Kira

3.5 starsSo, my first reaction after finishing this book was that I enjoyed it way more than I expected to. I got it as a kindle freebie a little while ago and didn't even remembered what it was about, but last night I decided to try just the first chapter and it sucked. me. in.I got about three hours of sleep last night because I just couldn't find a good place to stop. This was a one-day "my eyeballs now hurt" kind of read and a fun palate cleanser after the slew of craptastic NA books I've read lately. This was a high-school book, so not quite NA, but it was more mature and I liked that. The pacing was great, the dialogue was well-done and believable, there were few plot twists I didn't see coming, and it kept me flipping pages quickly because I was dying to know how the author was going to sort out this awful tension between Jared and Tatum and actually convince me to like the douche.... which surprisingly she did. Although I will say that I still don't fully understand or forgive the reasons for Jared's behavior in the beginning. No matter the trauma, I don't believe that someone would just flip off his feelings for his very best friend like that and treat her so horrifically for years. So even though my brain was telling me I should have a problem with the general premise of Bully, I was enjoying myself too much to care. This was a fun read with just the right balance of angst and romance. It didn't make me roll my eyes at two-dimensional characters, sigh in frustration over the cheesy dialogue, or throw something when a main character made an idiotic decision as a plot device. I wouldn't use this as a model for life choices or anything, but come on, that's not why we're drawn to these books anyways. Thank you, Penelope Douglas, I totally enjoyed this first effort from you and I will read your next book.