Tag: ali hazelwood

Book Review: Mate (Bride #2) by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Paranormal Romance
Length: 457 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: October 7th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A Human hybrid and an Alpha Were claw against the bonds of fate in the highly anticipated companion novel to the New York Times bestselling Bride.

Serena Paris is orphaned, pack-less, and one of a kind. Coming forward as the first Human-Were hybrid was supposed to heal a centuries-long rift between species. Instead, it made her a target, prey to the ruthless political machinations between Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. With her enemies closing in on her, she has only one option left—if he’ll have her.

As Alpha of the Northwest pack, Koen Alexander commands obedience. His authority is so absolute, only a fool would threaten his mate. It doesn’t matter if Serena doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, nothing will stop him from keeping her safe.

But power-hungry Vampyres and Weres are not the only threats chasing Serena. Sooner or later, her past is bound to catch up with her—and Koen might be the only thing standing between her and total annihilation…

WELL.

Uh, Bride > Mate.

Honestly, I could leave the review at that sentence but I’ll continue a bit.

I DID LIKE THIS. It just didn’t have the same punch that Bride did and I will die on that hill. I love the fated mates trope and this worked for many scenes. But others? I kind of cringed a bit. The hyper focus on Serena and being in heat was not it. I’m sorry y’all. It was practically the only thing anyone could talk about ever and I just needed something more to the plot. Toss in a cult? Sure? I guess?

I loved seeing more of the friendship between Serena and Misery. They have a genuine friendship I can’t get enough of. And like I said, there were some great scenes between Serena and Koen. I just think the bones of the plot needed a different dynamic.

Overall audience notes:

  • Paranormal Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 5+ open door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: loss of life, loss of loved ones, a cult, kidnapping

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Book Review: Problematic Summer Romance (Not in Love #2) by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: May 27th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

What is wrong meets what feels right in this romance set in Italy by the New York Times bestselling author of Deep End.

Maya Killgore is twenty-three and still in the process of figuring out her life.

Conor Harkness is thirty-eight, and Maya cannot stop thinking about him.

It’s such a cliché, it almost makes her heart implode: older man and younger woman; successful biotech guy and struggling grad student; brother’s best friend and the girl he never even knew existed. As Conor loves to remind her, the power dynamic is too imbalanced. Any relationship between them would be problematic in too many ways to count, and Maya should just get over him. After all, he has made it clear that he wants her gone from his life.

But not everything is as it seems—and clichés sometimes become plot twists.

When Maya’s brother decides to get married in Taormina, she and Conor end up stuck together in a romantic Sicilian villa for over a week. There, on the beautiful Ionian coast, between ancient ruins, delicious foods, and natural caves, Maya realizes that Conor might be hiding something from her. And as the destination wedding begins to erupt out of control, she decides that a summer fling might be just what she needs—even if it’s a problematic one.

OKAY THIS WAS FUN.

This really did whisk my away to wanting a summer holiday. The set up and setting were fantastic and brought me all of the poolside reading vibes that I could want.

I forgot how much I love Ali Hazelwood’s quirky FMC’s. They are so funny and relatable to me. I loved Maya and her ability to say whatever she was thinking and going after what she wanted. Two fools in love worked so well here. I thought Conor was amazing too. They truly had great chemistry and made the age gap make sense. Though I will say that was beaten over my head one too many times. I get it, they are 15 years apart. I GET IT OKAY.

Anyways, it’s swoony and hot and I loved all of the side characters, wedding shenanigans and cute moments. The whole book was a delight.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 5+ open door
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: loss of parents (recounted)

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Book Review: Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 464 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water…

OKAY I GET IT NOW.

This wasn’t really on my radar because I figured the spice would overwhelm my enjoyment of the book but a friend read it and her review convinced me that I needed to go for it and I DID AND I LIKED IT A LOT Y’ALL. The book, not the spice, I still skipped that.

BECAUSE, the story was so dang solid. It really was more than the spice. I was hooked on this plot. I LOVED getting all of the swimming/diving knowledge about competitions, practices, etc. I know very little and this is why I love unique sports romances.

And Scarlett with her mental health moments and therapy? Also in love. As an athlete in another life it was incredibly relatable and I loved seeing her move through that journey. SWEET LUCAS. Good heavens. I think the duet narration in the audiobook sold him x1000 for me. Every single moment and interaction between them was incredible.

I could have used a little less of Pen (Penn? Audiobook problems). She kept popping up and adding another dash of drama that I don’t think the book needed. Otherwise though? I’m not even a little bit mad I picked this up. It was amazing.

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: y’all I stopped counting
  • Violence: low
  • Content warnings: death of a parent (recounted), depiction of trauma and PTSD, bullying

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ARC Book Review: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Paranormal Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 6th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

Thank you to Berkley for the eARC.

DEVOURED.

Good heavens. This was enthralling. I love Ali Hazelwood’s writing style and moving into urban/paranormal fantasy was an absolute hit for me. The well placed banter and jokes had me laughing out loud and the romance had be utterly swooning.

I loved the slow burn. It dragged out just as it should and kept me itching for more more more (don’t worry, there’s plenty of payoff). I adored Misery and Lowe. Misery was a great heroine who I loved seeing find her home. Lowe was the best grumpy Alpha that held me attention the moment he stepped on page. I LOVED this entire cast. Even the antagonists were fantastic. A truly well written group of characters who all brought this book to five stars.

The plot was engaging and I liked the world building. It’s very light, but just enough that you get a grasp of the different dynamics and politics between Were vs. Vampyre vs. Human. I love that it feels like there’s still plenty of places to explore (hello second book with a couple I can’t wait to read). There’s a nice level of suspense and that driven need to keep those pages flying.

I loved it so much. READ IT.

Overall audience notes:

  • Paranormal Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance 4+ open door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, murder, mentions of loss of parents, parental abandonment

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