Reviews with content warning for Gore - Bride

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

35 reviews

itskenzcarter's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved this book! I finished it in 24 hours. I literally couldn’t put it down. The story, the spice. All of it was great. I highly recommend!

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abby_can_read's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

📖
I went back and forth on how I wanted to rate this book. I enjoyed it and I thought it was cute, but it's not my favorite Ali Hazelwood book. I decided on three stars because I think this book is alright. I am likely to re-read it in the future, but I don't think it will be high on that list.

I thought this book was cute and I had a good time reading it. I don't have much commentary on the characters or their relationships -- I think they were all fine l, but no one really stood out to me as my favorite character. The writing style kept me interest, like Hazelwood's other books, and the plot was fine though I found it to be predictable.

Honestly my biggest issue with this book were the main characters names -- Lowe and Misery. Personally, I don't like those names and I think they're horrible.

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kimveach's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I love this author, especially her STEM romances, but this romantasy was a nice change of pace. I don't read many vampire/werewolf books, but this was fun and steamy.

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oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This reads a bit like twilight for adults, which isn’t off the bat a terrible thing. Hazelwood makes a respectable go at her first romantasy but it ultimately misses a lot of what makes both a good romcom and a good fantasy. The enemies to lovers romance plot felt incredibly weak - there wasn’t much tension or build up so it was hard to feel invested in the main characters’ romance. On the other side of things, the author gives us a half hearted attempt at world building that leaves a lot to be desired. A good fantasy needs time and more pages than Hazelwood was willing to dedicate here, which is fair, but you lose some of the intrigue. The plot kept my attention enough, and while some of the fantasy may have felt teenage-like, the romance and spice were decidedly rated R. There was smut a plenty in this one.
I don’t regret reading it, it was certainly entertaining and witty at times, but I’m not sure I’ll go out of my way to recommend it to others, either.

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amy_in_the_city's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I really liked the premise of this book, but I feel like the execution fell short. The couple don't interact much for a good chunk of the book. I don't feel like we ever got to know much about Lowe, and I thought he was kind of boring. I wish he had some more personality and character development, but he spends much of the first part of the book avoiding Misery (the female main character). I couldn't really buy that they loved each other because it felt like they hardly knew each other.

I found Lowe's sister, Ana, to be annoying, and I thought the trouble she had with simple words seemed unrealistic for a 7 year old. It's possible the narrator's voice for Ana made a difference here as while I don't love kids in romance books, I usually don't find them this annoying. It also felt manipulative, like it was added in as a way to show that we should like Misery because she is good with this kid.

I also didn't like that Misery had been told by her friend that she doesn't care about anything except that friend. Misery growing to care for Lowe and Ana is presented as a fix to this perceived problem. It felt like it was implying that caring for your friends isn't good enough, that you also have to be a wife and mother to be a worthy and happy person. This is especially strange because I thought one of the stronger points of the book was when describing the mating bond, Lowe says that mate relationships aren't more valid or important than non-mate relationships, and it's just a different type of connection. Implying it's wrong to care so much about a friend seems to contradict that message. Also, I think characterizing Misery as only caring about this one friend is false. From the very beginning, she is putting the needs of all vampyres in front of her own wants, so clearly she cares about preventing a war. She also had a job she really liked.

I liked that the book avoided the possessiveness that is usually present with the fated mates trope. Lowe says he just wants his mate to be happy, even if it's with someone else. There were also some little things that Lowe does that show he is listening to Misery and cares about her that I thought were really sweet. I also appreciated that there is no message that one should forgive toxic family members just because "they're family."

The main thing that brought my enjoyment of this book way down was the unecessary and cruel third act breakup.

Literally right after sleeping with her for the first time (which was also her first time), Lowe tells Misery she means nothing to him and uses her insecurities and trauma against her in order to sell the lie. If he thought he would need to break up with her to protect her, maybe he should have done that before sleeping with her instead of hitting it and quitting it. It's also patronizing to think that she needs to be protected from making her own decisions. We don't even get a good grovel. Lowe doesn't talk to Misery for a couple weeks. She has to eventually go find him. He doesn't really apologize for hurting her, just explains why he was right to push her away. She immediately forgives him, and they decide to be together forever with no need to take any time to rebuild trust.

I just thought this was so awful of Lowe and since he didn't seem sorry, I don't believe he won't do something like this in the future. I wanted Misery to leave him and find someone who actually respects her. I shouldn't be rooting against the couple in a romance novel.

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comradeghost's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ali Hazelwood does not disappoint again with this one!!! I hope to forget about this book soon so I can reread it with all the same feelings that I read it with the first time. The plot is insane and I NEVER guessed anything that was happening. I love the slow burn and forbidden romance. What a good story

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