Melanie (meltotheany)'s Reviews > Bride

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

i feel like all my friends who also loved this one, were all by my side here on goodreads, back in the early 2010s, reading all the paranormal romances known to man (or that our moms kept on their bookshelves). the nostalgia for books like riley jenson, black dagger brotherhood, kate daniels were so very felt. yet, this book completely stands on its own and is a really good book that i highly recommend.

and this book had so many of my favorite paranormal romance trope sets - forbidden romance, bonded fated mates, and of course a marriage of convenience between our two main characters:

➛ misery - vampyre who has been living amongst humans her whole life, but finds herself as the key component in an alliance that will keep the peace with her people, while also having her own human inspired agenda for this forced arrangement.

➛ lowe - werewolf alpha who is still asserting his new dominance over his people, while also trying to assess who he can trust or not, while also being an amazing caretaker for his little sister.

“I would take anything she chose to give me—the tiniest fraction or her entire world. I would take her for a single night knowing that I’ll lose her by morning, and I would hold on to her and never let go. I would take her healthy, or sick, or tired, or angry, or strong, and it would be my fucking privilege. I would take her problems, her gifts, her moods, her passions, her jokes, her body—I would take every last thing, if she chose to give it to me.”

and they had me truly rooting for them, unable to put this book down, after the very first scene of them together. but this also has a pretty big mystery plotline that took me by surprise, and also completely enthralled me. and ultimately this had such a big emphasis on found family and finding your own pack of people you love and trust unconditionally that i feel like i just ended up loving the entire cast of side characters too.

let’s just embrace the bullet points and quickly talk about other things i really loved:
➛ obviously vampires and werewolves
➛ arranged marriage but forbidden romance
➛ one bed scene(s)
➛ the cutest little sibling ever
➛ the sweetest brother and sister relationship x2
➛ and also a really heartwarming found family / best friend relationship
⤷ It was truly giving bryce and danika but better
➛ a big appreciation of peanut butter
➛ an amazing epilogue that will hopefully set up a book two in this world

i will say that there was a very unnecessary and annoying third act conflict that just didn’t make sense to me (and made me side eye lowe a little), but i still really enjoyed this one and it was such a fast paced read that really tugged at my heartstrings in all the found family ways. i think i just really like ali hazlewood’s stories, and i always end up connecting with them on some level, and that just enhances my reading experience each and every time. i recommend this to all my romance friends, but i extra recommend it to all my pnr friends who want a little extra nostalgia on top of a really good story.

lastly, and least importantly, if i ever dated anyone named misery, i feel like i would have to send hayley williams or paramore royalties. because the way misery business was living in my head rent free while reading this was actually insane.

content warnings from the author (please use caution for potential spoilers): death of several people within the context of a war between different species (vampires, werewolves, and humans) is mentioned, several mentions of blood, kidnapping, mild violence, poisoning and attempted murder, attempted kidnapping/harming of a child (she is unharmed), death of a parent (off page in the past and off page in the present), explicit and graphic sexual content, knotting (the mmc’s apparatus is not quite human?), cursing and vulgar language

other trigger + content warnings i found while reading (ali's books really do have such good tws - i am always so thankful and impressed): missing friend, mention of sickness of child (she is fine), spider mentions, brief mention of death during childbirth, brief mention of loss of a partner in past, mention of vomit, parental abuse and neglect, and violence


my amazing friend nadia gifted me this signed copy! i am so thankful and you'll never know how much i love ali's bat 🦇

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