Bride by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I received an advance digital copy of this novel from the publisher, Berkley, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I can’t remember the last time I read a 400+ page book in less than 24 hours, but that was exactly my experience with Bride. I was pretty excited when Hazelwood announced her first foray into paranormal romance. And somewhat hesitant. While I thoroughly enjoyed The Love Hypothesis, I haven’t been able to get into any of her work since. I was hopeful that a shift in genre would change things, and I was absolutely correct. Bride had me in its thrall from the very first page. I couldn’t put it down.

Misery Lark is being used from political gain. Again. As a child, she was made the Vampyre Collateral to the Humans, growing up among a people who hated and feared her kind. Her presence guaranteed her people’s good behavior for the entirety of her childhood. She thought the had aged out, and has been passing for Human in their land because she’s no longer accepted by Vampyres, either. But she is being used for leverage once again, this time being given as a Vampyre bride to the Alpha of the Weres in pursuit of peace between their peoples. Misery seems to be living up to her name.

I really enjoyed the interplay between Misery and Lowe Moreland, her Alpha husband. It took a good while for them to share much space together on the page, but I actually appreciated the slow burn of that. Especially since there was never really a dull moment in terms of plot. But the chemistry between the two leads whenever they were together was through the roof. Often awkward, but through the roof. That would have been enough to keep me reading, but it was the world that had me so invested. Hazelwood created a pretty fascinating set of societies. I was actually reminded of Anne Bishop’s The Others the tiniest bit. In set up, not in tone. I liked that the Vampyres and Weres are born, not created. It’s genetics that sets the three races in this world apart, and that made for a much more interesting story, in my opinion.

I also just really love Hazelwood’s writing style. There’s something easy and addictive about it. And yet, the easy tone in no way meant a sacrifice in depth when it came to her characters. Some writers can tell you all of the secret hopes and fears of their characters in a way that still comes across as shallow somehow. Hazelwood takes the opposite approach. We glean these depths from watching the characters. She does a fantastic job of showing, not just telling. There was plenty of tension here, both in terms of plot and romance. The romantic tension was through the roof. The aforementioned chemistry mixed with the slow burn of said romance made each scene the two shared rife with tension. And while the sex scenes might’ve been a bit messy, they were undeniably hot. As a side note there, this is the first time I’ve read knotting in a mainstream book. So consider yourself warned if that’s not your thing. I’ve not encountered that outside of fan fiction, really, so it was a surprise, to say the least.

Is this a modern masterpiece? No. It’s not going to revolutionize the genre or anything like that. But I enjoyed my time with it immensely. Sometimes a book isn’t trying to be brilliant; it’s just shooting for fun. And this book is the most fun I’ve had reading in a long time. If I could erase yesterday and reread this again for the first time, I would, just for the sheer joy of the experience. I preordered a physical copy for when it releases in February, because I can see this becoming a comfort reread. She also left herself an opening for a sequel, and I really hope she gives us one!

Expected publication date: February 6, 2024

You can preorder this book here: Blackwell’s | Bookshop.org (Support independent bookstores!) | Amazon US.

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