Hello Again Blogging World!

Misty:

Hey guys, it’s Misty again from Misty’s Book Space. This time around I picked our buddy read and of course I had to pick something that had some romance because as mentioned before I love my romance. Now we just need to see how Jonny felt about it?

Jonny :

And this is Jonny from Jaunts & Haunts, geek and lover of all things vampire! I was a little leery of the romance element I’ll admit, but I’m glad I did this! Gotta push that comfort zone, right?

This week we did a buddy read of Dark Lover by JR Ward.

Jonny:

Fun fact, we found this book by Misty using GoodRead’s Compare Books feature, which helps save time when you’ve got buddy reads coming up and aren’t quite sure what to read. Thanks for showing me, Misty! I have a feeling I’ll be using this pretty often.

Misty:

I’m glad I remember that feature because I was literally going to go through all of your books. That feature definitely made it a lot easier and quicker to find a book for us to read.

Blurb:

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…

GoodReads

Alright, so let’s get right into our buddy read! This time around we switched things up. Typically we think of questions to answer centered around a book’s theme, but Misty and Jonny thought that just having a nice little book rant worked better in this instance.

We hope you enjoy our little chat!

Buddy Read Book Rant:

Jonny:

So, how did you like the book in general? I thought it was a fun read, though I will say I think the bigger plot suffered a bit once the romance element picked up.

Misty:

Honestly I really enjoyed it. You know me, I will never say there’s too much romance!! There was a lot going on though. All the side stories and switching back and forth between all of the characters did take me out of the story some but at the same time it worked for the overall story.

Jonny:

I’m glad you did! The romance did work for me overall, but after the mutual attraction was verified the ooey gooey lovey dovey words occasionally made me cringe a bit. I don’t remember the line, but Wrath told Beth something to the effect of words cannot describe you or something like that and I just rolled my eyes so hard!

I agree with you on how busy the POVs were. I think Ward would’ve done better without so many POVs built in. Was there a POV you thought didn’t really add to the story? And speaking of characters, who’s your fave?

Misty:

I can see how it would be cringe inducing for some people but for me personally it takes a lot for me to cringe because I love the lovey dovey moments. I think it’s cute.

I’m trying to remember all of the POVs, there were so many to keep up with. I think they all had a purpose even if it was just a small purpose. Oh picking a favorite is hard. We only really get to know Beth and Wrath really well in this book. I do love Beth. She knew how to take care of herself and she could take care of herself and I loved how she didn’t lose herself after finding love. I really can’t wait to get to know more about the other brothers especially Zsadist. He has me intrigued.

Jonny:

Total understandable. For me it was just cheesy in spots with the romance, especially later on.

I can’t really remember how many POVs there were, but there were a few too many. While I agree with you on all the POV’s having a purpose, I really thought that Havers had the weakest POV. I just didn’t really like his character, and he stayed too much in the background for the most part.

I can see why Beth would be a favorite. She’s a very independent woman. Actually, my favorite was Tohr because he was so centered and his unique self the whole time. He felt authentic and three-dimensional. After that, I’d probably say Beth.

So, are you raring to continue the series? There’s a whopping 18 and a half!

Misty:

Ok I will agree it did get cheesy at times and I admit I rolled my eyes a time or two but it didn’t really bother me.

Yeah he did have the weakest POV and I knew the roll he was going to be playing before it was mentioned so a little predictable but needed for the overall story.

Honestly we didn’t learn enough about all of the brothers in this book for them to be a favorite. Zsadist is the only one that has really intrigued me and then maybe Phury only because he has a prosthetic leg. I’m curious to find out how Ward incorporates that in the story and if it’s done realistically.

Yes I definitely want to continue the series for sure.

Jonny:

Yeah, it wasn’t enough to stop reading or anything, just the occasional cheese factor.

I agree. I hope in the next one Ward can find a way to keep Havers more in the limelight if he’s going to have a POV.

That’s true. Beth and Wrath had most of the character development this time around, but I did sneak a peek forward and each book appears to center on a different character, so I’m thinking each book will focus mainly on a set of characters. I’m curious about the prosthetic leg too, but only time will tell!

I’m willing to continue the series as well, but may want to look around and make sure there’s not something we both see that draws our curiosity even more.

Thanks so much for chatting it up with me! I like how this buddy read made me read outside the box, and I think it’s really important to do that every once in a while.

Misty:

Yeah each of the books are about a different brother. I knew that going in so I was expecting it to only focus on certain ones. He’s the only vampire Dr. I think so my guess is he will be present but not as present as others. Maybe down the road he will have a book.

You’re very welcome!! I’m glad we both enjoyed this one.

That’s A Wrap!

Thanks for joining us on our buddy read of Dark Lover! We had a lot of fun, and hope you did too! We will definitely be doing some more buddy reads in the future, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, why not check out Misty and my other fun buddy reads?

Buddy Read: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain

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