Not interested in watching my video review of Bride? Then look below for the major bullet points.
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Rating: 4 out of 5
Genre: Romance / Fantasy / 4 Stars
Hello friends!
In this blog, I’m reviewing Bride by Ali Hazelwood. As usual, the first half of the review will be spoiler-free, and more about my overall thoughts, whereas, for the second half, I’ll be doing a technical review. There will be spoilers there to help you strengthen your craft.
I was confident that I would rate Bride 5 stars. The beginning was strong. The world-building was on point. And the romance was a perfect slice of enemies-to-lovers cake. However, once the tension died down, the story lost some of its luster for me.
There was no payoff in the end. Hazelwood had a strong story idea, but her execution needed to be stronger. The ending was too convenient, and because of that, it felt like Hazelwood bit off more plot than she could chew.
I liked Misery a lot. She had bite (pun intended), believable strength, and the right amount of victim mentality. One could be worried that she was being a people-pleaser by agreeing to marry the Alpha, but then the twist gets thrown in and readers find out why she’s agreeing to the treaty.
I appreciated that Hazelwood tried to stick to a romance plot in Bride. The main plot of romance books is love, so you could argue that Misery and Serena was also a love story.
At times, the characters felt forced into their cues into of getting there naturally.
Per usual, the end of the second act consisted of love gone awry. Oh no! Will they be able to get back together? Can they work through their differences? However, the moment lacked real stakes. I understand the motivation for Lowe’s actions, yet it read as a moment of convenience — Hazelwood needed the transition from Act 2 to Act 3. I needed more. I needed more betrayal. I wanted to worry that they wouldn’t get back together. There was none of that. I could see the rest of the cards Hazelwood was going to play.
Lowe was a softy but in a bad way.
Now look away if you don’t want spoilers.
Because here we be entering our spoiler section.
Hazelwood has made the jump into fantasy. I believe she bit off more than she could chew. The ending leads you to believe there might be a sequel, but nothing has been announced. I love that Hazelwood went out of her comfort zone and I will try her next fantasy book.
Misery was extremely well written. A lot happens to her, but not in a way that makes you want to throw the book down — at least for me. Opinions may differ. Moments, like when she saved Ana, made me fall in love with her. She was resigned, but she had a heart. As I mentioned earlier, learning why she was doing everything tipped the scales.
Hazelwood provided a believable reason for not explaining vampire history. Misery knew nothing. She spent her childhood in human custody. I love the ingenuity.
I need to parse through the beginning with a fine tooth comb and figure out how Hazelwood sucked me into Bride so quickly. Maybe I was starving for good content after Scarlet.
Writers should take Bride as an example of pushing boundaries. Write something a little bit differently. Don’t get stuck in one genre. I could see Hazelwood’s plotting improve after writing Bride. I’m excited to read her next book.
Happy Reading!
Love,
Kait