White-hat hacker Vampire falls for an architect, Werewolf Alpha, who also happens to be her husband, while looking for her missing Human friend.
The author of “Love Hypothesis” and other romance books about academia is now exploring the fantasy romance genre.
I will make this confession: occasionally, I enjoy some cheap Alpha werewolf romances on story apps like Goodnovel, Dreame, or Galathea. (Disclaimer: We don’t have any affiliation or commercial partnership with these apps.) I can’t tell you how much money I’ve spent unlocking those chapters.
So naturally, after reading so many Alpha novels, I thought had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into. But boy, did Ali Hazelwood prove me wrong!
A Little Overview
Bride is an extra spicy, easy-to-read, gripping, and humorous book. The main character marries a stranger, hoping to find clues about her missing best friend. The plot is driven by a mission to save one’s best friend and an unexpected love during this search.
The peace is fragile and bound to snap anytime in a world divided by three species: Vampires, Werewolves, and Humans. To avoid another massacre and establish a stronger relationship between Vampires and Werewolves, the head of the Vampire council and a Werewolf alpha agree on a peace treaty, represented by a political marriage.
The daughter of a powerful vampire councilman, Misery, will wed the Alpha, whom she has never met and who is supposed to despise her whole race.
World Building
Before I move to the characters, I want to say a few words about the world-building.
The world resembles The Mortal Instruments and Crescent City’s modern setting. Misery makes fun of her husband for not being able to Google properly. They fly a private jet, and there are often references to modern culture books.
That said, there is a twist. The territory is divided into three species: vampires, Werewolves, and humans. Vampires have headquarters in a highrise, ultra-modern building called the Nest. The nest overlooks right at the werewolf land, a river acting as a border between them. Werewolves like to keep to themselves, so contrary to Vampires and Humans, their lands are closed off.
The division between the creatures can be seen even in their blood. Vampires bleed purple and have lilac eyes, whereas werewolves bleed green.
Werewolves follow the traditional description, whereas vampires here have pointed elf-like ears, sharp nails, and pointed canine teeth, which are always showing.
Another exciting part of the worldbuilding was the vampires. They have their ancient language, the Tongue, which Misery often uses to speak to her brother privately.
My Impressions (Spoilers ahead)
Misery
I count it as my privilege to describe Misery Lark to you. She is a white-hat hacker vampire pretending to be a human with a secret obsession with peanut butter.
Her name screams Romanticism and gives out Anne Rice’s “Interview With a Vampire” old-world vibe.
Her father describes her as “needlessly defiant.” It’s obvious she was never her father’s favorite person even if we only base it on the name she was given. He often used her as a political tool. She was shipped as collateral, as an exchange captive with humans for ten years. As such, she could never fit in. She was a vampire living in human lands, so neither humans nor vampires acknowledged her as their own.
Scolded and tossed around her whole life, nobody wanted anything to do with Misery, except Serena – an orphan assigned to keep her company who became her best and only friend. Despite earning enough money to pay rent, her life remains empty – she has no other friends, hobbies, or real purpose. Misery puts herself through tremendous pain trying to file down her canines just to try to blend in.
The only thing she seems to enjoy is computers, and when looking for a new job, she wants to do something related to them.
“I have no friends on the left and only enemies on the right. So I ground myself and look straight ahead at my future husband.”
When she met her husband on the altar for their wedding, she was a hollow person, driven by only one thought: to find her best friend.
Misery is so full of love and compassion. She is fun and has a perfect sense of humor, and once she found herself in a place that felt like home and was surrounded by people who would take a chance on her, she started to show all of her unique traits. I love that Lowe not only gave her love, but his pack gave her a family without even realizing it.
Lowe
Lowe is an artist at soul. He is an architect who loves to draw and create. He can’t figure out modern technologies to save his life and is occupied with leading a pack and raising a very energetic and adorable six-year-old sister.
He has traits of a basic, powerful Young Adult MC with a tragic past who had to sacrifice something important for him. He became utterly devoted to the heroine after the book’s second half.
But there were some character traits that I enjoyed reading about, like him being a “digital illiterate,” as Misery put it in her head in Papyrus font. (I enjoyed seeing this immortal designer meme in the book.)
He was the one who discovered Misery’s adorable addiction to peanut butter and always encouraged her to show her fangs and who she truly was. Without fear, he stood up against werewolves and bluntly, showed them how much he loved her and was not even a little ashamed of it.
I didn’t really like his choice to hide from Misery that she was his mate, but I understood where he came from. He didn’t want to trap her when she’d already been used and tossed around her whole life, especially when she was alone and most vulnerable.
All of this, made the romance very wholesome and pleasant to read.
Serena and Misery
Despite the romance being perfect, I also loved that instead of a plot driven by romance, it was driven by the mystery of a missing person and what this daring young journalist was researching.
To read about Misery’s desperation while her best friend, her sister, was missing was devastating. Especially since we had such a vivid image of their relationship with the flashbacks the author so generously provided. At some point, she doubts her best friend and thinks about whether she ran away on purpose. She is hurt by finding so many secrets between them. Despite that, she never gives up on her search.
Serena’s Damned F*8cking Cat
Misery’s relationship with “Serena’s damned f*8cking cat” has to be called out as well. It was my favorite, one more proof of her love for Serena. Their dynamic was hilarious and so realistic. Cats are assholes like that. They will love one person, let them cuddle to their heart’s content, and hate the other passionately. But, despite their mutual hatred, Misery didn’t abandon the cat because she was dear to her best friend.
Owen
Misery is very lucky. Not only does she have a sister, but she also has a brother who loves her very much. Owen’s character was hilarious and interesting to read about.
“Hope you packed a lint roller. I heard they shed.”
He reminded me of my sister. The kind of person who will never hug you, but will start a revolution if someone hurts you.
Overall Plot
The book was very well written and enjoyable to read.
The enemies-to-lovers part is very well done. I love how the characters develop tentative trust and romantic feelings toward each other. I loved their vulnerable moments, respect for each other, and the whole dynamic.
I also loved the side characters and their dynamics; I loved that they got their respectable time throughout the book and didn’t disappear after the romance started, as often happens in YA books.
Of course, there were some predictable plotlines. But after the unholy amount of YA books I’ve read, there is bound to be some repetition for me, so please don’t let this remark negatively influence you toward the book.
One thing that I will not apologize for, which is very weird and cringeworthy, was the Knot situation, which should have been taken out altogether. Instead, it has at least an entire chapter dedicated to it. But an even more disturbing thing is that I enjoyed the spicy scenes even with this abomination, so kudos to the author. It was very well written, indeed.
This is all I’ve got for you because after the dirty parts started, I stopped taking notes and devoured the book. And it was not just the messy parts. The pace never slows down. On the contrary, it gets better with every page, and the book holds you hostage until the very end.
For now, this book is a standalone novel, but the way the author finished it left a lot of possibilities for future novels in the same universe. We should expect books about Serena, Owen, and Gabi, fascinating side characters who play major parts in the story and have challenging journeys.
