Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Bully

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Bully by Penelope Douglas

11 reviews

elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book is objectively not good, and the romance is quite problematic. That being said, Bully is highly entertaining read.

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eloiseslibrary's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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ecravens's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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risse's review against another edition

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dark emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is the first book I've read from Penelope, and this book saved me from reading slump.

What I like:

- childhood friends to enemies to lovers
- it's full of angst!
- secret pining
- prolly one of the most likable female lead I ever read this year. Why? Oh, gosh, she can fight back to Jared's bullying. And the part where she chose to be vulnerable through her monologue? It was so good.
- steamy scenes.

What I didn't like:

- romanticized bullying. I like this story, but (for me) severe bullying is not good, or hot. It should never be romanticized.
- Jared's reason. You can say it's valid, but—I DIDN'T GET IT. It's hard for me to sink that down in my mind.
- the scandal. Oh. My. Fucking. Gosh. It was utterly unnessescary, and how fast Tate forgive Jared?! It was a big nu-uh.

Overall, I still liked this one. I'm excited to read the 1.5 book of this is Jared's POV! <3

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im_just_vidu's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

2.75 stars

Not gonna lie I liked this book at first. I felt so happy when I read it. So let's start from the good things. Tate is a highschool student and her mother died in near past so she suffers from it. Jared is Tate's childhood best friend who turned into a villain with the time. Tate take go for study abroad for a year in France and comeback after that. Tate's best friend is K.C. who also have a boyfriend named Liam. This is the main environment we step into the story.
Even after coming from France Tate get bullied by Jared and his friend Madoc. At one point of a time K.C. says to Tate that "isn't it about the time you fought back? Played the game?". And this sentence itself made a huge impact on Tate and she start to stand on her own and not letting others look down on her. One time Madoc try to bully her and she punch him in the nose and balls and it makes her feel strong. Don't get me wrong, I like strong female protagonist. It's all we want. We like it. And Tate standing for her own self was one of the main reason I drowned into this story.
Her relationship between Jared isn't a really good one. Yes they were childhood best friends. But now they're more like enemies. At one point Tate says, "I had lived Jared once, but now I knew, without a doubt, that "My Jared " was gone". They make scenarios which troubles eachother and they take revenge on each other.
Now let's talk about the bad stuff.
This story is going completely on Tate's point of view. So we can only see the world the way she sees it. But the way she talks about other girls is disgusting. There's this girl names 'Piper' and she slut shaming her so much. According to Tate, every girl is trying to get the Boy's attention. Tate never compliment a girl. Not a single girl. She body shame and slut shame every girl.
Well, Tate have a best friend isn't she.? Same goes with her. K.C. is Tate's best friend yet she agrees with Tate's enemy and starting to more like dating him. Jared takes K.C. into a place where she sees Liam is cheating with another girl. K.C. says"I gave that guy my virginity, and now I have to go get checked for STDs". And yeah you can get heartbreak by your lover like that. But is that it ? No. She cries once or twice and get on with Jared. Who? Tate's enemy. Now who knows how Tate hates Jared than her best friend. Yet she goes out with him hiding that to Tate. I just don't like this best friend behaviour.
Then there's Ben, who's a nice guy. What made you turn off? He likes country music, don't like maths and science. Well I understand that when someone don't have the same interest as you can be a turn off. And it's understandable that you get turned off when they get drunk in a party when they were supposed to drive you home. But Tate give so many opportunities to Jared; the bad guy and not for the Ben; the nice guy. Tate tries to make the Ben bad guy and act like she can't help it.
Then let's talk about Jared. We love the story about him getting to know about his family and having troubles with that. But I will never allow a man to barge into a girl's house midnight just because you have the key. Jared should know about the boundaries. And negotiating all his bad things for his family life isn't fair. And his "killing everyone who lay eye on my girl" concept isn't rational. You just have to earn your love and trust. No one sells it for you to buy.
Overall it was a mmmmh meh for me. I really liked it at the first, but it didn't get better. I could rant all day about the things that have gone wrong in this book. But if you're just lazy and wanna read something, try this. Since it's steamy at some points you might end up liking it even though I didn't.

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