Lucie V.'s Reviews > Bride

✅✅ Narrator
✅ Gorgeous cover
✅ Enemies to lovers
✅ Sexual tension and some smut
✅ Characters
✅ Writing
✅ Vampires and werewolves
✅ Some angst
✅ Pace and plot
❗️❗️Trigger warnings: mention of an attack on a school (brief, no details), abduction, poisoning, and missing best friend

Well, I finally boarded the Hazelwood train, three years after everyone else!

In my defense, I am not a huge fan of contemporary romance, and that’s what she’d been writing for the past 3 years. I am so happy she gave a try to paranormal romance though, because the result was great.

In an attempt to bring peace between werewolves and vampires, Misery Lark, a vampire who has been living with humans for the past decades accepts to marry Lowe Moreland, the most powerful alpha of the North American werewolves. Misery is used to being treated like a tool, but this time, she has her own reasons for accepting to put her life on the line: Serena, Misery’s best friend and adoptive sister has been missing for weeks, and the only clue she has is Moreland’s name left in the secret code Misery and Serena devised when they were younger. Misery wants to help forge an alliance between vampires and werewolves, but more than that, she wants to have the opportunity to investigate Lowe’s house and find out what happened to Serena.

The plot is a mix of sweet enemies-to-lovers romance, some investigation to find out what happened to Serena, abductions, blackmail, and political scheming between vampires and werewolves. A lot was going on, but it didn’t feel half-done or overloaded with too many plotlines. It was just enough to keep me engaged in the story and to have an interesting and fleshed-out plot besides the romance. It is mostly centered on romance, so don’t start this one expecting a 5-star plot and elaborate world-building. The last part of the book was satisfying because we finally got answers regarding Serena’s disappearance, but at the same time, the miscommunication between Misery and Lowe to create some angst was not my favorite. I adore angst, but the miscommunication trope in this book was not the best.

“I have no friends, no hobbies, and no real purpose aside from earning enough money to pay rent in order to … exist, I guess.”

Misery Lark is a bright, nerdy heroine who defies vampire stereotypes. She is the only daughter of the most powerful vampire in the area and has been used as a pawn for her entire life. She likes to say that she doesn’t care about anything, but when she loves, she loves deeply. She works in computer coding, opposite to the old-fashioned vampires I’m used to in those books, and I loved her. She is likable, relatable, layered, flawed, and feels real. It broke my heart a little to see how she struggled to fit and feel like she belonged. She doesn’t have a place among vampires because of her time spent with humans, the only way she could live among humans was by disguising herself, and the werewolves are her species’ enemies. Poor Misery only wanted to be left alone and to feel like she belonged somewhere at the same time.

“My smell. Do I smell like…?”
“Mine.” It’s a rumble in his throat. “You smell like you’re mine, Misery.”

Lowe is a new Alpha, still figuring out who he can and cannot trust, and weeding out the werewolves loyal to the previous alpha. While navigating the werewolves' politics, he also cares for his little sister, and let me tell you, seeing Lowe care for his sister and dote on her was the absolute cutest thing ever. I melted.

He shakes his head, eyes burning into mine. "You're not a problem, Misery. You're a privilege."

Misery and Lowe are good together. They have chemistry, and there was enough sexual tension between them to make me yearn for the moment they would finally cave and allow themselves to be together. Their romance is a slow burn, yet the book has a good pace and it doesn’t feel that long before the romance develops.

This is a single POV story, but there is a little entry from Lowe at the beginning of every chapter, allowing us a tiny glimpse of his mind, and I adored those little bits of him we got.

I have to praise the narrator for her stellar job with this book. It was amazing. The intonations, tone, emotions, everything was spot on.

After seeing this book everywhere for the past few months, and seeing how loved it was, I had high hopes, and I was not disappointed. This book is a quick and entertaining read, with quirky and lovable characters, an engaging plot, and a steamy enemies-to-lovers romance. The epilogue also leaves the door open for a potential sequel, so I will keep my fingers crossed.


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