I actually really enjoyed the first 50% of this book, but shortly after it kind of just fell off. There were so many loose ends that were brought up once and never discussed again and the entire plot moved sooooo fast.

I also feel like the 2 MCs didn’t really have any personality. They felt like 2 chess pieces moving around a board. It just didn’t feel fleshed out.

What I did like was that the FMC was a computer hacker/cyber security nerd and that aspect was really fun to read.

The plot is pretty predictable but I expected as much as I read this assuming it would be brain candy. This is one of those books that you’d only recommend to someone super specific. 😂

I loved every minute of this book—the pacing, the mystery, the character development, the spicy romance. The FMC has a snarky sense of humor, she’s a techie, and was also a bit of an outcast. The MMC is loyal, compassionate, and an alpha to the core. They both complimented each other so well. The side characters were so much fun and I really hope this becomes a series because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

For fans of:
-vampires & werewolves
-marriage of convenience
-urban fantasy
-mystery/suspense
-political intrigue
-found family

We absolutely loved Love, Theoretically, but when we were finished, we said we liked Ali Hazelwood but were ready for something new: she had plumbed the depths of her specific romance novel niche (giant guy/tiny girl! academic rivals! she thinks he hates her but he's been in looooove with her forever!). Well, she brought us something a little different in Bride!

It's still recognizably Ali Hazelwood, but PNR: It's written in first person, present tense. Misery, the FMC, might be a Vampyre, but she just knows her Alpha Were husband, Lowe, hates her because whenever he gets close to her he clenches his fists, his pupils get really big, and he has a major aversion to her scent. In a slight twist, Misery is pretty tall - but Lowe is EVEN TALLER (they have an only-one-king-sized-bed moment and his feet hang off the end). Misery is also a super socially awkward coder who's never fit in anywhere, although she does have a firm best female friend.

In other words, this is Ali Hazelwood - but doing something new!!! If you like her STEMinist stuff, you'll probably like this. And if you DON'T like her contemporary romances, this is something different enough that you probably want to check it out.

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

“𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨.” 𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨. “𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢.”

I AM SO HAPPY THAT MY READING SLUMP IS OVER! I won’t lie it took me a couple of chapters to start getting hooked…and then my dumb eyeball reading slump occurred. I put this down until I knew I would be able to enjoy it fully and I am SO glad I didn’t force it at the time, because after returning to it last night I sat down and fnished it in one sitting. I had the best time and cannot wait to reread via audio after release day.

I love, LOVE Lowe and Misery. 🐺🧛🏻‍♀️ There is sooo much immediate chemistry and tension between them, because despite being forced to be married there is still a forbidden aspect surrounding werewolves and vampyres (yes that is how it is spelled) being together. Oooooo and the spice 🤭 let’s just say I always learn something from Ali Hazelwood books hehe

I adored Ana! She stole every scene that she was in.

The author’s first paranormal romance did not disappoint and while it was different than her usual genre, it still had the typical charm and humor that all of her books have.

Thank you Berkley for the advanced copy!

I would like to thank the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for the ARC of this book. I read an advanced copy of this book, so the final edition of the book might be slightly different. All thoughts and opinions are my own, as always.

I’ve been an Ali Hazelwood fan from the beginning (of her published career, at least), and I was honestly super excited to see her writing a paranormal romance. I’ve found more of a love for paranormal romance (especially vampires and werewolves) in the past year or so, with vampire books coming back more, so getting one from Ali Hazelwood seemed like perfect timing!

Bride was so immensely fun and entertaining that I wanted to just drink it right up. It was quickly addicting, and even though it was so different from anything else Hazelwood has published so far, it had the same charm as her other romances. I also feel like Hazelwood further diversified herself and her characters and writing in this book, with both Misery and Lowe feeling really different from her other characters. It just further solidified her as an author I enjoy overall, not just for a very specific type of academic romance.

Fantasy has always been my comfort genre, and the explosion of fantasy romance, or romantasy, in the past few years has been fantastic for me. The blend of fantasy world-building with romance you just want to sink your teeth into (literally) is just so addicting, and I am always so quickly caught up in these types of stories. Bride was exactly that, and I just had so much fun with every aspect of it. The world-building blended perfectly with the romance, and while the focus was definitely more on the romance, the plot and the setting were still well-defined enough for the whole story to remain supported by it. I really cannot wait for the rest of the world to get their hands on this book, and I can definitely see myself rereading this in the future!

Overall, Bride is easily my favorite Hazelwood book (which isn’t an easy feat, considering I’ve loved all her books so far!). I really hope to see more like this from Hazelwood in the future!

Review will go live on my blog on February 6!

Oh, this was so fun! Ali Hazelwood has a way of making me completely immersed--by the first chapter, I was already giggling and knew it was going to be so good. The vampyre-were dynamic is one we're all familiar with, and if you're also familiar with the fanfic, you're familiar with the omegaverse, but 'Bride" was wholly unique.

Arranged to marry the alpha of the Weres for an alliance, Misery is on a mission to find her best friend Serena as the only clue to her disappearance is the name of that very alpha. So, we have the tension between species who have always hated each other and an arranged marriage to start us off. The tension in this? Delicious. The novel is carried with Lowe's hidden desire for Misery, because she's his mate but also a vampyre. I love the little snippets of his feelings at the beginning of every chapter! We don't usually see the love interest's point of view, so that was a little treat.

I would've loved this to be more of a slow burn (it had all the makings of one) but alas, I can't have everything. The middle kind of lost me due to the Were politics, but it picked up quickly after that.

Also, this book was so dirty! It wasn't even because there were weird or crazy sex acts, but because of the intimacy. Tension is a great foundation for chemistry, so nonsexual acts suddenly became extremely charged. It had me blushing and looking away because wooooow!

A great supernatural debut for Ali Hazelwood!

Ali Hazelwood, vampires and werewolves, and an arranged marriage… sign me up!

Misery is a vampire who has lived with the humans her entire life, Lowe is a werewolf who has just become the Alpha. Now the two are getting married to save their kind from all out war. Will they learn to love each other or will they love to hate each other?

Number one, a main character named Misery was a BIT much. I felt very secluded from the plot and the characters from the start and didn’t care to continue reading at one point. I liked the end but overall this one fell extremely flat for me which is so disappointing since it was one of my most anticipated of 2024!

4.5 ⭐️. This was such a fun read. It took me a little bit to get into and felt very different from her typical writing to me. But I found this concept to be really light, entertaining and I was living for the tension and spice. Ali really can write anything!

4.75 stars!!! This book was so good! Ali Hazelwood came back with her brand of sassy and sarcastic humor, but doubled it! Misery is like every heroine Ali has created combined!

I never thought I needed a vampire-werewolf romance with a marriage-of-convenience thrown in the mix, but now, it's all I will ever need in life. The plot had me hooked from beginning to end. I loved that there were rarely any slow moments, despite this being a slow-burn story. I don't know how Ali did it, but she made it work so well. At the same time, were so many moving parts, yet they never felt overwhelming or confusing. Creating this story to be contemporary with the paranormal aspect made it all that much better!

AND THE ROMANCE! Ahhhh! Lowe is just the absolute cutest alpha werewolf! I loved how this was a strangers-to-acquaintances-to-friends-to-lovers. It made their romance so much sweeter and believable.

"You're not a problem, Misery. You're a privilege."

I figured out very early on pretty much every "twist" the story had, but it never took away from my experience; I was eager to see it all unfold, and Ali delivered ten-fold! I would have loved just a little bit more towards the ending, but honestly, I hope it means we're getting more books in this world from other possible couples, because I am desperate with that little easter egg at the end!

I should start by saying: I am not normally a romance reader, nor have I ever been interested in Vampires/Werewolves, aside from reading and being entertained by Twilight when I was fourteen. I am not the target audience for this book.

However, I have been trying to branch out and read more romance for the sake of reader's advisory at work, so when I was offered a chance to read a new Ali Hazelwood book, I took it. I had not read Ali Hazelwood before, but she was on my list of authors to check out, so I gave it a shot.

And, well, it wasn't bad. It wasn't "good," either, in the sense that I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if this is your preferred genre you may be able to look over some of the flaws that bothered me.

Generally speaking, it was a slow start. The plot and the spice both pick up in the second half; I finished the last 50% of the book in two long spurts before bed (and I did stay up too late reading it!). Spice seems to be Hazelwood's strong-suit. Erotic scenes are difficult to write and always come off at least a little bit cheesy, and hers still did, but not to the extent of others I've read.

The plot involves a mystery that is solved near the end of the book. It does have an interesting twist. It might be predictable if you're looking for it, but I didn't predict it. (The romance, however, does have a predictable plot twist; I won't spoil it, but you'll see it a mile away, trust me).

The characterization could've been better. Misery, the protagonist, is supposedly good at "hacking" and "coding." I guess this was meant to fall in line with Hazelwood's "women in STEM" theme, but I was not convinced that Misery knows anything about computers. Like, if you want to show me she's a computer whiz, have her get into an argument with the other computer guy about which programming language is the most useless, or have her talk about incorporating AI language models to write code faster. She can show off how smart she is, not by "coding games" on her phone, but by saying, "I applied for this job that wanted seven years of experience in a language I invented three years ago." You could've spent a few hours on an internet meme forum and gathered enough intel to make this more believable.

This book also suffers from the always-sarcastic witty banter that I see in a lot of romance novels. Sometimes it's funny, but it just gets repetitive.

The side characters are nice, for the most part. They aren't really fleshed out. They each have like one personality trait that defines their whole purpose in the book. They're not, like, awful or annoying, but it was hard to keep track of their names because they just weren't very interesting.

Lowe is basically a golden retriever. Not terrible characterization, but also could've had more nuance.

In my head, Misery was Dee from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This worked well because I didn't take her too seriously. They're actually very similar characters: blond, twin brother, cocky, no friends and always getting bullied by family.

Miscommunication as a plot point always bugs me.

And then we get into the fan-fiction stuff. That will certainly appeal to the typical omegaverse reader. Not really my vibe, but that's what I get for reading a werewolf romance.

Overall, it was a light-hearted, easy read. Great if you like the particular genre and tropes, not bad if you like romance books in general, and a bit average if you read widely in different genres.

Synopsis: Mortal enemies, the Vampyres and the Weres, have decided to form an alliance sealed by the marriage of Misery Lark, daughter of the head of the Vampyre Council, and Lowe Moreland, Alpha of the Weres. Misery and Lowe each have their own reasons for agreeing to the marriage despite their dislike for one another, and
it quickly becomes apparent that they will have to at least tolerate each other to survive.

Thoughts: I always love Ali Hazelwood, so when I heard she was writing a vampire/werewolf romance, let me tell you I RAN to preorder! Bride definitely did not disappoint - I LOVED it!

I really enjoyed the overall setup of the story - the world building was well done and easy to follow, with a city divided between Weres, Vampyres and humans under tense political agreements. Bride was a really fun take on a paranormal romance with an intriguing and suspenseful plot.

This book had the witty banter and smart, quirky characters I’ve come to expect from Ali. Misery and Lowe were both wonderfully written, and their unlikely romance was definitely swoonworthy. I loved Lowe’s commanding yet sweet personality and his relationships with the other Weres. Misery was definitely the quirky one, and it honestly made her so lovable. Ali poked fun at some of the more overt stereotypes of the genre with these characters. I will warn you, there is definitely some interesting 🌶️ and you will learn a lot about werewolf anatomy 😅.

Overall, this was a fun and unique book that is a good introduction to paranormal romance!

Read this if you like:
🖤 paranormal romance
🖤 vampires and werewolves
🖤 arranged marriage
🖤 enemies to lovers

Thank you @netgalley and @berkleypub for the e-arc! | 4.25 stars currently rounded up |

I've only read one book by Ali Hazelwood before this (The Love Hypothesis, of which I enjoyed for the most part but felt fell flat in its third act), so I was looking forward to Bride but didn't necessarily have expectations when approaching it. What shines through in Bride is what I remember really distinctly enjoying about TLH, which is Ali Hazelwood's writing. The cadence of her dialogue and world building are easily immersive and just feel very natural -- which is a particular plus in Bride where the audience is receiving a lot of new information as Misery, the main character, is. One of my personal pet peeves when being introduced to a new universe is clunky "tell, not show" world building, but the book slowly and surely teases out information to the reader in a way that didn't feel burdensome. Additionally -- this is not required at all for me to enjoy a book -- but Misery was a main character whose head it was enjoyable to be in. She's rightfully wary dropped into a new and what could be very dangerous environment, but she's also witty, makes understandable decisions, and has a touch of humor. And last but not least: the romance! Misery and Lowe were two characters who fit together (even outside of being fated mates) and had great chemistry. However, while I like this archetype of male hero -- selfless to a fault, self-sacrificing -- it's also why I hesitate just a bit to give this book five stars. I liked Lowe, but this type of character can at times come across as a bit flat and I did feel that way a bit into the book.

But overall, I would definitely recommend this book and it made me want to read more of Ali Hazelwood's work. Would I consider this release omega verse? Not particularly, but it was definitely a fun and intriguing paranormal romance!

I have a new favorite Ali Hazelwood book! I straight up adored this book! It’s very different from her STEMinist romcoms and dare I say I love this more?! This book has Twilight elements while giving romcom vibes and I’m 100% in. Misery is the only daughter of the head of the vampyre council. She spent most of her days with a fake id as a human but the time has come where she must become the wife of the alpha werewolf.
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This is going to be one of my fave paranormal books. I loved it and it’s getting some well deserved hype at the moment. I listened to the audiobook version from @prhaudio and the audio was so well done and entertaining! I really hope there’s a sequel because the end of this book had me wanting so much more!
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Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads @prhaudio and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book, Ali hazelwood is always a autobuy author and for a good reason. This fantasy romance was so sweet and so much fun. Love Love Love

01.31.24 Full Review:
This book seriously had absolutely NO BUSINESS being that good. This was an extremely fun read and I'm so excited for the world to read it in less than a week!

Bride is the perfect book for anyone looking to broaden their contemporary romance genre into the paranormal as this features fated mates, and wolf shifters and vampires, and *cough*knotting*cough*

THIS IS FATED MATES AT ITS FINEST. I've always said I hated fated mates cause the majority of authors use it as the easy way out. Oh they're mates? Ok, then here they are together without even needing to prove to the reader WHY they even deserve to be together. I need there to be character growth and romance and all of the struggle to make me believe that YES THESE TWO BELONG TOGETHER without literally just plopping names in the same book and calling it a day - and Ali Hazelwood DOES ALL OF THAT AND MORE!!! I thoroughly enjoyed my reading experience of this book. I loved the romance, THE SMUT, the characters, and the plot was really damn intriguing as well.

Misery surprisingly is really tall (but ofc the MMC is way taller, it's Ali Hazelwood, duh), naive, oh-so-kind, and sadly, she's also completely taken advantage of by her entire species. She's sad and very much alone and I honestly loved her so much. She's so extremely relatable, it was frustrating. I loved the way she clung onto the belief that her friend was missing no matter what everyone else said and her perseverance in finding out the truth of what happened, even to the point of giving herself away in an arranged marriage with the enemy was such an interesting way to weave the plot into the narrative.

Lowe. Is. An. Idiot. but I love him so much. He's a cinnamon roll of a boss werewolf who just has WAY too much on his shoulders. I really just wanted to give him the biggest hug and tell him it's gonna be okay. This dude literally slept less than the actual vampire in the novel cause he worked too damn hard for the good of his people.

I also loved how Ali Hazelwood used the epigraphs in the book as a way to add a wider perspective to the narrative without having to write dual POVs. What an incredibly smart choice that really added to the reading experience.

Just.... I love this so much. And I hope you do too. If you don't... like. Just don't tell me.


Here are some out-of-context and spoiler free quotes and my thoughts on them:
"Vampyre society has evolved past monogamy."
"As it turns out, when your species sucks at producing children, encouraging sexual walkabouts and the search for reproductively compatible partners takes precedence over romance. I doubt Vampyres were ever particularly romantic, anyway."
>> poly AND aromantic vamps!!!! AHHHHHH

"Spending time together and watching him be terrified of me sparks joy."
>> YES. IT SPARKED JOY FOR ME TOO.

"Fuck children for being little assholes who manipulate people into wanting to protect them."
>> I vehemently agree with this.

"All I care about is machinating and like, three people."
>> I also. vehemently. agree. with this.

"for reasons I cannot fully articulate, because feelings are fucking hard for me,"
>> Same.

""Okay?" he asks, wrapping his finger around the base of my throat."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ... .... ...

"Smitten."
>> I am too. With them. With this book. With everything,

(removed first part cause spoiler) "His smile looks sad. "You already have, Misery.""
>> *insert giant shattering sobs*

"I would not like to thank: Ticketmaster"
>> AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

12.17.23 Initial Thoughts:
I REFUSE TO HEAR ANY CRITICISM FOR THIS BOOK.
DO NOT @ ME. DO NOT TALK TO ME. DO NOT SAY ANYTHING TO MY FACE.
FRTC(?) MAYBE(?) AT SOME POINT(?)
WHEN I LITERALLY AM NOT IN VISCERAL PAIN FROM READING THIS BOOK AND FINISHING THIS BOOK MY GOD.
KNXBYE

I really enjoyed this paranormal romance from Ali Hazelwood! I didn't have any expectations going in because she has never published a paranormal book but we jump right into the action with these characters. I loved the dynamic between the Vamps and Weres and Humans in this book. It was very fast paced and kept me intrigued the whole time!

Ali Hazelwood set up the next book and I CANT wait for those characters.

Misery Lark, daughter of a powerful Vampyre councilman, faces a pivotal role: to maintain peace between Vampyres and Weres. Forced into an arranged marriage, she confronts Alpha Were Lowe Moreland. Amidst distrust, Misery harbors hidden motives, driven by personal stakes. As she navigates a marriage of convenience, her true intentions intertwine with secrets, promising a solitary life with the wolf she seeks, regardless of the consequences.

I really enjoyed this, but it was also a step out of my comfort zone. Twilight didn’t interest me in middle school like all the other girls, and while I wasn’t a part of that fandom, I suspect this book shares a lot of similarities for fans to enjoy (maybe I should step back in time and give Twilight a chance?). I love Ali’s whimsical and entertaining writing style in her STEM romances, and it was fun to see how it translates to fantasy in a quirky, amusing way. To me this felt more like fun rom-com featuring Werewolves and Vampyres than a dark, suspenseful paranormal fantasy (and I’m so glad!). Whenever I would sit down to to read, I didn’t want to stop. I was drawn into the characters and their world, just waiting for Misery and Lowe to let down their walls.

I’m guessing there’s going to be a sequel 👀

Perfect for you if you like:
Fun, entertaining writing style
Mystery sub-plot
Steamy enemies-to-lovers, marriage of convenience romance
Intelligent, quirky software genius FMC
Werewolf fated-mates fantasies

Similar to:
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (I have not read this)
The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson (I have not read this)
Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

⛔️chapters 17, 21, 22, 25 & 30 explicit romance scenes (open door)
⚠️explicit language, talk of death/war, previous death of loved ones, mild violence

Bride was everything I didn’t know I needed in a paranormal romance.

This has got to be the easiest five stars I’ve ever given. I cannot stress enough how much I loved this book. The world building and the set up of the romance were both superbly well done. I loved the little snippets of thoughts at the start of each chapter. And even though the story is only told from Misery’s viewpoint, it was always fairly easy to guess at Lowe’s feelings.

Both Lowe and Misery were complex, well-developed characters, and I was completely invested in their relationship and in their quest to discover what had happened to Misery’s friend. The exquisite and palpable attraction between them and the equally tense development of events kept me glued to the pages.

If you like steamy paranormal romance or have ever thought of giving it a try, then you’ll love this book. This is one I will definitely read again.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Totally different than anything I have read by Ali Hazelwood, but I enjoyed it. I like the world she is building and can't wait to read more about the other characters if she continues this as a series.

WOW. This book is truly a masterpiece. As a fan of Ali Hazelwood and paranormal romance, this combination of my two favorite things is a dream come true. I think BRIDE will be an introduction for many readers into the fun and steamy world of paranormal romance, and I can't think of anyone better to write this book than THE Ali Hazelwood. The characters, the chemistry, the nail biting situations they get put in? I wouldn't change a single thing about this. I need this book framed and in museums, I need everyone to read it as required reading for how a romance book should be properly done, and I need more paranormal romance by Ali Hazelwood, please and thank you.