Title: BrideAuthor: Ali Hazelwood
Publication: February 6, 2024 by Berkley
Genre: Paranormal Romance
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Rating: 3/5★
A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.
Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…
Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….
Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.
I’ve very much enjoyed Ali Hazelwood’s STEM books (especially The Love Hypothesis) but when it was revealed that her next book was gonna be a paranormal romance I was so damn excited because I just adore that genre + it being about a marriage of convenience between a Vampyre and a Were? I was fucking sold and the book went to the top of my 2024 wishlist. Sadly enough it turned out to be just an okay read. I liked the story for what it was but I wasn’t a huge fan or anything.
If you’d ask me how I would rate the book while I was reading the first half of Bride I would’ve said 4 stars without a doubt. But then came the other half of the book and the story kind of turned messy. It was a very tropey book. Which is absolutely fine and there’s nothing wrong with it. I love tropes and I eat them up like candy. But maybe this one was a bit too tropey? It wasn’t the longest book ever but I felt like the plot dragged on and on. And it conclusion wasn’t that thrilling either, to be honest.
The romance is probably where my three stars truly went to, along with some of the secondary characters. Although not the most perfect romance, I did like Misery (yes that’s the female main character’s name) and Lowe’s relationship. It didn’t jump into a sexual thing right away, which I did like because I’m more a slow burn lover anyways. And once it did it was pretty spicy so I can’t complain there.
The lightpoint of this book though, was the character of Ana. She was Lowe’s little six-almost-seven sister and she was the most precious ever. I loved how she kept wanting to spend time with Misery even though Mistery is definitely not a kid person. But of course Misery ended up being very protective over Ana throughout the story. Ana was a real cutie and I would’ve wanted to read more about her.
Overall, Bride by Ali Hazelwood was a decent read. Not a favorite, nor do I think I would ever reread it but I did love the Twilight vibes and the romance. It was definitely a characters over plot kinda story and that was fine for me since it was a light and funny read. It had its cringey moments but those felt like they had to be part of the book, if that makes sense? I do believe the end set up the setting for a possible next book in the same world with different characters in the lead and I must say I’m intrigued for sure because I really like the idea of those characters together. We shall see!
About the author:
Ali Hazelwoodis the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis, as well as a writer of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the US to pursue a PhD in neuroscience. When Ali is not at work, she can be found running, eating cake pops, or watching sci-fi movies with her three feline overlords (and her slightly-less-feline husband).
I was really hoping you’d like this more, but I totally get it. I feel like my expectations are too high right now, which is leading to some disappointing reads.
I haven’t loved my reading of 2024 as much as I’ve wanted. There have been good ones but none were I can say wow that was an amazing read. Hopefully this will change soon.
I’ve been looking forward to this one for awhile – I may have to temper my expectations when I finally get to it!
Maybe it was just me feeling like this over the book 😛
I am sorry you didn’t love it more Stephanie! 🙁
I just finished this one and I also didn’t love it as much as I was hoping to! But that said, I did enjoy it and like you I’m also intrigued by that potential for another story in this world.
Nice cover