Review: Penelope Douglas' s"Bully."

@PenDouglas

4 Hearts Review of Penelope Douglas's "Bully."

Amazon UK:   http://amzn.to/1d5jSFL

Amazon.com:  http://amzn.to/153gzfb

Synopsis:

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.

We're neighbors, and once, we were best friends. But then, one summer, he turned on me and has made it his mission to screw up my life at every opportunity. 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 hide from him. I worried about what was around every corner and behind every door. 

So I left.

I spent a year studying abroad and bathed in the freedom of life without Jared. Now I'm back to finish up high school and get the hell out of here forever. I'm hoping that after a year of breathing room, he's moved on and forgotten all about me. 

But even if he hasn't changed, I have. I'm not interested in avoiding him or turning the other cheek anymore. We're going to go head to head, because neither of us wants to back down.

Review By Kirsty:

  "This is how bullies are made."

  

This book was crazy and not necessarily in a good way. Bullying is absolutely vile and I don't think there is any excuse for it. I don't care what has happened to a person in the past, who's hurt them or what they've been through, it doesn't give them any right to treat people so badly, practically sabotaging their high school years to make themselves feel better. It's vile.

Jared and Tate used to be best friends. 

Growing up they were pretty much inseparable. They did everything together, rushed home to see each other and always looked out for each other. Until they turned 14. Jared goes away for the summer and comes back a completely different person. It seems as though his life mission is to make Tate's life hell and she has no clue why.

The stuff Jared did was so awful. Whilst reading about the different things he had done to her and still does do all I felt was sad. So incredibly sat. High school is hard enough without some asshole giving you hell every day. And that's all Jared was.. an asshole. A cowardly asshole. It took a long time before the author gave us any idea as to why Jared treated Tate the way he did, and when we found out all I felt was disappointment. Like I said, I don't think there is any excuse for it, and the excuse we were given just made me even more disgusted. It was pathetic:

"...you didn't belong with the rest of us. You still don't."

I figured out early on that somehow Jared would be redeemed in Tate's eyes and all would be fine. By the 50% mark I still hated Jared and didn't feel like he deserved to be redeemed. I hoped that somehow the author could wave a magic wand and make me like Jared but unfortunately it just didn't happen. I still disliked him, I still felt like he was a coward, and I still think he deserved to be alone.

"I want to touch you. I want to feel what's mine. What's always been mine."

In the end, I was glad that Tate found her happiness, I just wish it didn't have to mean Jared was forgiven. The author has written a wonderful book here but I just couldn't find it in myself to like Jared. He didn't do it for me at all.

I rated this book 4 Hearts