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DECEMBER: The Odd Ones, Stories of Love and Grovel

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He never said I love you.

He never claimed me in public, never reached for my hand where someone might see.
And I told myself it was fine, that silence could still mean something, that stolen moments were enough. That being his secret was better than being nothing at all.

But then I heard him. I saw him with his ex, laughter spilling between them as they mocked me, tore me apart in ways silence never could. That was the night something inside me shattered, the night I realized I wasn’t unbreakable, just forgotten.

But while I was drowning in silence, he was waging wars I never saw — with his demons, his guilt, his ghosts.

And now it’s me who has to
keep loving him in the dark that ruined me…
or finally learn to stand in my own light.

263 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 15, 2025

121 people are currently reading
40 people want to read

About the author

Rina Amara GrovelDoll

4 books33 followers

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5 stars
52 (29%)
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52 (29%)
3 stars
48 (26%)
2 stars
19 (10%)
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7 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Nikki ღ Navareus.
1,096 reviews62 followers
November 25, 2025


I really enjoyed this story. This one hit close to home for me since I have a very close family member who was also abused by his girlfriend, and she left him bruised emotionally and physically. Our family was so happy to get this psycho out of our lives when the relationship ended, so this story really resonated with me.

This poor heroine grew up a little overweight, with an emotionally manipulative mother who systematically destroyed this heroine's self esteem with her hurtful and hateful comments about her weight. She never recovered and life was hard with the bullies and the hate from school buttheads treating her horrifically too. December finally sheds most of her weight, but she's still super insecure, when she starts a relationship with her first true love Ryder. She falls head over heels in love with him, but he keeps her hidden and treats her like a dirty secret, who he's embarrassed to show his relationship with out in the open for others to see. He's also a personal trainer with a godlike body, and he treats her like he barely knows her when she's at the gym working out close to him. That was extremely hurtful, but then there's an overheard moment with Ryder and his ex, where he says such devastating cruelty about December while looking right at her, that December loses every bit of confidence she's ever gained in her short time with him, and she spirals into depression.

So much more happens after this (there's a reason for Ryder's actions and it's all explained as the story unfolds), but the gut punch feels were epic. I absolutely got the angst I was craving from this story. I loved, loved, LOVED all the characters. The side characters were all lovely (you know, except the psychotic/nutjob OW), and December and Ryder were both such lovely characters too. I loved this story so much, it's definitely going on my re-read shelf!
Profile Image for Grisette.
667 reviews84 followers
January 22, 2026

3.5 stars

Wattpad author who turned to independent publishing! Bravo, it takes guts but well worth it. The writing was good, decent, as was the plotting. I expected loads of angst (overheard trope/ body image issues) and of course grovel.

The angst was on point and heartbreaking as we saw it through the heroine's eyes. However, from my personal view, the angstiness of it was dashed too quickly because the author chose to immediately provide the pov of the hero and thereby get the whole explanation for his behaviour. Too fast. Some tempering before the reveal would have helped the story better.

December and Ryder, the main characters, were broken characters that RAG depicted very well (warning: I hated Ryder's brand of selfishness in the first part - the plot explains it and acknowledges it, but I still seethe at the level of irresponsibility of the guy). The author invested in researching the psychological parts of it, making the healing feel realistic. However, I think her therapists characters sometimes spoke in too deep psy lingo that did not feel realistic, thereby making these chapters feel heavy. There was also some repetitiveness which a good editing would have prevented.

On the romance side, it was a sweet, subtle romance. In fact, this book was a good chunk self-healing and mutual healing than swooning romance. I don't consider that this book had grovel in the sense of a redemption arc, because both characters had so much hidden traumas that their initial relationship was bound to fail. But the apology and the efforts of Ryder to earn her trust felt very sincere.

All in all, a promising author. Based on the outlines of the other books (current and future) in this series, I think I might be tempted with a few of them - possibly, books about April and January.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Pinky.
643 reviews679 followers
November 21, 2025
Trigger Warnings:

Originally, I said that you don’t need to read GrovelDoll’s books in order. Now I think it might be better to read in the publishing order:
October
June

I discovered GrovelDoll’s books on Wattpad and ADORED them. When I found out her books were being published, I was ecstatic. This series follows a group of girls who call themselves The Odd Ones. They met online, and they all have the names of the month.

All I ever wanted was to be seen.
And he made me invisible.


December meets Ryder in the gym, he’s her coach. They date secretly, but it’s been 8 months. After overhearing Ryder speak about what he really thinks of December, she is heartbroken.

Now for spoilers


Stay safe folks!
Profile Image for Soph.
633 reviews62 followers
January 11, 2026
★★★. The representation of male domestic abuse was done well and how nobody thinks or believes a man can be abused was done well too, however if you are going to write a book about that maybeeeee we can promote it as such and not a grovel book?

For my safety readers, safe kinda. There’s no cheating, but there is other woman drama which leads to the third act. The fmc doesn’t forgive him after that until 90%.
Profile Image for Cheryl.
2,112 reviews62 followers
January 15, 2026
Two broken sould

Ryder and December both have issues caused buy years of torment. However, they do find their way to heal and come out on the other side.
Profile Image for I’m a Paula too… Thompson.
1,382 reviews6 followers
November 28, 2025
Shades of Johnny’s abuser…

Not very many books ever address female on male abuse. It seems to be a sort of taboo subject, or maybe authors don’t find it believable. The MMC, Ryder, is a huge guy with muscle, and he’s a personal trainer. When it turns out that the new owner of the gym is his ex, who is essentially a stalker, he knows he has to hide his relationship with December. Because the ex will attack.

This gave me shades of the domestic violence that my favorite pirate endured. There are still people who scoff at that woman causing him harm. Having watched the trial and seen the evidence, it seemed straightforward to me. She wanted over half of his assets for a marriage that lasted roughly 10 minutes. The parallels are obvious…

Anyway, the ex’s whole family are nutz and they enabled the ex by covering up all of her violent behavior. The third act here culminates in the ex’s mother pulling a gun.

There’s a lot of stuff happening in this one, and the chapters with the therapists are excellent. Lots of food for thought…

Great read, needs some editing though. Misplaced words, pronouns wrong, etc.
Profile Image for Chronic Chihuahua.
819 reviews18 followers
November 23, 2025
Abuse Does Not Excuse Abusing December And The Story Is More About Mira....Who I Don't Care About, Then Dr Klein Justifies Ryder's Abuse Of December

Wow, I really don't like Dr Klein and I really don't like the way they pretend a secret relationship isn't abusive.

I wanna headbutt her, can I headbutt her?

"Awk no, overweight girl, obviously you were supposed to feel good about being kept a secret and you should have said."

Dr. Klein, you are an Empathetic Abuser.
Profile Image for Ari.
105 reviews
November 26, 2025
Unsafe. There actually is cheating that is never addressed.

There was no reason for Ryder to take that girls number and then meet her in the bathroom while December watched.
Mira didn’t force him and no of those actions had anything to do with her stalking him.

He CHEATED on December plain and simple.

Unsafe. Avoid because there is cheating.
For those who want to read, the cheating happens in Chapter 4 when Ryder takes the OW to the bathroom (probably to fuck) right after he told her he was single and took her number.
He and December had been dating for 8 months by this point.

He never really grovels for all of the hurtful things he did he just grovel for the hurt that “December feels”. This author is an out and out misogynist. Don’t support her just pirate her books if you’re curious.
Profile Image for Traci.
267 reviews15 followers
Read
November 18, 2025
Read October and loved it.

December is self conscious due to her weight. Her gym coach becomes her lover but no one can know. To the point that she sees him in a restaurant and he introduces her as a client. A girl comes up asking if he’s single. He says yes, takes her phone number then laughs and flirts with her in the hallway.

He’s apologizing, he didn’t keep her number, he just needs 4 months then they can be public etc. Seems the owner of the gym, Mira, is his ex live in lover and she moving in 4 months.

She surprises him after hours in the gym. He’s not alone. Mira is telling him in 4 months this gym will belong to both of them, they’ll back together. He’s saying you’re the only one for me, not the sad chubby girl blah blah. Of course they see her and Mira is cruel to her while he calls her pathetic. Gut punch moment.

If domestic violence is a trigger, you may need to skip this book.

Safety

OWD for sure but no cheating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
287 reviews5 followers
February 1, 2026
Hmmmm

It started out ok. Fast paced...which I liked...then the author took a turn and for a large chunk of the book, they were apart. I get stories sometimes have and walk you through healing processes but with this book it just dragged on and on. The chapter of revealing his trauma was repetitive and long. I hated that all I felt...alright, we get it already...for such a serious topic. I wasn't 100% on board that both if them had to have serious trauma and it felt that she didn't reach out enough and be there for him after everything he went through. I get what she was going through, believe you me! But I wanted to see her feel the gravity of just what he was going through and that her safety was a reality. The author should have had her sneak in the courtroom or meet Anne or something. For me, something didn't click with the book as it turned more into a self help book than about the characters if that makes sense. Wish I could say something more positive.
649 reviews81 followers
October 19, 2025
First read on Wattpad.

Angst = h has been overweight and the things people say about her are ugly and she has such a poor view of herself.

h sees H with OW = h goes to visit H and H is with OW. OW confronts h and is horrible to her.

OW drama = OW is in actuality a cruel villain in that she has been physically abusing the H for a while and has done the same to others in the past. When the H tries to escape the situation and file charges on OW, it gets ugly quick. Comeuppance? OW ends up going to prison.

Grovel = H must make up for comments he made that were actually his attempt to protect the h from the OW. h comes to understand that the H had reasons, but she still did not give in to the H. She forgave him eventually. H and h go through a lot to get their happy ending. Don't want to give it all away, but it is an emotional read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
332 reviews
November 22, 2025
2.5/5

Mmm... Me gustó que este libro visibiliza el tema de la violencia doméstica y que no es exclusiva de un género, en este caso, quien la sufre es un hombre, y nos hace ver qué ni todos los hombres son malos, ni todas las mujeres son buenas. Aún así, no acabe de conectar con los personajes, si me enojé, si lloré, pero definitivamente hubo momentos en los que pensé en abandonar la lectura. Ryder dijo cosas muy feas de December, fue directo a sus inseguridades y eso dolió, yo sé porque lo hizo, pero no quita lo que se sufrió. Me gustó que cada uno sanó por su lado, como muestran que él sentía vergüenza de su mismo y de como la sociedad lo iba a juzgar por ser tan fuerte(hombre de gimnasio) y haber sufrido violencia de una mujer diminita. Realmente creo tuvieron un proceso de sanación y terminó como debía hacerlo.
44 reviews
December 31, 2025
A good book

This book is NOT a simple girl meets boy, boy screws up and they live happily ever afterward. This book actually had depth. There was emotional baggage for both of them that they had to work through together. Of course there is also the crazy stalker girlfriend. With some books I feel cheated not with this one.
39 reviews
October 18, 2025
wow, what a journey! I did not see that twist coming, bold of her to choose this subject matter, I loved the love, the compassion, the growth and the meaning of the cover!
loved Margot too, and can't wait for January's story
83 reviews5 followers
October 18, 2025
Wow!

December is a deeply emotional journey through two amazing yet broken people! I was unable to put it down, reading it straight through even though I didn't finish it the early morning hours. What a terrific, compelling story. I would highly recommend it!
262 reviews
October 28, 2025
I have to say that the first chapter from Ryder's POV made me cry and it touches a theme that is not common, and he's so wholesome that you feel so bad for him and then December it's just a sweetheart.

Those two deserved each other after everything they went through.
Profile Image for Athena Que Será, Será.
969 reviews70 followers
November 18, 2025
Tags: abuse, betrayal, curvy-beauties, damaged-broken_hero, damaged-broken_heroine, doormat_heroine, friends-with-benefits, grovel-remorseful, hero-hurts-heroine, hero-loved-or-loves-ow, hurtful-words-overheard, mean-mean-girls-women, ow-drama, read, second-chance, wattpad-mania
Profile Image for Wombat.
96 reviews
November 25, 2025
This story was so emotional and heartbreaking. I loved every bit of the heartbreak. AND I especially loved the perfect HEA ending. This story was the best. I cannot wait to read other works by this amazing author!
511 reviews
December 10, 2025
Oh my goodness!

Heartwarming and so sad. Emotions all over the place as I read this story full of feelings of neglect, unworthiness, domestic violence and abuse, emotional abuse and finally the road to healing.




















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