Black Dagger Brotherhood is one of the best paranormal series’ out there and Butch’s book is no exception! When we met him in Dark Lover he definitely wasn’t my favorite character and I admit, I wasn’t excited to read his book. But he exceeded my expectations! I loved him and Marissa together. Talk about opposites attract! But they worked well together, they so worked well together. I love how in love Butch is with Marissa. We saw this from the very beginning of the series. We were able to see both of these characters grow throughout the series but especially in this book. Both characters were very lost in the beginning. Butch was feeling like an outsider looking in to the Brotherhood, he didn’t fit in the human world or in the vampire world. Marissa was feeling very much the same way. She started out as a female who was hiding from the glymera having panic attacks in the bathroom. She was a vampire and still was an outsider looking into the world that she should have been a part of. They both decide to take life changing chances in order to obtain some sense of self worth. Granted, Marissa’s choices aren’t as drastic as Butch’s but I don’t think that makes them any less important. Everything she did from stading up to the princeps to wearing jeans for the first time shaped her into a strong female. She is definitely someone who knows what she wants and has no qualms telling people what it is! Sometimes, I think she went too far and went into the realm of selfishness. Which, goes back to how much Butch loves Marissa. He is so sweet and gentle with her, willing to do anything to make her happy and safe. I’m glad that he didn’t have to though. I was a little worried that he would have to give up being a Brother. The fact that Marissa wasn’t supportive of him was leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I just wish she didn’t have to have the other shellans talk some sense into her.
My favorite part of this book is Butch’s relationship with V. As readers, we knew they he and Butch were close but we never felt the real connection between them until now. I don’t even think V really knew how much he cared about Butch until he saw him with Marissa. What made me love him even more was even though it hurt him to see Butch with Marissa he still knew they were good for each other and didn’t try to stand in their way.
What would have brought this up to 5 stars was less time with the lessoning society. It’s too much, and frankly, I just don’t care. Being as this was a reread I was able to completely skip those parts. On the same note, because this was a reread I paid much more attention to John, Blay and Qhuinn. The first time I read through this book I was kinda “meh” about those characters. For those of us that are caught up on the series know that I was the complete opposite of “meh” this time! I even reread those sections! Even though they were just playing video games! Sigh... is it March 2013 yet?
