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Bride by Ali HazelwoodMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Stars
I decided to pick up Bride because I desperately needed a change of genre, and what an absolute palate cleanser this was! My last few reads have been heavy, dark mafia romances, so this was exactly what I needed to lift my reading mood.
This book is a refreshing spin on the usual vampire tropes—or should I say 'Vampyre', as the author spells it. Oh, and they have pointy ears! ๐ณ
Our main character is Misery Lark. She has a very unfortunate name, but once you learn her backstory, the reasoning makes total sense. She spent her childhood serving as the Vampyre "collateral" to the humans. The only bright spot in her upbringing was her friend Serena, a fantastic secondary character who keeps the book ticking along with some elite, snarky banter.
Then we have Lowe, the typical alpha male. He is hot, cold, grumpy, and incredibly 'Big' ๐ซฃ. He's also a fiercely protective brother to Anna (another excellent side character, oh and honorable mention to 'Sparkles').
As for the world-building, the author gives you the exact baseline information you need to understand the uneasy alliance between the Vampyres, Weres, and Humans. Think medieval lords swapping their children as collateral to prevent border skirmishes. It gives you just enough setup to understand the high stakes. Looking back, the main things that stuck with me are the USA setting, the pointy-eared vampires, tall and snarky Misery, and a very big, knotty Lowe ๐ชข ๐ถ๐ซ️ ๐ซฃ... But more on that in a second!
What I loved (80% of the book):
• ๐ฆ The Vampyre Covens: Uptight, narcissistic, and entirely power-hungry. Even though they struggle with procreation, they don't actually seem to care about family values.
• ๐บ The Weres: Naturally distrusting (and honestly, I don't blame them), but they have a great sense of humor and strong family values. Thankfully, the majority of the story takes place in their territory!
• ๐ง๐ผ♀️ The Humans: Individually the weakest, but they have the largest population. They are rapidly gaining power through technology, which makes them a growing threat and prompts the "collateral" peace swaps.
What fell a bit flat for me:
I was completely enamored with the story until the slow burn finally turned up the heat ๐ฅ๐ถ️. This was my very first book by Ali Hazelwood, and while I appreciate that she wanted to build a unique supernatural world (it gave me massive Twilight vibes, but with vastly superior characters—I would take snarky Misery over boring Bella any day), I realized I definitely prefer ✨ vampires over ๐๐ชข weres. At a certain point, the spice stopped feeling like a romance and felt more like a supernatural documentary on mating season ๐ฅต.
Overall Verdict:
Despite the wolf mechanics not being my personal preference, this book thoroughly entertained me and successfully cured my reading slump. I'm happily giving it a solid 4/5⭐!
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