Dark Lover by J R Ward

This was the first of the series and also the first BDB novel that I read.

First thing. The Lessers should be the good-guys. I mean. They kill vampires don't they?

And these are not nicey-wicey vamps.

There is a really good scene in this novel. When Wrath rescues Beth from Mr X and Mr R. The scene is told from the pov of Beth. But when I thought about it from Mr X's pov I realised that Wrath is a very very scarey vampire. He has no trouble locating Beth. He announces his arrival with ominous rumbling, blasts open the barn door with the force of his anger and takes more than one direct hit from a weapon....and lives! Meanwhile Beth is able to attack and disable her kidnapper despite having a pit-bull tearing at her thigh. Both Beth and Wrath are horrific (but beautiful) creatures. Despite being the heroine and hero of the story. Weird.

And why on earth did Wrath allow the traitor, Havers, not only to keep his life but to maintain his position in the vampire community?? Defies belief and shows that Wrath is weak when it matters most.

Still. There's quite a lot of clues as to the state of the brotherhood in this novel. The SV tell Wrath, 'The Brotherhood is cursed. There are none left in it who are not strong.' Which is true. No wonder they have such difficulty in overcoming the Lessers. Wrath believes in his brothers' abilities however. We shall see. I wonder who will be the first brother to D.I.E.

From what I remember, the romance between Wrath and Beth forms the majority of the novel. Unlike some of the later books where the romance is almost irrelevent. I think that is such a shame. But I know I'm in a minority.