Bride
Ratings387
Average rating3.9
I really wanted this book to live up to the hype, but I honestly struggled to finish the book. I felt there was a lack of character development and description. I think Misery might have had blonde hair? All I remember is that the vamps had purple eyes and blood. I also thought there were some contradictions throughout the book. This supposed rivalry between vamps and weres; the wolves were basically the top of the food chain and the vamps were at the bottom as they had nothing going for them. The vamps were pretty much just weak humans with a taste for blood. So to me it was strange how a big bad wolf was scared of a vamp who could only bare their fangs. It had promise, and hopefully (with how this book ended) if there is a second book the author will do a better job with creating characters.
I really enjoyed this book! I am such an Ali Hazelwood fan!
I really liked the twists and the turn and this had me GASPING while I was listening!!
If you've read The Fake Mate, by Lana Ferguson, this is in that same kind of paranormal/omegaverse kinda book by an author that usually does romcom lol.
I do have to say that I think I liked the spice in The Fake Mate JUST a little bit more. BUT the spice in Bride was very good also.
Read if you enjoy these tropes:
- [ ] Paranormal
- [ ] Vampyre x werewolf
- [ ] Arranged marriage of convenience
- [ ] Grumpy White hat hacker FMC
- [ ] Alpha MMC
- [ ] Fated Mates
- [ ] Found family
- [ ] Slow burn
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I picked "Bride" to read in between the books of a series, because I needed a fun break. I liked some details about the world, the power dynamic. I enjoyed the writing too, it's different from what I usually read and the choice of words is interesting. I liked the characters, too, even if it was obvious to me from the very beginning what was going to happen, it didn't spoil or make anything worse. It was fun and enticing, the tension building was good too.
Mmmm.
It’s… can I say unseasoned and poorly executed. The world building is trash. The romance is at 40ish% and it was lame. The characters had zero chemistry.
I've read several of Hazelwoods contemporary books and enjoyed them so when I saw she was publishing a paranormal book I was very intrigued. This is an arranged marriage between a werewolf and a vampire. Two opposing species coming together to hopefully form an alliance of sorts. I'm all for books with vampires. They are my favorite but I loved the werewolves in this as well. I loved most of the characters and the romance. I loved the banter between several of the characters as well. I totally didn't see that reveal coming although thinking about it now I totally should have. This ends in a way that hints that maybe this may end up being part of a series and I really hope that's true because I would really love more of these characters. Buddy read with Destiny.
Misery has found herself in an exchange where she has to marry the moral enemy; a Were, to keep the peace. Misery has her own reasons; wanting to find Serena. With the help of Lowe, she tries to find her.
Turns out Serena was hiding a secret of her own...something that Misery father knew. Serena is half-Were. And her father was behind all the scheming that was happening. I didn't expect for her father to be behind this. I don't know who I expected to kidnap Serena, but I definitely didn't expect her him. OMG! And then her brother being a part of it, my heart was beating. Her brother betrayed her trust. I just couldn't believe it.
Her dad was really to kill her to get Anna (Lowe half-sister). I was smiling so hard when Lowe and Serena shift into a Were!!
I was so happy to learn that her brother didn't actually betray her. Her brother not betraying her and turning his back on their dad was everything and more!
I cannot wait to read more Ali Hazelwood books!
First half of this book was a five-star read. I enjoyed the sassy female character even though her name is Misery which was absolutely ridiculous. I feel like World building lacked a little bit but was able to push through. The male main character's name was Lowe 😩 also interesting. I did like the concept of the book. I felt like 3/4 of the book was sort of slow going and then all of a sudden the end was so rushed to pull it all together.
it’s a 4 stars for me, is my first time reading a Ali’s book and i loved. isn’t the best history ever but it’s good and light, it takes you out of a reader lock and you finish it very quickly.
So different from the other books from the same author, but also still so great.
I enjoyed the world-building part that doesn't exist in the other books. It's skillfully done and I couldn't put the book down. Still, the plot was mainly predictable but nonetheless entertaining!
3.75/4 ⭐️
Overall, the book was great—maybe a bit “Wattpad-ish,” but that didn't bother me too much.
!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!
I really didn't understand why, near the end, Lowe suddenly gets so irrationally angry at her. It felt like one of those cliché moments where romance books force the characters to have a falling-out before the happy ending, but in this case, it wasn't justified at all. And the fact that she wasn't even slightly resentful about the way he treated her?? I just can't. Otherwise, this book would've easily been a 4.5 stars read for me.
I would have given this 5 stars if it would have given me MORE SCIENCE.
Reseña flash:
Desde un inicio supe que este libro me iba a gustar. La autora le introdujo elementos clichés de los licántropos como la actitud interior del lobo, la jerarquía de la manada, y también la importancia del significado de la compañera o pareja del licántropo para él.
Misery, nuestra protagonista vampira, tiene los aspectos de personalidad clásicos de Ali Hazelwood que me gustan: es divertida, honesta, no es tonta y no tarda en entender sus sentimientos. Los acepta. Además, la parte de sus rasgos vampíricos
Normally, I can storm right through Hazelwood's books, but this one took me a minute (read: days) to get into. I'm glad I persisted.
I think because I was a) not feeling well and b) wasn't used to the world building that this story required. I understand her world-building when it comes to STEM, but Vampyres (with a “y”) and Weres (for Werewolves) threw me for a loop.
However, I like Misery, the main female character, and her snarky approach to everything, her brother, her life, kids, you name it. It's what kept her sane through all the shuttling around in her childhood, where she was sent to live with humans by the Vampyre Council, headed by her father. She was a token known as Collateral in exchange to keeping the peace. It's how she met her best friend, Selena Paris, and the rift between Human, Weres, and Vampyres mostly controlled her adulthood too.
She was donated to be a bride to the head/alpha Werewolves, again as a token of peace between cultures. It wasn't a smooth transition for either Misery or Lowe, the alpha Were and her new husband.
By the time I understood all of this culture swapping, and some of the quirks involved in each, I wholly bought into the story and it went much quicker.
I'm not the vampire/werewolf type when it comes to reading so it surprised me that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. In the end, some of the animosity between cultures reflects what we see in the real world today. However, I think the sex is better in the book than in my real world.
A+. Read it.
Contains spoilers
💬: "“I would take anything she chose to give me—the tiniest fraction or her entire world. I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.”
Hazelwood, Ali. Bride (pp. 201-202). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
📖Genres: adult, spicy, romance, paranormal, paranormal romance, urban fantasy
📚Page Count: 402
🎧Audiobook Length: 12h 47min
👩🏾🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 4.5/5
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TW - <spoiler>Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail</spoiler>
Bride by Ali Hazelwood is a paranormal romance about a Vampyre named Misery who is sent to be in an arranged marriage to an Alpha wolf named Lowe. Misery doesn't just agree to the arranged marriage only to ensure continued peace between the Vampyres and Weres, she also does it because she's determined to get back what's been taken from her. Even if that means being the only Vampyre in Were territory.
I've never read anything by Ali Hazelwood until now and I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book! I think it started a little slow and the world building felt a bit jarring at first because the setting is not exactly explained until around 25% of the way through the book (if I remember correctly). I was feeling very impatient during the first 25% of the way through and the main reason why I continued the book is because it was a buddy read between myself and a best friend. I'm so happy I convinced myself to finish it. I'm not big on political romance stories but this hooked me in once I hit that 25% mark. I think it also helps that this book unfolds into somewhat of a mystery on top of all the politics, romance, and the "enemies to lovers" themes.
I want give this book five stars but there were two things I didn't like. I only liked the first half of the last spicy scene, I didn't like what happened after the stuff I liked (LOL 😂😂). Another thing I didn't like was how the "enemies to lovers" trope was really based on a continual misunderstanding. I honestly don't think this book is "enemies to lovers" at all.
I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say that the spicy scenes were enjoyable in some parts and then they became "interesting" in other parts. I'll say that I've never read an intimate scene like the last scene, but I'm very hopeful that it'll be the last I read of it's kind. I'm giving it three chilies 🌶️🌶️🌶️ out of five chilies.
"Bride" is my first Ali Hazelwood book and I was not disappointed, I really enjoyed this book and it was honestly so fun to read. I'm giving this book 4.5 stars out of 5.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 - 4.5/5 Stars
I listened to this for free on the library app [Libbyapp.com]
I read this just for a silly read, but ended up honestly loving it and getting really into the plot line and characters. Unexpectedly genuinely loved it
