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A review by stuffandwhatnot
Against All Odds by Bre Rose
dark
emotional
4.5
Whyyyyy did I read this knowing that it was a duet and the second volume hasn't been published yet? All I gotta say is, there had better be a friggin' epic grovel from a couple of so-and-sos in volume 2...
Sierra just can't catch a damned break. Before the novel even starts, she wakes up after a party at her childhood best friend's house unable to remember the party, and her so-called best friend Wesley now hates her. She knows she wasraped (and violently, by the physical evidence) but she can't remember anything. All the signs are there for the reader to guess who did it, but she doesn't put it together (or report it, which is sadly realistic), and Wesley won't speak to her except to hurl insults and sic every kid in school on her. Then her mom dies of cancer, and her worthless aunt squeezes every dime she can out of her.
Now it's senior year, she's working under the table as a stripper (even though she's only 17), horribly bullied every day at school, and lives in fear that CPS will take her 10-year-old sister away from her before she turns 18 in a couple months and can officially file for custody. I mean, it's a total whumpfest and I desperately need volume 2 to let the girl <I>relax</I> for once.
At least she's got her kind elderly neighbor who helps with her sister, and Cyrus, the college-aged bouncer at the club she works at on her side. And three new in town brothers who are all into her, to varying degrees. When the grovels come, Cyrus, Zander, and Braxton are good (so far). It's Colton and Wesley who need to bend the knee. I actually liked that Colton was more swayed by peer pressure and eager to please popular jock Wesley--it felt authentically high-schoolish that not all the brothers would immediately step up to defend the school pariah. But he's gonna need to do some apologizing.
And then there's Wesley. I have to assume he's an eventual harem member since he gets POV chapters, but... I'm not sold. He needs a few days of getting his dick stomped on the reg. He's either monumentally stupid or he's a genuine sociopath. He gets excited thinking of new ways to torment Sierra. Vicious, criminal ways. (And how about him always thinking about how she betrayed him because he wanted to lose their virginities together, while she only ever thinks of him as her former best friend? Hmmm.) I cannot WAIT for the moment he realizes he's wrong about her, and he has to reconcile all the shit he's done to hurt her. That's my very favorite thing in a bully/grovel story.
Likable main characters, a very readable style (with some repetitive scenes), multiple POV (love that!), and an agonizing cliffhanger. Why do I do this to myself?
Sierra just can't catch a damned break. Before the novel even starts, she wakes up after a party at her childhood best friend's house unable to remember the party, and her so-called best friend Wesley now hates her. She knows she was
Now it's senior year, she's working under the table as a stripper (even though she's only 17), horribly bullied every day at school, and lives in fear that CPS will take her 10-year-old sister away from her before she turns 18 in a couple months and can officially file for custody. I mean, it's a total whumpfest and I desperately need volume 2 to let the girl <I>relax</I> for once.
At least she's got her kind elderly neighbor who helps with her sister, and Cyrus, the college-aged bouncer at the club she works at on her side. And three new in town brothers who are all into her, to varying degrees. When the grovels come, Cyrus, Zander, and Braxton are good (so far). It's Colton and Wesley who need to bend the knee. I actually liked that Colton was more swayed by peer pressure and eager to please popular jock Wesley--it felt authentically high-schoolish that not all the brothers would immediately step up to defend the school pariah. But he's gonna need to do some apologizing.
And then there's Wesley. I have to assume he's an eventual harem member since he gets POV chapters, but... I'm not sold. He needs a few days of getting his dick stomped on the reg. He's either monumentally stupid or he's a genuine sociopath. He gets excited thinking of new ways to torment Sierra. Vicious, criminal ways. (And how about him always thinking about how she betrayed him because he wanted to lose their virginities together, while she only ever thinks of him as her former best friend? Hmmm.) I cannot WAIT for the moment he realizes he's wrong about her, and he has to reconcile all the shit he's done to hurt her. That's my very favorite thing in a bully/grovel story.
Likable main characters, a very readable style (with some repetitive scenes), multiple POV (love that!), and an agonizing cliffhanger. Why do I do this to myself?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Physical abuse
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Death of parent and Rape