Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Sigh. Another book about an abusive guy and his delusional love interest, masquerading as a YA romance. No, just no. The plot is fairly simple. A mean, abusive, promiscuous young man harasses and intimidates a young woman he secretly loves. This young woman is treated like trash by the jerk and his friends, but is still secretly attracted to him. Why? Because they were friends as little kids! Because he has Mommy/Daddy issues so that absolutely justifies his rotten behavior. Because she can save him from himself! And lest we point out that the female character, Tate, is as ridiculous and Mary-Sueish as Bella Swan and Anastasia Fifty Shades of Gray girl, this author has made Tate "different" because Tate points her middle finger and breaks guys' noses and knees them in the groin. Yeah, because a violent woman is better than a doormat of a woman. This book has no redeeming characters. The main character, Tatum Brandt, is supposed to be this smart, pretty girl, who has traveled to France, is athletic and also good in school. Yet, she can't seem to fight her attraction for a guy who is a party-throwing, fast car loving, mean drunk. His hot looks are enough to make what should be a smart young woman overlook his disgusting, malevolent personality. Why would a smart girl like Tate fall for Jared? A smart girl in real life would steer clear of a jerk like him, but no...this intelligent young woman can't fight her physical attraction for him, her lust makes all her sensibility go out the window. The male lead character, Jared, is so poorly written, it's almost comical. We have no clue what motivates him. All we know is that he's hot, he's mean, and he was abused. That's about it. I wish I could tell you more about him, but the author didn't think we needed to know more about Jared beyond his good looks and his macho man attitude. The supporting characters are just as despicable. A best friend, K.C., who is willing to date Jared, despite the fact that he has mistreated Tate. All of the males in the book, and I mean ALL, are jerks who like to mishandle girls, talk nastily to them, ignore their wishes etc. The few female characters are described as sluts ( Piper, Derek Roman's girl, etc). And the adults are non existent. Dad is off overseas, Mom is dead, Grandma pops in for a few paragraphs, cooks a nice meal, gives some grandmotherly advice then disappears, and Jared's parents are abusive. Notable scenes in this book? An incident where Tate is being pawed by a guy so badly she ends up breaking his nose. An incident where Tate is changing in the locker room, and Jared barges in to intimidate her while all she has on is a towel. An incident where Tate is nearly assaulted by a guy, but is rescued by Jared, who beats the guy to a bloody pulp. An incident where Jared speeds down a dark road with his headlights off, endangering both their young lives, while Tate begs him to stop ( he ignores her). An incident where Jared flirts with Tate's best friend, K.C., just to hurt Tate's feelings. And it goes on and on...horrendous mistreatment and bullying that in the end is made right by love. I don't know what the author's definition of love is, but this isn't it. The relationship between Tate and Jared is a false standard of love, manhood and relationships. Please, please, please don't allow your teen-aged daughters to read stuff like this. And if you do, please give them Pride and Prejudice to read afterward, a book that has a true gentleman for a hero, and a smart young woman for a heroine, and an actual redeeming love story. Then discuss how books like Bully are demeaning and sexist. Discuss how what Tate and Jared have are not how a healthy relationship should be evolve among young people. If older, experienced women want to read crap like this to fulfill their fantasies of dominant man/passive woman, fine. However, young impressionable teen-aged women should steer clear of books like this, unless they truly understand the dynamics of authors romanticizing abusive relationships.