You don’t know this yet. But you are Mine.
J.R. Ward
Dark Lover
Format:
Audiobook
Publisher’s Synopsis:
The only purebred vampire left on the planet and the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who killed his parents centuries ago. But when his most trusted fighter is killed—orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate—Wrath must put down his dagger and usher the beautiful female into another world.
Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn’t there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of the Brotherhood and blood frighten her. Yet his touch ignites a dawning new hunger—one that threatens to consume them both…
Point of view:
3rd person. Multiple perspectives. Not always clearly defined.
Rellim’s Thoughts:
So I finally got on the BDB train in 2018 and I now understand how folks can be so sucked in and paradoxically annoyed by loving it so much (the reviewer who calls it “crack laced with rat poison” is spot on 🤣 ).
The world building is phenomenal as is the sheer number of story lines that individually are intriguing while combined are nothing less than genius. Vampires, with some “cannon” rules to live by, yet a whole host of nuances and backstories. Lessers, hard-to-kill yet humanish “undead” working to destroy the Vampires. The Black Dagger Brotherhood are the elite vampires tasked with protecting the race and maintaining their secrets from clueless humans.
Then. Then. Ugh. We get “shitkickers” instead of boots, and used so much I actually want to kick shit on them. Rap music that dates the books. Vampires whose speech waffles between “frat boy” and “wannabe gangster”. It has me rolling my eyes. The names of the BDB warriors make me cringe.
Ultimately, I get over the annoying bits and am totally enthralled by the story. I love Beth & Wrath. I feel wholly invested in the lives of all the brothers, in Butch, Havers, etc. I will read/listen on!
Hindsight: Book 2, Lover Eternal, is not good in regards to the MCs, but there’s too much in it establishing story arcs for future books to skip it. Suffer through and then enjoy the hell out of book 3 and beyond.
Narration:
Jim Frangione has a really unique voice. It took me a while to get used to his style. I feel like the voices of the characters aren’t always differentiated and sometimes it made it confusing to figure out who was talking. Overall, it was an enjoyable listen.
About the author:
J.R. Ward is the author of over thirty novels, including those in her #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling series, The Black Dagger Brotherhood. There are more than 15 million copies of Ward’s novels in print worldwide and they have been published in 25 different countries around the world.
After graduating from law school, Ward began working in healthcare in Boston and spent many years as Chief of Staff of one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation. She lives in the south with her incredibly supportive husband and her beloved golden retriever. Writing has always been her passion and her idea of heaven is a whole day of nothing but her computer, her dog and her coffee pot.
You can connect with J.R. Ward here:
About the narrator:
Jim is the voice of many of Dennis Lehane’s books (The Drop, World Gone By and Live By Night), JR Ward’s popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series and her new spinoff Legacy Series, also Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie Mysteries, as well several popular new novels by Christine Feehan. Jim has narrated over 200 titles, was selected as one of AudioFile Magazine’s “Best Voices of 2015”, has received numerous Earphones Awards, was nominated for an Audie Award for fiction and was just recently nominated for a Voice Arts Award in the Mystery category for his narration of Scents and Sensibility by Spencer Quinn.
You can connect with Jim Frangione here:
My Favorite Quotes
You don’t know this yet. But you are Mine. – Dark Lover by @JRWard1 #Audiobook narrated by Jim Frangione #BDB #Vampires #Romance
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You’ve won the evolutionary lottery: You’re a vampire. Let’s go to Disneyland! – Dark Lover by @JRWard1 #Audiobook narrated by Jim Frangione #BDB #Vampires #Romance
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Rellim Reads 