A review by random_spider
Bride by Ali Hazelwood

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

I picked this book from a bookstore shelf, enticed by its cover design and blurb.

I should have returned it to display.

------Stat Score------

Plot/Content: 4/10
Characters/POVs: 5/10
Prose/Style: 3/10
Themes/Messages: 6/10
Enjoyability/Impact: 5/10

OVERALL RATING: 5/10 (Mediocre)

"The Vampyres don't claim you as one of them unless they have something to gain from it. You chose to be among the Humans, but you had to lie about your identity, because you're not one of them. And you're definitely not one of us. You truly belong nowhere, Miss Lark."

Synopsis and/or Premise:
Misery, a Vampyre who spent her youth with Humans, was betrothed to the alpha of Weres (their enemy), Lowe. On the outside, it appeared as if she was forced into this arrangement by her father. But deep down, she had a personal reason to do so. A personal someone who's dear to her.

The Good and The Bad:
Compliments, huh? I guess the book did utilize its tropes well, but it just saddens me that it relied too much on those tropes as its selling point. It wasn't even subverting anything, to be honest. At least it had solid themes such as Prejudice, Racism, Belongingness, and the Weight of Obligations. A pleasant surprise, for me, was the decision of the author to cut some conversations halfway, allowing readers to fill the blank with their own continuation (occasionally stimulating my bored mind.) From the characters, Lowe by far had the most depth, followed far behind by Misery. Their chemistry was annoying at first, but the relationship became more tolerable as it developed organically (although I became less interested with them after they enjoyed doing the deed far too much and too frequent during the latter half.) Still, I find myself ridiculous saying that the smut was one of the better parts of the novel.

As you could tell already, it left a lot to be desired:

1. Unimpressive prose 🙄 - Granted, this was my first (and probably my last) Ali Hazelwood book, so I can't tell whether this level of wordsmith is consistent or not. It was, for lack of a better term, Wattpad-y.

2. Uninteresting characters 👥 - Aside from the protagonists (and Ana, but she doesn't count because she's meant to be adorable), none of the side characters were interesting. They were all flat, and frankly, too much of a clutter. In fact, I have no favorites in this book.

3. Weak overall structure 🏚️ - There's so much problems with this book I'm just gonna write the rest of them here. First, the plot...incredibly boring and lifeless. It doesn't help that the mystery was not as gripping as it should be. Ok, a clue here and there, but it didn't have enough or stir competent intrigue for readers to give a damn since it clashed on the pages against the romantic relationship (which the book prioritized.) The mystery was a filler just so the characters have to do something else aside from themselves 😂. Next, as a consequence of mediocre mystery, the book was forced to do lengthy, tedious, and confusing exposition through the villain's cliché 'motivation speech', bogging any once of attention left within me. Even the twists, although making sense from enough clues, still felt lame in execution. Lastly, I was waiting for some kind of action in the final conflict, like it already had enough tension to explode into chaos, yet I was deprived of that entertainment.

Final Thoughts:
Bride by Ali Hazelwood is a paranormal romance novel about an arranged marriage between a Vampyre and a Were. I initially assumed it was some kind of rural/folklore horror type of supernatural — but no, its just some contemporary, urban mafias with a Halloween plaster. Maybe it's my fault not researching the author and expecting a book more into the fantasy genre. Still, it felt too mainstream (like it's meant for BookTok romance girlies), although I'm happy for the author recognizing her target audience. I have to admit though, despite the smut catering to certain kinks, it kinda missed something. Like a certain 'animalistic' opportunity...though that would be f*cked-up 😆.

In the end of the day, this wasn't the worst book I've read.

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Links to my ratings and reviews:
Goodreads reviews
The StoryGraph