Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

266 reviews

nerd_kind's review

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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theladyjsays's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, and it totally helped me get out of the slump I was in. I read most of it over two days!
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emerlees's review

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fast-paced

2.0

Knotty. So bad it’s kind of enjoyable. Therefore, it gets two stars instead of one. Taught me what a knot is and I will never forgive the author for that.
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mal_eficent's review against another edition

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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.
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madicastle's review

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adventurous funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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bmpicc's review

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

2.0

I love Hazelwood. I've read all her other books. Misery though did not hold up to the strong women and character development I've enjoyed in her other novels. The story itself had a few bright stops (Ana in particular), but overall it wasn't interesting to me.

I suppose I can make a bad joke here (I'm sure I will see in a minute when I scroll other reviews)... This was knot the book for me. 
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zydecovivo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book is one I saw on TikTok in a video discussing fan fiction’s effect on the modern publishing industry. Ali Hazelwood is an author known for getting her start in Star Wars Reylo fan fiction. This book in particular discusses knotting (NOTE: this is something explicit and should not be looked into by readers under 18), which is new in a traditionally published romance but is definitely not new in fandom spaces. These were really the only 2 things I knew about the book before putting it on my TBR. I was curious to see what it was about. 

In this universe, werewolves and vampyres exist and are known by humans, but the two species have been enemies for a long time. Our main character is named Mercy, a vampyre, and she has been used all of her life as collateral to keep the peace between humans and vampyres.  Now, she is forced to marry the new Alpha of the werewolf pack across the river to create a flimsy alliance between the two groups. It is important to note that vampyres and werewolves work a bit differently than our classical concepts of them, but it is explained well at the beginning of the book. 

This general premise is not groundbreaking and I think the overall plot, even the big reveals at the end, is predictable. However, I love Mercy and Lowe (the male love interest). I like them both individually and together as a unit. Their personalities and motivations feel very fleshed out and I enjoy watching their story (as predictable as it is). These two make the story worth reading and why the book deserves high ratings (5 stars? No. But more than 4). Mercy gets to learn what it’s like to be part of a loving family and Lowe learns how to be a little selfish because he deserves it. *chef’s kiss*

I do still have some nitpicking to do. Due to Mercy essentially being raised in the human world, she has very little knowledge of vampyres and no knowledge of werewolves due to historical animosity. This fact is a little overexploited (in my opinion) to show the reader the mechanics of this world. Additionally, the knot thing does not become relevant until the very end of the book. Experienced fan fiction readers, as well as regular paranormal romance readers, will probably find the spicy scenes somewhat tame. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I lost some sleep on a work night in order to finish it in one sitting, so be prepared. It may be a bit overhyped on BookTok, but I think it still deserves hype and praise.


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murve's review against another edition

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medium-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

4.5

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karinreadsalot's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

Lots of spice and loveable characters 
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katharina90's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

A very Ali Hazelwood take on the omegaverse.

Cute but extremely predictable. The characters were likeable but pretty bland and immature, and the worldbuilding mostly fell flat for me. 
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