WARNING: This review contains SPOILERS. Big ones.

I saht dhown to rhead the lhatest ehntry in the BDB serhies lhast Sundhay, in the comfhey confhines of my sunphorch, a glhass of Ghrey Ghoose at my syde...

No, really, I did. But if I keep typing like that I'm going to give my spell-checker apoplexy. I don't know how Ward does it. OK, she probably does it by entering all her bizarre spellings into a custom dictionary, but still, the typing of them would drive me insane. OK, maybe she has autotype on her favorite whords. Anyway, my point is, the deliberate mis-spellings are legion and vomit-inducing. The newest offender, besides Butch's new name (which almost makes sense)? Xhex. You read that right. Xhex. A female vampire...or at least she's biologically female, b/c in every scene she's in, something about her is described as mannish -- but we'll get to that later.

Here we have Butch O'Neal, the only human allowed in the big, bad world of the vampires. Butch doesn't really belong, b/c he's human, so he can't fight. He knows too much, so he can't leave, either. He also can't be a fit mate for the one woman he can't forget: Marissa, a vampire aristocrat. He has never belonged -- he was an outcast in his own family growing up, and he never felt a part of the team on the police force either. But the added pressure is getting to him. And then he gets taken by lessers, where he gets treated to a visit from the Omega himself, who does something to him and then sets him free, hoping he'll be a Trojan horse with a direct line to the Brotherhood.

Vishous, Butch's roommate, a vampire who has kinky sex and decidedly confuzzled feelings about his relationship with Butch, uses his freaky-deaky glowing hand to banish the darkness from Butch. And calls in Marissa to keep an eye on him. Which apparently involves scorching hot foreplay and brings out almost vampire-like instincts in Butch. Now not only can he throw a bonding scent like a vampire, he can also sense and literally absorb lessers, barring their normal route back to the Omega.

So what does all this mean? Ward weaves a complicated tale here, but I give her credit, she leaves no dangling threads other than those which are clearly going to be answered in future books.

So what worked for me, and what didn't? I'm going to start with what didn't, since I pretty much already have, with the spellings and names.

In addition to those, the name-dropping drives me nuts. Grey Goose vodka. Lagavulin Scotch. Ferragamo shoes. Patek Phillipe watches. YSL gowns. What is Ward hoping for? Swag? Some form of advertising contract? Years ago, we had these books called Murder Ink that talked about pretty much every mystery/thriller series there was in existence, from Poe and Conan Doyle to Sayers and Christie. In the section on Bond Girls, it talked about how Bond spoke "label." As an example, they had Bond not understanding a woman who said she spilled the vodka when she bumped the glass in reaching for an ashtray...until she said something like, "I was reaching for the ashtray to tap out my Habanos when I knocked over the Baccarat glass and spilled the Stoli." That's exactly what all the name-dropping in this series reminds me of -- and this book has to be the worst of the lot.

The faux hip-hop culture of the Brothers is jarring and strange, period. I still can't buy the idea of whiteboy gangstas without thinking of Jamie Kennedy in Malibu's Most Wanted. I get the idea that Ward wants to show just how badass the Brothers are, how they're so thuggish they're both feared and revered by their own kind, but still, I GET IT ALREADY! Stop smacking me in the face with it over and over and over. I will grant her that as metaphors, the contrast between the Brothers' hip-hop and the glymera's Regency-like culture does work. (and you thought this whole review was going to be one long rant!) But still, one more "you feel me?" and despite the plot, the book would end up hurled across the room with great force.

The women. I realize that to this point, vampire society is a bit backward. Despite the tremendous power that even the females can wield, females are wrapped up in cotton wool, given pats on the head and told to wait in a safe place while the menfolk deal with the bad guys. The way Marissa takes charge of her own life gives me hope that a change is in the air. However, what really bothered me about the women in this series is that so far, the one woman who IS a fighter, the newly introduced and cringingly named Xhex, is described as mannish and hermaphroditic -- in fact, when she propositions Butch, he even asks her if she's 100% female "down there." Why can't women be feminine AND kick-ass, huh?

The deus ex machina of the Scribe Virgin swooping in at the last minute and banishing the Omega. What I would have preferred to see here is Butch and V using their newly found and prophesized powers of Destroyer and Savior to banish him. Having the SV popping up all the time is a cop-out, IMO.

OK, so what worked for me?

Butch and Marissa. I honestly didn't think they would. Marissa never appealed to me before in the series, because she was so weak. Having her stand up to Havers and finally reach out for the man she wanted redeemed her for me. Butch was always the sidekick with the annoying obsession for designer stuff. In this book, though, it was clear that two outsiders found a way to become insiders, and that was fabulous.

Butch and V. Anyone who says there was no homoerotic element to this series, and particularly to this book, is completely and willfully blind. Butch and V are way more than platonic friends, but something less than lovers. The desire to cross that line and test the waters is clearly there, though, from the moment V saw Butch and Marissa in the clinic's quarantine room to the embrace during Butch's initiation ceremony.

Mr. X and the lesser prophecy. This time, the bad guys weren't just these weird baby-powder-smelling albinos who popped up, kidnapped a civilian, and then got dispatched by the Brothers. There was ulterior motive, and depth. I liked it.

The idea that Butch is of Wrath's bloodline. Who is his father? I'm definitely interested in this one.

John. Although I wondered if his storyline was exactly essential to the book, it did present with some intriguing notions. Why did he seize up when he remembered the explosion that killed Darius? Is he Darius reincarnated or something?

The hawt secks. Yes, I'm shallow enough to admit it. I like to read sex scenes. I really liked the buildup-and-stop thing Ward had going on with Butch and Marissa, probably b/c the foreplay was really hawt. The only ding here is that it seemed like the foreplay pages went on forever, but when they did finally consummate, and every sex scene after that, it seemed a little short-changed. But still, A+ for heat.

I loved this book. But do I feel good about loving it? Not really. I feel almost guilty for being able to forget all the awfulness of the names and the spellings. Like my friend Grrrly said, it's "mental crack" -- bad for me, but I can't seem to stop. The inclusion of an excerpt from V's upcoming book, Lover Unbound, seems to prove that. I'm a wee bit disappointed that it appears V's chosen is a human woman, since, given his proclivities, I was rather thinking he'd have fun playing eternal slap 'n tickle with Xhex, but I'll still be reading it. See? Mental crack.

I do have to say, one thing in terms of naming that really does work for me in this series is the titles. Think about it. Dark Lover: Wrath is blind. Lover Eternal: Rhage chooses to keep his curse forever and Mary gets to live forever with him. Lover Awakened: Z breaks his long fast. Lover Revealed: Butch is revealed as the fulfillment of a prophecy. And finally, Lover Unbound: V is into bondage. Rather fitting, they are.

I hate myself for loving this series, but I do love it. It rates an 8 on the guilt-o-meter, so it's a dirty love. Make that dhirhty.

Review ©2007 by Riley Merrick