48 pages • 1 hour read
Ali HazelwoodBride
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Love Transcends Boundaries
To grow as individuals and enter healthy, fulfilling relationships, the characters of Bride must realize that love goes beyond the demarcation of species, culture, and outward appearance. This is a common theme in the romance genre, and Misery and Lowe are yet another iteration. Both characters start the novel seeing themselves in negative ways, which hold them back from being in a relationship. For example, Misery assumes that she doesn’t have the capacity to love as deeply as a Were, and Lowe believes that they are not sexually compatible. Slowly, they realize that their feelings for one another transcend so-called boundaries, and that they are indeed compatible on every level. They discover that a couple who makes the determination to communicate and work together will overcome the obstacles their respective societies have set up for them, emphasizing the positive nature of looking beyond culture and physical appearance. This applies not just to the fictional world of Vampyres and Weres, but to the human society of our world.
While many romance novels focus only on the leading love interests, Hazelwood applies her message about transcending boundaries to the text at large. The three warring species—Humans, Weres, and Vampyres—all assume things about the others. This creates distance and disdain. Misconceptions such as how Vampyres eat or how Weres transform create fear between the species. Misery’s presence in the Were pack helps dispel mythical ideas about both Vampyres and Weres. In a larger reflection of Lowe and Misery’s journey, the three species let the boundaries between them fall when they stop fearing each other and start treating each other with trust and love.
Serena and Ana, being half Were and Human, are the physical incarnations of transcending boundaries. The search for them is a key element of the plot, driving tension, with antagonists like Henry Lark wanting to keep species boundaries intact. While the romance between Lowe and Misery is the focus of the novel, a good portion of the action revolves around the couple looking for or trying to protect the two characters who physically represent the union of species. With its characters and inter-species love story, Bride encourages the acceptance of difference.
Identity, Self-Acceptance, and Belonging
In the romance genre and in Bride, the protagonist must embrace and accept their true identity before finding the perfect person with whom they belong. Misery exemplifies this. Other characters, such as Owen and Serena, search for their identity as well, emphasizing the importance of self-acceptance.
Misery’s feelings of shame about her Vampyre traits and instincts are apparent from the beginning. It takes multiple chapters for her to start seeing both the usefulness and desirability of her traits. She moves toward self-acceptance by using the thrall to help the Weres; spending time with Ana, who insists that her ears are cute; and when Lowe reveals that he finds her fangs attractive. When Misery finally embraces the most physically striking of her traits, her bite, she also allows herself to admit her feelings for Lowe. Once she is fully herself, she begins to feel she belongs to the pack despite her differences. Her traits now become unique and desirable rather than frightening.
Serena and Owen experience parallel journeys. Owen has been forced to put on a flippant persona to protect his heart. It isn’t until he admits his anger and heartbreak over how Misery is treated that he finds himself and his place as a leader among his people. Serena’s identity crisis isn’t fully resolved by the end of the book as she is just starting to explore her identity as a Were. Misery, now wiser and self-accepting, takes Serena to Lowe’s pack so that she can get help.
The happily-ever-after ending happens in romance novels only after the main pairing accepts themselves as being worthy of love. Characters are often assisted by love interests in finding their way to self-acceptance, which Misery experiences with the help of Lowe and his pack. Because of her success, she is already able to help others by the end of the novel.
The Complexities of Leadership and Alliance Building
The portrayal of politics doesn’t resolve or finish with complete positivity in Bride. Much like its real-life equivalent, the grey areas and potential for darkness is great. Since the overall tone of Bride is light, this theme is largely kept in the background. It does, however, touch many aspects of the novel, starting with the Collateral system and extending to the way the characters around Misery behave in relation to power and leadership.
The Collateral system in Bride is one that mimics historical reality, where children of royal families were taken by neighboring powers to ensure loyalty from their home states. Bride uses this framework to explore the fallout such cultural isolation would have on a child, and what psychological issues someone like Misery would endure upon homecoming. Because Bride is a romance novel, these traumas are used as a baseline for Misery’s growth and ability to enter a romantic relationship. Any lasting issues Misery might have are solved in Bride through the finding of a supportive spouse. Misery’s trauma exists to build an insecure and mistrusting character, and is less a comment on the dark side of alliance building and politics.
Bride shows how leadership can be complex and fraught with conflict. Misery’s father says all the correct things and insists he is doing the right thing. He claims that sacrificing one’s own child is the only fair thing to do, presenting his actions as brave and noble. However, Misery—and her trauma—tell another story.
Henry’s cruelty is rooted in his belief that species should be kept separate, and that love and understanding do not transcend boundaries. In Bride he is the villain, and his behavior is presented as the antithesis of how one should act. Hazelwood emphasizes the importance of love. In contrast, Henry uses his children instead of loving them. He does not see people as individuals, even his own daughter.
Hazelwood suggests that leadership and alliance-building are complex. Owen’s ideas for making peace initially appear to put the already vulnerable Vampyre community at the mercy of the Weres. The narrative creates tension, as Henry’s leadership initially seems rational. However, the novel shows that Henry is wrong. Owen’s leadership is positive, because his ideas and behavior are driven by care for another being, his sister.
Bride hints at how its characters become leaders, without dwelling on the complexities of the process. Owen and Lowe both appear to have to kill their predecessors to assume leadership. This makes their reigns, positive though they may seem, built on the backs of murders. The murders appear off-page, allowing Lowe and Owen to remain sympathetic. They are never shown to be violent.
For example, even when Lowe is angry, he isn’t menacing in a way that is seriously threatening toward Misery. Hazelwood focuses on the kindly way he treats his pack so that he and Misery can have the uncomplicated happy ending. Dwelling too much on violence would take the novel to a different level of psychological darkness; while murder and violence are hinted at, they remain but brief mentions. Including politics and alliance building adds another layer to the narrative, but without detracting from the light tone and romantic focus.
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By Ali Hazelwood
