Wednesday, July 10, 2013

NA Review: Bully by Penelope Douglas



Bully (Fall Away #1)
by Penelope Douglas
 
Blurb by Goodreads
 
My name is Tate. He doesn't call me that, though. He would never refer to me so informally, if he referred to me at all. No, he'll barely even speak to me.

But he still won't leave me alone.

We were best friends once. Then he turned on me and made it his mission to ruin my life. I've been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got more sadistic as time wore on, and I made myself sick trying to stay out of his way. I even went to France for a year, just to avoid him.

But I'm done hiding from him now, and there's no way in hell I'll allow him to ruin my senior year. He might not have changed, but I have. It's time to fight back.

I'm not going to let him bully me anymore.

***This novel contains adult/mature young adult situations. It is only suitable for ages 18+ due to language, violence, and sexual situations.
 
 
 

 
A good friend told me I had to read Bully, but I was unsure about it and she lent it to me. I tend to read novels that the synopsis catches my attention and very rare do I read a novel that I am not sure about. The idea of reading about the hero bullying the heroine did not catch my interest. To my surprise I ended up loving Bully. I enjoyed Penelope Douglas writing voice and the smooth flow of Bully. I had a hard time putting it down and when I did all I kept thinking about was Tate and Jared. I had to know what was his reason for the bullying, if and when the bullying stops would they ever be able to rekindle their friendship. Happy to say all my questions were answered.

Jared is your car racing, tattoo wearing bad boy who has girls eating at the palms of his hands. I am still on the fence if I like him or not. We have a hate/love relationship at the moment. There are times I wanted to beat him over the head but then there times he did have swoon moments. At first his reasoning for bullying Tate was not what I would of thought. There is never a good reason to bully anybody but I was not expecting his reason. Then there also was another reason and it did make more sense as why he did it. The summer he came back from his fathers I had an idea of what happened to him so it was no surprise when he told Tate.

As for Tate loved her character. She took her friends advice when she came back from France to not take Jared, Madoc or anyone else’s bullying. Wow can she throw a mean punch and hold her own. Her new attitude is not over the top and was able to see her break down a few times from Jared’s actions. The more she went head to head with Jared the more she felt like she was becoming a bully as well. She found herself hurting the one person she has ever loved and hated it after. Jared hurt her feelings and broke her heart many times but he never brought her deceased mom or dad in the picture. As for Tate she brought in the worst hurt ever to Jared by bringing in his parents and upbringing. That was not her and she hated the person she was becoming. One minute she would hate Jared but the next she would love him. Her off and on worked well for me as Penelope Douglas did a great job with flashbacks of their happy times as best friends.

Bully reads more like a Mature YA/New Adult novel with the heat factor on the hot to steamy side, with strong language and partying. But it also reads like a YA novel with all the high school drama. As for me the drama worked most times with never really knowing what was going to happen next. Happy I took a chance and read Bully as now I am a new fan of Penelope Douglas.






Jared moved his head from side to side trying to catch my eyes, his lips inches from my face. "If I ever lay my hands on you," he said low and husky, "you'll want it." He brought his lips even closer.

"I want to touch you." His words were against my lips now. "I want to feel what's mine. What's always been mine."

Add To Goodreads

 

9 comments:

  1. I lean more towards NA reads like this. It's lighter and easier to read. I love drama but I don't like crying on every book and that's my impression on most NA books, LOL.

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    1. Yay with most NA lots of crying. Tate had a few crying episodes but was very undertstanding in her situation. I tend to go for the strong will that have a few moments of a breakdown to show that are only human.

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  2. I'm so glad you liked it!!!! YAY, I agree with you Jared did piss me off at times, but I still ended up liking him by the end of the book.. I'll tell you who I really fell for and that's was Jared's best buddy friend. I can't remember his name, but I loved his smartass but still sweet ways with Tate. I laugh my behind off with what he said to her in the lunch room!!

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    1. I know he is getting his book but still trying to figure it out if it is his POV. I rather see him be brought to his knees with a new storyline. If it is his POV I will still get it to see his thoughts. The lunchroom was the best.

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  3. I'm not sure the book would be my cup of tea, but since you liked it, I'll give it a try. Thanks for the review ;)

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    1. You will have to be in the mood for some serious teenage drama. I for one loved it.

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  4. I'm glad you liked this one. It had caught my eye and now I know I'll enjoy it! ;) Thanks for a great review!

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    1. I hope you give it a chance. I was unsure and ended up loving it.

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  5. I was on the fence about this book as well. I bought it knowing I might hate the hero. I actually have not read it yet, but after skimming your review (skimmed to avoid too many spoilers)I am feeling better.

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