A review by sianny
Bad Cruz by L.J. Shen

5.0

Tennessee is the town’s disappointment, pariah, scapegoat. So much so that she’s constantly referred to as Messy Nessy. And she plays up to the part. If everyone thinks she a slutty bimbo she knows she’ll never be able to change their minds, and so she dresses and acts the part. But she is neither of those things.

She does have a tendency to make mistakes though, so when she’s entrusted to book cruise tickets for herself and her arch nemesis, Cruz, the town’s golden child that can do no wrong, it’s inevitable that she accidentally books them on the wrong cruise. In one room instead of two.

Faced with ten days without their families as a buffer, in such close quarters, will they survive without killing each other? Or is their mutual loathing actually a product of attraction and misunderstanding? After all, they say it’s a fine line between love and hate.

I felt so sorry for these two! They both were under such scrutiny and pressure from the whole town to be the people they’re perceived to be rather than who they actually are. Obviously Tennessee has it much worse. The whole town is absolutely vile. Her mother and sister the most! I honestly don’t feel like they redeemed themselves at all. Oops, sorry we’ve been treating you like less than trash, we didn’t realise you had feelings. Nope! Doesn’t cut it. Horrible people.

Cruz never treated her particularly badly, but he never defended her and would perpetuate that his view lined up with the rest of the town for a long time. However, once he decided that she was the one he wanted and he didn’t care what anyone else had to say about it, he was wonderful.

I can understand Tennessee’s apprehension to put all her faith in him, her fear of never being able to live in her hometown again if things went south as she’d no doubt be blamed for anything bad that happened. But for someone who came across as not caring what other people thought, she actually cared too much.

Tennessee’s son, Bear, was an absolute delight! What a great kid. He was a shining light in a host of (intentionally) awful characters.

ARC kindly provided in exchange for my honest review