I really liked seeing Tate's transition from being an introvert to someone who could completely hold her ground. That probably doesn't even make sense, but if you're an angst whore like me, you'll know what I mean.

This is one of the best books I have read all year, and I think I'm falling in love with Penelope Douglas!While there were parts I wanted more from, I still can't rate it down for that simply because this book absolutely enthralled me. I love bad boys, don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for pained villains, but not the type that treat the girl like shit and tells her “that he doesn’t care if she’s alive or dead”. When one brave young woman stands up to her best friend Jared, now tormentor, the consequences go beyond anything either of them ever would have imagined. Tate and Jared have been best friends for years until one summer when they were 14, and Jared went to meet his dad for some weeks.

But besides all this BS, the real kicker was that she was so fucking enraptured by his dreamy good looks and just hubba hubba who cares that dickhead who heedlessly torments me for no apparent reason surpasses the douchiest of douchebags because my oh my look at those sweet set of abs! I honestly thought it would be a better read than it actually was - it wasn't terrible in the beginning, but at the same time, as it went on, it glorifies and romanticizes bullying to no end. This book reminded me about all the reasons why I fell in love with New Adult romance to begin with. 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.

It forces the point home when Tate is a victim in so many ways and shouldn't have had to endure it, especially with other people in her circles simply dismissing Jared's actions so casually and them telling her in so many words "give him a chance". Es geht um Familie, Freundschaft, Vertrauen, Misshandlung, Geheimnisse, Verlust, Verrat, Bedauern, Begehren und Liebe.

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.I hated that because there's a line between the whole "I love you/I hate you" dynamic and having a hero who obviously gets off on hurting others while the heroine still succumbs to lust in light of that. I still think one of the few authors who managed to portray a hero who was a jerk but was truly repentant of his ways and manages to be likable in turns was Kody Keplinger.

It's not acceptable, and at the end of the day, you should go to therapy for your issues and not make someone your target that could lead someone else to a traumatic life and make them a socially isolated person that they fear to go out and wake up thinking what kind of humiliation they're going to face. As a new author who had no connections and no network, I cannot tell you how much your support has meant. Oh, and the only 'true friend' she does have is as shallow as they can get: people, I bring to you K.

Regardless of whatever issues the hero had, it doesn't justify what he did to Tate, and I sincerely doubt after all that Jared did, Tate could forgive and lust after him as easily as she did.