Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Bully

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Bully by Penelope Douglas

22 reviews

kerrythefire's review against another edition

3.25

So toxic. So much body betrayal. Jared's rationale was stupid and flawed af. He did not serve enough penance to gain Tate's forgiveness. The conflict at the very end (

Tate thinking Jared recorded and sent the video

) shows that they are going to have massive trust issues in their relationship for a while. I also still don't entirely understand what K.C.'s thought process was with Jared... but in general, it's been a while since I was 17 or thinking like a 17 year old 😆

Also a lot of sexual assault and sexual harassment. (Which honeslty, probably is a realistic representation of high school, sadly.) And I don't love that were supposed to overlook that on Madoc's part, not just in this book but the next which is his book. Nate and Piper were super gross. Jared was not the only bully in this book.

In general there were some major logic holes and character gaps in this story, but... I still didn't hate it. Good steam. Good fiesty dialogue (even if it didn't always makes sense/was unhealthy). Kept me decently entertained and anxious.

Also, all the 2000s/2010s emo/metal bands and songs name drops were... a choice. I mean, I listened to all of it so not hating on the music... just that all the name drops were sorta shoe-horned in there.

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kateb15's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

1.0

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letyreadsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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pippamillerxoxo_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

3.0

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elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

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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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kengtwozero's review against another edition

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medium-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

3.0

Content Warnings

moodreadmoonchild's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

is this book all bad? no. but like… it’s really not good. first and foremost, i really think there should be a trigger warning page or at least be listed at the bottom of the online book description. Also, it’s a high school romance with detailed spice so that in-of-itself was kind of an ick for me and im an avid smut reader.

so to problems with the actual characters/story. starting off with the petty: there are so many music references that really didn’t age well and just gave such hard cringe. the “not like other girls” vibes are soooo strong. meanwhile the FMC’s bestie is objectively a shitty friend. the redemption arc for both the MMC (and his best friend) are lacking to say the least. the MMC feels so entitled to forgiveness when he gives not even the barest of crumbs to earn it. i mean the bar is in hell and he still couldn’t reach it with a 20 ft ladder. it’s just really. it good. i’ve read books where the MMC straight up tortures the FMC and i still thought his redemption arc was more earned than this. just. i don’t recommend… like at all.

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mariekemarit's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

1.5

Just awefull. Why does it have to be so womenhating... when do we stop writing women as hating other women and calling them sluts when they are wearing skirts..

As well as the bulliing as 'flirting' or as a 'sweet' thing. I hated the sentence 'I'm so happy to hear that you're a virgin' when he was the one sleeping with EVERYONE. WHAT ARE THOSE? STANDARDS? AWEFULL...

Hated it. We need to stop normalising toxic relations like this. And the hassesments abd sexual assoults.

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jerda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

casualspoons's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

The main guy is such an ass and it had me SCREAMING (in a bad way) how much the main girl beat herself up over shit that wasn’t her fault or she shouldn’t feel sorry for. Like this boy TORMENTED her for years. She fights back ONCE and suddenly she’s the worst person ever and she has to make it right with him. No thank you boo.

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