Publication: February 2024
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Adventure
Pages: 410 pages
A little diversion from my high fantasy genre lands me in the paranormal romance genre. Ali Hazelwood genre-hops from romance into paranormal and her debut is impressive and riveting. Bride is over 400 pages and I wanted it to stretch into like a thousand pages because I couldn't get enough of the adventures! I've always loved reading paranormals centred around vampires, werewolves and witches (no zombies, please) and this recent release by Ali Hazelwood is simply captivating.
This author is widely admired by the young adults for her popular romance, The Love Hypothesis and Love, Theoretically. I've not read any of her books before but after reading Bride, I'll definitely be checking out her remaining works. She's an incredible writer.
In this intriguing paranormal, three powerful species: humans, vampires and werewolves who have been mortal enemies since the beginning of time decide to encourage peace with a show of faith. They give up one of their own to live in the other's territory for a number of years. Misery Lark, the daughter of Council leader of the Vampyres grew up as the Collateral to the humans, a race that despises and fears her race.
When Misery's tenure as Collateral is over and she is a pariah among her race, she attempts to live a normal life among the humans instead. Then her father upends her life with an unexpected news—she is to be wedded to the new alpha of the Werewolves, Lowe Moreland, as part of a political alliance geared towards keeping the peace. Again.
This young female vampyre is ready to turn her father's request down but once she hears the name of the Were alpha, she changes her mind and goes ahead with the wedding. While in the werewolves’ territory as the alpha's bride, Misery faces discrimination and assassination attempts. Who doesn't want the alliance to succeed? What are Misery's reasons for agreeing to this marriage of convenience? Will she survive as a lone vampyre in the midst of werewolves?
Review
The plot of this recent release took me by surprise—a vampire marrying a werewolf. I enjoy reading paranormals and have watched movies in this genre but have not come across an interracial relationship between these two. That was what piqued my interest in this book and Ali Hazelwood delivered this storyline impressively.
I enjoyed her writing style; it's more of showing than telling. The beauty and brilliance of this book comes from her worldbuilding—a realm where the vampyres, werewolves and humans all reside together but in different territories bordered by bridges. They have an understanding and sometimes live amongst each other despite their conflicts.
Ali Hazelwood smoothly blends the modern age with a little of the rustic age. Imagine these species living in a technologically advanced era while still maintaining some primitive characteristics because it's part of their DNA. It's interesting to note that unlike the common lores surrounding these species, the Vampyres and Weres in this book are born, not created.
Also, Hazelwood's characters are fascinating and exciting. I especially liked Misery Lark though it's a weird name for a female lead character. She's witty, smart and cool, like an average, nice human being but she's a vampire. Her dry sense of humour is endearing. This book is like 90% written from her perspective but each chapter starts with a snippet of Lowe's thoughts/reaction and I must say, this style is unique.
The tropes covered in this book include arranged marriage, forbidden romance, discrimination, territorial alpha, and kidnapping. The romance between Misery and Lowe is slow burn but filled with tense and sometimes awkward moments. Their chemistry is electric, and their dialogues have me hooked such that I want to keep reading about them for many pages to come.
Our eyes catch, and it feels even more menacing than before, a dangerous storm coming, like a current buzzing up my spine and water after a drought. It’s frightening, this thing between us.
There's not a dull moment with these two leads. I'm hoping this author will give other characters in this book their own story like Misery's fraternal twin brother, Owen, and her best friend, Serena.
Overall, Hazelwood did great with this book and I was disappointed to see some one star ratings in some reviews. She did an impressive job of building a believable world, creating tension in the plot and romance, and keeping her readers on the edge of their seats with some action-packed scenes. After all, we're talking about vampires and werewolves!
Are you looking to read something fun and brilliant in the paranormal genre? Then I'll say pick up Bride and sink your teeth into it. I'll give this book 4 stars out of 5.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Check out my previous reviews:
Duels, Magic And A Deadly Assassin || Review Of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Addictive And Compelling || Review Of A Court of Mist And Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Dark Secrets And Conspiracies || Review Of Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
Thumbnail Image: Book cover is from my e-library and edited in Canva
<Second Image created using meta.ai
Note: Quotes in this post are excerpts from the book
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
Oh I enjoy reading arranged marriage! This books sounds interesting. I have heard a lot of good reviews about Hazelwood's works. I am not surprised you enjoy her paranormal debut. I will add this to my unending list😂 to read. Amazing review, thank you for the recommendation.
!discovery 46
Yes, Ms Hazelwood did great with this book. No wonder readers enjoy her romance books. Your unending list, eh? Start reading those books! 😏 I've been going through my TBR list recently and that's where I found this one. Thanks so much for your visit and support.
It would certainly be a work I would read, in fact, I have to. I'm powerfully drawn to this type of work and like you, I've also seen some of his movies, so it wouldn't be a strange setting for me. Thanks for your recommendation.
You're welcome! It's a captivating book and I hope you read it. 😊
This post was shared and voted inside the discord by the curators team of discovery-it
Join our Community and follow our Curation Trail
Discovery-it is also a Witness, vote for us here
Delegate to us for passive income. Check our 80% fee-back Program
Thank you!