In an inventive and intriguing world Hazelwood has created, our protagonist Misery Lark must uphold an old peacekeeping tradition… she is a Vampyre who must marry a Werewolf. She is the daughter of one of the most powerful Vampyres and Lowe Moreland is the alpha of his pack. Together they will attempt to broker a sense of peace, even if the marriage is a sham. All she wants is to find her missing best friend, and he seems to hate everything about her.

The inner workings of their societal structure was interesting. I enjoyed the dynamic between humans, Weres, and Vampyres in general. Throw in tons of family drama and a scintillating forbidden romance just for funzies… This was a fun read!

Ali Hazelwood loves strong independent women and tough guys with marshmallow-y insides. It’s a system that works and I will never complain. I do think I will stick to Hazelwood’s contemporary romances though, as the paranormal romance (the sexy times) doesn’t float my boat anymore.

*4.8

Thank you to Berkley Publishing & NetGalley for providing me an ARC of The Bride.

Dear Ali Hazelwood,

You have made a monster out of me, I am obsessed with this omegaverse that you have created and I simply must request MORE 🧎🏻‍♀️.

I read this book in 1 whole day. Yes, u read that right, ONE ☝️😃.

I honestly didn’t know I needed this book in my life but I can confirm that my life has been changed! 🙌

The first few chapters of this book are heavy world-building but once you surpass them and get an idea the plot, characters, and romance becomes ADDICTING. 😮‍💨

Misery is such a funny FMC, I loved reading from her perspective. She’s the sickest vampyre I know 😎

As for Lowe… 💥💳

How much do I need to pay or manifest to get him in my life?!?

He is everything I wanted from a werewolf MMC & MORE. This man is SEXY, OVERPROTECTIVE, & SLUTTY 🥵

I will be dreaming up my own omegaverse in my sleep featuring Lowe 🤭, but fr, the chemistry between Misery & Lowe was sooooo hot. Oh and the tension?!? I was gripping my sheets in DESPERATION.

I am still thinking about that damn tub scene, it’s ingrained into my memory and I will never not think about it LMAO.

I am super excited for you guys to read this book, Ali is a true genius and like her previous books The Bride did not disappoint. In Ali Hazelwood we truly trust 🙏

Ali Hazelwood has become a popular romance author with her contemporary romances set in academia. I enjoyed The Love Hypothesis . I haven't picked up the rest of those partially because I heard the sequels/companions are essentially the same toupes. I figured it'd be easy to turn back to those if I was in the mood for them.

I was intrigued by her coming out with a paranormal romance book, though. Her contemporary book was a lot of fun, so why not see what she does with vampires and werewolves? Unfortunately though, as a fantasy reader, I am just bored of the worldbuilding here. The main character is a vampire that needs to get married to a werewolf in order to create a truce. There's this long history of vampires and werewolves not getting along. There's also some human politics thrown into the mix. It's not really unique-- of course these creatures don't like each other as many other fictional books have done, and it's not done in an interesting way. It's a lot of info dumping thrown at you. I'm not really invested in the main couple, either. I wasn't really feeling this, so I'm putting it aside.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a free eARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Consider this my official petition for Ali Hazelwood to only write paranormal romances from here on out. I devoured this book, it was perfect!!! I also really appreciate that the heroine was tall and not built like a Polly Pocket doll.

Joking aside, this was everything I would want in a romance novel. Misery is such a compelling main character and I found her relatable in many ways.

Pure gold!!

Ali Hazelwood does it again. This might be the best book she has written so far. It was so good. Found family, angst, forbidden mate, and having to work together in the midst of sexual tension???? Sensational

Vampires ✔
Werewolves ✔
Marriage of convenience ✔

Misery's life has been spent at the whim of others, so it's no huge surprise that her father is once again manipulating her, this time into a marriage of alliance with the Weres. At least this time the manipulation works for her own personal needs, as she's been searching for her missing best friend, and the trail leads right to the pack she's to live with.

After living with humans for most of her life, Misery doesn't really feel like she fits in with anywhere, including with her own kind, so living with the Weres shouldn't be much different, though it will be a little more dangerous. What she didn't count on was a growing attraction to her Were alpha husband Lowe. And he certainly didn't see her coming either.

This venture out of the STEM contemporary romance realm into a fantasy world was an enjoyable change from other books from Hazelwood. The world-building was well done, and the politics between the different groups was easy to follow. However, the sex descriptions on the part of the Weres was a little awkward and off-putting and didn't really add much to the story. Maybe that works for some readers, but wasn't for me.

This was much more enjoyable for me than the last couple of STEM books that seemed to be copies of the same storylines, while still involving some technology and showing the power of smart women. I would love to see more worlds/stories of this nature in the future.

I thought that I would love this book because it’s sexy, but what I really loved is the found family! Mates. Shifters. 🪢 (if you know, you know).
I am Misery and she is me!

Misery Lark may be the only daughter of a powerful Vampyre councilman, but she's spent most of her life trying to fly under the radar. She's spent years living amongst the humans, trying to blend in, until she's called upon to help broker peacekeeping ties between the Vampyres and their nemesis, the Weres. Unable to do anything but submit to her father's demands, Misery finds herself married to Lowe Moreland, the Alpha of the Southwest Weres. But Lowe isn't the ruthless, brutal wolf Misery expected. Unlike her father, Lowe rules with fairness, not fear, and despite the lack of trust, neither can deny there's a pull between them. But Misery has her reasons for agreeing to this marriage, and she can't let the growing attraction towards her new husband distract her from her goal of finding out what happened to the only person Misery has ever cared about.

Listen... I'm a fan of Hazelwood's, but what the heck did I just read? When I read the premise, I knew it would be unhinged, but good grief. It was like a bonkers Tumblr Renesmee and Jacob fanfiction. There's barely any world-building, so there's no clear sense of what's going on or why there's such conflict between these supernatural beings. The characters are one-dimensional, at best. The romance was so cringey. We can all agree that Hazelwood's writing can be corny when it comes to the steamy scenes, but I was squirming with how uncomfortable they were here. I thought the plot would save it, but no. It was all over the place and left me going, "WHAT?!" on more than one occasion. It's one of those books where you have to go in not taking it seriously and just give in to the camp factor. I applaud Hazelwood for stepping out of the box, but it didn't work for me.

Read this if you like:
•protective males
•”my wife”
•romantasy
•forced proximity
•fake marriage

I already enjoy Ali’s romance books so was very intrigued to pickup one about a vampire and werewolf! I loved the depth of this book with the tension between vampires, werewolves and humans. I loved seeing Lowe as a pseudo dad for his sister. I loved Misery and her sass. This is 🪢 one you want to miss. 4.5⭐️s from me! I hope there will be a second book!

Thank you Berkley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

FANTASTIC!!! I have loved everything that Ali Hazelwood has written, and this was no exception!! Can't wait to buy my copy when it comes out!

Let me just say that there was so much intrigue when I saw Ali was going to be releasing a paranormal romance! With it being my absolute jam, I couldn't wait to see Ali's spin on the PNR world and even though slow burns aren't usually my thing, it always tends to work for me in a paranormal setting.

I'd say this wasn't too bad for Ali's first PNR, with vampires and shifters being my favorite to read about. I kept my expectations low and just wanted to see what Ali was going to do with this world. However, when it comes to Misery, there's just this overall tone that is just downright sad. She's been used as collateral damage her entire life, so it's quite easy to understand why she is the way she is. Throw in the MMC that is of a different species and just treats her like she's the worst thing to be around. I found it a little tough to come around to Lowe since we don't have his POV. I will see if you're a fan of Ali's books, her go-to "grump" characters is well intact with this one.

Overall, I thought it was an okay read, it felt a little surface level, so you're not going in too deep in all matters of this story. Towards the end when we're getting so couple interaction, there was a certain elemen that I didn't really care for. I know it's extremely popular on various social media platforms, so it didn't really fit for me with this story.

I liked this one and I'd definitely pick up another one from this world.

i am obsessed with this book! this is one of my faves by her. i loved the paranormal romance between misery and lowe. it was so entertaining and misery is hilarious i found myself cackling most of the book. the spice was *chefs kiss*. i highly recommend this book, ali hazelwood never disappoints!

It really does break my heart to not love this one. I have loved everything else she has written, but this one was… a huge miss.

There was little to no romance for 65% of the book, then it was full force and also her spiciest book yet. And a lot of it was really uncomfortable. I could not stand any of the romance in this book.

It’s like the book couldn’t figure out if it was a fantasy or a mystery. And it’s an urban fantasy at that. Modern technology with vampires and werewolves and a missing persons case. The plot just didn’t make sense to me, or flow. It felt like a bunch of thoughts put together.

I am used to her hilarious stories and characters, and this book was very serious and the FMC was a robot. She had no personality or opinions.

It felt like a knock off of crescent city to be honest. 😬

I feel bad that this was such a miss for me, but I wish I would have known all of this before reading it!

The feminist side of me is ridiculously embarrassed and angry for this book.

I hope the finished copies have a content warning at the beginning of the book.

As an Ali Hazelwood fan, I was disappointed by this one. The fantasy world I found confusing, and so it was difficult for me to enjoy. DNF at 60%

I read a lot of fantasy. I also read a lot of Ali Hazelwood. And this book was a bit of a struggle for me. I enjoyed the classic Hazelwood humor, and I enjoyed that she changed it up from the academia setting . I actually really enjoyed Miserys character, but while Lowe was romantic, I never really felt connected to him as a character. Also, I felt like the "mate" section was so, so obvious that the constant confusion from misery got annoying and repetitive very quickly. Ana was freaking adorable, but the info dumps were very long and slooooow.

I loved Ali Hazelwood's other books and was hoping this would be similar, however the shift from her settings in other books to fantasy just threw off the vibe for me. I still love the strong female protagonist, I think the major shift was just too much for me.

I won't lie, I was scared of this book a little bit. I loooove Ali but due to previous experiences, when an author switches genres it makes me super nervous. NOT THIS ONE THOUGH! I ATE THIS UP.

One thing Ali will always do so well is dialogue. I love the way she writes the interactions between her characters more and more with every book. I thought that Bride was a pleasant surprise and a strong start into a genre we don't see from Ali and I hope we see more in the future.

Love that Ali Hazelwood is stepping into paranormal romance! I wasn't sold on the relationship between the two leads, but overall I liked it and am hopeful for more books in this world. Hazelwood's writing is so bingable, I will never turn it down!

An absolute romp filled with vampires, werewovles, and even a fun little mystery. Hazelwood did what she did best by bringing us some nerdy MCs and laughter, with what I would argue is the most heat she's written in her romances so far. If you've liked her other books, you'll like this one too.

This was a surprise! I expected one kind
Of story and was pleasantly surprised at how fast I breezed through this nov. a little dark, a lot sexy and with amazing character development. I definitely recommend!