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mal_eficent's review against another edition
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
My 'issue' with Hazelwood's stories is that they're all very much structured like fanfiction. I love fanfic, that's not the problem, but fanfic has different structures and expectations than normal fiction and it's really hard to review or explain why this works really well if you don't have a background reading fanfic.
I totally get why people don't get along with her style: fanfic skips a lot of world building and character motivation because you're expected to have an idea of how characters are related to each other thanks to the original media, and the world building is just set dressing to exploring how characters interact. Bride pretty much follows that trend completely – the world feels like it works and exists, but big chunks of description and exposition are skipped. It's bingeable, with a lot of character reflection, and that's even more present in Bride because of how isolated Misery often is. (I'm also just going to assume this is Reylo again because I think the only non-Reylo pairing Hazelwood has written is Stuck with You)
I will say Bride has a lot more connecting scenes than The Love Hypothesis did, which is definitely a move away from fanfic styles, and that makes it a more much traditional read. (Fanfic doesn't care about what's happening 'in the background', sometimes, because again, the readers are here for the characters and typically there's an emphasis on character interactions.)
If you like fanfiction, and you like Ali Hazelwood, there's a non-zero chance of you enjoying this. If you're not up for a slightly more loosey goosey, race to the finish line kind of romance and intrigue plot that hand waves a lot of the actual work in favour of characters chatting...You might not enjoy this.
I totally get why people don't get along with her style: fanfic skips a lot of world building and character motivation because you're expected to have an idea of how characters are related to each other thanks to the original media, and the world building is just set dressing to exploring how characters interact. Bride pretty much follows that trend completely – the world feels like it works and exists, but big chunks of description and exposition are skipped. It's bingeable, with a lot of character reflection, and that's even more present in Bride because of how isolated Misery often is. (I'm also just going to assume this is Reylo again because I think the only non-Reylo pairing Hazelwood has written is Stuck with You)
I will say Bride has a lot more connecting scenes than The Love Hypothesis did, which is definitely a move away from fanfic styles, and that makes it a more much traditional read. (Fanfic doesn't care about what's happening 'in the background', sometimes, because again, the readers are here for the characters and typically there's an emphasis on character interactions.)
If you like fanfiction, and you like Ali Hazelwood, there's a non-zero chance of you enjoying this. If you're not up for a slightly more loosey goosey, race to the finish line kind of romance and intrigue plot that hand waves a lot of the actual work in favour of characters chatting...You might not enjoy this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Blood
Moderate: Xenophobia and Abandonment
seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Sexual content
Moderate: Racism, War, Kidnapping, and Xenophobia
unicornofthesea's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Blood, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Sexual content
goldenleafbooks's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I could not put this book down. I absolutely adored the characters. Misery being naive to Lowe's feelings was truly believable, which is something that I feel like a lot of authors struggle to pull off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Confinement, Blood, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Colonisation, Classism, Bullying, and Abandonment
Moderate: Medical content and Gaslighting
vixenreader's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
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
3.25
It’s like if “Underworld” was a Rom-Com, with less leather and more peanut butter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Blood, Racism, Sexual content, War, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Confinement, Animal death, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Murder, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, and Pregnancy
Minor: Police brutality, Alcohol, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Car accident, Kidnapping, Outing, and Racial slurs
Be aware that there is assassination attempts, allergy alerts, arranged marriages, political intrigue, and parental neglect/abuse.frantically's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Never did I think that Ali Hazelwood would be the one writing the biggest paranormal romance of the year, yet here we are.
This book was so addicting, I muted the football game I was watching and just continued listening to the audio – I couldn't stop.
It's the perfect mix of delicious smut and actual, well thought out world building and plot.
The Feelings were there from page one and while I usually hate miscommunication, here it was just so adorable and so well done, all I could do was root for Misery and Lo and their HEA.
Also: Lo Morland is my new book boyfriend
This book was so addicting, I muted the football game I was watching and just continued listening to the audio – I couldn't stop.
It's the perfect mix of delicious smut and actual, well thought out world building and plot.
The Feelings were there from page one and while I usually hate miscommunication, here it was just so adorable and so well done, all I could do was root for Misery and Lo and their HEA.
Also: Lo Morland is my new book boyfriend
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Murder
bookishbeans's review
funny
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? Yes
3.5
I REALLY wanted to love this book. "Paranormal romance? Werewolves and vampires? Count me in!" Is what I said before I picked up the book. Had I known it would be in a contemporary setting and that the pacing would be all over the place, I wouldn’t’ve picked it up. I liked the development of Misery and Lowe's relationship, but the rest of the book was simultaneously too fast and too slow for me. Prepare yourself for long chapters with this one, if that's not your thing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Xenophobia
themichellegray's review against another edition
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I was knot expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did!
Bride is a fast-paced paranormal romantasy with the perfect balance of worldbuilding, mystery, humor, and spice. I really enjoyed the writing style as well as the cast of characters (and their banter) who all showed major growth by the end. While this was an extremely predictable story, it was altogether fun and easy-to-read!
Bride is a fast-paced paranormal romantasy with the perfect balance of worldbuilding, mystery, humor, and spice. I really enjoyed the writing style as well as the cast of characters (and their banter) who all showed major growth by the end. While this was an extremely predictable story, it was altogether fun and easy-to-read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Abandonment
Moderate: War, Kidnapping, Confinement, and Violence
Minor: Classism and Death of parent
percervall's review against another edition
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
While I started this out of morbid curiosity because everyone and their dog were talking about it on TikTok, I really, really enjoyed this
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Murder, Death, War, Torture, Classism, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
kendoftheworld's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As an aroace enby who is sometimes sex-repulsed, I always find myself amused and simultaneously horrified when reading extremely cishet romance novels … but maybe not for the expected reasons.
Things I liked: Serena, Sparkles, and Owen. That Owen’s final speech to their father is basically soft-coded for “I plan to not make America great again, I plan to make America comfortably insignificant again,” which, *finger snaps.* That none of the women in this book are in any sort of competition with each other. That platonic same-sex friendship is maybe the only major plot point. (I don’t consider sex a plot point, but that’s me.)
Things I didn’t: Basically, the main Romance (and specifically Omegaverse) Thing™️ where really good sex is a) the whole point of the book, b) fundamentally transformative, c) what every normal person is built for, and d) where all the meaning and belonging of life is stored up for folks to experience.
As I mentioned, I’m an aroace enby. I will never experience romance or sex the same way as an allosexual, and I have been raised like everyone else to see romance and sex as extremely meaningful—more meaningful than platonic friendship, because the book never climaxes or ends on platonic friendship even if the author considers it important. The book never ends with someone trying to figure out if life is going to ever be as meaningful for them as everyone else, simply because they’re not built to experience love the same way. And in a book where that *exact* question is raised repeatedly, as a result of biological difference, it’s even more heartbreaking for the conclusion to be “I’d totally still love you if you didn’t love me back or experience love the same way—but isn’t it awesome that we do, in the end, feel the same way for each other and were silly silly people for thinking we were biologically incompatible and *didn’t* experience sex in all its mind-blowing fullness in essentially the same way?”
It’d be nice if someone were biologically compelled to really really like me, sexually and/or romantically, because then I could know for sure that life was meaningful and worth continuing for no other reason than that such relationships apparently make us feel it is worth continuing. It’s not Ali Hazelwood’s fault for amplifying this narrative since literally no one else I’ve ever read has managed anything else, but it does feel particularly galling here, perhaps because she *knows* and she wants to *try* at an inclusive romance. And we quite literally pay for romance books to be the way they are.
I’m not saying I hate being me right now, but I do always hate myself at least a little bit for being such a … (I’m laughing at myself here a bit) … misery melon about the whole thing.
I do dream of a world where a misery melon like me can find a meaningful ending in a romance book that doesn’t involve being transformed by mind-blowing sex, though.
Things I liked: Serena, Sparkles, and Owen. That Owen’s final speech to their father is basically soft-coded for “I plan to not make America great again, I plan to make America comfortably insignificant again,” which, *finger snaps.* That none of the women in this book are in any sort of competition with each other. That platonic same-sex friendship is maybe the only major plot point. (I don’t consider sex a plot point, but that’s me.)
Things I didn’t: Basically, the main Romance (and specifically Omegaverse) Thing™️ where really good sex is a) the whole point of the book, b) fundamentally transformative, c) what every normal person is built for, and d) where all the meaning and belonging of life is stored up for folks to experience.
As I mentioned, I’m an aroace enby. I will never experience romance or sex the same way as an allosexual, and I have been raised like everyone else to see romance and sex as extremely meaningful—more meaningful than platonic friendship, because the book never climaxes or ends on platonic friendship even if the author considers it important. The book never ends with someone trying to figure out if life is going to ever be as meaningful for them as everyone else, simply because they’re not built to experience love the same way. And in a book where that *exact* question is raised repeatedly, as a result of biological difference, it’s even more heartbreaking for the conclusion to be “I’d totally still love you if you didn’t love me back or experience love the same way—but isn’t it awesome that we do, in the end, feel the same way for each other and were silly silly people for thinking we were biologically incompatible and *didn’t* experience sex in all its mind-blowing fullness in essentially the same way?”
It’d be nice if someone were biologically compelled to really really like me, sexually and/or romantically, because then I could know for sure that life was meaningful and worth continuing for no other reason than that such relationships apparently make us feel it is worth continuing. It’s not Ali Hazelwood’s fault for amplifying this narrative since literally no one else I’ve ever read has managed anything else, but it does feel particularly galling here, perhaps because she *knows* and she wants to *try* at an inclusive romance. And we quite literally pay for romance books to be the way they are.
I’m not saying I hate being me right now, but I do always hate myself at least a little bit for being such a … (I’m laughing at myself here a bit) … misery melon about the whole thing.
I do dream of a world where a misery melon like me can find a meaningful ending in a romance book that doesn’t involve being transformed by mind-blowing sex, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Cursing and Abandonment
Minor: Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Dementia, Grief, Vomit, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, and Self harm