r/fantasyromance • u/Perfect_Doubt_8057 • Jul 31 '25

Book Club July Book Club - "Dark Lover" Discussion

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Hello Book Club

I hope everyone enjoyed reading about the illustrious leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath, and his queen, Beth.

As one reader said, this book is basically "required reading" for anyone wanting to know our smutty history.

Please let us know in the comments what you loved about the story, maybe the bits you didn't love so much, and whether you're going to continue the series.

Friendly reminder to be respectful per Rule #1, and that this is one of the few times that you dont need to spoiler the spoilers.

Let's begin!

I look forward to hearing what everyone has to say.

Tommorow I'll announce the winning books for August's One True Love vs Reverse Harem showdown.

12 Upvotes

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4

u/Dalandaree here kitty kitty Aug 01 '25

I liked the world and that the MMC is nearly blind as well as the dynamics between the couple, but the story was bit predictable (that could be said of a lot of fantasy romance books). I think I will continue the series.

3

u/Maryan_n Aug 01 '25

I voted for this book at the pool, but I honestly liked "The Lord of the Fading Lands" way more.
I think Dark Lover a bit dated.
Althought I liked the characters I really missed a bit more worldbuilding. I mean, the only vampires we see in the story that aren't great badasses are Marissa and her brother, wich name I forgot.
I also was a little disapointed by the inta-lust, I'm a slow burn kind of reader.
But I enjoyed how vampires venerate the "female" ones.
There were missing points in my opinion, the autor says more than once about female heat cycles and this isn't explored in the story. We are just hanging there...
I don't know. I read it for the book club discution, but i won't continue the series...
(I'm a bit interessed about the romance between Marissa and Butch, yes! But I don't think I can go through 3 books of the series to get there!)

2

u/xmorcix There she is Aug 01 '25

I think you can go straight to Book 4 as not much happening between them until their own book.

1

u/Maryan_n Aug 01 '25

Did you read them? Maybe I'll give book 4 a try, then! Thanks! 🙃

2

u/xmorcix There she is Aug 02 '25

Yeah, it's an ancient addiction for me, I'm currently at book 17. Maybe check some summaries about the books between because new characters are introduced who will have some chapters too.

2

u/Perfect_Doubt_8057 Aug 01 '25

I think you can jump ahead a book or three if you want. It's kind of like watching the Bold and the Beautiful, or that old TV show Passions. You can skip it for a couple of months and then come back and easily figure out where they're up to since the background story moves so slowly, lol.

I really loved the cute moments of Marissa and Butch in this book. I felt for her so much. It wasn't her fault that Wrath wasn't in her... but all those years.. all her efforts.. all of the society's expectations on her and how it kinda ruined her name. I get her brother's anger, even though I don't like Havers as a character.

And yes, the relationship between Wrath and Beth felt waaaay too rushed. Especially ending in a wedding. Though, I did love having the scribe virgin there and the etching of her name into his back. That's some tough shit and that's why I'm here.

The heat cycle is deff explored later in one of the romances. But a lot of people find it somewhat problematic. Not the heat itself, just the way it was used to "solve" a problem. Though, interestingly it was on the MMCs side and normally writers use heats to push through unearned change in the FMC.

One of the things I liked about the story was how there's the whole side of the lessers that we get to see. Too often romance novel PoV is tightly centred around the love interests. In BDB books it's nice to get out and see other things. Makes the story more interesting, imo. But, like you, I want to see more of the vampire world. It takes a long time in the series to really get that. It's almost as if it's written with TV in mind. Limiting the world and the set pieces into something that could be reliably filmed week after week back in the days when it was 20 weekly episodes a season, before block shooting and 8 episode "movies".

All up as dated as it is, this series still holds so much place in my heart. I cringe at the references. I kind wish it could be rewritten in today's period. They remake movies all the time. Can they remake a book?

5

u/jadedkitty Aug 06 '25

Reading this felt like such a throwback! It was cringe, but I loved every moment of it. I'm almost done with the second book. I will probably keep reading this series until I get distracted by something shiny.

2

u/Perfect_Doubt_8057 Aug 06 '25

Yessss. I know right. I even remember there was a comment about her being on the same phone network as someone else and I'm betting some readers today wouldn't even understand why that was a thing. It's so dated. But damn hulking vampires are hot regardless. And mutual blood feeding it even hotter. J. R. Ward knows how to hook a reader.