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The Boys #1

Bad Boys Break Hearts

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Mascen Wade, star pitcher of the Aldridge University baseball team, is a lot of things.

Rich.
Hotter than sin.
The campus’s reigning bad boy.

We knew each other once upon a time, but even if I’m named after a princess, it doesn’t mean my life is a fairytale.

My plan is to keep my head down, get my degree, and leave this town.

But the moment Mascen Wade recognizes me all my carefully laid plans come crumbling down. He’s decided he wants to make my life a living hell. But I’m not so easy to push around and won’t put up with his bully playground antics. Too bad for me I’ve never been able to resist him.

438 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2020

4637 people are currently reading
22214 people want to read

About the author

Micalea Smeltzer

86 books6,705 followers
Micalea Smeltzer is an author from Northern Virginia. Her two dogs, Ollie and Remy, are her constant companions. As a kidney transplant recipient she's dedicated to raising awareness around the effects of kidney disease, dialysis, and transplant as well as educating people on living donation. When she's not writing you can catch her with her nose buried in a book.

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5 stars
4,160 (23%)
4 stars
6,139 (34%)
3 stars
5,382 (30%)
2 stars
1,687 (9%)
1 star
553 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,618 reviews
Profile Image for Caitlin.
400 reviews2,929 followers
April 1, 2022
Bad boys can break my heart and my back.
Profile Image for Laura Lovely.
57 reviews5,260 followers
August 27, 2020
take my word and read this, enemies to lovers masterpiece methinks
Profile Image for NMmomof4.
1,792 reviews5,049 followers
dnf
October 30, 2020
DNF @ 26%

Yeah...no. I’ll admit my funk has made me intolerant for certain things lately and that could be the case here. If I’m being frank (or bitchy 🙈), this felt like a book that wanted to ride in on the success of bully books like Vicious but didn’t quite work. The reason for his attitude was downright stupid, so I felt like he was just being a jackass for no reason. I didn’t find the h all that likable either. I got to him stating “because you don’t belong to him” after she is hanging out with his best friend (who he thinks she slept with but didn’t) and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and call it quits. Was that sexy and I missed it? It felt dumb...they were friends when they were young kids. The last time they saw each other she was 8 and he was 10! It’s not like they had some great romance that was cut tragically short!

I’m over it 🤦🏻‍♀️🙄
Profile Image for FictionalDen.
256 reviews275 followers
April 25, 2024
DNF

So we have the main guy Mascen who is the rich popular guy in College.
Then we have Rory who is the poor scholarship student, who has to beg to get a job as a waitress once she joins college.

Okay so Mascen and Rory were childhood besties, until one day Rory had to leave.

Now years later they meet again and Mascen hates her. Why? Because after so many years they have met again and how did they meet? He bumped into her while she was leaving his best friends room.

Honestly, over the years I’ve forgotten about her. She became a memory, just someone I used to know. But when my eyes lit on her in the hallway I recognized her instantly, but the shock and awe gave way quickly to anger, because she was leaving my best friend’s room. It was dumb, childish anger that roared inside me, this primal feeling of I saw her first and it hasn’t dulled since this morning. It also didn’t help when I realized she’s the girl I almost ran over yesterday. I don’t know how I didn’t recognize her then, but I guess I was too lost in my head.

So now Mascen is like I need to stop thinking about Rory, so what does he do? Calls one of his bimbo’s and they end up going on a date to the same place Rory works. Surprise surprise. And coincidentally the go and sit on the same section Rory is responsible for.

And then they both proceed with “insult” worthy exchanges. I just don’t understand why he is behaving this way. It makes no sense to me. He is just being an asshole.

As I’m walking away I hear his date ask what’s going on with all the nicknames and if he slept with me or something. I’m too far away to hear his reply. What a shame. I do give my eyes a hard roll though at the preposterous idea of the two of us ever bumping uglies. Mascen is wealthy. I’m the hired help.

So yeah I stopped reading after this. This book was just not for me.
Profile Image for Jessica .
2,651 reviews16k followers
August 9, 2022
TW suicide

I love a brooding hero who is angry at the world. Also, when the girl is his best friend's girlfriend? Bring on the angst!! From the beginning, Mascen treats Rory horribly. Rory and Mascen were best friends when they were little, but after Rory's family falls apart, her family moves and Rory is basically left to fend for herself. Now, she's doing her best to do well in college and make new friends. I really loved her relationship with her roommates and how different they all were from each other. They were fun and I loved how they helped her out when it came to dating and going out, especially since she hasn't had the time to let loose and have fun. Mascen is immediately hard on her when he realizes who she is, but Rory really connects with his best friend. This became super angsty because Mascen starts falling for Rory, even though she's completely off limits. I really loved how they reconnected and started falling for each other again. Mascen also had to confront his relationship with his rock star dad, which I enjoyed as a side plot. Even though this is technically a bully romance, Rory never let Macsen push her around and she stood up to him when he was being mean. I really loved her character and seeing what she came from. I'm excited to move on to book two and read Cole's story!
Profile Image for Christy.
4,554 reviews35.9k followers
August 17, 2022
4 stars

Another Micalea Smeltzer book, another win for me! Bad Boys Break Hearts is a new adult friends to enemies to lovers story.

Rory is starting her first year of college and she’s so excited to get away from her mom and her life. She had something traumatic happen to her when she was eight and her life was forever changed. She had to move away from her best friend at the time, ten year old Mascen, and hasn’t seen him since.

Until she ends up at his house… coming out of his roommates room. This ends up being a bit of a bully romance, but super light on the bully which I appreciated. I loved seeing Mascen and Rory get back that friendship they lost so long ago and become friends (and then some) again.

I’m super excited to read Cole’s book which I think is next in the series. This wasn’t my favorite Micalea book, but still a solid read for me. And the narration was 10 out of 10. Erin Mallon killed it and Jacob Morgan did an incredible job as well.
Audio book source: Audible
Story Rating: 4 stars
Narrators: Jacob Morgan & Erin Mallon
Narration Rating: 5 stars
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Length: 9h 20m



862 reviews9 followers
June 14, 2020
Seriously, how does this have so many high ratings? I’m 27% of the way in and I’m so f*ing bored. The book just goes on and on about nothing. NOTHING. why am I persevering???? The characters are boring. Not likeable. Boring. Ugh.
Profile Image for Manvi.
240 reviews215 followers
December 4, 2021
2.75⭐
Oh, look who just took a fucking forever to finish this snooze fest?

Things I liked:
•The dialogues.
•The girls' friendship.
•A girl named Mallory.
•Maddox Wade (Mascen's good dad) naming all his hedgehogs such as Pokehontas, Quill Smith, Edgar Allen Poke, Winston Churchquill, Quillie Nelson, Quilliam Shakespeare.
•Aurora nicknaming Mascen with ridiculous villain names every other sentence.

Things I didn't like:
•The lack of punctuations (yes, I'm a Grammar Nazi and it's a published book).
•The unnecessary drama Mascen created and making it seem like his dad's a bad guy.
•The nickname, Princess, Mascen had for Aurora (because I refuse to call her Rory).
•Mascen having more chemistry with Mallory than with Aurora, our fucking main character.
•Aurora not brushing her teeth and hair in hurry and leaving her dorm for the rest of the day. Like have you not heard of hygiene?!
•The fact that Mascen wasn't even a bad boy.

So, in conclusion, it was boring. *yawns*
Profile Image for Iqra.
706 reviews6,242 followers
October 29, 2022
I was this 🤏 close to DNF-ing. Whoo! I should get a medal for finishing it. Maybe I’m exaggerating because it wasn’t that bad.

It just dragged for a bit. The concept was really good. Some of the dialogue was corny and cheesy and sounded so fake. It didn’t flow properly. It felt like too much of a mouthful. Too many words.

As for the story at one point I really thought the mcs should have ended up with different people. I felt so bad for Cole. Ah he has my entire heart ❤️

Mascen needed to grovel more. She didn’t even stand her ground. But I was so ready for this book to be over. Had to rush read the ending.
Profile Image for maura .
469 reviews82 followers
January 3, 2021
dnf @ 70%

i just couldn't with this book. the writing and the story felt very juvenile which lead to me rolling my eyes the entire time. this story reads fanfiction with a lot of telling and not enough showing. i wanted a fun and quick new adult romance, but this was just not it for me. since i made it more than 50% of the way through, i am going to rate it and give it 1 and a half stars.
Profile Image for alka .
211 reviews557 followers
Read
September 25, 2021
dnf@60%
ms. smeltzer should release an april fool's edition of this book where the plot is actually eventful and the characters are not so typical


i hate dnfing books these days but with this one, i 😭 just 😭 can't 😭
Profile Image for Dawn.
530 reviews
June 18, 2020
Not a fan

What started as such a sweet beginning (that had me so excited) went downhill quickly, and stayed there. Cheating is kind of a hard limit for me. I feel like it makes the person untrustworthy and I don’t really care about their happiness at that point. I think the author was trying to go for the “badass” type girl. That would be great if authors could get it though their head that being slutty and not caring about other people isn’t what makes the character badass. I couldn’t get over the fact that the h dated the H’s friend basically to rub it in his face. Then she cheats on that guy with the H and I didn’t see a trace of guilt. She broke up with him later but it was because of the H not because she realized she was wrong. Since I know someone will want to know, she hadn’t slept with the friend but had been dating him for a month. I guess points for telling her friends that she’s used plenty of guys for sex but she knew he wanted more so that’s why she didn’t. I didn’t really know what to do with that conversation. Honestly that it made me laugh (it wasn’t supposed to be funny) because it was such an “author trying to hard to make something work that doesn’t” moment. There was another similar scene before she went on date, because she told her friend she didn’t know how to do that. Yeah, apparently she usually just screws the guys. The author seemed to be trying to flip the characters and make the female the “manwhore” in this book. Some people may like that but I don’t. I am an equal opportunity judgey ass. Her being one doesn’t make him any better. Besides in the book all he did was go on a couple of fake dates to get her attention. She got into an actual relationship with his friend to screw with him and then cheated on the friend. And before anyone crucified me for “slut-shaming” it’s not just the sleeping around, she was also just a bad person. The friend that she used was a decent guy, and she was a slut that screwed with his feelings and caused a rip in his friendship. If the hero had done that, he would be torn apart. I can’t even think of a book in this genre that had the man start dating her friend and cheat on her friend with her. That a douche line that the even the more riske authors don’t bother doing because they know that’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed: I’m torn because after a read this bad I’d usually just accept that they have no talent and move on. But this author did write another book that I liked so I’ll wait and see. And honestly I think I know what happened. I’ve seen it with other authors. She sees this genre that’s getting popular and thinks she can write a book like that. But then she tried to hard to imitate what these authors have done and tried to do something similar. Apparently she’s read some reviews as well, because she flipped some things, if she had done them well it could have really worked, but she didn’t). The biggest problem with the authors that imitate is that they are missing the heart. They try to plug in the pieces together like it’s a formula, but they don’t fit together. That is exactly what happened here. The parts that should have been positive or girl power just didn’t work because A, they were a little gross and B they were insincere and C what I already said about sluttyness not being what makes someone badass. I did like that the yes hero had went through a manwhore phase but had stopped before the book started and she ever came along. Yes having him been one at all would have been better, but she certainly wasn’t prepared to stop. I guess I really shouldn’t care, because I definitely stopped caring if they got together. Lord knows one of the characters should have to be decent enough to root for. All of the the sweetness at the beginning was wasted. I hope another author writes something similar but with an enjoyable story.
Profile Image for ★¸. • * ° * ༺*Blanka*༺*°°*•.¸. ♥★.
2,242 reviews327 followers
June 4, 2020
It was cute but nothing to write home about. Honestly even at the end I didn't know what the hero's problem was during the whole book. So he didn't know how to communicate to daddy dearest but that was no reason to be the way he was? Come on, you are almost a grown up! Grow up!
The heroine, was cute but she too was too forgiving and the way she backlashed I thought she would fight more, make him work for it but nope. Nada.
Eh, one to the next...
Profile Image for Carmen Rae.
1,687 reviews187 followers
May 26, 2021
I saw the promo for Good Guys Don't Win and I had to get my grabby hands on it. Then I read the first few pages and felt like I was missing out on something, so I checked on GoodReads and realised it was book two in the series. Since I had some time with our current Covid restrictions I decided to one click this on KU and read it first and I'm glad I did.

From the start I loved Aurora, AKA Rory. She was so strong and competent and after everything she had been through, I wanted everything to work out perfectly for her. And honestly despite the fact that I wanted Mascen to get a junk punch for most of this book the chemistry between them was electric.

Mascen really had no reason to be the jackhole that he was, which kind of frustrated me. Obviously, it added to the story but the fact his life had been awesome while Rory's fell apart and he was the bitter one annoyed me. Then he would do something sweet or have a silent epiphany and I would be putty in his hands again.

And now I get to dive into Cole's book which already has me so excited. Especially since he was so awesome in this book.
Profile Image for •.~*Izzy*~.•.
295 reviews28 followers
January 28, 2025
2.5⭐️ was this book riddled with misogyny throughout most of it? yeah. did it have too many filler chapters that just made an otherwise decent premise feel way too drawn out? also yes. i got bored after about halfway, a lot of it was just meh, then there’s a not at all good third act breakup, and not to mention the fact this man has control issues.

overall it has a lot of issues, but i didn’t completely hate it. there were some redeeming qualities, but they also did my man cole dirty. so it was just okay
Profile Image for Kerry Ann.
143 reviews464 followers
June 13, 2022
I DNF’d 50%, i couldn’t😵‍💫
Profile Image for Laramie.
48 reviews12 followers
Read
February 23, 2025
DNF at 57%. I really really tried, y'all and the guilt that I couldn't finish it is hitting HARD, lmao. But I'm prioritizing myself over this. Plus, I think forcing myself to read it has put me in a slump now and I'm trying to get out of it.

If anyone wants to read this, please don't be discouraged by my review. You might actually like/love it. 🫶🏽✨
Profile Image for c a r í.
917 reviews176 followers
March 8, 2021
I've finished reading this a few days ago! And this book gives me the right amount of angst, tension a friend turns to enemies to lovers trope! This book is sexy- Mascen & Aurora's chemistry is off the chart!

Micalea Smeltzer is a new author for me, but after reading this I crave more of her books now. This will not be the last.

Profile Image for Ilaria 🌸.
748 reviews43 followers
October 30, 2020
Nice really nice
Predictable but nice like iced water on a heated sunny day
Profile Image for veronica ☽.
451 reviews64 followers
January 7, 2022
a cute, cliche read! Not my favorite, but it passed the time.
3.5 stars ✨

tropes: childhood friends to strangers to lovers, bully romance, college, enemies to lovers
Profile Image for SzarlottaSzott.
355 reviews63 followers
March 17, 2021
What was that 🤦🏼‍♀️

OK, I give this book 1.5⭐️ and this is only because I managed to read it all.

If I was playing a drinking game, taking a shoot every time a word “princess” was used, I would be already heading to the rehab...

It felt like fanfiction written by a teenage girl. I’m not a native so perhaps it’s not my place to judge, but some sentences in this book felt so superficial as someone just took a “recipe” for a sentence and put some words in it - take this:

“Despite how things started out I think we were headed this way the entire time.
With breakfast done we cleaned up the last of the mess together despite his protests.”

Congratulations, we used “despite” in two different ways in two consecutive sentences👌

This story was full of unnecessary descriptions and these little additions which were spoiling me any pleasure I had in reading .... some examples:

“I drag my fingers over the wall, heading closer to the sound. Whoever is playing is talented. I’m not musical genius, but I know when someone is good or not”

➡️Why, please why did someone put there this last sentence?!?

“She reaches up, snatching my baseball cap and planting it on her head backwards.
“I could have lice you know”
“I’ve had your dick in my mouth. I think I’ll take my chances.””

➡️yes, It is a real quote! No comment😂

“I don’t have time to panic too much before Mascen grabs my arm pulling me up. How he manages to do that, I know I’m not the lightest person, is beyond me. He must have Thor-like strength. It would make sense considering he seems to think he’s god.”

➡️🤦🏼‍♀️why oh why do we mention Thor?

And the last thing, I really believe that this book would benefit from having only Single POV. The author clearly did not know how a man in his early twenties thinks and behaves. So we have this broken bad boy who clearly has some issues (although like all people who actually read this book, I don’t get what his issues were) and this is what he thinks:

“(finishing talking to his mom on face time) She blows a kiss and like always I grab it, pressing it against my heart”

Do NOT recommend, perhaps only if you want to have some fun and laugh out loud!🤦🏼‍♀️
Profile Image for Aviva’s Library.
282 reviews3,887 followers
January 31, 2022
I definitely saw potential but there was too much that bothered me with the actual storyline for me to rate it any higher.

I think they were too young when they parted to have really had the memories and feelings they had that drove the story to be what it was. If they were 13/15 instead of 8/10 I would have believed it more.

I also thought the ‘enemies’ aspect was a bit forced and the first half of the book could and should have been avoided and not even have happened.

But besides for the actual building blocks for the entire story… it wasn’t a bad read. There was great banter between both characters, I felt the chemistry and I think it has a solid buildup. Also the writing style made it very easy to fly through.

I probably would have liked this a lot more if I read it when I was a little younger and had less books under my belt… so I wouldn’t have been as picky. I’m definitely going to continue with the series because I’ve heard they each get better and better
Profile Image for Jaime.
671 reviews20 followers
August 21, 2020
DNF @ 21%

Yea. This book doesn’t make sense. I’m really confused as to why the H hates the h? Apparently his parents were really open about why the h had to move away suddenly when he was 10 and she was 8, so I’m struggling to understand his animosity? It’s not like she had control over whether she could say goodbye or keep in touch when she was EIGHT. And we’re not talking about a mild dislike, he legit HATES her. It makes absolutely no sense. This book would be way more believable as a second chance romance, but as enemies to lovers, it just doesn’t jive.

Unfortunately, I don’t recommend this book.
Profile Image for angeliki ༊*·˚.
216 reviews13 followers
May 20, 2023
➳ 2 stars. ✰

IM FREE 🙏🙏🙏
FUCK MASCEN AND FUCK RORY AND FUCK EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS BOOK
i can’t decide if i feel bad for mascen bc he obviously has some issues he needs to go to therapy with, OR IF HES JUST A FUCKING DICKHEAD AND I WANT TO SLAP HIM
And fuck rory too man, cole did not deserve that .
It got better when mascen and rory got together (sort of?) BUT IT WAS STILL SO FRUSTRATING AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY
Profile Image for Lisa :).
191 reviews
May 29, 2020
Am I getting to old for NA romance?


I hated Mascen! What did Rory See in him?! He was throwing himself a pity party every other day and after a while I just wanted to smack him up the head
Profile Image for Penny.
475 reviews64 followers
May 22, 2022
I can’t say much about this book. It was an okay childhood friends-to enemies-to lovers college romance read. Just a decent read, nothing more. I’m not sure if I’ll read the rest of the books in the series. 3 ⭐
Profile Image for Anne OK.
4,112 reviews555 followers
May 28, 2020
3.5 Stars

Childhood best friends until, at ages eight and ten, a tragedy occurs that separates them. Ten years later by purse accident the come face to face -- and it turns to an enemies to lovers storyline. Oh and he's the star pitcher on the college baseball team, rich and king of the campus driving around in a Range Rover. Of course, she's the poor girl who has no family to speak of and drives around in her grandpa's old dilapidated pickup truck and borrowing clothes from her roommates. But she is also very smart and works for everything she has while attending a preppy college on scholarship. He's Satan and she's Princess. And it's a romp between the bad boy athlete and the girl he lost at ten years old.

It follows pretty much the same path most of these types of tropes take. It was well written and had some dynamite witty banter and over-the-top name calling. I found it entertaining and a fast read.
Profile Image for nikita.
148 reviews64 followers
September 21, 2020
just your same old story where the hero and heroine were childhood best friend and then heroine moves out of town. now when they’re in the same college, and they meet after 10 years, the hero hates her for leaving... yeah no <3 pretty boring nothing new <3
Profile Image for Melluvsbooks.
1,570 reviews
dnf
June 22, 2021
DNF - promiscuous h - slow burn - H watches her date other people 🙄
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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