely magical and somewhat animate, as it is able to lure unsuspecting people toward it for unknown nefarious purposes.
Enter Mae, a quiet and unassuming vampire who has decided to go after the Book in hopes of using it to resurrect her brother. After years of living a simple life in Caldwell with her family, Mae lost her parents, and then her brother. Desperate, she blames herself for his death, and with the encouragement of an elderly family friend decides to keep her brother on ice (literally) while she looks for the Book.
It is in the process of searching that Mae runs into Sahvage, a former member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood who is widely presumed to be dead, and who is currently waiting out his time on Earth. Sahvage is troubled, blaming himself for the torture of his cousin decades before, but he quickly latches onto Mae as someone he wants to protect. The two stumble into a romance even as they stumble all over Caldwell looking for the Book, running into everyone, from the Brotherhood to a demon named Devina (another new enemy), who are all also looking for, you guessed it, the Book.
If you’ve followed the series for this long, you should have a sense of Ward’s writing style and the signature character traits which appear throughout all of her novels. As usual, the Brotherhood is full of tough guys wearing “leathers” and making an enormous number of pop culture references. Biology frequently overrides sense, and the males of the species are often focused on honor while their families are more concerned with them living to see another day. To be honest, the series often strays toward stereotypes of overblown masculinity – but as it’s set in a fantasy world of vampires, and since that tone is relatively consistent throughout the series, I generally accept that as simply part of the world. In other words, don’t pick up the Black Dagger Brotherhood series if you’re not looking for a story populated by alpha males.
Unfortunately, Savahge and Mae aren’t developed much beyond Alpha Male and Damsel in Distress as the larger plot around the Book overtakes their character development. Or maybe there just wasn’t much development to begin with? Sahvage is a pretty standard Brotherhood hero, hard to distinguish from heroes of past books, and the main adjectives I would use to describe Mae are āquietā and ādesperateā. She doesn’t have much of a personality developed beyond her need to resurrect her brother and her love for Sahvage. And of course, it has to be said – the choice to preserve your brother’s body for an unknown length of time while you search for an obviously evil Book to teach you how to resurrect himā¦ well, sheās not exactly a character I identified with. In fact, I spent most of the book wanting to shake Mae out of her idiocy!
I wish I could say I liked this installment in the series more, but the difficult main characters and lackluster romance made it difficult. As usual, all of the old members of the Brotherhood have cameos and some continued plot development. If you’re a fan of the series Lover Unveiled is probably worth reading, but more to catch up with the full cast of characters than for the main couple.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible, or your local independent retailer
Visit our Amazon Storefront
Grade: C
Book Type: Paranormal Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 25/05/21
Publication Date: 04/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! Iām grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Since I’ve not read the book I’ve no idea how it turns out, but Mae’s desire to resurrect her brother makes me think of the story “The Monkey’s Paw”. In other words, be careful what you wish for because it may not end up the way you think it will — or even want.
JR Ward books are like expensive scotch. For a lot of people, it’s terrible, but if you like it, you love it. I think all the vampire books–about super masculine men (a rational person would describe them as toxic in real life, if not psychotic) who safeguard the world–were a reaction to 9/11 when such a subliminal story was appealing and oddly enough, reassuring.
For what it’s worth, Devina was the main opponent in Ward’s fallen angels books; I didn’t like them much, so I didn’t read the whole series.
Well darn. I keep wanting to get back into this world. I was hoping this would be a good way to do so because Sahvage is a new character — and because it picks up after the Omega has been defeated.