Bride by Ali Hazelwood

 

I was so curious about BRIDE ever since I heard that Hazelwood was breaking from her usual female-lab-scientist-in-love formula to do a PNR. And it was going to be Omegaverse lite??? With knotting? Yeah, there was no way I was knot going to read that. But this book was so hard to get a copy of. For a while, there were no used copies available and everywhere was sold out. It was popular AF. I was intrigued AF.

Now that I've finally read it, I can see why. It still has the rom-com vibes of Hazelwood's other books, but she takes a breather on the "oh my god, I'm so smol" descriptions that her heroines usually have. Misery, the vampire heroine, is still a STEM heroine-- she's a computer hacker who has been living amongst the humans for years-- but she's a lot more likable and interesting than some of Hazelwood's other heroines, and oh my god, I loved the dry humor and medical jargon. This is definitely a more scientific take on vamps.

I also loved Lowe, the hero. He was so charming and hot and nice, and kind of reminded me a little of Curran, from the Kate Daniels series. Actually, BRIDE as a whole very much has a sort of aughts paranormal throwback vibe to it, and reading it made me very nostalgic for some of the urban fantasy romances that I read back when I was in college. I'm sure that's part of the reason why other people love it, too. Even though there's not a ton of plot, it's a fun journey and there's some fantastic twists. Especially if you love her take on fake dating/misunderstanding tropes.

And I heard she's writing a sequel? Thank GOD.

4 out of 5 stars