Stolen Bruises

by Grace C.S

Joshua Lockhart is afraid of nothing.
Heir to a billion dollar empire, he doesn't bend, doesn't break, and definitely doesn't care

Until her.

After losing her father and being bullied out of her home country, Aurora Campbell arrives in America with one Start over. New university. New city. New life

But hope is fragile

And Joshua Lockhart shatters it.

Cold. Untouchable. Addictive in the worst way, Joshua pushes Aurora further than anyone ever has, reminding her exactly why she learned to stay silent in the first place. To him, she's weak. Too soft. Too easy to break

There's just one problem

She gets under his skin

What starts as indifference turns into obsession, and Joshua is forced to face something far more dangerous than feelings he doesn't know how to handle... and damage he might not be able to undo

Because Aurora isn't just fighting him

She's fighting for her voice

And when the girl he broke is the only one who can save him...

The line between ruin and redemption begins to blur.

Obsession is easy. Love is dangerous

Genres: Romance

617 pages, Paperback

Published March 2, 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

[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?!

[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!

[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.

[Peta]

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

[Grace C.S]

AUTHOR HERE!! Hello! CONSIDER THIS A WARNING! you don't have to read all this, it long! or you can skim teehee! Also people like different things and it shows...it shows LOL! that's okay! Well, most people hate josh more than me, i'll take that any day because Josh isn't real. phew!

i actually have be told by a person to unpublish the book because it was so bad and so uncomfortable and i won't lie, i considered it because i seem to have made a lot of people uncomfortable with how joshua acts and even how aurora act, BUT! I chose not to unpublish because Aurora is quite frankly me. I can't say no, I fold, i forgive super easily because im scared that if i don't, they'd push further and hurt me more. I just play it safe. I know its not the best book, obviously but i'll keep it up to honour myself, haha! I'm often scared of confrontation.

Thank you to everyone who has read it. it's means so much to me, seriously. You can love it it, like it, dislike it and hate it, we're not supposed to like everything, right? ANYWAY! Before i get called names or a woman hater any more, i'd love to be a little cheeky and give some context because it goes down from here but i don't think anything will be as bad as Joshua to be honest. HMMM, i don't know.

I enjoy writing books that are real despite it being uncomfortable, life is just like that. It's not meant to be perfect. If it is, then it's not real. Take Aurora for example, she has been called a doormat because of her chasing Josh. Josh has been criticised for not being the one chasing her. The whole situation with that is him simply choosing to let her go. He won't chase her, he won't choose to stay in her life and torment her anymore. Realistically, he won't chase. Aurora on the other hand, she developed feelings for him and knowing that, she acted on it. Love is something that removes a lot from one's decisions. Real life has proven people who love so much that they "self destruct" or lose self respect. The truth about that to me is self destructing isn't chasing the one you love despite what they've done. To me, self destructing is staying long enough to see that they haven't changed.

My series is a four book series, Joshua and Aurora's healing doesn't end just because their book ended. You'll see more of them in every other book coming. Healing doesn't happen just because you're in love, it's long and dragging. No one in the series will realistically be healed fully, but the whole point is that they're trying to for each other.

THANK YOU FOR READING! MWAH MWAH! KISS KISS!

[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

[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.

[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!

[Joanna Hazell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read

Don't usually go for slow burns but loved this book

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.

Love aly, jennie and Layla, will be reading Layla's story chasing summer soon.. hope aly and jennie get their own story too

Love aurora and Joshua Character and Relationship development

Cried so many times reading this book

So glad they got their Happy ending

[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

[Camila Anaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listennn to the reviews YES he treats her like shit, NO he doesn’t grovel, and YESSS she’s a doormat. I was bored but I kept pushing till 83% where he again breaks her heart and then his best friend tells the fmc that she should follow him and beg him immediately noooo I dropped that shit so fast nooo and then there was literally no fucking romance the whole fucking time these ticktock recommendations got me fucked up

[Deshu Saur Raus]

Well, the whole book up to where i read it was painful. Everything felt very unfinished and redundant the story plotline and the characters, good grief it was so barf inducing nightmare. I was underprepared for it and vice versa. Oh my dayss im sorry to say this, but no.

[S · Rating 2.75 out of 5]

DNF!! honestly I felt no emotion just felt like this book was a really boring movie that someone forced me to watch. To be honest the storyline is good but it just needed to be in better writing, would’ve been a good book if it had a better writer

[itss Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need more of them together 😭😭💕