Julia's Reviews > Dark Lover

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
Rate this book
Clear rating

by
5266827
's review

did not like it
bookshelves: garbage, fantasy, paranormal, vampires

Think of every bad vampire clichee you've ever heard of and now apply that to a book - you've just thought of Dark Lover by JR Ward. I will never understand Goodreads ratings, because this book is just ridiculously eye-roll inducing.

I should have quit while I was ahead - the fact that our female lead protagonist nearly gets raped in a back alley in the first chapter of the book should have been warning enough of what was to come. Then came the most ridiculous scene with our lead male protagnonist, the badass, sunglass-wearing, "hardcore rap" listening vampire Wrath. Yes, my first instinct when a burly looking male stranger breaks into my apartment is not to call the cops, but to have instant unprotected sex with him. That's just what I would do. And of course, it would be the best sex of my life.

Then came the names of the vampires in the Brotherhood. Rhage, Zsadist, Vishous, Phury, Rehvenge, Tohrment. Because nothing says "don't mess with me" like phonetically spelled names. I'm not making this up, those are really their names. *eyeroll number two*

The "plot", if you can call it that, is so stupid that it ends up reading like a caricature of good vs. evil. The Bad Guys are so evil and twisted, and the vampires are all-powerful. There's a big build-up to a show down, which lasts all of about 2 minutes in an anti-climactic let-down. Let's face it, this book is a sorry excuse of raunchy sex scenes strung together by a poor semblance of a plot. The characters are poorly developed - read, not at all - and are essentially 2 dimensional entities that react solely on lust and anger, it seems. Oh and don't get me started on the wedding! If I just found out I'm a vampire who will live for ALL ETERNITY, I probably wouldn't jump into a marriage for all that eternity with I guy I had just met a week ago!!

Was I in for a surprise when I read in the Epilogue that JR Ward finished law school. How can such a well-educated woman write a book where all the female characters are essentially brain-dead washcloths, apparently only put on this planet to have sex with? It pissed me off. Oh well, some people should just stick to being lawyers, and not writers.

This book SUCKED!!! I cannot believe it's been so highly recommended to me. Lowest common denominator reading if you ask me. If you're looking for paranormal or urban fantasy of any kind of substance, stay away from this series.
83 likes · flag

Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read Dark Lover.
Sign In »

Reading Progress

April 18, 2012 – Shelved
Started Reading
April 23, 2012 – Shelved as: garbage
April 23, 2012 – Shelved as: fantasy
April 23, 2012 – Shelved as: paranormal
April 23, 2012 – Shelved as: vampires
April 23, 2012 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

Sarah Garcia Dont even hesitate! This series is amazing!


message 2: by Erika (new)

Erika I've heard really bad things about this one, but who knows, i haven't read it ;) it'd be interesting to see your opinion on this one!


message 3: by Megan (new)

Megan M OMG the names! I nearly snorted with laughter.


Museovac Amen, sister. You're lucky you were even able to get through and finish the first one!


Naix You should read them all, i swear give this series a chance! I fell in love with the brotherhood. Very sexy. Give it a chance!;)


message 6: by Dulcetpurr (new)

Dulcetpurr Thanks for the warning! Any paranormal or urban fantasy that you would recommend?


message 7: by Monica (new)

Monica Ah, this book is in my 'recommended' by Goodreads .. soooo just think I'll pass :-p


Mariya Wow, I didn't think it was great either, but not THAT bad! I mean it was a quick read and I didn't expect that much out of it anyway....its extremely, extremely clichee though, I totally agree with that and if u read the rest of the series it only gets worse..


Chelsea I'm in love with this series! I'm sorry you hated it so much =/


message 10: by Nicole (new)

Nicole Jenson I gave this book a read over a year ago and hated it too.


Cristi I felt the same way about this book. Couldn't even finish it!


Killian I do love jr wards books but I do have to say she is more cheesy with her books then someone like sherrilyn Kenyon or gena showalter. Def check them out them are exceptional writers, well in my opinion. Plus I love fictional romance, especially paranormal.


message 13: by Crystal Gale (last edited May 16, 2012 07:15PM) (new) - rated it 2 stars

Crystal Gale Oh, my. We have the same opinion on this series! I read this because of all the raves but I was so disappointed. And lucky me, I even tried giving it a chance and read it until book 6 of the series just to check if something good will come up but it was so hard to finish. It's just a cheap series IMO, because it doesn't even have a story and character buildup. If you love romantic love story then stay away from this series because you'll just find anger, lust and vices all over the place.

my review: http://galelovescolors.blogspot.com/2...


message 14: by [deleted user] (new)

Wow i thought the book had very well developed characters later on :/ i admit the first book is mad annoying, i didnt like it too much, but the series got a lot better. The charcaters were interesting, their stories were interesting. Dont take the first book too seriously, i feel like it was a first draft or something for Ward, she def did a better job later on.


Stacia your review is perfect. this was the biggest hunk of garbage I've ever read. three weeks later and I'm still kicking myself for even wasting my time on it. the high rating of this book seriously makes me doubt the legitimacy of goodreads reviews because apparently from the rating on this book people really like garbage.


message 16: by Fiona (new)

Fiona I lol'd so much - will be giving this a miss!


message 17: by Jen (new) - rated it 4 stars

Jen I actually like these!!!


Jackie's Bookbytes I really enjoyed the BDB books .It's better than the shit aka drama on tv


Killian Your crazy these books are amazing! Use your imagination and take yourself out of reality a bit and then you'll understand the passion and connection. If u want real life romance then stick with the notebook then. But if you want to be taken away from everyday shitty romance then let yourself be taken away with these books!


message 20: by Jennifer (new) - added it

Jennifer For some reason Phury reads like "furry" to me. I always, always, always read the bad reviews first, and if I continue on and read the book, I find that usually I agree with them.

Thank you, unfavorable review writers, for saving me from more cliche crap!


Mariya How is this possible that I read this book and remember nothing about it 😂😂😂 I’m trying to read reviews to jog my memory because I found some of the sequels in my library and I’m trying to see if I can enjoy them since they’re free at the library lol... but I remember nothing at alll!! So strange


message 22: by Jouanna (new) - added it

Jouanna Sai i am actually reading it right now ... and believe me i am suffering with each page i read like for god sack one moment i am with beth point of view then wrath which is ok with me ... but then the cop, mr x and whole alot of points of view making me skip pages just to finish with it .


back to top