MY GOODREADS FIRST IMPRESSIONS FOLLOWED BY BLOG REVIEW:

This has to be one of THE hardest books I've ever read. The entire time I had a knot in my throat & found myself cringing in certain scenes. Trigger warning: Physical & mental abuse, suicide, and rape. A character study that takes you back to the very beginning of the main protog's mental state & the slow and painful decline to the shell of a person left behind. As hard as it was to read, I can't deny how well the author captured the human psyche. Perhaps because this story is derived from the authors own personal experience. I am still thinking of this story & its characters, worried about them in the aftermath. Full review to come on my blog LairOfBooks.

FINAL REVIEW....

PLOT

Bad Romance is one of those books that will remain within me for years to come as a reminder of what could’ve been had I continued in my own toxic relationship. This book resonated with me for personal reasons but also stood out amongst all the Young Adult Contemporaries I’ve read so far in 2017. This isn’t a easy fluffy summer time read however, it is a much needed one. Bad Romance can be used as a conversation starter within the Young Adult community & help bridge gaps between Young Adults and their parents. Demetrios gives us Grace who is 17 going on 18 in High School with BIG dreams of one day living an artsy bohemian life in New York City. She lives with her mother, step-father, and baby brother from her mothers re-marriage. Life isn’t at all easy for Grace who doesn’t live a typical teenage life. She lives in a abusive home where toxic behaviors are what she’s come to view as normal. Told in second person POV, Grace is observing the changes in her relationship with her mother as her mother slowly becomes unhinged. See, Grace’s mother herself is the victim of verbal, mental, and physical abuse (implied) at the hands of her husband. Demtrios shows us a mother trying to keep her new family together while she teeters on the verge of a mental breakdown. Grace on the other hand has just caught the attention of the most popular guy in school who she knows comes with his own baggage. From the 1st compliment to the 1st date & what eventually leads to a volatile relationship, we the reader are taken on the slow progression that is Grace & Gavin’s own toxic relationship. Gavin knows just what to say at all times & just how to get his way. From afar he seems like the perfect boyfriend but when we start this story, it is with the knowledge Grace has already learned the hard way. She shows us how easy it was to fall for someone who was already broken when all you’ve know all your life is abuse…

CHARACTERS

Center stage we have Grace & Gavin but this is a story where the supporting character roles are all equally as important. The Grace we meet on page 1 already knows how everything unfolds since it’s told in second person POV. We get to see her regrets and the view she give us can best be described as removing the rose colored glasses. Grace is just trying to get to graduation so that she can start her new life as a college student far away from her toxic home life. This means she’s learned how to deal with her mothers OCD as best she could & has learned to be submissive to avoid confrontation. Her relationship with her mother plays out on the pages giving you perspective on the cycle of abuse Grace is caught in through no fault of her own. We meet the step dad & he’s no easy pill to swallow which makes your heart break even more so for Grace’s mom.

Somehow, In the past five years, that mom disappeared. Little by little, she floated away, a leaf on the breeze. Now, the air between us is heavy; it’s been too long since we’ve laughed together, talked. How do you relearn love?
Gavin almost seems like a savior when Grace first meets him. She is aware of his troubled past & his failed suicide attempt yet that doesn’t keep her away, it actually serves to lure her in. She admires his resolve and rocker lifestyle but most of all it’s the attention he provides her with that she holds on to. For a girl like Grace who already feels invisible at home except for when she’s needed to scrub the floors or babysit, this new attention became a drug. Gavin himself suffers with depression, anxiety, and paranoia. There isn’t a moment that goes by that he isn’t thinking, living, breathing Grace.

We also meet Nat & Lys who are best friends with Grace, these girls are the true definition of friendship. They know their girl is in a toxic abusive relationship and encourage her to leave that behind every chance they get. They don’t ever leave her side but they also don’t sugar coat anything & didn’t enable her to continue on with Gavin. This friendship was the sunshine in Graces’ very dark, turbulent, and abusive life. I kept hope alive for all of these characters & found myself relating to Grace but ultimately accepting that just like my own toxic relationship with my mother, some things are left unresolved. These characters are heavily flawed & rough around the edges, their pain often times jumping off the pages.

WRITING & FINAL THOUGHTS

I’ve never read a book like Bad Romance and I was absolutely caught off guard, this book brought back memories of a past life. I can’t help but think that if this book had been written back then, that maybe I would have found solace in its pages. I was that young adult in a toxic relationship trying to escape my real issues at home with my own mother. This won’t be an easy read & that’s why I decided to include trigger warnings in this review. Emotionally draining, heartbreaking, and flinchingly honest, Demetrios gives you the ugly raw insides of abusive relationships. Inspired by the authors personal experience, Bad Romance is as real as it gets. Demtrios tackles topics that are more often than not kept hidden in shame & suffered alone. As tough as it was to read this book, I can’t deny that it was because I saw myself in these pages. I’ll be looking out for more from this author and others, especially writing that exposes the ugly in order to start the healing. This is not a story with a happy ending, this is a story with hope & a message for those who may or may not be ready to receive it…

In the Authors Note, Demtrios provided some helpful organizations & I’ve decided to also include them in my review:

Dayoneny.org

Breakthecycle.org

Nomore.org

*HUGE thanks to Macmillan/Henry Holt & Co., Netgalley & Heather Demetrios for the eGalley copy of Bad Romance, all opinions are my own.

Grace's doesn't have a home life like most of her friends. Her mom and stepdad (aka "The Giant") mostly treat her like she's the maid and the babysitter. They never consider her feelings or her well-being, and she's always happy to have a reason not to be there.

Then Gavin starts paying her attention. He's the hot rockstar boy at school and WAY out of her league. And he's so sweet. He cares about her in a way no one ever has.

Things seem too good to be true-- and soon she finds out, they are. Gavin doesn't like it when she talks to boys, he doesn't like that she works with her ex-boyfriend, and he wants to be with her ALL THE TIME. Grace wants out, but Gavin is mentally unstable. He's constantly telling her he'll kill himself if she leaves him-- and then there's that nagging part of her that believes he might be the only one who really loves her.

MY THOUGHTS:

This is going to be a hard book for me to review. Right off the bat, I want to tell you I LOVED THIS BOOK. I've never read a YA book about a controlling, possessive boyfriend (portrayed in a negative way) who wasn't physically violent. And holy shit-- this one portrayed that perfectly.

Gavin starts showing Grace attention and she can't believe her luck. Here's this guy, who she's crushed on forever, and is totally out of her league, treating her like she's a princess. He's making her feel so loved and needed-- and basically giving her everything she doesn't get from her home life. She feels safe and important and cared about.

Then Gavin begins to get too attached. He wants to be with her all the time, wants to know where she is and who she's with. He wants to institute "rules" on what they can do and who they can hang out with. She starts seeing that maybe Gavin isn't Mr. Perfect. But by then it's too late. By then Grace can't imagine her life without Gavin, and he's definitely not going to let her go.

I kind of felt like Ms. Demetrios was following me around in the early 2000's-- because it was around that time that I had my own Gavin. He wasn't a rockstar, but he was like Gavin in every other way. He never hit me, but he may as well have. I still have the emotional scars and will snap if I perceive anyone trying to keep tabs on me. I think a relationship like that stays with you for life.

I was on the blog tour for this book last week and I posted some RELATIONSHIP RED FLAGS-- signs that a relationship is headed for toxic territory, and more about my personal story.

I hope this gets in the hands of every girl/boy who has or had a Gavin. I don't think I've ever read a book to so accurately depict what someone who is controlling is like. And Grace didn't have family to help her, so if she could get out-- I think it will give hope to so many young people.

The only thing that I didn't exactly love was that there was an escalation of the abuse that crossed the line into something more physical-- and I was kind of hoping this book would just stay in the mental abuse category. It almost felt like it was saying that she couldn't leave until something REALLY bad happened. And I know that's not what the message was, but I wish it didn't mix that in there to muddy the waters.

OVERALL: Thank you Heather Demetrios!! Thank you for writing a book about the guys like Gavin and relationships that are hard to get out of. I think this book should be in every middle school and high school. I feel like every teen/young adult should read it.

Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios is a humorous and heartbreaking story that us back to high school and guides readers through an abusive relationship as told to us by the victim. Told in a cautionary tone, Bad Romance perfectly captures the melodrama and secrecy that often surrounds teenagers. Grace is a well developed and vocal teenager whose abusive family life unconsciously pushes her into a romantic relationship that eventually abusive. Demetrios is honest in her portrayal of Grace, giving us intimate access to her through her thoughts and actions. We see how easy it was for Gavin to isolate and manipulate her and the part his own parents play in that. A strong secondary cast empowers Grace with positivity, strength, and advice through their friendships. Bad Romance isn’t an easy story to read but it is a powerful and eye-opening story that hopefully can help someone who may be caught in a similar situation find their way out.

Grade: B

I was on the fence in reading Bad Romance, not because I don't love Heather Demtrios (is there anything she can't do?) but because I knew this book was going to potentially break my heart. What I got was a story with so much depth and resonance that I was hardly able to put it down. I don't think you'll be able to, either.

Having recently read Dreamland, I wasn't sure I was mentally prepared to take on another book about an abusive relationship. See, I’m 4 years out of an abusive marriage (and 16 years out of an abusive household - I identified a lot with Grace). I’ve spent 4 years trying to put my past behind me and being part of the #ChooseYou campaign (plus seeing Heather’s tweet about talking about getting out could save another) brought me back to the dealing with restraining orders and fearing for my life. Yeah.

Girls don’t fall in love with manipulative assholes who treat them like shit and make them seriously question their life choices. They fall in love with manipulative assholes (who treat them like shit and make them seriously question their life choices) who they think are knights in shining armor.

Ah, knight in shining armor syndrome. Much like Gavin, my knight in shining armor came at a time in my life when I was lost and needy, wanting to be rescued from my life. In Bad Romance, Gavin steps in when Grace is in need of a rescue. She has a crappy home life with some terrible examples (That’s not love, yo). Being with Gavin becomes an escape, which he quickly takes advantage of.

“He … said I wasn’t deep.” “What. The. Fuck?” Lys says. “Are you serious?” “He didn’t mean it in, like, a bad way.”

It starts small, right? An off handed comment that you can’t get out of your head. Over and over until you’re beat down and feel worthless. Grace didn’t start too far from there, considering her step father and mother physically and emotionally abuse her.

When you’re a stupid girl in love, it’s almost impossible to see the red flags. It’s so easy to pretend they’re not there, to pretend that everything is perfect.

“He didn’t mean it in, like, a bad way.” And there it is. The excuses. The fighting and the making up, so intense that how could you feel anything but deeply in love? When he’s making life altering decisions for your benefit.

Grace’s friends were legit the best in Bad Romance. They kept it real with her and protected her when they could. They didn’t abandon her, even though she became less available as a friend.

I can’t rave about this book enough. It’s paced so well, going through the motions of establishing the relationship in the pattern we see in most abusers. From the most special girl in the world to slowly degrading her self worth - Grace made it out but not without a few scars. In my head canon, she’s off to college with her besties. Maybe she’s found someone worth the love she has to give or maybe she’s hanging solo. Either way, I just want to see her happy.

There was a lot to this story. I didn't love the way it was told in second person, and would have enjoyed not knowing from the beginning how it was going to end. The actual emotional depth to the abuse was well-rounded, and I thought Grace's relationship with her parents was way more interesting than her relationship with Gavin.

I've been a fan of Demetrios' work ever since her very first novel. I've loved what's she's done ever since, and this one is no different. Although it's so much darker than her normal, it's still amazing!
Grace has an unbelievably hard life. At home, she deals with a giant of a stepfather and a mother who refuses to accept her demons. Then comes Gavin, the boy who she's always adored. When he finally notices her, she can't believe her luck. Until she realizes the idea of him was much better than the reality of him.
I started this book on my cruise and I was NOT expecting to finish it while on my cruise. It was just that good. As soon as I started it, I couldn't put it down. I hate this cliché (because no one should be that nosey and not get help) but it was like watching a train crash and not wanting to look away. It was such a terrible story, but Demetrios wrote it in a way that I couldn't put it down. I wanted to jump into the story and try to help Grace because I couldn't stand watching this happen to her.
Speaking of Grace, I hated that I loved the main characters. It's just the way that Demetrios wrote them. Grace was too sweet and understanding and Gavin was such a perfect POS. Then there was her mom and her stepfather who I really disliked. They did nothing to help her situation. And then there was her best friends, Nat and Lys. They were amazingly sweet and understanding and I'm super glad Grace had them in her corner.
This has climbed to the top of my favorite books by Demetrios. The story was so realistic, but it was so hard to read. There were times when I had to close the book just to write a super long passage in my notebook about the story. It's such an important topic and I'm very glad that someone wrote about it. Few people like to admit that abuse can happen in teen relationships.
And as always, Demetrios' writing style pulled me into the story and wouldn't let me go until I was finished. I loved how she used second person in some places, it made it stand out more because she seemed to be looking back on what happened. It gave me hope for the ending.
This story is so important and needs to be read by everyone. This book solidified my love for Heather Demetrios and I can't wait to see what else she has up her sleeve.

I tried to start this book multiple times and just couldn't get into the author's style of writing.

Sorry, but this is a DNF for me. Thank you, however, for the opportunity to try out a new to me author.

Of course, as fiction, this is seriously overdone but there's a lot here for teens to relate to in terms of relationships (parental and romantic) that are just... bad. How Grace's life unravels is in part due to her not being safe at home, and not understanding how Gavin operates because of that. Abusive relationships aren't always easy to notice at the beginning, and by the time you do notice it can be too late. This wasn't so sensationalized that teens will not recognize what's going on and possibly enough will remain with them so that they can recognize it in real life.

I received this as an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley and Heather Demetrios.

I am still blown away by this book. When I initially requested it, I knew I would enjoy it because I thoroughly enjoyed Demetrios’ other novel, I’ll Meet You There, but WOW. This one has become one of my all-time favorites.

One thing to mention before we get into the hard material of this book is how amazing the writing style was. Demetrios' character, Grace, speaks in second person, addressing the reader as "you", representing Gavin. This added an effect I never would have though would work but really does. It brought me closer to Grace and helped me really feel the effect of the acts of Gavin.

I want to start out this review by mentioning the many triggers found in this novel. This story focuses on an extremely mentally and physically abusive relationship and also has themes of rape, mental illness, suicide, and just overall toxic relationships. I think it is very important to realize these triggers because, even though I myself have not experienced them in real life, I still found myself needing breaks in-between reading because of the sensitive and explicit material.

We start Bad Romance meeting Grace, a happy junior in high school who wants more than anything to become a director for broadway shows. (TOTALLY up my alley and is even a job I would adore having). She has a great, tight knit group of friends who do these school shows together and through them she meets Gavin. He’s got the rocker, bad boy/ tortured soul vibe that I think many of us can say is initially intriguing. Grace has always crushed on him from a distance, but when the news is revealed that Gavin has attempted suicide, she decides to step up and write him a letter expressing how she is always available to talk, attracting him and eventually their relationship develops.

Now, I was initially into Gavin. He’s a smooth talker, music lover, and loves Grace fiercely. But, it is for these reasons and many others that there are so many people in abusive relationships they cannot get out of. Because he is this way, I started to notice the snide and inappropriate comments he makes toward Grace. Even though she does not initially see these comments in their abusive context, (she’s in love, we’ve all been there), Gavin started putting a bad taste in my mouth. Gavin starts to become more and more constricting, cutting her off from her friends, such as not allowing her to touch other boys that she has as friends and even tells her how “bitchy” her best friends are when her friends express their concern for Grace’s health. Many comments arise from Gavin as well, such as expressing how “Grace lacks depth”, which essentially hurts her, but because he is the way he is, he finds a way to say sorry and make her believe he made a mistake.

Watching this relationship’s toxicity increase every day that they were together was heart-wrenching. I wanted to reach out to Grace and comfort her. The way Gavin treats her is absolutely disgusting and contributes to Grace’s mental health as well.

Grace also has an extremely difficult home life; a mother who has OCD about cleanliness and a step-father who treats both Grace and her mother in a disgusting manner. This is another element that contributes to the difficult life Grace has, leaving her trapped between a passive aggressive/abusive boyfriend and unreliable family whom she cannot turn to.

I really would like to avoid telling too much about the details because I think this story really speaks well all together and has quite a punch, but one thing I know for sure is that I am so glad I picked this book up. I think of it every day and of those having to go through what dear Grace experiences in this novel. If this novel sounds like something you would be interested in, but will not trigger you, I would highly suggest reading it. I feel absolutely informed on the terrors of abusive relationships found in 1/4 couples.

Bad Romance made me so uncomfortable; I couldn't wait to get finished with it!

Grace is literally in a Bad Romance. But at 17 years old, she can't see that. At least not a first. Gavin, the boyfriend, is too good to be true and Grace can't believe he actually is interested in her. He's very attentive. Soon, his attention turns weird. He makes her promise not to ever be alone with another guy. She's not allowed to touch or be touched by another male. And that's just the beginning. You can see where this is going.

Gavin has a history. He's tried to commit suicide before, so eventually, when Grace comes to her senses, she still can't break up with him because she's worried about him.

But, even with all that, I could have handled the story. But to top it all off, Grace's mom and stepfather have provided her with a nearly impossible living situation. Her mother is OCD about cleanliness and makes Grace clean the house over and over. Her chores get to the point where they keep her from being able to function normally. She is constantly grounded, so she has to sneak out, then get's caught. It's a vicious cycle and her mother is a lunatic. And her stepfather refuses to support her financially in any way.

Grace has very supportive friends, thankfully. This helps. But from the beginning, you can see the inevitable crash coming.

The sexual situations are more descriptive than I'm used to in YA, so be warned that this one is for mature teens only. Demetrios has apparently based this story on past experiences. That's probably why Grace's situations seem so realistic. And so possible. As a parent, this is pretty scary.

Bad Romance is a good story for teens that may help them navigate the uncertainties of romantic relationships.

Bad Romance by Lady Gaga is probably my favourite Lady Gaga song, although I love Telephone and A Million Reasons (and others, duh) and it’s apt that Bad Romance is basically the theme tune to this book. It’s the kind of book you read and hope it isn’t going to be all bad, but then Grace says right at the start that this isn’t a good relationship, that this will not end well and it kinda blows all of your feelings out the water, like you’re waiting for a car crash to happen so you can stand and watch and see it all go to absolute pot. The worst part is the knowing. If you go into a book and it goes bad, maybe it’s a surprise, but somehow it’s worse knowing it right from the off. However I also think it’s quite clever, because this book could be triggering to some people.

While reading this book – it took me a week to complete it, I had to keep putting it down after a few chapters, because it was so hard to read Grace’s perspective. She has a pretty poor life – her mom and step-dad make her do chores constantly and they scream at her for no reason and have all these crazy rules and ground her on a moment’s notice for little things other parents would brush off, so when Gavin, a guy she’s been admiring for three (!) years, starts to notice her and they start dating, it kinda feels like a release. Like something good has finally come for Grace. You feel hopeful that this is the start of something amazing, that these two are destined to be together forever and you really feel it. Or I did. I believed in Gavin and Grace, not as long as Grace did, but for a really long time, and it was like a gut punch every time something happened. Every time Gavin did an about-turn and his mood just changed abruptly before doing a 180 again and he was the sweet, kind Gavin. It make me feel physically sick, because I knew where the book was going, I knew what kind of bad romance this was, and it just hurt me for Grace because she just goes through so much and it just really, really wound me up.

The absolute worst thing is that I understood exactly why Grace was attracted to Gavin, why she would make excuses because it got her away from her home life and to think that that really happens for girls makes me incredibly sad. All of my notes while reading this book were sad thoughts. The way Gavin could manipulate Grace hurt me. Because I wanted more for her, I wanted her to see Gavin for who he really was, and each time it seemed like she saw the truth, she’d make more excuses and it was too much. This was such an unsettling read. You feel like a voyeur reading the book, you know it’s going to go wrong and yet it’s so compelling you can’t stop reading. But it did affect me, I did have to put the book down multiple times. I would say to myself I was going to finish the book that evening (something I can easily do with books) and yet I would read five or six chapters and just have to do something else, anything else.

Heather Demetrios writes at the end that she’s had personal experience of what Grace goes through with Gavin and you can tell, is that a stupid thing to say? I don’t think so, but I mean it’s all on point, I was terrified for Grace so much of the time and I also got annoyed at her for not just breaking up with him but then I understood why she didn’t and I know from what I read on the news and magazines that when you’re in a relationship like that, it’s so hard to get away. I couldn’t write a book like this, because I haven’t been through anything like that, no amount of research can make a book so utterly believable, the emotions so real. Bad Romance was just an incredible read on all levels. It’s unsettling, and please be aware of the triggers before you read this book, I don’t see myself as having triggers whilst reading or watching TV, but it affected me, too. It’s an important read, though. If you can read Bad Romance you should. It’s good to see that in YA it isn’t all sweetness and light (I *love* sweetness and light, but it’s important to show both sides of relationships, that it isn’t all being in love forever at that young age, that it can be a bad relationship).

I have to admit that I had a lot of prejudices when I started reading this book. It’s a very difficult subject that the author explained perfectly in her book.

The story is about Grace, a girl who falls in love with Gavin, handsome and… manipulative. She thinks that she found her soul mate, her true love, but through the book, we can see how this perfect relationship will become a prison for her.

First of all, I loved how the book was written. The writing was simply beautiful, descriptive but not boring, with a lot of musicals references which I loooved. Also the author chose to write this book as a kind of letter to Gavin from Grace. The book begins at the end of the relationship, when Grace is finally free from this toxic relationship. Throughout the book, Grace talks to Gavin, using the pronoun “you”. It’s kind of a letter she writes to finally let go of him. And the story she tells is heart breaking, and you will often find yourself crying.

We can see step by step, how Gavin succeed to control Grace. He makes her feel guilty about things like having guy friends, or being with friends who don’t like him (how surprising), or just having strict parents. Grace sees that something is wrong, but she ignores it and makes excuses for him, because she’s in love.

We often wonder how can someone stay with a person who treats them like shit? Well, the answer is in this book. And I promise it’s worth the read. If you don’t like to read about negative things, that’s totally okay. Even if it’s about a difficult subject, the book doesn’t leave us hopeless. We have positive things all throughout the book, like amazing girl friendships, and we have hope. We know from the first page of this book that Grace will be free of this relationship. This book isn’t here to tell a sad, tragic story. I think the intentions of the author were to explain how someone can be manipulated, and still love the person. How someone can control us, and how to detect it.

I will finally say that it was a great book. I read it in one sitting, and when I finished it, I just wanted to applaud the author for writing a book well-written about a subject like this.

Bad Romance is a raw and realistic look at an abusive relationship. Told from Grace's PoV, after the relationship has ended, the story is told with an honesty and clarity that only comes from hindsight. This is an incredibly important book as it provides an extraordinary look at how love can turn toxic and how unbelievably difficult it can be to escape even if you want to.

<SPOILER>The ending to this was absolute perfection. I love love love that Grace leaned on her friends, Nat and Lys. The fact that she ended the story with them instead of in another relationship with Gideon (even though he was a great guy) was so incredibly important to me. I believe it's paramount for someone leaving an abusive relationship to surround themselves with support and heal before entering another relationship. The fact that the author took this route filled me with such joy and relief.</SPOILER>

Bad Romance was an incredible book that I absolutely recommend, especially for teens and young adults. I hope it helps someone somewhere know their worth and that they deserve love and respect.

Trigger warnings: clear depictions of abuse, suicide. This could be a painful book for some people, so please use caution.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for a copy of this book!

Wow. Demetrios knows how to write. A painful but needed book. Told in the second person POV, a letter to the abusive boyfriend who had once been the boy of Grace's dreams, Demetrios documents the story common to so many girls and women I know. The author perfectly captures the teenage feeling of falling in love, and then does a fantastic job of showing her character's waking up to the reality of her situation. Again, it's a hard read, but it's necessary. In a society in which rough love and stalking are falsely portrayed as romantic, Heather Demetrios shows the other side of the coin--this "love" going rotten and the dilemma of a girl who doesn't know how to get out of it alive. Stellar writing. Wonderful portrayal of family dynamics. Excellent reflection of the beauty and necessity of healthy female friendships. 5 stars!

This compelling narrative drew me right in. It was a tough read, but in the best kind of way. The book opens a year into Grace's relationship with Gavin, once their romance has gone bad and Grace is trying to figure out how to get herself out of it. From the start, the reader knows not to fall for Gavin's charms, but Heather Demetrios still manages to show us exactly how and why a smart, driven girl like Grace could end up in a destructive romance that she can't extricate herself from. I felt for Grace every step of the way, even though I had been forewarned about Gavin and even though there were major warning signs--I always understood and empathized with Grace's choices even as I wished I could somehow leap inside the book and help her make different ones. I also appreciate the depiction of awesome female friendships, and the way Demetrios gave Grace some hopeful outlets and relationships so that she (and the reader) could see how things could be better for her without Gavin but also didn't let Grace have an easy escape from her relationship, since that would not have felt realistic. Beautifully written and packed with emotion, this book has definitely stayed with me and given me a lot to mull over.

Honestly, I dislike books in 2nd person. I couldn't get very far into it. It seemed well-written, and the premise was interesting, but the 2nd-person perspective turned me off.

Let me preface that I very guiltily enjoy these types of books. I don't enjoy the abuse, but I like watching characters realize that they deserve better than this and do the right thing for themselves. I knew from the description that I'd enjoy this book and was over the moon when I was approved on NetGalley. So, thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for letting me read!

"Bad Romance" chronicles the relationship of Grace and Gavin over the course of a year. Grace has admired Gavin from afar, but an incident makes him aware of her for the first time and, surprise, they fall in love. Then things turn sour. We're talking horseradish level sour.

Understandably, this is a tough book to get through. You really put yourself into Grace's shoes and it makes you think what you would do in her situation. It's also, understandably, not for everyone. But if you can stomach a difficult topic, I'd highly recommend "Bad Romance."

This book opens with the main character retelling the story of how she fell in love with her boyfriend Gavin, gave him everything and how he screwed with her mind and told her she worthless and more. She's doing an inner monologue she thinks about how she will reflect on the whole relationship to show how they came to this spot where she's going to dump him and move on from their abusive relationship. She wants to look back on their relationship and pinpoint where he went wrong and started treating her badly, started showing his true colours and why it took her so long to figure out he was poison.

Throughout the first 20% of the book I didn't really like Grace or Gavin but obviously, I sympathised for Grace because as has such an awful family and she's about to fall into an awful relationship too. Mostly I was so annoyed by Gavin for most the book as well because I already know he's an a-hole but also because he's just annoying with his, "I'm a hot guy in a drama class and I sing all the time and write songs for girls with my guitar!" - I just can't help but roll my eyes at that sort of crap and his character seems so fake to me especially when I already hate the character so yes, I'm totally biased.

The abuse Gavin throws at Grace starts as soon as their relationship is spelt out and they start actually dating. Basically, in the same breath, Gavin goes on to pressure her into telling him how sexual she has been with guys before him. She's clearly uncomfortable but he presses her so she tells him about the few, tiny little sexual things she's done in her past since she's still very new to romance and he, of course, gets enraged at the thought of any other person EVER touching her and declares that he's the only one who will touch her because abusive men always need to say that line at least once. From there it even goes up another notch to no-one of the opposite sex can touch you ever!

I really enjoy when books make me mad at a scenario or a character and through many times in this book I was just so damn livid at Gavin. It's just hard because I want her to get help and everyone around her looks at her with pity and tries to tell her Gavin is controlling and abusive but she wears her tinted glasses in her own little world and doesn't see any of that! So I can't be annoyed at Grace, I have no right to because she's just a young, naive girl who is being controlled and played with by a devil of a person.

No-one deserves my hate in this book except for Gavin but doesn't that just show how easy it is to blame the victim? I know she's getting out of this so I'm not thinking why isn't she leaving but I'm actually annoyed at her for sticking around throughout all of this and that's the way we're conditioned to think. We don't observe as a person that another person is in a really difficult position with someone they truly love even if the other person treats them like crap and constantly guilt trips or threatens them into staying with them. It's awful but most people assume it's so easy to leave a relationship so this book is wonderful in that way because it shows that no, it's actually not easy at all.

After some reflection, I think this book was really awesome. Bad Romance was well written and the pacing was great because there was ample time spent on each stage of their relationship. It was also discussing a really important, difficult and uncomfortable subject. In Australia, one in four women will experience emotional abuse in their life, one in three will experience physical abuse before the age in fifteen and on average one woman will die every week from a current or former partner. We need books like these written in the Young Adult section so young people can read about relationships and actions they would brush off like Grace did and learn to notice the signs of an abusive relationship for themselves and their peers. If they're educated about this sooner in life than they may just have an easier time distancing themselves from bad people. I think I rambled a bit too much in this review but I think it's great that this book showed what verbal abuse looks like because we know it is definitely as damaging as a physical slap.

Their love was so perfect, until it became sick. Every movement checked, every word a possible grenade, living life looking over your shoulder; the life of a soldier entrenched in guerrilla warfare love. This is a cautionary tale about teenage love that starts as innocent as a flower but quickly morphs into a strangling vine. Cyclical venomous relationships, like mother like daughter, a lesson learned the hard way is Bad Romance. There are themes of emotional, verbal and physical abuse, depression, manipulation, suicide, and OCD on top of regular teen angst and growing pains, this novel packs it all in. Demetrios delivers all this with a sarcastic wit that keeps it all a little left of sane and adds a touch of humor to situations where it's hard to find. The truth and real of so many situations and relationships rang familiar (... mom? Is that you? Seriously.) Bad Romance gives another perspective on the ever popular Edward and Christian's kind of possessive, all encompassing 'love' as well!
I am glad that Grace did hold onto herself as much as she could, and had the sweetest, truest love of all for a senior in high school, her BFF's who had her back through it all and then some.

I love the author's note at the end; way to look out for others in this situation, and help heal yourself in the process. Fabulously written, a must read.

*The only thing I do not like about this book; its title. After reading it and going on this journey, the title doesn't seem like 'enough' for me.