Bully: An unforgettable friends-to-enemies-to-lovers romance (Fall Away)

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So so so gut. So wie ich es von Penelope Douglas erwarte

Irgendwie schafft es P.D. halt immer mich in ihren Bann zu ziehen. Ich habe bisher jedes Buch von ihr geliebt. 🥰 Hoffe das Buch wird bald übersetzt! Tate und ihr bester Freund Jared sind unzertrennlich, bis sich alles verändert und sie einander nicht einmal mehr Hallo sagen können. Ein "Teenagedrama“ mit Tiefgang, wenig Spice und dem Drang, erwachsen zu werden. Wir bekommen aus Tates Sicht hautnah mit, wie sich Jared distanziert und was es mit ihr macht. Mir hat es teils das Herz gebrochen und auch, wenn der Plot ab einem Zeitpunkt vorhersehbar war, hab ich es geliebt. Klar hätten Gespräche geholfen, aber was erwarten wir von „jungen Erwachsenen“, die sich noch finden müssen? Genau! 🥹 Jareds Vergangenheit ist sehr traurig und regt zum Nachdenken an, womit wir Mitgefühl entwickeln. In manchen Momenten dreht Tate jedoch den Spieß um und verabreicht ihm sein eigenes Gift, womit es die Sache natürlich nicht verbessert. Sie können nicht ohne aber auch nicht miteinander, wobei etliche Schwierigkeiten vorprogrammiert sind. Allerdings freue ich mich genau deshalb auf "Until you", denn dort können wir dazu seine Sicht lesen. 🫶 Wie die Geschichte verläuft und zu einem Ganzen wird, ist schön. Ich mochte das Drama, die Gefühle - DAS zwischen ihnen. Aber, bei aller Liebe ne? Tates Freundin kann mich mal am Popo ... 🫣🤫. Für mich ein Highlight, ich empfehle es weiter und lest die Triggerwarnung. PS: Ich fühlte mich von keiner Szene, als ehemaliges Mobbingopfer getriggert.

I Could feel the tension, while reading.....

The book made me angry at some scenes tho... Liked this book, but it's not the best Book of the Fall Away series^^ 4/5 Stars, cause I love the story and the characters<3

What a bully romance!

Loved the bully trope but it could have been a bit more of hating and not so fast. But still loved it

[ ❗️CONTAINS SPOILER ❗️] “Yesterday lasts forever. Tomorrow comes never. Until you.” “Bully” by Penelope Douglas is a story about Tate and Jared who were best friends back in their childhood. Their relationship turned bad when Jared returned from a summer he spent at his dads place. He completely changed after that summer and started to bully Tate in school. Even though I have mixed feelings about this read, it got me really hooked and I just couldn’t lay it down, because I needed to know how their story and all the drama continues. At first I wanna point out what made me have mixed feelings. Tate - I had to be nearly at the end of the book to have a little bit of sympathy for her. I get that she has a hard time trusting Jared and she’s hurt because of his past behavior, but oh boy- she is so mean to him and her attitude towards like everybody is so mean. Why does she confronts him with the meanest statements, just to reflect herself afterwards but shortly after repeating it again, and again. “My Dad always told me that I could say what I need to say as long as I said it nicely. And f*** me for snarling out my words like a five year old.” I also wanna mention that her violent behavior towards Madoc & Piper was kinda understandable (“Breaking his nose a year ago clearly wasn’t the end of my rope. It was the start of a new one”) but it felt just kinda wrong - Piper is a Bitch but anyway - especially 'cause Tate thinks of herself that she is the “good girl who follows all the rules of her dad” when, in fact, she was behaving like trash most the time. For me personally, her character development started way too late. I really tried to like her, but afterwards I have more negative thoughts about her than positive ones. And also her sarcasm got on my nerves. But I also have to admit there were some parts when she actually was bearable. When she was showing her vulnerable side (the monologue in school, that made me even tear up a bit but she lost me again when she said “Everything still hurts but I know none of it is my fault” even her grandma said that Jared’s faults aren’t the only ones which are hurting her. Or when we got some little breadcrumbs of her and Jared’s past, what their friendship was like when they were kids (the thing with the cemetery, the sleepovers, the tree..) but still, I have mixed feelings about her and most of the time she was just annoying. Jared- so lemme tell you that partly he felt like the mainchar for me. I get that he made Tate feel like shit for a long amount of time and his behavior was ofc not okay. But he - at least - reflected his faults and somehow learned from it and tried to move on. At least he was trying right? All in all Jared was the only char I can think of in a positive way in the end. One of my next reads will be “Until You” and I am really looking forward to get to know his pov. I will point out more things about Jared, once I finished “Until You”. KC and Madoc - I think we can all agree on the fact that KC is the worst friend that Tate could wish for. Ok, I get that Tate went through a lot with her, when the bullying started KC was by her side and stuff. And especially because she knew what Tate went through, she still chooses to make out with Jared in front of her eyes just to make her cheating boyfriend mad and jealous? She could’ve used everyone else, why Jared? She was meeting Jared behind her back and afterwards she pretends like that was never a big deal anyway and continues to behave like a bitch towards Tate. After all I don’t feel like their friendship was that deep anyways, it felt more superficial. Madoc - A dumb clown. At one hand he says that Jared is his best friend but on the other hand he is harassing Tate, although he knows how important she is to Jared. And all of this just to make Jared jealous. That didn’t made much sense to me either. And let’s not talk about that chapter when he asked Tate to go to prom with her, I was loosing my shit at this point and I thought about quitting for a sec lol. In the end I wanna talk about the things that got me really hooked. Even if the characters were mostly annoying (except Jared - sorry not sorry but I fell a bit for him not gonna lie here) they still remain in my thoughts and I remember them. Not everyone in a positive way, but still. They made me feel something and if the characters manage to touch you, it’s a good thing. And the spicyness was spicy in that one tho. It took some time to get there, but you’ll be rewarded lol. The tension that Tate was feeling every time he was around - yeah I felt that too. And I loved it when they encountered each other. Seriously, I loved the spice and the desire they had for each other. Definitely also a reason I got so hooked. I liked the whole atmosphere that the author created. The rain, the storms, the nights. I just really loved the atmosphere and the vibe that Penelope created here. “Bully” definitely had some weak points, but as I said before I just wasn’t able to lay this book down and I still think about it. I devoured this in a very, very short time 'cause yes, I enjoyed it. And partly even loved it. And it made me tear up also.

Viel zu viele Emotionen wurden bei mir am Ende ausgelöst.

Ich fande es sooo gut, die Spannung und liebe zwischen den beiden trotz der ganzen Dramatik. Seine Liebe und die Geheimnisse und wie sie damit umgeht. Es war wirklich perfekt, aber wir wissen noch nicht alles über ihn am Ende!

Tropes: - bully romance - childhood crush - friends to enemies to lovers - good girl x bad boy

“Yesterday lasts forever. Tomorrow comes never. Until you." Jared is truly a bully. To be honest, I had a much harder time forgiving him than Clay [Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas] Clay is most definitely the meaner one, but due to Tate, the bullied one, who is all "kill them with kindness" and hardly ever pushes back, I can't help but hate him a little bit more than Clay and have less kind words for him than for her. His reasons might be understandable - they really are - but in the end I still have complicated feelings towards him. I still pretty much enjoy the book. I hope "Until You" will help me like and understand him more. However, I think Tates character development is amazing - from this moment when she decides she doesn't want to be pushed around by Jared anymore until she emerges her own path. Though and that has to be said, I think she should have pushed back more. Well, there is a scene close to the end in which she finally gives Jared some contra because she is pushed over the edge. My favorite character is Madoc, and yes, he is just a side character here, but I've already fallen for him, and I cannot wait to learn more about him in his and Fallons book (I can't wait to meet Fallon!) - Rival. I think this is going to be amazing! In the end Bully is a very good bully romance. It is not my favorite book by Penelope Douglas, probably my least fave so far, but it's still a good one and still a good book. I'm very excited to continue this series. 4/5⭐️

I loved it don't judge me

I never thought that I would be into this bully trope but I absolutely LOVED it and it made me wanna read more of Penelope Douglas. I love love love the characters. The way tate started to defend herself and all the intrigues between jared and tate made me giggle a lot of times. Their love hate relationship was so hot and well written. Even if you aren't into bullying, you need to give this book a try!

Lets not pretend that this shit would be cute in real life buuuut I absolutely ate this up!! Im currently half way through the second book and I already like some characters way more than I did while reading the first one. Im excited for the rest of the series and for the spin off as well!!! 5 ⭐️

veryyy mixed feelings about this one. she forgave too quickly, kc wasn’t a good friend tbh and to hell with piper