Bully: 1 (Fall Away)

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But all of their books are narrated in first person and their heroines kind of embrace internalized misogyny just a little too much for me to fully get on board. He was bullying her, but you could see from other actions – like keeping her out of trouble at school proved that he wasn’t at the core, a bad guy. After a point, it was obvious that Tate was championed as having a love/hate relationship with Jared despite the horrible things he said and did to her.

I give the author props for the way she wove some serious angst into this tale, but so much of it was just completely unnecessary. But oh wait, guess I missed out the part where she gets sprinkled in pixie dust and spontaneously develops a bout of confidence and tough-girl bitchiness to face her bully (not to mention the fact that all the guys at school seem to be dealing with a sudden infatuation with her despite treating her no better than a leper before). 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. Especially Ben Jamison, who's not only charming and good-natured, but considered one of the most attractive hunks at school- and wonderful Tate here seemingly can't find a single fuck to give about him all due to the one lone fact that he has a taste for country music.I'm not going to take away from Douglas's narrative in the fact that it is compulsively readable and that it starts off with a heroine that does stand up for herself in the face of torments that she endures from the people who surround her. Zwischen Tate und Jared, war es Jared, der diese Freundschadt dringender brauchte; der mehr zu verlieren hatte, als er sie ruinierte. She managed to capture his conflict in subtle ways that were just strong enough to keep you guessing at his real motivations behind his actions. Maybe I can’t really relate because my male best friends in my childhood were the nicest and treated me well.

And yes ik everyone was freaking out in the comments when I wrote that Jared was the best “bully” which I meant fr! I used to feel like a superhero, riding my bike over the dangerously slick roads, or maybe an Olympic athlete enduring rough trials to make it to the finish line. And I'm not talking about the manufactured angst, stupid decisions, at at times gratuitous sex scenes.

Tate has no idea where their friendship went wrong, one minute they were fine then Jared left for the summer and came back a completely different man.

I knew that his past was no excuse for his behaviour yet I wanted him to have that happy ending and end up with Tate. She deems it a necessity to hatefully label each and every female present in the story either a 'bitch' or a 'slut' or whatnot, but then takes pride in being considered one of those.The story between Tate and Jared is one of a kind and when you drawn the line, it is very confusing to choose sides. Being inside her head was like waging a war against every other female because of the things they wore, the things they said, and the guys they were with.

C. and wants her paws off her man so to say (and do remember, said man is the same guy who's turned her into a social monstrosity).But, this is the first of a series so it does leave room to explore their story further after this book so there is no epilogue. Although I loved reading this from Tate's POV, a chapter or two from Jared's perspective might've helped me understand his character and his hurtful actions more.