Bride book review

Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Series: Bride #1
on February 6, 2024
Genres: Fantasy
Format: Paperback
Goodreads

A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.
Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...
Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….
Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

There has been so much hype around Bride and I was definitely intrigued, vampires and werewolves living alongside humans definitely sounded up my street. The first part of this book lived up to all of the excitement and I was really thrilled to be jumping into the world. But, and this was a shame the last quarter kind of fell of a little, it all felt rushed and all a bit neat. I really enjoyed the nitty gritty of the relationship at the beginning and all of the politics but as we got closer to the end that fell by the wayside. Overall it was disappointing and needed more development.

Misery and Lowe’s relationship was interesting, and I think there was potential, I had already guessed the twist three seconds into them meeting but I was willing to keep going. I actually preferred Misery and Ana’s friendship over everything else, their banter felt realistic and age appropriate. The childlike wonder that she held Misery in and the questions she asked were not only funny but also showed her curiosity. I wish there had been more time spent on seeing them as a unit rather than the rushing of everything and it becoming more superficial. I know there has been a second book announced and there might be more of it, but I don’t think I’m invested enough.

The biggest missed opportunity was the politic system, there could have been so much more done and explored. It would have been a lot better to see how the Collateral system actually worked, how the hierarchy of each of the species plays into that, just all of the inner workings of everything. There was so much to be explored and it was kind of ignored. It made the ending feel a little more rushed because the politics of everything wasn’t particular developed or even explained.

I will say the relationship between Serena and Misery was one of the good ones. SO many green flags and it made me so happy to see the vulnerable kid Misery have someone so completely in her corner. Seeing them fight and argue like siblings would was a breath of fresh air and it proved that Hazelwood is able to write those deeper relationships when she tries. It would have been great to see the same effort put into Lowe and Misery, but that felt like we lost momentum with that.

I know there is another book coming out but I won’t be picking it up. I just don’t have the motivation or desire to.