Stolen Bruises: A Bully, Slow-Burn College Romance

by Grace C.S

Genres: Romance

409 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 4, 2026

About the author

Grace is a Thai-British Author who writes slow burn romance centred around flawed characters, complicated relationships, friendship and growth. When she isn't writing, she's probably watching animes, reading mangas or coming up with book ideas she will never write.

Her stories aren't written to romanticize relationships or present them as something to aspire to. She writes relationships as they are within the lives of her characters, not as they ought to be.

Reviews

[alexia’s romance library · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this book being promoted on TikTok and thought it sounded good. I liked that it’s the authors debut novel because it opens my horizons regarding new authors but it wasn’t what I thought I’d be at all.

A lot of great books have come from fanfics so I have nothing against it but this felt unpolished. Like it could’ve gone through a couple more rounds of edits to have continuity with who the characters are and their interactions with each other.

The general idea regarding the plot was fine but there was a lot of unnecessary trauma from Joshua towards Aurora under the guise of broken people break people and all is forgiven in the name of love when in reality, he was shitty towards her 3/4 of the book.

Yeah, there are some cute moments and that was what was advertised on social media but besides that, I didn’t like Joshua until past the 50% mark and that was only because of his inner dialogue, not how he actually treated Aurora, the girl he’s supposedly in love with.

I think the cats saved the book if I’m honest.

[Abigail · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave this book a chance, I thought it’s a new book, I’ll give it a try, support the author. I couldn’t get behind it, personally I didn’t particularly like it.

The characters were quite interesting to say the least. Joshua I hated. He was horrible to her throughout. The way he talked about her at the start was crazy. I don’t know, this book just wasn’t for me.

[Tulip · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first part was like a Turkish soap opera, very slow, very repetitive, lots of crying and drama; the second part was kind of cute.
There were soooo many unresolved plotlines, idk if the author forgot about them or thought it was more important to add another cat. Anyways, to me the best part of the story was Alex and Joshua's dad.

[Ana Moreno · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldn’t force myself to finish it. wdym you like her bc she reminds you of your mom but like also bully her but also be miserable that she hates you. gross all the way

[Leen sami · Rating 2 out of 5]

red flag but nice plot

[miss possessive · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angst & warmth

I enjoyed reading this, I love books where it's mainly angst and yearning before the characters are together. Love both aurora and Joshua's character developments 🌟 lovely fun read!

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED IT!!! Want to read Layla’s book and Alex’s so bad then realized this is the authors first book 😭. Truly loved, the guy is such a simp, first bully romance I’ve actually liked, his pov from the start is just full of him absolutely obsessed. Yeah he hurt her, accidentally tho, and he made up for it and was overwhelmed by guilt the entire time.

[Oissela_Retssila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this book, some of the things that happend were unnecessary. And I think the whole thing with his father needed a better end, I mean I feel sorry for his dad he wants to change. Joshua you changed to right?? So don’t be a hypocrite.

I give this book 3⭐️

[letmeslowdown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t listen to the negative reviews, yeah Joshua was pretty shitty for a lot of the book but they’re missing the point, the dark places trauma can take you if you don’t deal with it.
He gave Aurora back what she was missing and she gave him real hope and real human kindness.
I loved every moment of it and would love to read more from this author!

[aromanticshelf · Rating 1 out of 5]

to sum this book up for you, he’s an asshole that hurts her over and over again, she’s a childish, oh so tiny, can’t do anything doormat. OH AND!! he doesn’t grovel. not even one bit. matter of a fact, SHE goes back to him. does the author hate women or what?!

[Peta]

DNF 40%. Bully isn’t for me - I’m too smooshy - but hard no when he hurts her

[Aishy Mendez · Rating 4 out of 5]

kinda gave me a vow of hate vibe in the beginning, and I love me some vow of hate.

for a debut author this is exceptional work, it has captures the angsty / misunderstand misanthrope of a mc and a fmc who is strong in her own quiet way. and Joshua is precious, but he sure needs therapy bc it's concerning how his ideaology of caring for someone was so distorted from his past.

I think I'll be rereading this again w my friend once my exams are over, and once I get her hooked on this book. (looking at u saja!)

can't wait to read the authors next work whenever that maybe.


this was a 4.5 stars read for me. could've been 5 but I felt like the ending could've been bit messier. it was almost too clean for me (sure sure call me a masochist sadist idc I like to see calm in chaos and the whole chasing arc of aurora only lasted what felt like a solid chapter. it could've been longer and had more male suffering on Joshua's end. like I condone female chasing. I would've loved it if Joshua got even more miserable and then had done the chasing. some grand gesture towards the end of the game would've sufficed too lol)

but this was one of my fav reads of this year so far! such a pity I had to read this right before my end of posting exams bc otherwise I could've taken my time to really annotate the hell out of this:(

[Mariam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the slow burn, he didn't know how to show his feelings properly and he did some stupid stuff in which i thought he did not deserve her, but he showed her that he changed and it was really cute so i'm glad i read it and i can't wait for the future books of this author!

[Jessy Oliva · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

“She’d never think it was anyone else, anyway. Just the universe being kind to her, protecting her. But it’s more than that. She’d never understand how far the universe would go for her. He’d do anything, even if it got overlooked. He’d do it even if it doesn’t benefit him at all.”

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 ✨

[Arie · Rating 3 out of 5]

writing 3 but story 4 ⭐️

[olivia May · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dramatic

[maricoti ⑅ · Rating 3 out of 5]

soccer player mmc & scholar fmc. honest review? maybe it's just me or really just me but i don't really like reading books that have a lot of pauses, a lot of periods, redundant words, like that. the story plot was there, great plot.

[eviee]

good lord above someone get this man PUT DOWN

[Chichi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has me questioning a lot and not in a good way

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. The character development, relationship development, so touching. The way it goes from hurt to comfort and how close you feel with the characters is something you definitely don’t see everyday.
Joshua is not perfect, he is real. His development is so important mostly because of that too; she changes him and he changes for her and despite him being sooo frustrating in the beginning, that’s what makes you appreciate the way he becomes another person, someone better.
Aurora is not shallow either, her development is so natural in a lot of ways but I’m not getting into that because it’d have spoilers.
The book has around 550 pages but I wish it had more, I cannot recall a single chapter that made me want to close the book. It is a slow burn and at the same time it keeps you on your toes all throughout, not a single boring page!
Cannot believe it’s the first of the author, looking forward for more!

[prisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a fan of bully romances but gave this one a chance. Some scenes are very repetitive but I do love female friendships that aren't always underlined with some sort of backhanded, negative motive. The characters were pretty likeable though and I really liked some of the scenes by themselves but I can't get over the whole bully plot when we don't really get any flashbacks to how he treated her. There were subplots that weren't explored enough in my opinion, but overall, it's a read with enjoyable scenes and I do look forward to Alex's book. Maybe Miles too.

[Vero Suárez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh, I didn’t really like the writing it felt like trying to hard which made it a bit hard for me to fully connect with the characters. I feel this story is incomplete, I believe the beginning and like the main plot was interesting, but the development of it was weird. It was jumping from place to place and there were some things that I felt a bit forced, like forced interactions that made the plot keep rolling but it felt just like that, forced not rolling with the story

[itss Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need more of them together 😭😭💕

[lezzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,25⭐️
Очередная книга из тиктока, выхода которой я ждала несколько недель и которая меня разочаровала

[mary ⋆˚✿˖° · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nostalgic wattpad vibes 🙂‍↕️

[Ray Ane · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5☆

[Clara · Rating 2 out of 5]

i really enjoy bully romances and that is what this book is said it is but i don’t know if it’s exactly bullying. He’s definitely not kind to her at times and the things he can do to her are strange but i’ve read other bully romances that seemed more than what this book was. I also didn’t like how the sentences in this book were so short and were stopping and starting it just felt unnatural to read. the found family aspect in this book was really good i really enjoyed the FMC coming out of her shell and gaining friendships she deserved. If you are new to bully romances and want something to dip your toes into this is the book for you but if not i don’t know if it would reach peoples expectations!

[Kate Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

i don’t usually write reviews but this honestly just pissed me off. he “bullies” her but it doesn’t ever show that, it just talks about it past tense. throughout the book he’s honestly just kind of an ass, and then randomly one day he decides he’s in love with her, but the next day he’s kicking a soccer ball at her and breaking her arm bc he’s jealous that shes talking to another guy. i get that it was an accident but hello i don’t even remember him feeling that bad like ??

also, after he realizes he’s in love, nothing changes and he continues to treat her horribly. not to mention the fact that there is absolutely ZERO groveling from his side-in fact, SHES the one that goes back to him and it’s just like whyyyyy??? like he was such a jerk to u hello?

it would’ve made a BIT more sense if he had one singular redeeming quality but nope. it j fell flat for me tbh. both of them annoyed me cause he’s a jerk and she’s a pushover who, on top of that, barely speaks.

also the epilogue is literally he takes her to a store, gives her his card, and she buys a book.

overall it was anticlimactic and def a waste of time i honestly skimmed over most of it, like it really wasn’t good guys. consider this a warning.