1/5: the narrators voice is terrible. Monotone. Does he do different voices? He sure doesn’t have the accent the Brothers have... and his voice is so wrong for the prose of this book.

I’ve never given a BDB book a one star rating. Not even, The Shadows, Blood Truth, the joke The Savior, or the magnanimous failure The Sinner. JRW outdid herself on Lover Unveiled.

This book proves JRW has no respect for her readers anymore. She’s in it for the money. My money as it were. I’m rationalizing continuing to spend my money based on, Vishous is worth it, but there will come a time that not even V will pull me back to shelling out my cash in this bizarro real world we are living in. Former VP Biden’s stimulus checks only go so far.

I was once a staunch advocate for the irreverent BDB series but now through a long ass string of bullshit events I have become a harsh critic. Sorry not sorry. That’s what happens when a once badass author loses her grip on her beloved series and turns it into a cash cow.

So here we go. Put a helmet on.

Simps and feminism... give me a damn break. This is ParaNormal ROMANCE! Ya know Alpha Heroes - vamp, angels, shifters, etc for this sub genre.... GTF out of here with the political nonsense. You built your empire on the backs of alpha male vampires that don’t give a flying f*** about human bullshit. Now all of a sudden BDB needs to be woke too? Should have seen this coming when JRW had Vishous apologize to Xhex for smoking at a dead woman’s house. V doesn’t apologize for anything until he’s given a lobotomy like every single character in this series — is this because of JRW or the ghostwriters 🤔

The strongest parts of the book are with the OG Brothers - shocker right? This series used to be about them. ** The BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD ** Unfortunately, now, they are reduced to back of the line after thoughts and replaced with thin and disposable characters that have zero involvement once they hook up with their mate.


*info-dump refreshers for new readers who can’t be bothered to start at book 1 which is Dark Lover. OG BDB readers know who is mated to who. What a doggen is. Who Fritz is. We know what everything this! These words could be used for writing better characters.

•SPOILERS AHEAD•

There are so many problems with this book.

*I know JRW doesn’t know what the BDB timeline is, she thinks the series started in 2008, nope it’s 2006. Read the Insider’s Guide. Pay attention to the seasons changing. Let me help everyone out, right now the timeline is 2011.

The reason this is a major bitch out session for me is the constant pop culture references that are frim 2013 - 2020. Car models, cell phones, K-cups, Jake Paul (FYI he was 14 in 2011), Frozen - this movie released 2013. How is Stranger Things even on tv! Look I know JRW is all into the show but come on!

* Also stop with the, annnnnnnnd; hellllloooooo; okkkkkkkkk, etc. we had this talk before, retire the phrase “and what do you know”

* Readers are given characters we’ve never heard of since JRW pinned her star on Gallery Books and started pumping standalones out beginning with The Savior.

The Nate situation. No one cares about him. I don’t care what the readers on the FB livestreams say, Nate is a beta at best but more like an omega. Yes he should be in one of those impreg omega verse books. Oh and the Nate/ Elyn chapters read like the Lesser chapters of early books. They are boring as hell, but there’s probably something important in there. This isn’t the case with that storyline. It’s to give Nate page time so he can have a book someday. Hard AF Pass.

* Why does this book even matter to the BDB world? It doesn’t - it could have been a novella about Sahvage and Mae. But no, it was written as a not so slick way of setting Lassiter up with his *mate* I didn’t know angels had mates, they didn’t in the Fallen Angels series. Why that series matters is because it’s merging into BDB.

This is what happens when you turn a true series into a bunch of standalones and kick your OG characters to the curb. Oh BTW if you need a refresher, Butch is not stocky and shorter than the rest. He’s literally an inch taller than V (who is 6’6”)- check both Lover Revealed and the Insider’s Guide.

So- Sahvage and Mae together are a snooze-fest, shocking but not really. Why do all these new relationships read like something out of a desperate YA book. “No I’m going to miss you. No it’s me. No me.” WTH. This is supposed to be para-f’ing-romance. This series is supposed to be about big ass alpha males that know what they want and will go to ANY length to get it. And why can’t Sahvage and dumbass Mae be together? Why?? Because weak stakes: he’s still all up in himself about his cousin’s death - spoiler, she’s not, because no one dies in this series except Wellsie. And Mae can’t turn in her V-CARD bc she’s not married? Again YA level BS.

Mae is like all the other females in the book, minus, Ehlena and Payne. Yeah Mae. She ranks right up there with Jane level dislike for me. Mae has zero self preservation much like Jo from The Sinner. And Mae’s need for the damn Book is weak. And dumb.
She’s also the I’m a feminist hear me roar chick, also like Jo. Mae is like Jo 2.0. The I can do it on my own, bullheaded, naive heroine. Does she listen to like the one guy who knows about the damn Book? A freaking warlock? is that what we’ve settled on for Sahvage? No she doesn’t.

Sahvage on his own is kinda cool. The fighter part was only a vehicle for the meet cute. His flashbacks we readable. I will say he and his hand had a great and explicit stroke off scene.

Oh and hey! He’s immortal because of the book... but I also bet Rehv is too because his mom had the book and no one knows how old he is. Plus his whole lament about having to watch Ehlena die someday. He’s way older than her. I’m calling it right now.

AND wtf is this simp bullshit. I’m supposed to believe that Sahvage is a simp? AGAIN why are we using this terminology? 2011.

Erika the police detective? She’s only here to be Balls (yes that’s how I spell his name) true love, whatever. Another human for a vampire. She can be the Butch 2.0 only not as cool or funny. The readers could’ve figured out on our own the missing heart homicides, which only lasted until the murder at the triplex. Did Ward really need to include another unlikeable female character? No, she didn’t, there’s Mae, which is more than enough in this book. And don’t forget Jane! She had to make an appearance too and flex her domineering self. Telling the readers she is a compassionate doctor doesn’t mean it’s true. I enter into evidence books 5-16 and Dearest Ivie for good measure.

And for the love of donuts!! Stop with the Mrs. Mary *insert vomit noises here*

Devina. She’s back to her bloody and violent self. Thank goodness. Props to Devina and the Tallah thing that was straight up the true demon.

Lassiter’s obsession with Vishous... I mean really, at this point Lassiter sounds jilted ex-girlfriend. All he does is think about Vishous, talk about Vishous, or talk to Vishous, but in a bitchy condescending way. He goes out of his way to antagonize V then wonders why V wants to beat the crap out of. Fun fact: I don’t like Lassiter. He was cool until he wasn’t which was around the time of The Beast.

Rehv: where the hell did he go after the Brothers were looking at the coffins? Why is he back to being the Reverend again? I thought he was the freaking King of the Sympaths? I thought he went legit for Ehlena? Anyone remember he burned down Zero Sum and faked his death? I’ll tell ya why he was in this book: JRW is tired of being asked, “Where is Rehv?” This was her, there I wrote him into a book, submission.

WHY WHY WHY is JRW making our Brothers apologize for being who they are at their core?! Just in this book Sahvage apologizes to Mae for wanting to protect her... because feminism? Rehv apologizes for not revealing what he knew about the book — why would he! He’s a damn king and badass gangster he doesn’t owe Mae anything.

I think JRW should stop writing heroines, it’s not a skill she possesses. They are either bitches, looking at you Jane, Beth, Jo, Mary, Xhex,and Mae; helpless wallflower virgins (Marissa, Layla, Cormia); or called whores because only the guys can bang anything that walks. She should just retcon all the matings and make all the guys gay at this point.

I think anyone reading this review can deduce it was NOT a favorite book of mine. I hate that I feel this way but BDB has become a letdown for me. Five-stars to V, even though he called Mae, ma’am over the phone.