I HAVE TO SAY…

SYNOPSIS

Misery gets summoned by her father who is the leader of her species. She isn’t excited about meeting with him, but she goes, only to learn he wants her, a Vampyre, to marry the Were’s Alpha to improve specie relations. Surprisingly, she says yes after learning his name.

What could possibly happen?

RECAP AND REVIEW

Bride is a paranormal, fantasy, romance set in a world where vampyres, weres, and humans exist. I enjoyed the world building and lore that’s introduced.

The dynamics between the different species is made up of stereotypes and a long history. Vampyres and weres are basically enemies and vampyres and humans had an alliance until this point, when a new government official, who doesn’t want to maintain that alliance, takes office.

Bride is a slow start. I wouldn’t consider it a slow burn and though the romance in it doesn’t disappoint, we don’t see much of Lowe until deeper into the story.

A mystery gets introduced a few chapters in as the reason why Misery decides to get married and that’s her focus, though she does notice Lowe when he’s around.

I liked the world building and I like mysteries so I kept reading even though Lowe was missing and I wanted more of him. For me, there is a specific scene (on the roof) that peaked my interest and from there I stayed invested. Maybe since the romance starts romancing there, not in a spicy way though this book does have spice. This scene isn’t until about halfway through the book though.

There’s one aspect that becomes obvious, even before Misery pieces it together. I didn’t expect the twists towards the end at all. I liked the communication between Lowe and Misery about the mysteries being solved.

This is another case where I felt like the third act break up didn’t make sense. I wish we could’ve gotten Lowe’s thought process behind why that happened. From a writer’s perspective, it was needed to drive the plot the way it went.

We do get snippets of Lowe’s thoughts at the beginning of the chapter and a chapter at the end. I don’t know for sure if the book would benefit from a dual perspective, but I did want more of Lowe.

OVERALL

Overall, I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. It is slow and if you’re not into politics or the world building, then you might not like it. It’s not complex, but it does matter for the story. The romance is still a big part, but it’s on the back burner for a lot of the book because of the mysteries.

The romance was worth getting through the first half for me, but it may not be for you.