Finished Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward. This is the fourth book in her Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

This one’s about Butch, a human ex-cop who’s fallen in with the big, buff vampires, and Marissa, a pampered noble who feels constrained by the rules of the vampire high society. There’s the usual angst, battles, love found, love lost, and love found again.

Butch is one of Ward’s better heroes. He never fit in with his human family, but he doesn’t really fit in with the vampires either. I also liked Marissa a lot because she’s unhappy with her situation and actually does something about it herself — instead of waiting for someone to rescue her.

I thought the main conflict between the two was a little contrived (or at least went on too long throughout the book). Butch doesn’t feel he’s worth. Marissa doesn’t approve of his actions. It went back and forth like that a lot.

Also, one thing I am a little tired of in Ward’s (and other writers’) novels is this insane possessiveness that the men have towards their women. In this book, a vamp from a previous book has to be physically restrained because his wife gives Butch some of her blood to drink — even though that’s the only way to keep Butch alive. Um, you’d think the vampire could put aside his jealousy long enough to, I don’t know, save his friend’s life. But maybe that’s just me.

Still, Ward weaves her characters’ stories together in interesting ways, and I’m interested in reading the ffith book.

So, thumbs up.

Up next: Some Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman.