Reviews

I was lucky enough to have received an ARC through Netgalley, and this was easily the best book I have read this year.

I have read every Ali Hazelwood book and have enjoyed them all. But this one... I LOVED this one. Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, marriage of convenience - everything I need in a book. I am much more inclined to pick up a contemporary romance, like her previous books, but I loved everything about this one and need more! Ali Hazelwood has truly found her calling, and it is with Supernatural Romance.
These are my favourite characters she has ever written, and I flew through the book. I didn't want it to end. I had been in such a reading slump before this, but the chemistry of the characters, and the relationships and politics of the story were so well written.
I have already raved about this book to all my reader friends, and all my librarian friends, and I have it on pre-order for my personal library.

A must read for romance fans.

literaryintersections's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Y’all. I liked an Ali Hazelwood?! I LOVED an Ali Hazelwood?! Like is the world ending? I mean Ali’s penchant use of teeny tiny smoll women who yes are so smart but also SO DUMB and big giant fridge size men really annoys me. And although the MMX is large, Misery is TALL. A TALL AH HEROINE!!!! Plus her frequent mistakes and confusion make sense because she was sheltered, raised with humans, and doesn’t understand werewolves. PLUS, she is smart and a bit of a badass. I loved Misery and I loved Lark. Now was it obvious from the jump that Misery was Lark’s mate? 100%. Like come on. Was she dumb for not realizing it? Yes and no. Did it bother me???? NOT At all. This is AH in her element. Give me more omegaverse. And that ending better be hype for a book 2!

Content Warnings

shershenk's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I don’t know if I can rate this one. Hazelwood is funny and witty and writes some truly swoon-worthy passages in this, but it read just a little bit too breeding kink for me. The concept of mates is hard for me generally, and Lowe’s feeling of ownership of Misery (that name wow) was a little much for me (try as he might to keep that Werewolf urge at bay.) It’s clear how much fun this was for Hazelwood to write, and I think people are going to really enjoy this. The world building and lore could have been expanded upon or at least made a bit more believable (especially given the author’s science background…) I could have absolutely hated this, but I didn’t! I found I was amused more than anything.

ajchurch's review against another edition

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4.0

The mainstreamification of werewolf fanfiction tropes is not something I knew I needed but now that it has happened I am obsessed. Let's get it straight, I am a werewolf enthusiast and Lowe is NOT the exception, dude had the whole, "attentive alpha" thing solidified (in a wolf sense not a toxic masculinity way), and I am down bad. Meanwhile we have Misery, (which is kinda a baller name), who is in this arranged marriage to merge their people but also has her own reasons for getting involved with this potential catastrophe.

I saw someone say they think you will like this book if you were into the insane ending of Love On the Brain and I would say I liked this book better because the bat shit insanity seemed to have more of a place. I mean it's a marriage to heal a rift between vampires and werewolves. You think that's not going to be chaotic?

Ali Hazelwood DOES love her big, strong, man archetype, which I know some people find repetitive but in the case of a shifter I can fully excuse her choices. I think again, a lot of her writing quirks I have noticed fit better in a fantasy setting. I'm still holding out for a short king but I respect her choices especially in this book.

Overall, I really liked this book, probably my second favorite of her books. Knotting in mainstream fiction was INSANE. She really did that huh? Anyways, thank you to Berkley & Netgalley for the eARC!