Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
VBC HQ Note: This post by Chelsea Mueller was originally published on Heroes & Heartbreakers in 2011. Since that time, J.R. Ward has brought us many more strong heroines. If you’re looking for more female leads from Ward, try the spin-off series beginning with Blood Kiss. That said, Chelsea still says the early BDB books are must reads. If you haven’t dived into this series, let’s talk about the power of... 
Blood Fury (Black Dagger Legacy #3) J.R. Ward Published: Jan. 9, 2018 (Ballantine) Purchase at: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review Reviewed by: Chelsea Rating (out of 5): 4 stars Note: This review will be spoiler-free, but does assume you have some familiarity with either the Black Dagger Brotherhood series or its spinoff Black Dagger... 
The Chosen (Black Dagger Brotherhood #15) J.R. Ward Published: April 4, 2017 (Ballantine Books) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: purchased Reviewed by: Jo Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it will reference events from previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Dark Lover. After the safe birth of her... 
Blood Kiss (Black Dagger Legacy #1) J.R. Ward Published: Dec. 1, 2015 (Signet) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: purchased Reviewed by: Jannelle Rating (out of 5): 4 stars Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to books in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. If you haven’t started that yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Dark Lover. You do not, however, need... 
A couple weeks ago I joked on Twitter that I was in need of a book boyfriend Advent calendar. There was quite a bit of “yes, please!” from others, but no one could find a good one. Clearly, this was up to me. So, to make the chaotic holiday season a little more fun and a lot more sexy, we’re going to feature a book boyfriend every day for the next 25 days. That’s right. Welcome to VBC’s 25 Days of Book... 
Wrath! The mighty vampire warrior and king has claimed the title this year after some seriously hard-fought battles. He took out Raphael, Kate Daniels and Mad Rogan to make it to the championship match. Pretty damn impressive, and worthy of honors. Both he and final-round competitor Kaleb had fans rally for them, but in the end the Black Dagger Brotherhood member who has not one, but two books about him...
The fifth annual Alpha Showdown has been the hardest fought so far. We had countless matches where a handful of votes determined the winner. Thousands of people voted, and one of our final combatants won his last round by only a single vote. Wrath and Kaleb have demonstrated dominance throughout the Showdown. The BDB and Psy/Changeling fans have rallied in each bout, which means this final match is going...
It’s been a wicked Alpha Showdown so far. Both the characters in today’s match had lots of fans come out for them in their first rounds. But they both won by only a handful of votes. Will this round be the same? Kate Daniels from the Ilona Andrews’ series of the same name took out Bones, and Wrath from J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood beat the archangel Raphael. It’s going to be a close one, and your...
It makes sense in a battle of ultimate alpha characters that we’d have the primo leaders of their respective worlds in this year’s Alpha Showdown. In Round 7 we have two of the biggest, baddest and most loved leaders. Raphael is an archangel—leading angels and vampires and watching over humans—from Nalini Singh’s excellent Guild Hunter series. Wrath is the vampire king in J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger... 
The Shadows (Black Dagger Brotherhood #13) J.R. Ward Published: March 31, 2015 (NAL) Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon Review source: purchased Reviewed by: Krista Rating (out of 5): 3 stars Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it will make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started the series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Dark Lover. At the beginning of the The... 
