There has been so much hype going around this one that I couldn’t help but go into this one excited. Sadly, this left so much to be desired. The main character's name is Misery. Instantly makes me think of Kathy Bates. Along with that, we had cringy smut and a weird plot that was super choppy.

I hardly felt any chemistry between Misery and Lowe. Maybe because we didn’t even get a piece of romance until much later in the book. By the time we saw them entering a romantic relationship, I thought they made better friends than lovers. Hell, she would have been better off with Stella IMO.

I also feel like it’s a shame that only Lowe felt the mate bond and Misery never did. It felt quite one sided that way. Also, it was hella obvious that she was his mate to everyone but Misery. Girl, for someone to be so smart …

This eventually became a chore to get through and I patted myself on the back for finishing it. This ended with hints that she would be writing another book about Stella, but I think I’ll pass on that one.

If you are a fan of Hazelwood’s writing and enjoy paranormal romances, then this might work better for you. However, I just found it overhyped.

This book, y’all. It pulled me in and didn’t let go. Sleep? Who needs it! Laundry? Forget about it! I binged this book like nobody’s business, and I loved it!

This book had it all: suspense, romance, found family, dynamic characters, witty banter, and so many other good tropes!!!

I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just say that I loved the two main characters. They were so good together! The ending has me thinking there might be a second book? Pretty, pretty please??? I need more!

This was my favorite read from January, and I have a feeling it will be a favorite for the year! I highly recommend it!

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝗼𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
☝️ Single POV
🩸/🐺 Vampires/werewolves
🔥 Forced proximity
❤️ Arranged Marriage
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Found family
👀 Suspense
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Alright, alright, alright… first of all I’d like to thank Berkley and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Secondly, as always, I’d like to thank Ali Hazelwood for a truly unhinged and binge-able read.
When cracking open an Ali Hazelwood book I’ve come to expect a few things… a very large, almost cartoonishly giant man and a tiny, almost microscopic woman, internet in-jokes and quirky references that remind me of my 2012 days on Tumblr, and a story with addictive-readability. I wasn’t sure how these would translate into this new fantasy story… but they were surely there!
Overall, I enjoyed this book and I am excited that it seems as though there may be a sequel. However, it was far from perfect. There was a lot of showing vs. telling; Lowe was the most powerful <i>were</i> in the whole region despite never doing anything powerful on the page, Misery (yes, that is really her name) was deeply traumatized despite never feeling anything… except for love and affection for multiple characters after she claimed that vampyres do not have the capacity for such feelings. There is a child character that is fiercely independent and self-sufficient except that she frequently mispronounces and mixes up words simply to remind readers that she is a “child” (it should be noted that this is a personal problem that I have as a reader and not a true reflection of the book itself.) The pacing was also a bit erratic and the main “problem” wrapped up with almost alarming speed. I can’t speak on the <i>omegaverse</i> aspect of the story with any authority, but it seemed like some key words were sprinkled in at mostly-appropriate times to remind readers what kind of book this really was.
All that being said, I had fun and finished reading this almost a week ago and have been in a bit of a reading slump ever since. So with the publication date in just a few days, do with that what you will! Enjoy!

Somebody get me this woman's grocery list, because let me tell you- she can do NO wrong.
This book is perfection and I'll happily tell you why.
-Witty banter- Misery is hilarious, I found myself laughing out loud multiple times.
-OMEGAVERSE?
-Marriage of convenience

Lowe and Misery (Yes, her name is really Misery, Vampyres are dicks) were such fun characters to read about. I also absolutely adored the world building here, the complicated political structure between the Weres, Vampyres and Humans was super interesting. The biological components of the different species was also fascinating, it all felt very scientific- which is purely Ali Hazelwood at its core. The fun quirks of the Vampyres and Weres were a nice touch, often I find that werewolf and vampire novels can be overdone and repetitive, this did not happen here.

I'm always cautious when I read one of my beloved authors introduction into a new genre. But this was executed absolutely flawlessly. I could not stop reading it.

Thank you Berkely Publishing Group and Netgalley for a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to receive an early copy of Bride by Ali Hazelwood. I know it is completely different than her other releases, but the premise of the book intrigued me. I think it is a solid start to a new series and I saw a lot of potential in it. I think the world-building was easy to understand and imagine, however, it was a little too dragged out for me. Some of the information was not important to the story and could have been cut out. The ending of the book picked up and finished off nicely with a preview of what's to come next in the book.

Overall, I am looking forward to the next book in the series and see a lot of potential with this book.

I really enjoyed this read. What would you do for your best friend? New micro trope loved unlocked for me. The angst and friendships that grew was also really nice to read. Overall would recommend

4.25/5 ⭐️

I did not expect to love this as much as I did. I was just going to read a bit before my first then BAM! I couldn’t look away. Misery is witty and sarcastic and ever so slightly oblivious, which I absolutely adored. She didn’t let others walk all over her even when she was in enemy territory.

I loved the slow burn of Lowe and Misery’s relationship. It had a nice build up from enemies to reluctant allies to “oh we’re friends I guess?” to lovers. It was incredibly believable and so freaking adorable, I adored their banter.

The paranormal worldbuilding was surprisingly solid! In paranormal romances the world can be a bit iffy but Hazelwood did a good job giving us a basis for Vampyres, Weres, and humans and their history behind their interactions. My only gripe with this book is that I wish it was dual-pov.

I loved the heck out of this little ugly covered book.
The main character Misery is a vampyre but she has never really connected with the vampyres because to keep peace between the vamps and the humans she was offered up for collateral. They had a vampyre and the vamps had a human among them.
Now her dad says she has to keep the peace with the Were's by marrying the alpha male of the pack named Lowe.

DANG it I loved the main characters. Misery is so likable and I'd totally have been humping the alpha's leg. It's a slow burn to the romancey part and I was like omggggg please stop this torture. In a good way. Well in a way my husband benefitted from anyways.

I had never read any Ali Hazelwood books but if they are this good sign me up.

Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

I actually really enjoyed the first 50% of this book, but shortly after it kind of just fell off. There were so many loose ends that were brought up once and never discussed again and the entire plot moved sooooo fast.

I also feel like the 2 MCs didn’t really have any personality. They felt like 2 chess pieces moving around a board. It just didn’t feel fleshed out.

What I did like was that the FMC was a computer hacker/cyber security nerd and that aspect was really fun to read.

The plot is pretty predictable but I expected as much as I read this assuming it would be brain candy. This is one of those books that you’d only recommend to someone super specific. 😂

I loved every minute of this book—the pacing, the mystery, the character development, the spicy romance. The FMC has a snarky sense of humor, she’s a techie, and was also a bit of an outcast. The MMC is loyal, compassionate, and an alpha to the core. They both complimented each other so well. The side characters were so much fun and I really hope this becomes a series because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

For fans of:
-vampires & werewolves
-marriage of convenience
-urban fantasy
-mystery/suspense
-political intrigue
-found family

We absolutely loved Love, Theoretically, but when we were finished, we said we liked Ali Hazelwood but were ready for something new: she had plumbed the depths of her specific romance novel niche (giant guy/tiny girl! academic rivals! she thinks he hates her but he's been in looooove with her forever!). Well, she brought us something a little different in Bride!

It's still recognizably Ali Hazelwood, but PNR: It's written in first person, present tense. Misery, the FMC, might be a Vampyre, but she just knows her Alpha Were husband, Lowe, hates her because whenever he gets close to her he clenches his fists, his pupils get really big, and he has a major aversion to her scent. In a slight twist, Misery is pretty tall - but Lowe is EVEN TALLER (they have an only-one-king-sized-bed moment and his feet hang off the end). Misery is also a super socially awkward coder who's never fit in anywhere, although she does have a firm best female friend.

In other words, this is Ali Hazelwood - but doing something new!!! If you like her STEMinist stuff, you'll probably like this. And if you DON'T like her contemporary romances, this is something different enough that you probably want to check it out.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

“𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨.” 𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨. “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢.”

I AM SO HAPPY THAT MY READING SLUMP IS OVER! I won’t lie it took me a couple of chapters to start getting hooked…and then my dumb eyeball reading slump occurred. I put this down until I knew I would be able to enjoy it fully and I am SO glad I didn’t force it at the time, because after returning to it last night I sat down and fnished it in one sitting. I had the best time and cannot wait to reread via audio after release day.

I love, LOVE Lowe and Misery. 🐺🧛🏻‍♀️ There is sooo much immediate chemistry and tension between them, because despite being forced to be married there is still a forbidden aspect surrounding werewolves and vampyres (yes that is how it is spelled) being together. Oooooo and the spice 🤭 let’s just say I always learn something from Ali Hazelwood books hehe

I adored Ana! She stole every scene that she was in.

The author’s first paranormal romance did not disappoint and while it was different than her usual genre, it still had the typical charm and humor that all of her books have.

Thank you Berkley for the advanced copy!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I’ve been an Ali Hazelwood fan from the beginning (of her published career, at least), and I was honestly super excited to see her writing a paranormal romance. I’ve found more of a love for paranormal romance (especially vampires and werewolves) in the past year or so, with vampire books coming back more, so getting one from Ali Hazelwood seemed like perfect timing!

Bride was so immensely fun and entertaining that I wanted to just drink it right up. It was quickly addicting, and even though it was so different from anything else Hazelwood has published so far, it had the same charm as her other romances. I also feel like Hazelwood further diversified herself and her characters and writing in this book, with both Misery and Lowe feeling really different from her other characters. It just further solidified her as an author I enjoy overall, not just for a very specific type of academic romance.

Fantasy has always been my comfort genre, and the explosion of fantasy romance, or romantasy, in the past few years has been fantastic for me. The blend of fantasy world-building with romance you just want to sink your teeth into (literally) is just so addicting, and I am always so quickly caught up in these types of stories. Bride was exactly that, and I just had so much fun with every aspect of it. The world-building blended perfectly with the romance, and while the focus was definitely more on the romance, the plot and the setting were still well-defined enough for the whole story to remain supported by it. I really cannot wait for the rest of the world to get their hands on this book, and I can definitely see myself rereading this in the future!

Overall, Bride is easily my favorite Hazelwood book (which isn’t an easy feat, considering I’ve loved all her books so far!). I really hope to see more like this from Hazelwood in the future!

Review will go live on my blog on February 6!

Oh, this was so fun! Ali Hazelwood has a way of making me completely immersed--by the first chapter, I was already giggling and knew it was going to be so good. The vampyre-were dynamic is one we're all familiar with, and if you're also familiar with the fanfic, you're familiar with the omegaverse, but 'Bride" was wholly unique.

Arranged to marry the alpha of the Weres for an alliance, Misery is on a mission to find her best friend Serena as the only clue to her disappearance is the name of that very alpha. So, we have the tension between species who have always hated each other and an arranged marriage to start us off. The tension in this? Delicious. The novel is carried with Lowe's hidden desire for Misery, because she's his mate but also a vampyre. I love the little snippets of his feelings at the beginning of every chapter! We don't usually see the love interest's point of view, so that was a little treat.

I would've loved this to be more of a slow burn (it had all the makings of one) but alas, I can't have everything. The middle kind of lost me due to the Were politics, but it picked up quickly after that.

Also, this book was so dirty! It wasn't even because there were weird or crazy sex acts, but because of the intimacy. Tension is a great foundation for chemistry, so nonsexual acts suddenly became extremely charged. It had me blushing and looking away because wooooow!

A great supernatural debut for Ali Hazelwood!

Ali Hazelwood, vampires and werewolves, and an arranged marriage… sign me up!

Misery is a vampire who has lived with the humans her entire life, Lowe is a werewolf who has just become the Alpha. Now the two are getting married to save their kind from all out war. Will they learn to love each other or will they love to hate each other?

Number one, a main character named Misery was a BIT much. I felt very secluded from the plot and the characters from the start and didn’t care to continue reading at one point. I liked the end but overall this one fell extremely flat for me which is so disappointing since it was one of my most anticipated of 2024!

4.5 ⭐️. This was such a fun read. It took me a little bit to get into and felt very different from her typical writing to me. But I found this concept to be really light, entertaining and I was living for the tension and spice. Ali really can write anything!

4.75 stars!!! This book was so good! Ali Hazelwood came back with her brand of sassy and sarcastic humor, but doubled it! Misery is like every heroine Ali has created combined!

I never thought I needed a vampire-werewolf romance with a marriage-of-convenience thrown in the mix, but now, it's all I will ever need in life. The plot had me hooked from beginning to end. I loved that there were rarely any slow moments, despite this being a slow-burn story. I don't know how Ali did it, but she made it work so well. At the same time, were so many moving parts, yet they never felt overwhelming or confusing. Creating this story to be contemporary with the paranormal aspect made it all that much better!

AND THE ROMANCE! Ahhhh! Lowe is just the absolute cutest alpha werewolf! I loved how this was a strangers-to-acquaintances-to-friends-to-lovers. It made their romance so much sweeter and believable.

"You're not a problem, Misery. You're a privilege."

I figured out very early on pretty much every "twist" the story had, but it never took away from my experience; I was eager to see it all unfold, and Ali delivered ten-fold! I would have loved just a little bit more towards the ending, but honestly, I hope it means we're getting more books in this world from other possible couples, because I am desperate with that little easter egg at the end!

I should start by saying: I am not normally a romance reader, nor have I ever been interested in Vampires/Werewolves, aside from reading and being entertained by Twilight when I was fourteen. I am not the target audience for this book.

However, I have been trying to branch out and read more romance for the sake of reader's advisory at work, so when I was offered a chance to read a new Ali Hazelwood book, I took it. I had not read Ali Hazelwood before, but she was on my list of authors to check out, so I gave it a shot.

And, well, it wasn't bad. It wasn't "good," either, in the sense that I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if this is your preferred genre you may be able to look over some of the flaws that bothered me.

Generally speaking, it was a slow start. The plot and the spice both pick up in the second half; I finished the last 50% of the book in two long spurts before bed (and I did stay up too late reading it!). Spice seems to be Hazelwood's strong-suit. Erotic scenes are difficult to write and always come off at least a little bit cheesy, and hers still did, but not to the extent of others I've read.

The plot involves a mystery that is solved near the end of the book. It does have an interesting twist. It might be predictable if you're looking for it, but I didn't predict it. (The romance, however, does have a predictable plot twist; I won't spoil it, but you'll see it a mile away, trust me).

The characterization could've been better. Misery, the protagonist, is supposedly good at "hacking" and "coding." I guess this was meant to fall in line with Hazelwood's "women in STEM" theme, but I was not convinced that Misery knows anything about computers. Like, if you want to show me she's a computer whiz, have her get into an argument with the other computer guy about which programming language is the most useless, or have her talk about incorporating AI language models to write code faster. She can show off how smart she is, not by "coding games" on her phone, but by saying, "I applied for this job that wanted seven years of experience in a language I invented three years ago." You could've spent a few hours on an internet meme forum and gathered enough intel to make this more believable.

This book also suffers from the always-sarcastic witty banter that I see in a lot of romance novels. Sometimes it's funny, but it just gets repetitive.

The side characters are nice, for the most part. They aren't really fleshed out. They each have like one personality trait that defines their whole purpose in the book. They're not, like, awful or annoying, but it was hard to keep track of their names because they just weren't very interesting.

Lowe is basically a golden retriever. Not terrible characterization, but also could've had more nuance.

In my head, Misery was Dee from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This worked well because I didn't take her too seriously. They're actually very similar characters: blond, twin brother, cocky, no friends and always getting bullied by family.

Miscommunication as a plot point always bugs me.

And then we get into the fan-fiction stuff. That will certainly appeal to the typical omegaverse reader. Not really my vibe, but that's what I get for reading a werewolf romance.

Overall, it was a light-hearted, easy read. Great if you like the particular genre and tropes, not bad if you like romance books in general, and a bit average if you read widely in different genres.

Synopsis: Mortal enemies, the Vampyres and the Weres, have decided to form an alliance sealed by the marriage of Misery Lark, daughter of the head of the Vampyre Council, and Lowe Moreland, Alpha of the Weres. Misery and Lowe each have their own reasons for agreeing to the marriage despite their dislike for one another, and
it quickly becomes apparent that they will have to at least tolerate each other to survive.

Thoughts: I always love Ali Hazelwood, so when I heard she was writing a vampire/werewolf romance, let me tell you I RAN to preorder! Bride definitely did not disappoint - I LOVED it!

I really enjoyed the overall setup of the story - the world building was well done and easy to follow, with a city divided between Weres, Vampyres and humans under tense political agreements. Bride was a really fun take on a paranormal romance with an intriguing and suspenseful plot.

This book had the witty banter and smart, quirky characters I’ve come to expect from Ali. Misery and Lowe were both wonderfully written, and their unlikely romance was definitely swoonworthy. I loved Lowe’s commanding yet sweet personality and his relationships with the other Weres. Misery was definitely the quirky one, and it honestly made her so lovable. Ali poked fun at some of the more overt stereotypes of the genre with these characters. I will warn you, there is definitely some interesting 🌶️ and you will learn a lot about werewolf anatomy 😅.

Overall, this was a fun and unique book that is a good introduction to paranormal romance!

Read this if you like:
🖤 paranormal romance
🖤 vampires and werewolves
🖤 arranged marriage
🖤 enemies to lovers

Thank you @netgalley and @berkleypub for the e-arc! | 4.25 stars currently rounded up |

I've only read one book by Ali Hazelwood before this (The Love Hypothesis, of which I enjoyed for the most part but felt fell flat in its third act), so I was looking forward to Bride but didn't necessarily have expectations when approaching it. What shines through in Bride is what I remember really distinctly enjoying about TLH, which is Ali Hazelwood's writing. The cadence of her dialogue and world building are easily immersive and just feel very natural -- which is a particular plus in Bride where the audience is receiving a lot of new information as Misery, the main character, is. One of my personal pet peeves when being introduced to a new universe is clunky "tell, not show" world building, but the book slowly and surely teases out information to the reader in a way that didn't feel burdensome. Additionally -- this is not required at all for me to enjoy a book -- but Misery was a main character whose head it was enjoyable to be in. She's rightfully wary dropped into a new and what could be very dangerous environment, but she's also witty, makes understandable decisions, and has a touch of humor. And last but not least: the romance! Misery and Lowe were two characters who fit together (even outside of being fated mates) and had great chemistry. However, while I like this archetype of male hero -- selfless to a fault, self-sacrificing -- it's also why I hesitate just a bit to give this book five stars. I liked Lowe, but this type of character can at times come across as a bit flat and I did feel that way a bit into the book.

But overall, I would definitely recommend this book and it made me want to read more of Ali Hazelwood's work. Would I consider this release omega verse? Not particularly, but it was definitely a fun and intriguing paranormal romance!