Misery Lark has always felt like an outsider—as the daughter of a Vampyre councilman, she’s been volun-told to sacrifice her freedom and needs for the good of her kind for her entire life. The newest sacrifice? Upholding a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, by entering an arranged marriage with the Alpha Were.
Wedding bells are ringing as Misery is whisked down the aisle to her betrothed, Lowe Moreland. Despite those broad shoulders, brooding stares, and extremely attractive looks, Lowe and Misery despise each other from the get-go. But Misery agreed to this for more than familial obligation and a white dress. Her human best friend, Serena, has been missing for weeks, and Misery has reason to believe she’s in Were territory. It’s impossible to figure out who she can—and can’t—trust…and it may take help from her newly declared “other half” to find her friend and make her heart whole once more.
- One-word review: Addictive
- Emojis: 🥹🌶️🌶️🥰
- Rating: 4.5 🌟s
My thoughts:
Most of Bride by Ali Hazelwood was oh so right; some of it was oh so wrong; and all of it was oh so addictive and had me keeping vampire hours. I can’t even begin to explain that to you, but if you read the book, you’ll know what I’m talking about – especially the “oh-so-wrong” aspect.
Misery is anything but misery. She’s surprising in every way, and I loved her loyalty to her foster sister. Born a vampire, she lived among humans from the ages of 8 to 18. Because of this, she feels isolated and is subconsciously looking for a community that accepts and loves her. This story is essentially her journey to find that place and those people that could make up her found family because, aside from her twin brother, she lacks a loving biological family/community. Her journey instantly pulled me in and held me in its thrall until the last page.
The world is built with an excellent attention to detail. Some details are unexpected, but I loved the original aspects and how well they blended with the more commonly accepted details regarding vampires and werewolves. It all worked together to create a world that instantly pulled me in and gave me several surprises to hold my attention.
The romance is an exquisite enemies-to-lovers romance with lots of witty banter, which I can never get enough of. The pacing is quick due to the mystery and the thrills surrounding the disappearance of Misery’s foster sister and subsequent events. And a big shoutout to the inclusion of little Ana, who doesn’t know whether she’s six or seven. The cuteness factor was off the charts.
Tessa Talks Books 
This sounds as good as anticipated. I’m definitely interested in Vampire romance after reading my roommate is a vampire.
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I think you’d love this one!
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Hazelwood is definitely spreading her wings! I passed on this because I flamed out a few years ago on paranormal romance but this does sound interesting. Excellent review, Tessa💜
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It’s got an even more compelling story about family, I think. And their are some tongue-in-cheek details that 🤦🏻♀️
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Great review and I agree with you about it being addictive. This is my favorite read of the year so far.
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It amazed me how much I just wanted to stay inside this world.
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Great review! It was such a fantastic romance!
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It is!
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This isn’t normally my type of reading, but it sounds appealing to me. And that cover reminds me a bit of Manga, which is something I used to collect way back in the day!
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Oh, that’s cool! I didn’t know that. You can’t go wrong with Ali Hazelwood. She always tells a wonderful story and has a bit of a naughty side 🤣
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Good to know. And, just last week, I finally sold off my Manga/comics collection (holding onto a few I simply couldn’t part with). I used to have a huge anime collection, too. I was/am such a geek! 😆
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Can’t wait to read this!
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I can’t wait for you to read it!
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Great review!!! I am so excited for this now! haha. I will probably have to buy it so I can read it because you made this sound too good. I’ve been so curious!
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Vampires, found family, and witty banter. Clearly I’m adding this to my list. Great review, Tessa!
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What an interesting premise, and the cover is gorgeous! Great review!
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It’s very well done.
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Love your review! Unsurprisingly, there’s so much hype around this and I can’t wait to find out about it first hand. Your review has me excited to meet these characters asap 😍
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I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of this one, but I get how addictive it is! Ali’s writing is just so chill and it makes it so easy to fly through the book. 100% agree that Ana’s character is such a bonus for me. LOVED her. So glad you enjoyed this, Tessa! 🙂
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