Bride by Ali Hazelwood | ARC Review

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Also by this author: The Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain, Under One Roof (The STEMinist Novellas, #1), Stuck with You (The STEMinist Novellas, #2), Below Zero (The STEMinist Novellas, #3), Love, Theoretically
Published by Berkley on February 6, 2024
Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Romantasy, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 410 •Format: E-ARC •Source: Publisher

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.

When I heard Ali Hazelwood was dipping her toe into romantasy/paranormal romance, I was excited but stoked! I adore all of her STEM romances and since enemies to lovers is my favorite trope ever in romance novels, Bride quickly shot to the top of my list of most anticipated reads of 2024. I was beyond thrilled when I was reached out to by the publisher about an ARC and joining the blog tour, and am happy to say that Bride keeps the trademark Hazelwood wit, humor and writing style with the fun twist of a paranormal, urban fantasy setting (that still incorporates a woman in STEM protagonist!)

The premise of the novel is an age old one in the paranormal romance genre: vampires vs. werewolves. Protagonist Misery (yes, Misery, I too took a second to digest her name) is married off to the Alpha of the werewolves to help broker a peace treaty between their people. Misery is a vampire who doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of her society and is also the daughter of the corrupt head of the vampire council. The love interest, Lowe, is a rather new Alpha who is trying to change vampire-were relations and has a bit of an unorthodox past and approach as an Alpha.

I really liked Misery. She’s truly a loner except for her BFF Serena (who goes missing and is a catalyst for a lot of what drives Misery into this marriage) yet she’s still open minded and not very prejudiced when it comes to the weres, unlike the rest of the vampires. She’s also a woman in STEM, like Hazelwood’s other protagonists, as she is skilled with computers and can do everything from cyber surveillance to pen testing. I liked this nod to Hazelwood’s reputation for writing STEM romances. I also thought her take on vampires was interesting, especially in an urban fantasy setting. They’re definitely the most tech-savvy race, ultra-modern and polished but still do have some of the more traditional vampire limitations (sun sensitivity, etc.). I also found the idea of them having “evolved” past the need or want to feed directly from a person interesting.

I have less experience with shifter romances so I didn’t have a whole ton to compare the weres too (except maybe Twilight, lol). Lowe was fine, he wasn’t my favorite of Hazelwood’s love interests but I appreciated his integrity and natural leadership. I adored his sister. He’s really not a bad guy at all, which made the story feel less like an “enemies to lovers” story and more like a “somewhat suspicious not quite allies” to lovers story. Despite this, I still enjoyed it and really liked seeing Misery integrate slowly into the were world and finally find a place where she feels (somewhat) comfortable after never really feeling at ease among vampires nor humans.

Though this is a paranormal romance with supernatural creatures on the brink of war, and therefore higher stakes than Hazelwood’s contemporary romances, I found the writing to still be pretty funny and snarky. Misery’s vampire nonchalance is honestly hilarious at time, and I loved the things that gave her a flicker of amusement (like baiting Alex when she knows he’s terrified of her, lol). Her dry sense of humor is a good balance to Lowe’s fairness and stoicism, yet didn’t feel like it was overdone in a “not like other girl vampires” way. I also really liked her brother and thought he was hilarious too in his own way in the small bits where we got to see him.

Sometimes the story felt less like a romance and more like a fantasy that includes a romance, which I was totally fine with. I think it suited Misery and Lowe’s personalities well (they both seemed like “quieter” characters who’s presence didn’t need to steal the show on every page, which was refreshing as a romance reader). Honestly, I’d love to see this continue as a series (which the book definitely sets up for in my opinion with another couple) mostly so I can learn more about the politics, alliances, and how the US is split up by territories in this universe (it’s noted that they’re in the Southwest pack and the Northwest pack is brought up too).

Overall: A fun, new foray for Hazelwood into another genre, I will definitely keep reading this if it turns into a series!

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers (ish?), Marriage of Convenience/Arranged Marriage

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• Goodreads Challenge 2024

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