No, just no. Bully romances are tricky by nature, in my opinion, but can be done well. Breaking You is not one of them.
Warren is not just an a-hole. He’s a predator and is sexually assaulting Harper, the only woman he’s supposedly ever loved, from the second she reappears in his life. He wants revenge for her betrayal, to break her the way she broke him three years ago.
The humiliation and assault from the get-go was a lot for me, but I kept reading hoping that it would turn around once his reasons were revealed. And okay, he had a kind of good reason to be pissed, but he was an immature jerk for not discussing it with her then or now. And Harper just takes everything that Warren dishes out and returns for more? No thank you. She deserved more than that.
Sure, there’s a nice HFN at the end, but I didn’t hate by that point because I was so turned off by his behavior and her simple acceptance of his apology. He was AWFUL to her, and she just took him back? No, this one didn’t work for me.
I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.