Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Burn for Me by Sara Cate

8 reviews

mk_meow's review against another edition

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I'm not really into bully themes. He was just mean. 
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livermoresweetheart's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the reverse age-gap, bully, teacher/student, forbidden romance I have been BEGGING for (like a good girl, on my knees), and FINALLY a well written, salacious age gap romance has wormed its way into my smol grabby hands! I loved everything about this book, and I don't really care if the rest of the world hated it!

Everly was a bright, young, 24 year old reporter when she sent 10 year old Cullen Ayer's father to prison for his crimes. And that one event has a snowball effect on Cullen's entire childhood. He grew up without his father, he was abused by his guardian, and he thought his life was worthless. So when he showed up to his college journalism class 8 years later, and she was the professor, he vowed then and there to make her life a living nightmare. And Sara Cate wrote this dynamic so deliciously!

I love that this book tipped a little dark, and had a heavy degradation smink with a side order of praise, it also has a long shopping list of triggers, so if you need that, it is available for you in her book! I was sad when this book ended, and would have loved 300 more pages of bullying before they got together, it was THAT GOOD.

The voice narrators were amazing as well, they were engaging, and enhanced the story with their incredible acting skills. It was well done all around!
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ednam0dewannabe's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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emilycruz1016's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

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anovelglimpse's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

This is not normally my style of read. 1. It's a student-professor read. He's a student in her class. That's crossing boundaries I don't like. 2. This is a bully romance. He's the bully. It was taboo and uncomfortable for me to read. That being said, I still gave it 4 stars. Sara Cate's writing somehow makes you comfortable even when you're uncomfortable. Would I recommend this to all? Probably not, but I'm sure this book would be a hit for people who like this type of kink. 
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monmon517's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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weelasswithabook's review against another edition

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

4.0

CW: dubious consent, bullying, death of a parent, historic abusive childhood, attempted murder, human trafficking, blackmail, graphic sexual content

⭐ Age gap (OWYM)
⭐ Teacher/student
⭐ Enemies to lovers

🌶️ O denial
🌶️ Edging
🌶️ Hate sex
🌶️ 🍑

Oh this was a difficult one. I actually almost DNFed near the beginning because Cullen was exactly the type of hero who instantly puts me off. HOWEVER, I trust Sara Cate and I decided to see how this played out. I'm glad I did. 

The first interactions between the two MCs are very bully oriented, sketchy consent, blackmailing, all that stuff that usually has me running for the hills. But I continued on through the book as I was curious to see how the character ARC went because I genuinely kept thinking that there's no way I'm gonna soften up to this dude 😂

But we were gifted with ✨ vulnerability ✨ and I eat that shit up EVERY SINGLE TIME. A very broken and angry man who hasn't experienced love either given or received, had an abusive childhood, essentially lost both of his parents, it's tragic really. Would I tolerate any of that nonsense IRL? Fuck no. But it really worked for me in the story. 

I liked the concept of trauma bonding being used. Everly has an extremely misplaced sense of guilt and responsibility for Cullen's hideous childhood, even though she was just doing her job. Cullen has resentment toward Everly for just doing her job. So the whole relationship is built on a toxic foundation of hatred. But it was unpacked really well throughout the course of the book until we got to see the characters really face up to the whole "do we actually love each other, or are we bonded by trauma?" scenario. 

I really enjoyed this after pushing past my extreme discomfort with our toxic af hero 😂
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laura_rheads_too_much's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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