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funny
lighthearted
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Blood, Medical content
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
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:
Yes
The beginning of the book felt slow compared to the middle/end, with the end feeling a bit rushed. While some books put a bit too much depth in certain areas, there could've been more depth after the twist. I also had a few issues with how the Vampyres vs Weres were presented. Weres were given basically godmode but the Vampyres very little? And some of the Vampyre lore was missing which could have brought the book together a bit better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Abandonment
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.75⭐️2🌶️ (not a lot of spicy scenes but they’re of medium description *cough*knotting )
This was my second Ali hazelwood book and I heard such good reviews about this one! I was so excited to dive deep into vampire and werewolf lore. I’m not well-versed in the omegaverse (pun intended) but this is not your typical fantasy/paranormal/supernatural book with vampires and werewolves. It goes the way of twilight (derogatory, even though I love twilight) and tries to use biology to explain the lore and world building. I get it bc Ali is a stem girly and that’s her thing she’s always included in her books, but I feel like it’s such a weird thing to have supernatural creatures and phenomena and explain it away using the biology WE know and understand. Like these are obviously magical creatures. I really did not love the lore and world-building in this book, even though she used so many pages to do it.
So the story is set in our world in North America somewhere in the southwest region. No states or cities are mentioned. Vampyres, Weres, and humans all hate each other and live in peace but the the line is very thin between peace and war. Misery (an odd name for the FMC but whatever) was a part of Collateral program, where she was sent to live with the humans for 10 years as a child, where she meets and grows up with her best friend, Serena, a human orphan who was placed in the same home as misery for companionship. Years later, misery still lives among humans because she doesn’t really belong in any faction. Serena disappears and misery agrees to an arranged marriage to the new SW pack alpha that is meant to broker peace between Vampyres and Weres in an attempt to find her.
Lowe and misery are meant to be enemies but honestly, she’s so open-minded and he’s such a genuinely kind person that they’re never really enemies. More like strangers to friends to lovers. I really enjoyed the FMC and her witty banter and honesty. She had me loling a few times. But the MMC just didn’t seem like a super in-depth character. We as the readers know what is going on to explain some of his speech and behaviors but there’s a huge miscommunication that persists for the entire book, so misery’s internal monologue is 99% confused about Lowe. It’s very frustrating when he’s showing her and telling her how beautiful she is and how much he cares for and will do anything to protect her and she’s like… but Ican’t be his mate! He’s already got one! It gets old really fast. Also, I felt like the author could’ve done her character descriptions better. I couldn’t really picture lowe or misery very well.
I was promised SPICE, and this is not an inherently spicy book. There are only a couple scenes and they’re pretty tame. I feel like people were so shell-shocked by theknotting that they didn’t realize if you took that part out it wouldn’t really be a spicy book at all.
I listened along to the audiobook on Spotify as well, and I think it was such a waste to have two narrators if you’re not going to have the man read his lines in a duet! He only reads the little blurbs at the beginning of each chapter. The woman does a good job in her narration and brings Misery to life but I was really disappointed we didn’t get any lines from the other narrator.
Overall, it was a slow beginning and not as adventurous or as dramatic as I wanted it to be. I liked the soft and fluffy romantic moments between the two MCs, like Lowe in his wolf form (he gives off Rottweiler bf vibes), but I would’ve liked it even more if they had spent more of the book astrue mates. I will give the author points for writing a twist at the end that I did knot see coming!! (It had nothing to do with the knot I just wanted to throw that pun in somewhere). I liked it but didn’t love it. If you’re looking for a fantasy or paranormal book I’d look elsewhere. I probably won’t reread.
This was my second Ali hazelwood book and I heard such good reviews about this one! I was so excited to dive deep into vampire and werewolf lore. I’m not well-versed in the omegaverse (pun intended) but this is not your typical fantasy/paranormal/supernatural book with vampires and werewolves. It goes the way of twilight (derogatory, even though I love twilight) and tries to use biology to explain the lore and world building. I get it bc Ali is a stem girly and that’s her thing she’s always included in her books, but I feel like it’s such a weird thing to have supernatural creatures and phenomena and explain it away using the biology WE know and understand. Like these are obviously magical creatures. I really did not love the lore and world-building in this book, even though she used so many pages to do it.
So the story is set in our world in North America somewhere in the southwest region. No states or cities are mentioned. Vampyres, Weres, and humans all hate each other and live in peace but the the line is very thin between peace and war. Misery (an odd name for the FMC but whatever) was a part of Collateral program, where she was sent to live with the humans for 10 years as a child, where she meets and grows up with her best friend, Serena, a human orphan who was placed in the same home as misery for companionship. Years later, misery still lives among humans because she doesn’t really belong in any faction. Serena disappears and misery agrees to an arranged marriage to the new SW pack alpha that is meant to broker peace between Vampyres and Weres in an attempt to find her.
Lowe and misery are meant to be enemies but honestly, she’s so open-minded and he’s such a genuinely kind person that they’re never really enemies. More like strangers to friends to lovers. I really enjoyed the FMC and her witty banter and honesty. She had me loling a few times. But the MMC just didn’t seem like a super in-depth character. We as the readers know what is going on to explain some of his speech and behaviors but there’s a huge miscommunication that persists for the entire book, so misery’s internal monologue is 99% confused about Lowe. It’s very frustrating when he’s showing her and telling her how beautiful she is and how much he cares for and will do anything to protect her and she’s like… but I
I was promised SPICE, and this is not an inherently spicy book. There are only a couple scenes and they’re pretty tame. I feel like people were so shell-shocked by the
I listened along to the audiobook on Spotify as well, and I think it was such a waste to have two narrators if you’re not going to have the man read his lines in a duet! He only reads the little blurbs at the beginning of each chapter. The woman does a good job in her narration and brings Misery to life but I was really disappointed we didn’t get any lines from the other narrator.
Overall, it was a slow beginning and not as adventurous or as dramatic as I wanted it to be. I liked the soft and fluffy romantic moments between the two MCs, like Lowe in his wolf form (he gives off Rottweiler bf vibes), but I would’ve liked it even more if they had spent more of the book as
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping, War
Minor: Toxic relationship
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had fun reading this, don't get me wrong, however I couldn’t understand what was going on half the time and when I did, I felt like I still had something missing. I still laughed out loud and blushed at what was happening between Lowe and Misery, but I just could knot understand most of the things. I thought it would be more romance focused, but it was more politics which I don’t mind if I understand it. I did like reading the reveal for Misery’s friend, but it wasn’t that shocking since most of the time Misery just seemed to tolerate her, so I didn’t feel my heart tug.
The spice did get me. I've never read a book like this, and everyone kept talking about knots which I did know what it was about, but it still was unexpected. And the things Lowe said and Jesus Christ. I was reading that scene while on a call with my boyfriend and he kept laughing at me because of my reactions. Despite Lowe not being my favorite Ali Hazelwood man he is still in the top (I’ve only read three).
Overall, it was a fun read which is what I expected. I didn't expect it to be a literary masterpiece and that’s fine even the story didn’t take itself seriously and I enjoyed it.
The spice did get me. I've never read a book like this, and everyone kept talking about knots which I did know what it was about, but it still was unexpected. And the things Lowe said and Jesus Christ. I was reading that scene while on a call with my boyfriend and he kept laughing at me because of my reactions. Despite Lowe not being my favorite Ali Hazelwood man he is still in the top (I’ve only read three).
Overall, it was a fun read which is what I expected. I didn't expect it to be a literary masterpiece and that’s fine even the story didn’t take itself seriously and I enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Abandonment
Minor: Confinement, Death, Murder
dark
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Look I'm a sucker for a fated mates shifter romance. Was it entirely cheesy? Yes. Was it extremely predictable? Yes. Did I enjoy every second of it? Absolutely!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The internet madebme think this was just smut with a little plot. But i loved the plot. The mystery and the twoblove interests actually getting to know each other. The family feels were immaculate!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
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:
No
Diplomatic marriage, forced proximity, sarcastic, witty behavior, plus werewolves and vampyres? Say less. I devoured this one day.
Misery will do anything to find her best friend, including marrying the vampyre’s arch nemesis, Lowe Moreland, the Alpha werewolf. Thus begins her year long stint—alone—in Were territory.
Bride felt like a light-hearted fantasy rom-com; it was fun! The world building was brisk and the politics were believable for the most part, which was refreshing. A great little read!
Misery will do anything to find her best friend, including marrying the vampyre’s arch nemesis, Lowe Moreland, the Alpha werewolf. Thus begins her year long stint—alone—in Were territory.
Bride felt like a light-hearted fantasy rom-com; it was fun! The world building was brisk and the politics were believable for the most part, which was refreshing. A great little read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent