Image via Berkley
Ali Hazelwood garnered massive success with her STEMinist adult romance debut, The Love Hypothesis. Since then, she’s made waves year after year with more swoon-worthy reads about women in STEM.
Recently, Hazelwood decided to try a new genre on for size – paranormal romance, and thus we got Bride. Like Twilight before it, this book combines vampires and werewolves with a love story. The former Twihard in me knew I’d be picking this one up. I was just too curious not to.
**While we do discuss tropes, I stick far away from any real plot spoilers beyond what the synopsis reveals.**
Details
- Author: Ali Hazelwood
- Publisher: Berkley
- Cost: $19 Paperback; $11.99 eBook
- Where to Buy: Amazon; Bookshop.org; Barnes & Noble
- Review Copy Provided: No
- Age: Adult
- Spicy Level: 4
Note: I listened to the audiobook version of Bride, narrated by Therese Plummer and Will Damron, for this review.
What is Bride By Ali Hazelwood About?
Bride is an adult paranormal romance that takes the marriage of convenience trope and gives it a supernatural twist.
Misery Lark, daughter to the head councilman of the Southwest Vampyres, lived in secret amongst the humans for years. Then, her father unexpectedly called her back home, with a request that she help ally with the nearby Weres, by marrying one of them. Their Alpha, to be specific.
She agrees, though not to appease her father – she’s got a reason all her own, and she’ll stop at nothing to get the answers she seeks.
What I Liked About Bride by Ali Hazelwood
I’m always here for some unique magical systems and worldbuilding, and I liked the twists Hazelwood put on the lore of werewolves and vampires. Her Weres and Vampyres have shades of what we might expect, but some interesting differences and political complexity kept the story feeling fresh.
We spend most of the story in Misery’s point of view, with brief asides from Lowe’s. I liked this way of giving us some notion of what’s going on with him without awkwardly juggling two POVs like so many romance novels do these days. Also, Misery’s narration is hilariously dry and self-deprecating in a way that worked for me, most of the time.
The central mystery at the core of this story kept me reading, as I was really curious to find the answers that Misery was looking for. The clues were well doled out and kept me reading to see what we’d discover next.
What I Didn’t Like About Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Don’t come for me, spicy romance fans, but the placement of the intimate scenes in this book was… not great. With such a compelling plot and world, it felt like the author struggled to figure out where to put the steamy bits her readers know and love her for. They often interrupted the action in odd ways or felt tossed in, and it really slowed the story down for me.
I admit I’m not the biggest fan of lengthy open-door scenes to begin with, but in this case, I was genuinely frustrated when the story got interrupted by these lengthy, breathy asides. In fact, at one point I nearly put the book down because of one such scene, only to resume and realize the answers I’d been waiting for were mere pages away! I wanted to see the plot balanced better with the romance and intimacy.
Honestly, this was my only major issue with the story, but it was a pretty big issue that nearly resulted in a DNF (did not finish).
Final Thoughts
Overall, Bride is a fun paranormal romance that gets a little bit lost in its efforts to balance a steamy love story with its broader narrative.
I’m glad that I finished it because it did feel worth it after all, but I do wish the pacing had been better and that we maybe left a few more things behind closed doors.
If you’re looking for a fast-paced, spicy paranormal romance with a good sense of humor, you wouldn’t go wrong in picking up Bride.
Final Score: 7.5/10
Looking for more book reviews with a fantasy twist? Check out our review of the young players’ D&D guide, Artificers & Alchemy.
**The Amazon link for this article is part of an affiliate program. Purchasing from this link will earn Bonus Action a small amount of money which goes to supporting our website’s writers**
About the Author
Discover more from Bonus Action
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
