Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Bully King by Andi Jaxon

3 reviews

ohyayitsapril's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, Outing, Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Hate crime, Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

madscientistcat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Outing, Child abuse, Homophobia, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Car accident, and Bullying

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

emilia777's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

jesus fuck, where do i even start?
this was disastrous and i can’t believe how anyone would be willing or even capable of ignoring the many problems with this book.

let’s start with Roman, oh boy, the lack of character development he had was simply painful to witness, actually, i think he only got worse.
but my biggest problem with his character was the the fact his behavior was excused because of his  trauma. his character was a tragic case of “the abused becomes the abuser” and it causes this inability to completely hate him, it only goes to show he manipulated everyone around him, especially jonah.

jonah, who deserves so much better than the tiny glimpse of love roman would give him. he was desperate to be loved and roman only played into this. for someone who didn’t want to be like his father, he’s doing an awful job, saying things like “no one can hurt him but me” and “i’ll never let anything happen to you” right after basically assaulting him. he’s creating a facade of safety so jonah feels like he needs him and allows himself to be hurt in return for his “protection” and supposed affection. i don’t think roman is even completely aware that he does this, which is what makes their relationship so extremely toxic,

roman’s mother was described as; desperate for her husband to love her, despite everything, which only leads me to believe roman and jonah’s relationship will end up exactly like theirs.
two broken halfs don’t make a whole, people can rarely “fix” each other, 
i don’t doubt these boys felt something akin to love for each other, but it’s the destructive kind and not sustainable. these boys BOTH needed serious therapy and i hope they don’t stay together, at least for the time being.

the one good thing i have to say about this book is the writing, it makes you feel, the pain, the terror, the chemistry.
the fact that it got me pent up enough to write this review is an indication of good writing, it just kinda gets washed out but all the awfulness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Outing, Hate crime, Sexual content, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Blood, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Grief