Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward

20 reviews

emmablue's review against another edition

3.0

the hottest line:

“I’m going to shoot you.”
“Fine with me. I like bullet wounds.”

the most ridiculous line:

Why couldn’t she have been named Mary. Or Sue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Transphobia, Animal death, Death of parent, and Drug use

allingoodtime's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 

This book has been on my radar for a very long time. It comes up in a lot of discussions of paranormal romance and it’s been recommended to me by various people. A couple of years ago I even purchased the book when I saw it was on sale. Well, I’m glad I finally got around to reading it because I believe I’m going to enjoy this series.

Of course, because it’s over 10 years old, there are some problematic elements to the writing. Things like police brutality and there are some elements I found to be homophobic. It wasn’t in your face so it was hard to know for sure if the author was using these elements to show how terrible certain characters are or if it was a product of how blind many of us were to such things and how we spoke 15 years ago.

That being said, there were a lot of surprises to this story. There were a few characters that I really, really, really did not like at the beginning that I ended up liking (and in one case even loving) by the end. The way the author integrated all of the characters by the conclusion of this book was genius. About a quarter of the way in I was a bit concerned about how everything would come together. There were a lot of threads to follow, not just the stories of Beth and Wrath. I was afraid it was too much, although I knew there was a lot of story building needed in the first book of a paranormal series. I quickly forgot my concerns as the author wove an intriguing tale.

Every author who writes about vampires, or any other paranormal type creature, puts their own spin on the lore. These vampires have heartbeats, are more easily killed than most vampires I’ve read about, and don’t live forever. That was something I found myself to be keen on. It added a different element to this story I wasn’t expecting.

Of course, this is also a romance and that part of the story was also delightful. In the beginning, I wish Beth and Wrath would have spent more time together. I wasn’t sure if I’d feel the payoff if they didn’t. Yet when the two of them were in the same room all of the chemistry would light up. And, although Beth was knocked for a loop by what was happening and had a ton of questions, and needed some time, she didn’t wait long to jump in with both feet and allow those that could help her to do so.

There are well over 20 books in this series, not including those still slated to be published and the books from the different spin-off series. I’m looking forward to working my way through them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality and Misogyny

marareading's review

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

inkdrinkermal's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Just bizarre. Vampires using early aughts slang despite being hundreds of years old was jarring and kept pulling me out of the story. I liked it, but kept wondering why. I'll read the next one and probably feel similarly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Police brutality

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 against another edition

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

kalira's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

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

emmyb's review against another edition

fast-paced

3.5

Somehow, I devoured this. I almost DNF'd seeing the names Torhment, Phury, Rhage, Vishous, and Zsadist...WHYYYY!?!?!??! They wouldn't even bother me that much if they had at least been spelled the regular way!

And yet, I continued on and could barely put it down. I was surprised to see how quickly Wrath was able to be vulnerable and tender with Beth, and I enjoyed their devotion to each other. I'm curious to see if the romances get more creative, because the spicy scenes were actually super tame.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Medical content, Misogyny, and Police brutality

roseamillerg's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Police brutality, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Child death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Stalking, Physical abuse, Genocide, and Cursing