The Many Faces of Romance: Book Club Thursday: Remember When

Hi Readers! I am so glad that you joined us for this weeks Book Club Thursday. This week, we are Remembering When, where our BCT members each share memories of something booky.

Remember when I read the first book in The Black Dagger Brotherhood-DARK LOVER

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing more than Wrath, the leader of The Black Dagger Brotherhood.

The only purebred vampire left on earth, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But, when one of his most trusted fighters is killed-leaving his half-breed daughter unaware of his existence or her fate-Wrath must usher her into the world of the undead-a world of sensuality beyond her wildest dreams.

I am not going to review DARK LOVER, I will just be sharing some of my thoughts instead. Each month, we share our memories about something that pertains to our love of reading. I just finished THE CHOSEN a few days ago. It is book #15 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and it brought back memories and had me thinking of the first book and when it was published. It's hard to believe that the series has been around for twelve years.

Released by Penguin in September of 2005, this series has millions of fans and is still popular today. It even has a spin-off series featuring young vamps training to become part of the Brotherhood, The Black Dagger Legacy.

J R Ward spun her own unique spin to the vampire world, warrior vamps of huge proportion, trained to save the vampire species, especially the wealthy glymera. The warriors are good enough to protect them, but are looked down upon by the snobby elite who are stuck in the past ways of thinking. There are evil beings called lessors out there lead by Mr. X who endanger the vamp community. The stories are complex and filled with love, pain, sex, pop culture references, and life changes.

What I liked about the brotherhood is how they have evolved over the years. They fought together and had each other's backs, but they weren't truly friends at first. Each warrior was facing personal demons and/or addictions. The leader, Wrath, was the son of the murdered king and his life was changed forever when he met a human woman named Beth. Once each member finally met the partner they were meant to be with, it also strengthened the relationship between the brotherhood as well and now they are becoming a large extended family.

My fond memory of this series is how excited we were when we read the first book. We members of BCT used to work in a bookstore together and had great fun discussing Dark Lover and the following books together and with our customers and friends. We chatted about our favorite brother (mine is Rhage, nicknamed Hollywood. He's movie star handsome and loves tootsie pops), the death of Darius, the mystery of the mute teen now known as John Michael. The series makes you think because their lives are hard, dangerous, and they have all suffered losses and other trials. And even though many of them have met their mate, it doesn't mean that their HEA is a slice of heaven on earth. The guys are all alphas and the women are strong, smart and brave. IMO the series is still going strong, some members have started families, and there are more characters that need their story told.

An important note, this is a series that should be read in order. You will get lost if you don't.