Review: Bride

Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Published: February 2024

“What I am is an adult woman with agency and the tools to make choices. Feel free to, you know, treat me accordingly.”

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.

Misery is not your typical Vampyre. Exposed to Human life more than her roots, she is considerably different to the rest of her species. But that is what makes her so intriguing and brilliant to read. Misery is different. She’s caring, even if she doesn’t want to admit it. She’s curious, even if she doesn’t want to show it. And she has feelings, even if she’s trained herself to hide them away. I really like how Misery is written. She’s relatively confident in herself and her abilities, but she second-guesses herself repeatedly – which is utterly understandable considering her circumstances. It made her feel more real and relatable, further endearing me to her as the story went on. She really goes through quite an arc during the book and it was wonderful to read.

Lowe appears to be quite the beast – and not just because he’s a Were. But there is far more to him than meets the eye. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want someone like him watching my back or being rather enamoured with me… But that’s besides the point! He is an interesting character to read about because he has so many layers and so many walls to his personality. He seems to quickly change before your eyes, and not just due to his Were changes. Emotionally, he seems to struggle to control himself and I rather liked seeing that. More often than not, Alpha men are far too stoic and proud to show emotion so I was thrilled so see the opposite from Lowe – though of course, he was still the big, bad Alpha when he needed to be.

Hazelwood has me in an absolute chokehold and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Give me something she has written and I am happy – this book being no exception! The plot was wonderful, brilliantly paced and had me so engaged, I felt like I flew through the story. I’m not one for paranormal stories – I was never a Twilight fan! – but I really enjoyed this one. I was certainly pleasantly surprised by just how much I liked the story. There isn’t a massive cast of characters but this story definitely doesn’t need it! They’re all interesting – especially a certain little someone – and I found that I felt like I knew each of the characters. Since the story is from Misery’s POV, it offered some rather interesting insights into some of the characters which I thoroughly enjoyed. Now, the romance… oh lordy there was tension and longing and the spice was just *chef’s kiss*. Hazelwood’s strength is certainly in romance and she must be commended with how it feels so different every time she writes it. No one would think that a Vamp and a Were would work but I found myself unabashedly rooting for them throughout. The ending was just perfection – and funny too! Hazelwood always wraps up her books brilliantly and this was no exception.

Overall, Bride is a paranormal story I was pleasantly surprised to truly enjoy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5