By Ava Shaffer
The bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis boldly steps away from the world of science romance into the world of fantasy romance in Ali Hazelwood’s new book Bride. A Vampyre named Misery finds herself in a marriage pact with her species’ arch nemesis, the Weres. This loveable and sparky protagonist discovers she is marrying Lowe Moreland, the Alpha of the Werewolf pack. As she searches for an important thing she lost and is entranced in a world completely outside of her own, Misery must grapple with her complicated emotions in this new environment. Full of romance, devotion, wit, and steamy bites, Hazelwood’s first step into fantasy romance is a thrilling success.
Read This Book If You…
Are looking for a low-stakes standalone fantasy romance
Enjoy Hazelwood’s other books but are interested to see how her writing can change
Want to read a spicer Twilight
Bride is indulgent, smart, sexy, and funny– everything you want in a romance book! Add vampyres and werewolves and a grumpy cat named Sparkles, and you’ve got me sold. This book also had so many great nods to classic vampire/werewolf stories (just wait for how the Twilight scene where Edward visibly cringes at how Bella smells during science class takes on a much bigger life in this story).
All of the wonderful romance techniques Hazelwood is known for were delightfully present in this book, too. Amazing tension building, witty banter, romantic declarations of love, and some good ol classic romance tropes (there’s only one bed! they must smooch during a secret mission to avoid getting caught! he falls first!) made this an incredibly enjoyable read.
I wasn’t that interested in the world building and politicking of this world, but I can appreciate that it was well-constructed, especially for her debut in the fantasy genre. I kind of guessed the big twist with the politics from the beginning, too. So for me, I felt a bit bored during those politics scenes and they just faded to the background for me while I waited for the romance between Lowe and Misery to blossom.
Speaking of the two, they had some of the best romance I have read in Hazelwood’s books before! The chemistry was there and I loved Lowe as a romantic lead. At multiple points throughout this book I just had to set it down to breathe or take a little walk around my house because the romance just got me blushing and giggling! You can tell the author had so much fun writing this book, and that delight was infectious.
Listen, we all know I am a big Ali Hazelwood fan and she is an auto-buy author for me, so I was incredibly excited to hear about this new venture into fantasy romance she is taking! This dip into a new genre with a completely new narrative structure was a joy to see in Hazelwood’s work, proving her to be a stronger and stronger writer with each book she publishes. My high expectations for her were definitely met with Bride, and now I kind of want to reread Twilight too.
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