Was Wrath wrong? (say that three times fast!)
Dark Lover is the second romance novel I read, after Lover Revealed. As you may recall, it stars Wrath, King of the Vampires, who, when we meet him, has been shirking his monarchial birthright in favor of satisfyingly gruesome fights with the anti-vamp Lessening Society. Wrath is mated to Marissa, but has never consummated their union. Fellow Black Dagger Brother Darius asks Wrath to see his half human daughter, 25 year old Beth, though her “transition” — a kind of vamp puberty — since halflings often don’t survive and Wrath’s blood is so ancient and strong. Wrath, who has never met a duty he didn’t want to shirk, declines.
We discover that Wrath has one of my most unfavorite motivations for his self-loathing: a childhood tragedy on which he blames his childhood self. Like so many of Ward’s heroes, he’s clinically depressed (feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, lack of appetite, agitation, irritability, etc.).
When Darius dies, Wrath decides he has to help Beth — who has no idea she’s not 100% human – though her transition and visits her apartment.
And they have sex.
For her part, if you can put aside the fact that Beth’s lust for Wrath coincides with her belief that he’s not only a killer, but in her apartment, at that moment, to to kill her (Ward throws psychological reality a bone by having Beth refer to this perfect storm of emotions as “extraordinary”), she’s pretty refreshingly unconflicted: she wants this hunk o’ man and wants him now.
But poor Wrath. He has a difficult time of it. At first, he thinks Beth is coming on to him because she’s been second hand smoked into submission: he’s been puffing on the BDB equivalent of weed – until he remembers that “it’s a relaxant, not an aphrodisiac” (right … because roofies, the “date rape drug”, are benzodiazepines, and benzos are … erm … muscle relaxants. Sorry. I’ll stop.)
Wrath “knew he should say no” because “this was unfair to her.” Why? Because “he was a selfish bastard to take what she was offering in the haze of smoke.”
Post coitus, Wrath adds a few more reasons: she’s Darius’s daughter, she had been the victim of a sexual assault the night before, and she was about to “have her whole world turned upside down” (the transition, not to mention the small matter of her father being a vampire — and recently bombed into smithereens)
I always felt like Wrath was too hard on himself here. Or am I just giving him the alpha pass?
He is too hard on himself,but if he wasn’t guilty over this it’d just be something else. When broken down to the simplest terms The Black Dagger Brotherhood series is the chronicles of “Emotionally tortured super heroes and the women who fix them”.
I find it entertaining and somewhat refreshing, that in each story the hero is saved from himself; by surrendering to the completion his female counterpart effects. The broken, healed through lurve plot is usually reserved for us in the exclusive X chromosome club.
Mistress wrote:
Really? What about the gazillion rake stories? I think this is the most common theme in romance — that women heal men through their love (or their “magical hoo has”).
Hmm, I see what you mean. Especially with all the ” Woodle = Salvation” going on in UF/Para.
The rakes for me differ subtly, in most cases love prompts them to straighten up and fly right (become more respectable, less slut). They’re not always damaged goods. IMO the Brothers are all emotionally fractured, to the extent usually reserved for Battered housewives fleeing murderous spouses in Romantic Suspense. Before she’s brought back to life by her hunky ex-Navy Seal next door neighbor, of course. = )
For instance Zsadist’s situation really disturbed me. It brought to mind, those cheesy peer pressure skits we used to act out in H.S. sex ed.
Ex:
Lisa: Stop it Bobby… I’m not ready to go all the way yet.
Bobby: But babe….I NEED it. Don’t you love me?
Lisa: You know do Bobby, but…
Except reversed, because he’s the one all sexually traumatized crying in the shower, while Bella’s in mindless NEED; And everyone’s pressuring him into (in the words of Nike) just doing it. He’s the most extreme but they’re all pretty effed up in the head. Rhage literally turns into a monster. Wrath with all his hangs up about being blind, (what he feels is) past cowardice, and regret. Then Zsadist’s bro, Phury is crippled and addicted to drugs. All the Carpathian dudes where losing their humanity and were super lonely…but the Brothers take tortured to new levels.
Wrath had so much placed on his shoulders and I felt so bad for him. At first I was a bit shocked that Wrath and Beth had sex so fast, but as you can see, it was a great stress relief for him and Beth.
Yet again, great sex heals all wounds it seems.
I just wanted to say I really love this new post/theme. I love the BBB series (and romance books in general) but part of the fun is that they are so easy to make fun of. I love reading slightly snarky reviews, even of my favorite books, bc as much as I love the characters I think we should all admit there are some pretty hilarious elements in romance.
Mistress wrote:
I had never thought of it this way. I can see your point.
katiebabs wrote:
I loved the scene — it was straight out of a porno movie — so cheesy and fun. I just wish Wrath wasn’t so tortured about it — she was 25 years old, not a virgin, and horny as all get out.
Margie wrote:
Thanks Margie. I did snark a little in this post, but the truth is, I really love this series (well, the first 4 books).