3.5 Stars
I really enjoyed reading from Misery's perspective - she's a lot of fun to follow but she can be a bit naive (it wasn't hard to figure out a big plot point from the beginning but she somehow didn't until the last few chapters). This was spicier than I was expecting (he's a were so IYKYK) but I didn't hate it and it definitely read as an Ali Hazelwood book. I adored all the side characters as well as they were all a lot of fun to follow (I loved Ana, she's adorable) but I didn't love how this ended and found the conflict to be underwhelming.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC!

In Bride by Ali Hazelwood, Misery Lark, a vampyre, is thrust into a political marriage with Lowe Moreland, the Alpha of the Weres, to maintain a peacekeeping alliance. Misery navigates this uneasy alliance with her own hidden agenda, determined to reclaim something precious to her, even if it means living in the hostile territory of her mortal enemies.

Ali Hazelwood’s Bride marks an exciting shift to a new genre: paranormal romance. Moving away from her usual style, I was pleasantly surprised that she tried something a bit different. There was an element of mystery in the beginning that intrigued me. I found the subplots to be more interesting than Misery and Lowe’s romantic involvement. The steamy scenes were definitely a plus, but I just couldn’t see Misery and Lowe as a long-term couple. The pacing was a bit off in this book where some scenes dragged out and other scenes were action-packed and kept me engaged. I really liked the way that all the characters were fleshed out. It also made complete sense that this was told through Misery’s POV. The world building was a bit tedious at times and wasn’t necessary since this was more of paranormal romance. I also felt that the third act breakup didn’t make much sense and it wasn’t explained how it was really resolved. It honestly made like Lowe less. Overall, I thought this was a great first attempt into paranormal romance for Ali and can’t wait to see her explore this genre more!

First of all thank you for this early copy! I have seen a lot of great reviews for it so far because it’s not a normal Hazelwood book. But it was so good! I loved all the characters and their development. Would highly recommend!

Taking a break from your previous STEM based romances, Hazelwood has jumped in the paranormal romance genre with this vampyre/werewolf political marriage/romance.
And it was wonderful.
MC, Vampyre Misery is amazing. Used as collateral for most of her young life, she viewed as a less than a proper vampyre, as she wasn't raised among her kind, doesn't fit in with the humans and certainly isn't a werewolf. The only place she fits is with her bestie, her human companion from her collateral days.
When her father proposes using her again, but this time as collateral for the wolves, as a yearlong bride, she initially says no, but when she hears his she changes her mind, as he may be involved in her friends disappearance.
Lowe, alpha of the werewolf pack, wants to change the way things are run. Less death, more diplomacy. Easier said than done.

Altogether a fun cast of characters, Lowe's little sister won over Misery's heart and mine!

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely obsessed. This was the vampire-werewolf marriage of convenience romance book I never knew I needed.

I loooved Ali’s take on a contemporary paranormal romance and the way she used elements of traditional vamp/were lore, but completely made it her own.

And the spice! This book was unexpectedly spicy (which I have not been into lately) but I was HERE FOR IT.

Overall, I was completely captivated from start to finish and this has easily became my favorite book of hers.

Thank you to #berkley and #netgalley for the advanced copy.

Ali Hazelwood NEVER. MISSES. I feel like I've read so many shifter/vampire/paranormal/etc. contemporary romances in the past two years, and Bride is one of the few books that nailed the genre. I'm begging Ali Hazelwood to write more fantasy because this book blew it out of the park.

In a loose (very loose) retelling of Romeo and Juliet, Vampyres and Weres are bitter enemies. And throw Humans in there...the political stability in society is tenuous at best.

Misery Lark is the daughter of the influential Vampyre Councilman Lark. Misery has resigned herself to living a normal Human life, until she agrees to a marriage of convenience with Lowe Moreland, the Alpha Were. While this marriage symbolizes an alliance between Vampyres and Weres, Misery has an ulterior motive. And she is willing to give up everything for her agenda, even as she grows closer with Lowe.

I loved how this was a blend of paranormal romance and contemporary romance, with a hint of mystery. I especially liked how each species had their own territory that they governed, instead of everyone being completely integrated into the same society. It made for more conflict and enemies-to-lovers + forbidden romance vibes.

Misery was also such a great main character. I loved how logical and brutally honest she was, but at the same time, empathetic and caring. She didn't seem weak and wasn't afraid to be surrounded in Were territory.

And the ending! I did not predict any of the reveals, which I always love. I NEED an Owen book, or any other book set in this world. I would LOVE an Owen book where Owen and Lowe begrudgingly work together, then become besties. An Aaron Warner x Kenji Kishimoto friendship per say.

My only two wishes were that Misery had a different name. It fits her background and childhood, but like, Misery...? And I wish that there were a few more visual character descriptions. I had bit of trouble visualizing some of the side characters.

Also, as a complete aside, I love in the acknowledgements how Ali Hazelwood said that she would NOT like to thank Ticketmaster. Iconic.

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for sending me an ARC of Bride. As always, my reviews are one hundred percent voluntary and all opinions are my own :)

I’m a big fan of Ali Hazelwood’s books, so I was so so excited to read her paranormal romance debut!

This book felt like eating a delicious treat!
I absolutely adored everything about it. The world building was very easy to get into, and the characters were so well developed that I couldn’t help but love them and root for them.

If you love stories about vampires and werewolves, then you must read this book! It had the perfect mix of romance, comedy, and mystery. I loved to see Ali Hazelwood explore this new genre, while also staying true to her unique writing style that we all love and enjoy reading. :)

This book had me giggling and smiling so much at my kindle. I will forever be obsessed with Lowe and Misery from now on, and I need more of them asap!!

I have enjoyed all of Ali Hazelwood's books that I have read, but I am shocked to say that this one is easily my favorite. The story follows an arranged marriage that takes place between Misery, a Vampyre, and Lowe, a Werewolf, in hopes that the union will mark a new era of peace between the two groups. What ensues is an action packed love story filled with swoon-worthy moments and a compelling mystery.

Misery was such a fun main character to read! She is perpetually grumpy and does not understand the customs of neither the humans nor the Weres, and it was so fun watching her make her home amongst the Werewolf clan. One of my favorite parts of the book was watching Misery develop a friendship with Lowe's sister Ana. Ana was the most PRECIOUS character in the entire book and I, like Misery and the Werewolves, would do just about anything to protect her.

The romance between Lowe and Misery is to die for. Now, it's fairly easy to predict based on Lowe's first reaction to meeting her, that Misery is somehow his mate. Misery remains delightfully clueless to this fact for most of the story, which might prove frustrating for some, but I found it highly entertaining to read how oblivious she was to Lowe's feelings. I haven't read the arranged marriage trope often, but it was executed to perfection in this book. Watching their relationship develop had me blushing and giggling, and their love story is not one I'll be getting over anytime soon.

This was a totally unexpected favorite for me, but it is one I highly recommend. With this book, Ali Hazelwood is ushering me into my paranormal romance era, and I need her to write about ten more set in this world.

The first thing I thought when I finished reading BRIDE by Ali Hazelwood was that there better be another book- really, a series would be GREAT! 😂 This is by far one of my favorite paranormal romcoms. It’s funny, has a great plot and twist when it comes to the central problem facing our characters, and some super spicy scenes that made me blush. I could have lived without “the knot” but everything else about this book is perfect!

In Bride readers will meet Misery (a vampire), and Lowe (a werewolf) who are arranged to marry to bring peace amongst the two communities (including a third community, humans). Unfortunately, this arranged marriage isn’t just to bring peace among all kind. There’s trouble brewing on a more political side of things and someone’s holding secrets. These characters must all work together to find out WHY kidnapping and poisonings are happening before it's too late.

If you’re a fan of full fleshed characters, fun plots with a tiny bit of trouble (to make things interesting of course) and paranormal romances then you don’t want to miss this one. I can already tell its going to be one of my favorite books of 2024!

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙
❥ Paranormal Romances
❥ A little suspense and mystery
❥ LOL romcoms with some spice

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had very high hopes for this book, especially after hearing that paranormal was what the author had been wanting to write originally. However, it ended up being a 'mid' book for me overall and while it was entertaining enough to finish I'm not sure I would re-read it.

The scenes with Ana were particularly brutal for me because it read very much like someone who had never been around children trying to write a child character and it being overly cliched. Like it got to the point where those scenes almost made me DNF the book.

The love story was just okay but it was my favorite pairing by her since I felt that the animosity of the different species played too heavy of a hand if that makes sense. Like yeah there was going to be some opposition but at some point it felt a bit much.

It was also very long and I would argue roughly 30 pages too much so. There was a lot of scenes that could have been trimmed down or removed entirely and the book still would have been fine. Of course there was a cliffhanger for a sequel which will thrill a lot of people I'm sure.

Again entertaining enough to finish but was not as stellar as I was lead to believe it would be or how I wanted it to be.

Ali Hazelwood you have done it again! I was very intrigued about this book when it was announced. I’ve never read anything like it before and I’m so surprised by it. No one writes a hero and heroine like Ali Hazelwood. It’s a fun story with the perfect amount of slight suspense and true romance.

Unlike anything I’ve read from Ali Hazlewood. Bride still had her signature humor and quirks throughout but I just loved this sexy, primitive fantasy world she threw us into.

I absolutely love Lowe Moreland. He is alpha everything. He’s tall, strong, kind, caring, and literally just the whole package wrapped up in one. In my mind, Ali literally made him the PERFECT book husband. On the other side we have Misery (our Vampyre). Misery was very quirky. However, as a vampyre who is supposed to show no emotion, then forced to grow up with humans and then ends up in Ware territory… so, I suppose it’s justified. I did love watching Misery grow into a person she can be proud of and finally find somewhere she belongs.

This story has such a great storyline with awesome twists and heart-bending moments. The world Ali created here is so futuristically animalistic and I ate it up. Overall, this is a stunner from Ali Hazlewood and with the way it ended, I can only hope she gives us more in this world.

Before I start this review, I have to admit I do not read a lot of fantasy/paranormal books. It is not my thing, but when Ali Hazelwood wrote a book about a world where vampires and werewolves coexist, and a marriage pact was formed to maintain an alliance, I had to grab it! Ali Hazelwood usually writes rom cons with women from STEM, so I was pleasantly surprised that she hid her phenomenal writing skills for paranormal fantasy books for so long. I was also surprised by how much I loved this book.

Misery and Lowe’s romance was a slow burn, but their intense chemistry helped move the story along. I absolutely loved Misery and her personality. I immediately fell In love with how witty, intense, and emotionally intelligent she was from the start. Hazelwood did a great job building the worlds between the werewolves and the vampires. Due to Misery and Lowe's romance being a slow burn, I felt that the subplots were slightly more interesting than Misery and Lowe‘s romance, but I loved it all. Hazelwood also added her fun banter and made me believe that maybe I can like more fantasy and paranormal romances thanks to some blood-sucking romance!

Thank you to NetGallery and to Berkley Publishing for giving me a copy of the book.

I absolutely loved this book.
I am such a sucker for Hazelwood's writing style.
It is always written in a way that has me kicking my feet, because it's just so damn cute. But also sexy at the same time.
This wasn't like her usual stories, but it was still so similar. I just ugh! I'm know what to expect when I pick up a Hazelwood book. And have yet to be disappointed.

"Bride" by Ali Hazelwood is a departure from her previous STEM-center romances, venturing into the supernatural with star-crossed vampire & werewolf couple Misery and Lowe. The book is consistent with Ali Hazelwood's style and a page-turner, but I found some of the spice-related plot points awkward and jarring and the major conflict between the two main characters towards the last quarter of the book doesn't make any logical sense. The book ends in a way that sets up at least one sequel.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

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.

📍 Read if you like:
• Fated Mates
• Arranged Marriage
• Forced Proximity
• Forbidden Love
• Found Family
• Urban Fantasy

This book was super out of my comfort zone and I should’ve known beforehand this wasn’t going to be my kind of book. I’ve had mixed feelings with Ali Hazelwood’s books in the past, but this one was different so I decided to give it a try.

This book follows Missy, a vampyre bride, and Lowe, an alpha werewolf. I honestly wanted to love this book so much, I think it was so unique and different from anything I’ve read before. I struggled so much with the pacing and it felt too long.

I think the concept was amazing and I can see other readers absolutely loving this. The forced proximity was perfect, but I wasn’t a fan of the marriage of convenience. It made it difficult to care for the romance between the two, it just felt too insta.

I will say, I loved the urban fantasy vibes. I’m not a big fantasy reader so it was nice getting a low fantasy story. The book also gave off Twilight vibes, which I thought was fun. The spicy scenes were also great in this, although the “knot” scene could’ve used more explanation.

Unfortunately, I found the world-building not for me. I felt so disconnected from the story and struggled to get through it. There was also too much info dumping with the inner dialogue. While I didn’t mind the slow burn, I would’ve preferred if there was another interesting plotline like the mystery.

I’ve come to terms that omegaverse might not be my thing, but I still will consider checking more out from this genre. I’ve seen such good reviews so far for this book, so this is 100% more of a me thing.

I respect the uniqueness and different approach away from the STEM stories, I think this author is an amazing writer. I just struggled so much with Bride, I would still recommend though - I know I wasn’t the intended reader.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Berkley for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!

•𝗧𝗪/𝗖𝗪: Sexual Content, Blood, Violence, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Emotional Abuse

Ahhh I loved this! My very first paranormal romance and it was so much fun. I absolutely LOVED Misery and Lowe. She was quick, witty, and so dang funny. I loved how much she owned who she was and pushed Lowe. And Lowe. UGH. What a sweet dude. Such a good boy. 🥰

I will say I was not prepared for the, um, thing that happened during the seggs scenes towards the end. But that's a me thing and I'm sure I'll be introduced to more of that as I dive into paranormal romance more.

Overall, a really fun, unique story and I'll definitely be recommending it to my audience. Thanks so much for the ARC!

I think that Bride might be Ali Hazelwood’s best book yet. I truly enjoyed the plot and the romance. The plot was a bit of a mystery and kept me interested. The romance was a slow burn and felt like it had time to develop and be believable.

3.75 stars
Wow, well that was certainly a story. I want to start by saying this is definitely not a typical Ali Hazelwood read by any means however, based on the reviews I’ve seen I was expecting this to be a lot more risky than it was if that makes any sense. I feel like for an Omegaverse story this one was honestly pretty tame.
I was really excited, but a little anxious to see how Ali Hazelwood would write a fantasy world and I really feel like this was a perfect first step. In this world it’s essentially the exact same as ours is today with modern technology, etc. The only slight difference Vampyres and Werewolves exist. I honestly love how the world was introduced, and how casual it felt to learn about these new species. Misery Lark our main female character, daughter of the Vampyre leader- and yes that is her actual name- is forced into a marriage of convenience with the leader of the Werewolves Lowe, in order to keep peace between the two species and show that they can work together.
I will say I felt like the beginning of this was a little slow. I really did like the multi species aspect. As well as the little secret mystery, Misery had going on, once that element picked up, I feel like the book definitely picked up in general.
Misery was a fun character while I didn’t completely love her I also didn’t dislike her. She was driven, determined and vocal- definitely an easy character to relate to at times. she’s one of those characters that comes off as super rough and tough but actually has a heart of gold for the people she loves, and I feel like you really saw that when she interacted with Ana (some of my personal favorite scenes).
I felt kinda meh about Lowe, while I did enjoy his character, especially towards the end, I feel like he didn’t really have much depth to him. Maybe that was because we only really saw inside Misery’s head, which I do think it would’ve been really cool if this was dual POV. I feel like the lovers and enemies to lovers happened almost overnight. It literally felt like one scene happened and then Misery and Lowe’s entire relationship and demeanor towards each other kind of shifted. Which in a way felt kind of insta love ish, I think I just wanted a little more angst or tension lol.
I will say the typical banter you usually see in an Ali Hazelwood book is definitely still there. The inner monologue and quick reactions that the characters gave had me giggling. You can absolutely tell this was written by her and I’m honestly really glad that she branched out into the genre. I have heard she has more paranormal romance coming, and I’m really excited for them. I think she’s off to a great start and this was a really fun read!
Overall, definitely don’t think this is the book for everyone but I do think it’s a super fun read. If you’re new to this genre/tropes and want to give it a try. I honestly honestly think this would be a really good one to start on!

*Thank you Berkley Romance and team for an eARC in exchange, for an honest review. All opinions above are 100% my own!*

Ahhh I loved this one so much! I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect with such a major genre change from Ali but this was adorable, steamy once the steam finally hits, and full of supe drama and I’m here for it.

It starts off almost ya in tone, or maybe it was just giving me twilight meets underworld vibes, but around the halfway mark it gets much more adult if you get my drift lol.

I adored Misery. A misfit vampire who’s never really belonged anywhere on the hunt for the only person who’s ever truly cared for her, her foster sister Serena. And if that hunt includes her marrying the local alpha wolf as a part of a vampire/were alliance, so be it. She is feisty, totally not your average vampire who you can’t help but love.

Lowe is the big bad alpha who is such a cinnamon roll. I adored his relationship with his sister and the tiny snippets of his thoughts at the beginning of each chapter kept leaving me wanting more!

The plot was fun. I’d classify it as an urban fantasy romantic suspense. I wasn’t sure how Ali was going to tie all the loose ends up by the end but she did and did it well. And omg the ending! I sure hope we get another story set in this world based on how it ended. (No plot cliffhangers for my friends that are not cliffhanger fans but a delightfully wonderful tease at a future potential couple.)