Type of read: Commuter Read.

What made me pick it up: I stumbled across the Black Dagger Brotherhood in early 2024 with Darius (Book 0), and I got sucked into this crazy, cracked-out, sexy, throwback-feeling world of vampires fighting something more evil than themselves.

Overall rating: Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Rehvenge is the bad boy we all know we should avoid but he's really just the complete teddy bear. One of the things I like about Ward's writing is that they have the ability to make the characters very well-rounded - a little predictable, yes - but well-rounded. The majority of the time, the MMCs and FMCs are strong but sweet, badass but vulnerable; it really lends itself well to the complete behemoth of a storyline that is the Black Dagger Brotherhood. While 'Lover Avenged' focuses on Rehvenge and his relationship with Elhena, we also get to hear more about John, Wrath, Tohr, Xhex, and Lash. I really feel like although the books have a brother they focus on, at this point, the world has become so big, that there's always going to be something going on outside of our MMC, and I'm not mad about it. It keeps the book interesting and keeps me engaged. I do think I need to disclaimer - I finished 'Lover Avenged' in just over two days because my library loan was going to lapse and I got on a major cleaning/embroidery streak at home over the weekend. I'm not saying it wasn't that good, but I do think it's easy to judge something as a quick read when you don't have all the context. 😂 Don't be fooled; I literally listened to 'Lover Avenged' for about 10 hours a day over the weekend.

I know I've said it before in previous reviews for this series, but I feel like I just have to say it with each book, this is just a good escape read. You don't have to think too much about it, you don't have to try and keep things straight (Ward does a great job dropping little reminders at the beginning of each book and throughout so you keep the characters and their traits straight), and you can just dive into a (slightly dated) world of sexy vampire warriors. I'm here for it.

Reader's Note: 'Lover Avenged' includes themes of death, dying, consensual sexual activity, dubious consent sexual activity, death of a parent, medical content, violence, kidnapping, torture, murder, mental illness, incest (forced sexual activity between half brother/half sister), sexual assault, and character recollections of physical and sexual abuse.