Bride
Bride #1
Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: Feb 6, 2024
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating:
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 from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.
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.
My thoughts…
This story was refreshing to read. Why? Because there was no push/pull the entire time. Misery falls into life with the werewolves easily and quickly, even if the were population is suspicious of her. Her new husband, the Alpha, seems distant, but it’s clear that he takes Misery’s safety very seriously. It’s evident from the beginning why that it, but like any good story, you need to let things play out to build up to it.
It did take me a moment to get into the story since it kind of jumps around in timelines but I understand in the end why that was. Misery has kind of been this throw away child over her father’s, who is head of the vampire council. You see, to “keep the peace” they do collateral swaps between the humans, werewolves, and vampires. Lucky for Misery, she keep pulling the short straw. As a child she was sent to the humans to live with them as a show of good will from the vampires. Only, her life was threatened left and right from humans who were not as accepting of her kind. Then when a werewolf alliance is needed, Misery is AGAIN used as collateral to marry the Alpha. So yeah, Misery has been passed around and unwanted her entire life. Which plays a role in who she is TODAY and what drives her. So, in the end, while it was jarring at the beginning, as a whole, I understand why the author did it.
I liked that the author didn’t just make the story about Lowe and Misery. It also wasn’t your typical “captive” romance where the male is moody and the female is sulky and petulant the entire time. There are more elements in this story that make it interesting, but I won’t go into that so I don’t give anything away. This story doesn’t just take place at Lowe’s compound either. They travel and come in contact with various characters throughout the story. Which helps build this whole world versus a small bubble.
If you’re looking for a steamy romance that deals with mortal enemies becoming lovers… give this a read. I really enjoyed my time reading it and it honestly helped rejuvenate my interest in reading and broke me out of my reading funk.
