Fall Away #1.

Bully
von Penelope Douglas

Bewertet mit 3 Sternen

“You were my tempest, my thunder cloud, my tree in the downpour. I loved all those things, and I loved you. But now? You’re a fucking drought. I thought that all the assholes drove German cars, but it turns out that pricks in Mustangs can still leave scars.”

Jared and Tate grew up next door to each other. Jared was sweet, generous and friendly and they were the best and closest of friends. But not anymore. The kid who had held her hand through the pain of losing her mother, who had climbed trees with her, and who had snuck over for sleepovers was gone and now he seemed to live solely to torment her.

For me, though, this book had some undeniable stumbling blocks. This story was too Young Adult for my personal tastes. And while I felt Tate's character was well fleshed out, richly developed and multilayered, the rest of the cast of characters, including Jared, for me at least, seem at times one-dimensional. There was a lack of character development and character depth to them. They seemed to be locked into the scripted roles they were assigned. Because of that, I found it difficult to sympathize with Jared's plight and the reasons for his atrocious behavior once it was finally revealed; or, for that matter, to understand why Tate was so willing to forgive and forget all he'd done to her when he finally changed his actions. Sadly, I was never given enough reasons to fully like Jared's character.

Bully wasn't really that enjoyable. It was filled with too much drama, annoying characters, and wasted time. It was enjoyable when Jared changed, but the beginning of it was boring and not interesting. Romance is the main thing in this and I actually hated it. It didn't feel real and their connections felt off and fake, I couldn't care a bit. The whole plot was just cringe, boring, and so unrealistic. This is also, probably, surely, one of the worst NA novel I've read this year.

I wanted to love it. I really tried. But I couldn't.