Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward

9 reviews

jamiebrito's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Murder, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Medical content, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, War, Rape, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Car accident, and Sexual assault

glutenfreemaggie's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Alcohol, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, War, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Self harm

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I don't really know what to say about this book.  It's the first one I managed to pick up and finish in a while so it had that going for it but part of that might have been that I wanted to see where the trainwreck go.

So many things were conveniently coincidental.  It was full of tropes that I hate, like fridging, dubious consent, insta-lust/love, etc...

The take on vampires was different I suppose but the secret society based enemy was decidedly wacky.  Will not be continuing the series.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, War, Police brutality, Stalking, Addiction, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Violence

marareading's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really enjoyed this. It is a fun vampire romance. I loved the new take that the vampires don't feed on humans, I haven't seen that in a vampire story before. I also liked that there were the cops, the humans,  the lessers, and the vampires. All balanced and all had a different part of their story. They all came together we'll. It has a great balance of plot and spice.

this story is mainly about Beth. She is an orphan. Half human, half vampire. Yet she doesn't know it. Wrath has been charged to look after her and protect her as she goes through a potential change to a vampire, which is 50/50 at this point given her parentage. As the story escalates, we learn more about the brotherhood, Wrath, The lessers, and the history of the vampires. 

I really enjoyed this and I will definitely continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Police brutality, Rape, Torture, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Stalking, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Drug abuse

stephaniemcuervo's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, Violence, Blood, Death, Sexual content, Drug use, and Gore

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual assault

Minor: Transphobia, Child death, Infertility, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and War

lakea's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Physical abuse, Terminal illness, and Police brutality

Minor: Emotional abuse, Stalking, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Medical content

pvbobrien's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Cursing, Grief, Death of parent, Rape, Torture, and Police brutality

Minor: Homophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Pregnancy

kaadee's review

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Ok so I was basically forced to read this book and I have a lot of thoughts.
First of all, I would like to start of saying I am a feminist. The last thing I enjoy is a man being annoying and very misogynistic. That was my main problem with the book, the lack of boundaries the men had. I mean, in one chapter they all grabbed the main character like 10 times. Have they never heard of keeping their hands to themselves?? It isn’t hard. I get that the book is smut and it’s woman’s fantasies (yadayada i don’t care) I’m not a huge smut reader whatsoever so the constant sex scenes was annoying but whatever, if it’s your cup of tea sure go ahead.  I could work around the sex part and enjoy the actual story of the lessening society, sure.
Well, the world building is trash. So, if I wasn’t going to pay attention to the sex part I was paying attention to the plot and the world. It had no substance. I mean, I feel like the author just made up words to describe things and the Encyclopedia in the beginning made me feel like I was about to read a good world building story. Nah. The lessening society is a terrible enemy but I lowkey agree with their actions (just a bit hah sorry) I don’t understand the whole beef with the Scribe Virgin and the Omega like can’t you just fight or something? Why carry on a needless battle for hundreds of years.
Second of all, we are literally introduced to the main character when she is being sexually assaulted. I mean, come on!! Why do women need to be sexually assaulted to further a plot? They don’t! It’s stupid and it makes me hate the author just a little bit more. Also -1 star for all the pop culture references. Jesus, if there’s one thing I hate in a book it’s a pop culture reference just thrown in there for the fun of it. It ruins the fantasy for me especially when they talk about Wrath banging it out to Jay-Z. Who needs to know that? Because I honestly don’t care.
Now that I hated on the book let me go over some things I enjoyed. The dialogue between the side characters. An author who can make side characters loveable is doing a good job. I want more of the side characters and I feel like they all had individual personalities. I enjoyed their banter with each other, like, a lot. It was funny at times, so funny I even laughed out loud. I also enjoy the Scribe Virgin. It’s nice to know there is someone (a woman) that puts these Alpha males in their place.
Anyway, I will be reading the next book but only because I’m interested in seeing if the series gets ANY better (hoping)

2023 return: changing my rating because this is one of my favorite series. You can make fun of me for this review, it’s ok. I was innocent back then lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, Blood, and Death

Minor: Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Animal death

psydneigh's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

I could not put this book down. Though I did have a few issues with it.

 
1. I didn’t buy Beth insta falling in love with Wrath. I liked their relationship towards the end of the book, but there wasn’t enough there in the beginning. 
2. Uhh they just left the cat at that house for how long?!? I know they brought it back up in the Epilogue but that was weeks later.
3. There were a lot of acronyms in this book and I didn’t know what a lot of them were referring to.

Overall, i enjoyed and will be reading the next one asap.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts