Audio Review: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

I received this book via the publisher Penguin Audio. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Narrator: Thérèse Plummer, Will Damron
Published by Penguin Audio on 2024-02-06
Length: 12 hours and 47 minutes
Reviewing Advanced Listening Copy from the publisher Penguin Audio
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2024 Audiobook Challenge, 2024 COYER Unwind

A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again...

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

This was unlike anything I’ve ever read and definitely not what I expected when I picked up this book! Bride by Ali Hazelwood is an urban fantasy/paranormal romance about a Vampyre forced to marry an alpha Werewolf to keep the peace between their respective groups. So much drama in this book 😅 But there is also a lot happening with the main characters. Please excuse any misspellings of names/places as I do not have a physical copy for reference.

Misery Lark is the only daughter of a powerful Vampyre councilman and an outcast. She has never really fit in with the Vampyre world or culture. This stems from spending ten years with the humans as a child. Now, she lives in anonymity with her best friend in the human world until her father shows up one day ruining it all. She is being forced to marry an Alpha Werewolf as a part of a tenuous peace contract. With her best friend missing and all signs pointing towards the werewolves, Misery has no choice but to accept.

Lowe Moreland is a newer Alpha in the Werewolf packs, but nevertheless a strong one. His initials are Misery’s only clue to find her missing friend, but when she arrives in their territory newly married, she doesn’t find what she is expecting. Lowe is uncharacteristically nice to her, protective, and raising his sister who is harboring a big secret.

This story is told mainly from Misery’s perspective, but we do get a glimpse of Lowe’s thoughts at the beginning of each chapter. I really enjoyed following the story from her viewpoint. Having spent her formative years with the humans, her instincts and bonds are not like those of other Vampyres. She tends to be more human in her thinking and feelings, more than she is willing to admit.

The romance is slow burn, but once it catches, it gets hot real quick. This mixed with the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Misery’s friend and the tension surrounding Lowe’s sister makes it an easy and fast read. The narrator did a great job of holding my attention and breathing life into the characters. I could easily picture Misery going through her new normal with the Werewolves.

Overall, I really enjoyed Bride. It’s my first book from Hazelwood, and now I’m excited to try her Stem romances. If you are a fan of paranormal romance, I highly recommend this one.

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