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tashasbooks's reviews
440 reviews
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
4.5
Bride was an absolute surprise, such a fun romance focused fantasy standalone!
Misery Lark is the only daughter of the most powerful clan of Vampyres, but has lived a life of isolation with the humans. In a world where there is constant conflict between Weres, Vampyres, and humans, an alliance via marriage is proposed between the Alpha of the Weres, Lowe, and Misery. She has her own motivations for agreeing to the marriage because she is looking for something she can only find in their territory. She has to deal with distrustful husband and Weres who are looking for any reason to tear her apart. As she gets deeper in her search, she also starts to trust Lowe and that there may be more than meets the eye with him.
I really loved this book and as a primarily fantasy reader, I feel like you can tell this book is definitely more focused on the romance aspect. There is some world-building, but you generally don't get all the actual dynamics and explanations of the world. However, I don't think it necessarily needed that since it was pretty simplistic and I loved it anyways!
The main characters were great and I definitely could tell that Misery was written from Ali Hazelwood. She's definitely quite quirky, not afraid to speak her mind and very witty. Lowe on the other hand is very withdrawn, selfless, and definitely more reserved. I loved him as the male love interest and I felt he was fleshed out as well. I do think that Misery's characterization fit more for the story at hand, rather than the traditional contemporary romance the author does. I didn't find her annoying, just had a tendency to give you the occasional cringe. I thought the side characters were really fun and enjoyable, especially Ana. Her relationship with Misery was a true highlight of this book. Keep in mind this is more of a contemporary writing style rather than fantasy, so it's definitely more romance focused and has some tropes that I don't think appeal to everyone.
The romance is amazing, definitely my favorite part, who knew I was still into vampires and werewolves? I loved how sweet and sensitive Lowe was towards Misery and overall I loved when they finally got together.
The plot suffers a bit, but that's primarily because this is romance. Honestly I was just along for the ride, but prepared for the plot slowing down and picking up, and I think I can pick a couple plot holes here and there or just unexplained parts of the overall plot and world. Despite that, I truly felt invested and read this extremely quickly in a couple of hours.
I do think those that like Hazelwood's previous books will like this one! It's definitely familiar to her other work, but I think this is my favorite one so far. Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Misery Lark is the only daughter of the most powerful clan of Vampyres, but has lived a life of isolation with the humans. In a world where there is constant conflict between Weres, Vampyres, and humans, an alliance via marriage is proposed between the Alpha of the Weres, Lowe, and Misery. She has her own motivations for agreeing to the marriage because she is looking for something she can only find in their territory. She has to deal with distrustful husband and Weres who are looking for any reason to tear her apart. As she gets deeper in her search, she also starts to trust Lowe and that there may be more than meets the eye with him.
I really loved this book and as a primarily fantasy reader, I feel like you can tell this book is definitely more focused on the romance aspect. There is some world-building, but you generally don't get all the actual dynamics and explanations of the world. However, I don't think it necessarily needed that since it was pretty simplistic and I loved it anyways!
The main characters were great and I definitely could tell that Misery was written from Ali Hazelwood. She's definitely quite quirky, not afraid to speak her mind and very witty. Lowe on the other hand is very withdrawn, selfless, and definitely more reserved. I loved him as the male love interest and I felt he was fleshed out as well. I do think that Misery's characterization fit more for the story at hand, rather than the traditional contemporary romance the author does. I didn't find her annoying, just had a tendency to give you the occasional cringe. I thought the side characters were really fun and enjoyable, especially Ana. Her relationship with Misery was a true highlight of this book. Keep in mind this is more of a contemporary writing style rather than fantasy, so it's definitely more romance focused and has some tropes that I don't think appeal to everyone.
The romance is amazing, definitely my favorite part, who knew I was still into vampires and werewolves? I loved how sweet and sensitive Lowe was towards Misery and overall I loved when they finally got together.
The plot suffers a bit, but that's primarily because this is romance. Honestly I was just along for the ride, but prepared for the plot slowing down and picking up, and I think I can pick a couple plot holes here and there or just unexplained parts of the overall plot and world. Despite that, I truly felt invested and read this extremely quickly in a couple of hours.
I do think those that like Hazelwood's previous books will like this one! It's definitely familiar to her other work, but I think this is my favorite one so far. Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!