if the spicy scenes were taken out of this one, it would have been an easy 5 stars from me!! as I typically go into books blind, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this paranormal romantasy!! and let me tell you, I was so invested in the plot!!

ali hazelwood’s first dabble into the fantasy genre was such a success! she did a wonderful job world building in this magical realism world of humans, vampyres, and weres - and made it totally believable!! her writing style always combines characterization with plot in the best way possible, and BRIDE was no exception 

I’m a sucker for marriage of convenience and arranged relationships 😍 and having that arranged marriage be between a vampyre and a were was just the tension I needed!! misery was the perfect MC to be thrust into this situation - and her motivation behind everything was the perfect story to go along with the political plot of the universe!!

what really threw me off were the spicy scenes 😅 it was … a lot to take in. and while yes this felt a lot like twilight fanfiction, the spicy scenes (especially at the end) were borderline beastiality and gave me a huge ick

nonetheless, ali hazelwood’s grumpy sunshine duo prevails again, and I would love spin offs in this world! thank you to berkley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review 🥰

rating: 4 stars
wine pairing: bordeaux zinfandel