Check & mate was my first Ali Hazelwood book, despite my criticisms of that story, I was curious about her latest work: Bride.
Title: Bride
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Published: February 2024
Pages: 320
Publisher: Van Goor (I read this book in Dutch)
Rating: 7/10
First posted in Dutch on March 20 2024 and updated on October 29 2024.
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.
Check & mate was my first Ali Hazelwood book, despite my points of criticism for that story, I was curious about her latest work called Bride. The book falls under the new ‘Feelgood Vibes’ imprint of Best of YA. It is definitely not a YA book and is therefore very different from other well-known vampire and werewolf books such as Twilight.
But can Bride as a paranormal romance still fall under Feelgood Vibes? I think so since it is a semi-fantasy setting and contains typical Hazelwood characters. Phew, this is only my second Hazelwood and I already notice that it does not matter which universe the author creates, she has created her own formula for how the characters look and move through their lives. There is nothing wrong with that, because if a formula works, why would you change it? It is I who like to see variety.
What I like about Hazelwood is that she writes very well. It is smooth, the chapters are logically constructed and I think Bride has a very strong plot and outcome. In my opinion, the plot could have been developed even better in the remainder of the book. That would have given the characters more body without it no longer falling into the feel-good genre. What the author also did well is keep the tension going. As a reader, you have no idea who can be trusted and who cannot.
But is this an enemies-to-lovers romance according to the marketing campaigns? I absolutely cannot agree with that. Yes, Lowe is your typical big, bad werewolf and Misery is a small, slender vampire. But there is never really any hostility between them. More like two races that are opposed to each other. In fact, at the beginning of each chapter we were given a very brief insight into what Lowe felt and thought (1 to 3 sentences). Super nice addition! Because of this, you as a reader understand why Lowe acts in a certain way.
If you like the stereotypical Hazelwood characters, then there is little criticism to this book. The book fits perfectly in the feel-good street, and is also certainly fun to read for readers who normally do not read fantasy, since the paranormal setting in this story is very accessible.
The ending is open to more books in this world. I think there is room for two more books from two different couples. And to be honest, I think that would be super fun! The plot also lends itself to that. Although Bride stands on its own very well, at the end of the story you can also imagine what other drama could be around the corner.
Love,
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