Paranormal Romance or Erotica? Um, Both Please. PCJ's Reading Black Dagger Brotherhood Series!
Junkies, it's time for our next book club read, and just like we talked about in our last podcast, we are going to be picking up the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. Ward until we get our copies of Fifty Shades of Grey. Never heard of the Brothers? Here's the low-down:
A group of vampire warriors protect their species by fighting their nemeses, Lessers, or de-souled humans. Each book is dedicated to developing the good v. evil plot through each brother, and here's how The WARDen describes them:
Wrath: the last purebred vampire on the planet and the vampire race's king. Essentially blind, he is the leader who is not willing to lead until he is forced to care for a half-breed he falls in love with.
Rhage: the strongest of the brothers and the best fighter. Cursed by the Scribe Virgin, he is possessed by a dark side which is a danger to everyone. Ultimately, though, he is gentled by a very special human woman.
Zsadist: the most lethal of the brothers. A former blood slave who was mercilessly tortured during the first hundred years of his life, Z is the one who has fallen farthest from grace. But he is utterly worthy of redemption.
Phury: the loyal one, the one who sacrifices himself for others. Phury is Zsadist's twin brother and a celibate who cannot truly live because of everything his biological brother has lost. Used to giving rather than receiving, he needs love coming back at him to bring him alive.
Vishous: the most intelligent and the one who is specially gifted. His curse is his ability to prognosticate: he sees the future, though not the 'when' of events so he is tortured by his inability to save those he loves from danger. His love puts him at odds with a secret about himself he did not know and could never have guessed.
Tohrment: the steady one, the calm one. He is the one whose betrayal by fate will cut the deepest.
Here's a quick video to help you visualize the characters:
Now that you're sold on their *ahem* physical characteristics, let's get back to the important part, the lemons. As each book uses a similar formula for the vamp-warrior-meets-female-he-wants, the series gets almost predictable. But that's not a problem, because the writing is entertaining, the character personalities are realistic, and the lemons are salaciously juicy! And let's not pretend that this series is being read for any other purpose than lemony goodness.
mmmmm, Rhage
If you want to lose yourself in the BDB world, you have nothing short of a whole fandom who would welcome you with open arms. First, start by listening to the BDB Pohdcast or the Hellren Podcast, both entertaining in their own ways. Next, check out The WARDen's website & watch her describe the series. Follow the Brothers & other characters on Twtr: Rhage, Zsadist, Butch, Vishous, Phury, Torhment, etc. Last, and I save this for last because it can be a total time suck but oh so worth it, type Black Dagger Brotherhood into YouTube, and then just try to limit yourself to a handful of videos. This is one of my favorites!
Ready to start reading? I recommend picking up the book set with the first six books and buying the last book 
independently. I would also like to point out that the first book, Dark Lover, is a fun read, but the series gets better with each book, so if the first book doesn't hook your dark side, keep reading!
For those of you who have read the series, here's a fun quiz to test your BDB worthiness, and don't forget to tell us who your favorite brother is, and why.
Happy reading, junkies!
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Comment by Courtney on April 24, 2011 at 9:13pm -
Yum, yum --- that first video was HOT! I totally wanna read it and picture all those people. I don't think I've seen so many good looking people in one place before! Lots of characters to remember though, sheesh! You know me, I got confused with all the True Blood characters introduced this season! With those book covers, I'll definitely need to be making good use of those mommy magazines as a shield from what I'm really reading behind the mag!!! Not sure if I'd read those books on the train, so I'll have to mek time for reading lounging at home! Looking forward to diving into some more erotica good reads!
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Comment by Colleen on April 25, 2011 at 9:08am -
I read all of these in Maui 2 yrs ago. I couldn't fit them all in my suitcase coming home, so left them at the condo! Not sure if there has been another release since then. I did really like them, and you gotr to know each Brother better when the specific novel was about them, but would include the others.
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Comment by venus on April 25, 2011 at 11:47am -
I just started this series after seeing so many people on Twitter talking about it. So it was either start another fanfic or give this series a try and I have to say I'm loving it so far. Its not a Twilight obsession but its very good and the brothers are SO hot! I spent way too much time watching the vids on Youtube by the way! I started the 6th book last night, Lover Enshrined. So far I have to say my fav brother is Wrath, maybe cos he's the first you are introduced to in the series? Or as my sister suggests its the bad boy. The 9th book was released at the end of March, Lover Unleashed and I think there's also a novella, Father Mine, don't know if that's just a rumor but will keep checking.
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Comment by bulletsucker on April 25, 2011 at 12:01pm -
vischous is my fav so far, but that's not to say that i would kick any of the other brothers to the curb! maybe it's his black room of pain that reminds me of fifty;) what can i say, i like bad boys.
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Comment by venus on April 25, 2011 at 12:37pm
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Lol, I completely agree! The brothers are HOT! Yes def had a Fifty flashback when I read about his black room of pain :)
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Comment by Colleen on April 26, 2011 at 8:38am
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Since I had read the others, I just downloaded "Lover Unleashed", I must say, it's fun to re-visit "The Brotherhood"
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Comment by libbybelle523 on April 26, 2011 at 10:47pm -
@bulletsucker i've seen so many of my twi lovin fanfic hoors talk about this series. i'm intrigued but i never got into "True Blood" so i'm not sure about this series.
the boys look sofa king hawt! its lemons and vampires?.....maybe i should try it out.
"Gabriels Inferno" was going to be my next read but after all the chatter i've heard about these books....guess ill try them out first.
any suggestions on if i'd like them or not cause i'm not a "True Blood" fan would be appreciated.
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Comment by bulletsucker on April 26, 2011 at 11:43pm
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@libbybelle523, what is it about tb that u don't like? is it the lack of romance or the tumultuous story lines that cross-cross every which way? LOL! jk, that's what I don't like, but this series has lots of action in the way of fight scenes, as well as plenty of lemons. I think it's quite different from tb. anyone else have words of encouragement for @libbybelle that tb & bdb r different?
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Comment by Wawi on September 16, 2011 at 9:48pm -
OMGGGGGGG JUST STARTED READING THIS BOOKSS!! im hooked!!! cant stop reading
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Comment by bulletsucker on September 16, 2011 at 10:30pm
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They r my fav vamp series! Finished the entire series 2 months ago, & now gotta wait for the next book :(
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