Author: Ali Hazelwood
‘Bride’ by Ali Hazelwood is by no means a perfect paranormal romance book. BUT. I loved how Ali Hazelwood approached this one. I think with a few more books under her belt and a little more polish, I feel like she will nail this genre. In my opinion, I saw that with her contemporary romance STEM novels, and I feel that this can be the same as well. It is sorta hinted at the end that there are more paranormal romances coming our way.
I really love that our Vampyre is our FMC. Lately, the vampires in the books I have picked up are always the MMC. I guess it makes them more foreboding and desirable I guess? Also, the FMC is as tall as the MMC. Thank goodness.
Our vampyre lady Misery is well you guess our grumpy MC. I love it. She has a reason to be, her species, yes, you got that right, always handed her off like she never meant anything. So she created a tough exterior to not let anyone in. Then one day, her father, head of the Vampyres, decided that they needed an alliance with the werewolves. So an arranged marriage was created. But Misery didn’t totally volunteer without a reason, her best friend has gone missing. Lowe, head of the werewolf clan and the one she was going to marry for the alliance had something to do with it. There is danger, a mystery, and of course steamy romance.
Now, I really loved this book for its creativity and approach that was taken in this genre. But, I will say there are flaws.
Let's Talk About the Smut:
I had never seen a werewolf and Vampyre mate before so that was nice. The last smut scene towards the end was a little weird. Kind of reminded me of Ice Planet Barbarians when I was reading it. I wish there was a little more explanation why we are having a particular smut scene like this one.
A little more time world building:
There is a lot of beauty going into learning this world. I do wish there was a little more time to polish the world-building aspect of this. But you eventually get the gist of how it works as you go.
The Third Act Break Up:
I would be honest, I didn’t like it. I couldn’t understand Lowe’s behavior towards the end nor was it explained. It was like an unexplained third act break up that felt weird.
Why are readers so sorely convinced that Lowe had a mate with a werewolf and then all of a sudden this werewolf wasn’t anymore? There wasn’t an explanation for that happening. Just suddenly Misery was his mate. I wish there was more time spent on that.
All in all, this has potential to be better. I am looking forward to Ali Hazelwood’s future books in this genre.
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Romance for giving me a copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
