The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward #1 and #2

 I’m giving a two for one today as The Black Dagger Brotherhood consists of 24 books and intermingles with a series called Legacy, which brings the total up to 28 novels total. I didn’t think I needed to spam my own blog with 28 books, not that I’ve read them all yet, but it’s good to have goals.

I've provided a brief summary of each book, my review is at the bottom.

Dark Lover

Wrath is a vampire belonging to a group of warriors known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood tasked with protecting their species from a society of vampire slayers known as the lessers. When one of the brothers is murdered, Wrath takes on the chore of protecting his daughter, a soon-to-be-vampire named Beth. Beth doesn’t know a change is coming, having walked among humans her whole life, and doesn’t believe it when she finds out.

Lover Eternal

Rhage is a member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood… possibly the most dangerous of them all as he harbors a dark alter ego that happens to be a killing machine. Mary Luce is set on a collision course with Rhage when a vampire nearing his transition calls her suicide hotline. Like Rhage, she has her own burden to bear. Rhage becomes obsessed with this woman who doesn’t know her own worth, and their love threatens to bring the Black Dagger Brotherhood down.

 

I’m going to start by saying these paranormal romance novels are super smutty. So if clean romance is your thing, you won’t find it in these books. And I’m not a romance lover by nature, but I am into vampires so I gave them a shot based on a recommendation from a friend and surprisingly wasn’t disappointed. I read the two novels in a total of 4 days. They’re addictive.

While there is a subplot of a war between vampires and lessers, it most definitely takes a back seat to the passionate romances in these two books. You’ll definitely like these series more if you’re a romance fan than you will if your looking for a story strictly about a war between supernatural beings.

They’ve got the love at first sight thing going on, which is a trope I like because it makes me think of fluffy fairytale stories, but with a darker he’d-kill-to-protect-her vibe… And yes, I like that trope too, so for me they made for good reading.

And the best part? Despite everything the characters go through to get there, they both have happy endings.

I’m giving both books 4 stars.