Bride by Ali Hazelwood Published by Berkley on February 6, 2024
Pages: 410
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Therese Plummer, Will Damron
Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
Genres: Paranormal, Romance
Amazon Audible
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.
Ali Hazelwood, the reigning queen of STEM romances, dips her toes in the paranormal romance waters with Bride. Hazelwood is an auto-buy author for me, so I was especially curious to see how she would handle a genre that is, admittedly, not my favorite.
The good news is that Misery is a fabulous character. Her dry sense of humor kept me entertained even when I wasn’t sure where the plot was heading. Lowe makes a great alpha. He’s strong, decisive, and fair but is putty in his little sister’s hands. He also has a soft spot for Misery.
Unfortunately, my feelings about the story are a little all over the place. The mysterious disappearance of Misery’s best friend intrigued me at first, but my interest waned as the story progressed. The unlikely romance between a werewolf and a vampire is clever, but the sex is cringey, and their breakup is frustrating. Each chapter begins with Lowe’s perspective on the state of things. I think it would have been more interesting to wonder about his feelings without them being spelled out.
Overall, Bride was a mixed bag for me.
Recommended for fans of:
Paranormal romance
Vampires
Werewolves
Arranged marriage
Foster kids
About Ali Hazelwood
My favorite thing in the world is to explore traditional romance tropes—and to picture how they’ll play out in academic settings.
Rival scientists falling in love despite their better judgement?
There’s only one cot in the lab?
Fake dating during faculty meeting?
Sign me up!
I’m originally from Italy, lived in Japan and Germany, and eventually moved to the US to pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. I recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies me. Oh, the sheer dread of being entrusted with the care of young minds!
When I’m not at work you can find me binge-watching shows with my feline overlords (and my slightly less feline husband), running, or eating candy.
Oh, and I’m a New York Times Bestselling Author.
I’m represented by the amazing Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this one more, like I did. I do understand what you mean by all over the place, though.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I know a lot of people did.
I am sorry you didn’t like it as much as I did Angela!
Thanks, Sophie. It’s probably just a me thing.
I’m going to read this next week. I hope it works better for me.
I gave it 4 stars, but I agree with you. I lost interest in the plot towards the end.
I think most of the reviews I’ve seen rated it much higher than I did.