Review for Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood writes almost exclusively about women in STEM finding romance, yet I, a woman in STEM who has yet to find romance, rated her Vampire x Werewolf steamy romance higher than any of those. I don't know what I can say for myself. 

★★★★☆

When I finished Bride, I felt like it was a solid paranormal romance story. As the hours ticked on though, my brain would be like "let's go read our book" and then I would feel disappointed that I had actually finished said book. My enjoyment and excitement to read was higher than I even realized as I was reading it. So let's break that down.

*Spoilers ahead*

Firstly, I am a huge fan of soft fantasy/paranormal worlds. This book is set in the real world, containing all our normal geography and cities, but it also happens to have vampyres and werewolves who live in their own territories in this world. It gave me the same vibe as the Dark Olympus series (which I still can't really tell if it's supposed to take place on modern Earth or not). This one was very clear-cut: it's our world, but with a few additions. While doubtless some people find it lazy, I personally love this kind of fantasy world and I wish more paranormal and fantasy books would do it this way.* It saves the author the hassle of intensive world building and the reader the hassle of understanding said created world. The atmosphere and world were already to my taste.

The characters grew on me throughout the novel. At first I was put off by Misery being Ali's typical witty Mary Sue type, but I actually found I liked it in the context of such serious and at times morose surroundings. I find myself again wishing we got a dual perspective because I feel like we would have gotten so much more out of Lowe if we had gotten more of him besides a sentence or two at the beginning of each chapter. Other than our two MCs, I was fond of a lot of the characters. I loved seeing how Owen grew through the book; you could tell his personality was limited and then improved by Misery's increasing estimation of him. I quite liked the dynamic between Misery and Ana and between Misery and Alex. I will say it was easy to tell that Mick was the traitor (due to the vampyres having his son). He was just too nice to not have a betrayal arc. However, there was a different, better twist, so I was fine with this one being predictable. Overall I liked the MCs and the side characters and their interactions; if we get a sequel I hope we get to see some of those relationships grow. 

The romance was not particularly original if you're familiar with Ali's work--it repeats several tropes that are present in all three of her other major works. The most notable are the FMC hinting that she thinks she's asexual until she meets "him" (such a harmful way of thinking to spread to people), and the FMC and MMC going on a trip together (in every other novel is was some science conference; in this one it was the meeting with Emery). Overall I still have to say I enjoyed the romance because of the sort of primal element that was brought in due to the two MCs being non-human species. Werewolf romances will always hook me. (Although what was up with the whole knot thing? Is that a normal part of werewolf lore? I found it weird and gross, so maybe slightly less of the animal/werewolf aspect in the romance would have been okay...) I will say it was a little weak as far as enemies-to-lovers go; although they are from supposedly rival species, they didn't seem to even dislike each other in the beginning. This is pretty on-par with Ali's style--it's low-stakes but still pretty satisfying because the romance is relatively slow-burn.

The plot was another area I feel like this book stood out. I was thoroughly enjoying the mystery aspect of it, and I definitely didn't guess that twist at the end that Serena was also a half-were. I usually find the driving plot in Ali's books takes a backseat to the budding romance and internal monologuing in the FMC's narration. While there was still plenty of those elements in this book, I found they were better balanced by the suspense and intrigue of the plot.

Final verdict: This is a unique paranormal romance with an entertaining plot and cast of characters, only slightly diminished by its lack of originality when compared with the author's other novels. 

Ali Hazelwood books ranked:

1. Bride

2. Love, Theoretically

3. The Love Hypothesis

4. Love on the Brain

*Update: Urban fantasy. The term I was looking for was urban fantasy. Lol.

Review for "The Inheritance Games" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

 I would recommend this book with full confidence to people who loved Truly, Devious. I think it has such a similar tone, goal, and character setup. Unfortunately, many of the same things I didn't love about Truly, Devious I also was not a fan of in this book. 

★★★☆☆

The Hawthorne brothers felt so forced. Their personalities were completely stale, yet everyone insists they are so mysterious and so captivating (no). I couldn't really figure out why certain characters were in the book (Thea, Nash); it just seemed like the author wanted to fill out the space in the novel more. I absolutely hated the romantic relationship between Stevie and David in the Truly, Devious books and similarly I hated the fact that there was a romance between Avery and not one but TWO of the Hawthorne boys. And it was the two with personalities of cardboard! It felt weird and not natural and gross. 

What this book really has going for it is the Hawthorne House. A mysterious mansion with secret doors and passages, built and kept by a puzzle-loving old man? I'm hooked. I just wish the book had gone more into that and less of Avery's "wahhh I don't belong in this rich person world" monologues. I also must just point out how annoying the repetition in this book was. If I never read the words "the glass ballerina--or the knife" again it will still be too soon. Same thing with the line about "Even if you thought you'd manipulated him, I guarantee he was the one who was manipulating you". Completely distracting from the story.

Final verdict: A tragic case of the concept was better than the execution. 

CAWPILE: 6 - 7 - 6 - 7.5 - 8 - 7 - 7

Review for "Castles in Their Bones"

Daphne understands, suddenly, exactly what she is--not a girl, not a princess, not a spy or a saboteur. She is a poison, brewed and distilled and fermented over 16 years, crafted by her mother to bring ruination to whomever she touches. Poison is a woman's weapon, after all, and here she is, a weapon of a woman.

★★★☆☆

I enjoyed this overall. I had a hard time staying completely engaged because of the shifting viewpoints, but that was unavoidable with the plot being what it is. I think if I had been attached to any of the relationships it would have been better. I really only cared about Sophronia and Violie's friendship. I could not have cared less about Beatriz and Nicolo (although I did appreciate her friendship with Pasquale and I wish we'd gotten to see more of Pasquale with Ambrose). I was so ready to ship Daphne and Bairre but alas their slow burn was such a slow burn that it was a no burn and we really got no payoff by the end of the book. I'm sure the second book will delve more into the relationships, but I am really not that motivated to continue the series. 

I found it slightly hard to believe the last chapter (Margaraux's). She had been this untouchable enigma for the entire book, but I didn't really get a sense of her coldness. It made the prophecy that was revealed at the end seem somewhat out of the blue and I just couldn't get on board with Margaraux's character/motivations. I was also slightly uncomfortable with the princesses' ages. They are supposed to be 16 (just turned), but they talk so much about alcohol ("If she makes it through this without being tied to a stake, she'll celebrate with an entire bottle of wine" (p. 191)), marriage consummation, and being trained for years on how to seduce considerably older men ("This is what she was raised for--her beauty is supposed to be her best asset" (p. 223)). (The latter is especially befuddling because they later state they've only kissed like 3 boys before.) I just think those comments would have sat better with me if they had been 18 or 20. 

Final verdict: The book is readable and entertaining but lacks logic and fleshed-out relationships.

CAWPILE: 6 - 7 - 7 - 8 - 6.5 - 6 - 7