Bride: From the bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis Paperback – 6 Feb. 2024

Misery Lark, genius white collar hacker and daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the southwest, is an outcast as she chooses to live amongst the humans after serving as the collateral in a human and vampyre exchange as a child. She grows up alongside her best friend human Serena Paris who is the only person Misery has ever cared about but Serena has gone missing and Misery is desperate to find out what has happened to her.Misery is called in by her father to stand as a bride in a political marriage to Were alpha Lowe Moreland, Misery accepts as she hopes this will help her investigation into Serena’s disappearance. I enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to reading Serena’s story which comes out later this year. This book was a unique take on vampires and werewolves and I enjoyed the interactions between Misery and Lowe, Lowe is rather fiercely protective of Misery and we discover why later in the book. If you’re looking for something different but with a very satisfying romance then book is for you.

My first Ali Hazelwood book and I'm so glad I waited for this to read as with the fantasy side it made the romance side of it not to soppy.I really did enjoy the storyline behind it, with Misery who is a Vampyre, never fitting in with the vampyres after growing up as collateral in the Human world, and this meaning she decided to find herself in the human well with her "sister" Serina who each other depended on. Then Serina goes missing and Misery does everything she can to find her, but then one day her father want her back so she can once again be used as collateral but this time with the weres and also she is going to marry the Alpha, Misery goes to turn it down until the Alpha name is mention and decides this is her only chance to try and find Serina.Things get a little complicated when Misery starts to "feel" for her Alpha Husband, one day she is caught in her hunt for Serina and has to tell the truth of what she really doing, but surprising Lowe (Alpha) say they should join forces to find out what happened to her, because it also means Lowe will discover who after his sister.Things gets super complicated and soon not only do truths come out but Lowe and Misery find out the truths about themselves and their relationship.This book was well written that kept me wanting to continue reading to find out what going to happen next, as there was something constantly happening. It really did dragged me in from the first page. The characters are all written well where you can't hep but fall in love or hate or even feel sorry for them. I'm still on the bench on if I want to read Ali's other books but I am so glad I read this.

This was a great read - brilliant world building - fun tweaks to the usual vampire and werewolf legends! I was looking for some romantasy that wasn’t part of an epic series!! This defo did the trick!! Thanks Ali ❤️

Now don't get me wrong I love vampire werewolf books I'm a massive twilight fan team jacob I'm a wolf girlie but this book was good but very strange I struggled with some of the scenes in this book if you no you no I just don't think it was my cup of tea but it was ok

Literally screamed at the last chapter! Love pov from the male interest!Been after storyline about vampire and werewolf - just slightly gutted on myself for not reading this sooner! Fantastic story, couldn’t put it down! Excited on the cliffhanger 🐺

— 4 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️📖 | 403 pages👤 | author Ali Hazelwood🏢 | publisher Sphere, Little Brown UK📅 | release date 6 February 2024What you can expect:— New-Adult Paranormal Romance— Arranged Marriage— Fated Mates— Enemies To Lovers— Vampires X Werewolves— Found Family— Slow Burn Romance— Forbidden Romance— Close ProximityBride is a Paranormal Fantasy Romance by author Ali Hazelwood. 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 she has been called upon to uphold an historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and 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.Bride is my first read by author Ali Hazelwood and to say I'm surprised and impressed is an understatement. I will be the first to admit that hyped authors make me nervous purely because reading is subjective and I wasn't entirely sure if Hazelwood's writing would be to my tastes, and when it comes to Bride I'm glad to not only be proven wrong but to be put at ease. This story read well and with ease as I flew through it within one sitting. I found some plot-points to be predicable and cheesy, however this is in no way a criticism as I found it fitting to the story-line and I still had a lot of fun trying to determine who the real 'big bad' was. With it's simple world-building and straight-forward lore, this book is a must-read for those new to Paranormal Fantasy Romance and looking for a place to start. The story felt well explored and wrapped up for a standalone, and I really hope that ending is a tease to us getting a second book within this world.I absolutely loved Misery as a main character. Her dedication to finding her missing friend/sister made her a easy character to emphasis with and root for. The lore surrounding the long-standing rivalry between the Vampyres and Weres provided the perfect amount of danger and angst between our two main characters... and I happily devoured this story from beginning to end. I enjoyed the complexities of Misery's character as she never seemed to fit in anywhere. Vampyre-born and yet raised amongst Humans. Too Human to fit in with the Vampyres... and never to be fully accepted should the Human's learn what she truly is. The only place Misery ever felt content was by her foster sister's side, and you see the love and devotion she shares for Selene is apparent in how she acts as opposed to the words she says. It was a lot of fun to follow Misery as she finds herself in enemy territory and married to her greatest enemy in her search for answers and retribution. The unlikely allies and friendships she makes along the way were some of my favourite aspects of the story, especially Misery's relationship with Lowe's little sister.Lowe was exactly what I expected from his character going into the story. Strong, authoritative and loyal to his pack without fault. I enjoyed his plot as we witness him struggle to balance the responsibilities of being the Alpha to his pack, protecting his sister and silencing the danger an outside force pose. I loved the development between Lowe and Misery as we witness them realise that they work better as allies as opposed to enemies, and learn how to work together to achieve their individual goals. Despite being married we get to watch them both develop a tentative understanding which blossoms into friendship and trust, before their relationship ever becomes romantic. Also, I'm utterly obsessed with how the author laid out the story. Whilst primarily written in Misery's narrative, every new chapter includes a snippet of Lowe's thoughts which made me absolutely feral. This seemingly minor detail better enabled me to find the relationship development to feel believable and true with that little insight into Lowe's mind. I'm obsessed.I'm genuinely taken by surprise at how much I enjoyed Bride, and it's better convinced me to give author Ali Hazelwood's other works a try. Also a note about the seemingly controversial knotting aspect of the story... if this is a concern for you then I'd like to reaffirm that this doesn't take place until near the end of the story. I'm an avid Fantasy reader so I genuinely didn't bat an eye throughout these scenes and I personally found it to be pretty tame, however they're easy to skim/skip if it isn't for you.

Ali Hazelwood will always be an automatic buy author for me. This is her first fantasy genre book and she smashed it out of the park. Looking forward to the sequel later this year!