I have always been bullied and trapped in darkness. I hoped life would get better when I moved to my mother’s hometown, but it only got worse because it was there that I met my unrequited crush, Hayden Black.He despised me from day one, and even more when I became best friends with his twin, Kayden. Kayden gave light to my life, but my happiness with him lasted only until one night two years ago.… years ago.
That night Kayden died because of me.
Half of me died with him. The other half was left to bleed, suffering Hayden’s and his friends’ constant bullying.
Now I must endure one more year before I can finally escape them and go to college. This year has to be different.
Either I will become stronger, or they will finally break me into nothing.
Warning: This book contains mature and sensitive themes such as abuse, violence, and offensive language. It includes situations that may be triggering for some readers, so caution is advised.
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I loveeee this book and I definitely recommend it
THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!
I love Sarah, I think she got a really crappy hand delt to her. Her mom what not the best, to put it nicely, and I think that’s what led to a lot of her not having the nerve to stand up for herself, she never had a strong support system. Just look at what she’s started when Jessica became her friend, and even more so with Melissa and Mateo. I think that she’ll become a force to be reckoned with when it comes to protecting/standing up for the people she loves . I can’t wait to keep seeing her grow
Hayden, at the start of the book he was the epitome of evil. Showing no remorse whatsoever for what he was putting people through. I was not a fan. And how he kept saying he “owned” Sarah, not cool. Also not cool, taking a girls naked pictures without her consent. At that point I really didn’t think I’d ever like him at all. But towards the end, after he finds out he has BPD, and explains what it’s like in him mind all the time, wow. I’m not saying that because he’s got a mental disorder that’ll excuse his behavior, because it was super messed up regardless. I also can’t wait to see how Hayden keeps growing.
Vera has also said multiple times, plus at the end of the book, that not all people won’t BPD react the same. This is how she chose to portray this condition with her character in her book. People who have BPD could react differently to similar situations, just like with any other mental illness.
This book is dark, it shows some really messed up stuff. Do not read it lightly.
Sarah just wants to finish high school in peace, but her best friend’s death changed everything. Her bully, who’s also her best friend’s twin and her next-door neighbor, is blaming her for his brother’s death. Hayden Black made it his life purpose to ruin her life. Her life wasn’t that great, to begin with. Moving from one place to another, having an alcoholic mother, and never making friends left her no one but her art to turn to. Sarah has a crush on her bully and no matter how many times her head told her to stop loving the person who caused her pain, her heart won’t listen.
This book deals with triggering aspects such as violence, child abuse, sexual assault, mental illness, and of course bullying. Be aware if you want to read it, it might get overwhelming.
I came across this book back in 2017 when I was on Wattpad. The way it showed how bullying affects someone’s life is clear. Vera’s writing was able to pull me into their world. Overall, it’s a great book that deals with important topics but it’s a little “Wattpad”. When you use that app as much as I once did you’ll get quite used to the repeated themes. I have mixed feelings about it. I was hesitant to reread it, back then I enjoyed it but now I can’t help but see it through fresh eyes.
I hated Hayden. I wished Sarah would be braver and stand up for herself more. She made a few choices throughout the story that just made me frustrated. Her relationship with Mateo, to me, should work, because he is good for her. Mel is an interesting character that seems to be the only female capable of defending herself.
In a way, this series is about two mentally unstable teenagers falling in love with each other.
What I liked about this book is how it showed the eternal war victims of bullying go through. I’m not saying they have mixed feelings about their bully —hell no— they just have the thoughts of why me, and what did I do to deserve such hatred. Vera showed these conflicting emotions through Sarah’s pov. Also, having friends makes your darkness bearable and that exists in this book.
In the end, it’s a book with a great message. As I said, I have mixed feelings about it.
* First time reading author
The first thing I am going to say is, I gave this book 5 stars because Vera wrote outside the box and wrote as if she was in the school and didn’t back down from real bullying. While I was reading Hayden and Sarah’s story I kept asking myself “why are you reading this” and I had to remind myself that kids go through this every day, and they don’t get to walk away and close the book on it. I wanted to see where Vera was going with this story.
In this first story, I found no love between any of the characters. There was no understanding or even like between anyone. Pure hatred at the best of times came out of these characters. The intensity of feelings that radiated out of Hayden bounces off the pages. This book is like watching a car wreck that you know is not going to turn out good. But you have to know who is going to be bloody in the end.
That is why I went on to the next book.
This is a new to me author and one I’ll be reading more from as I have the rest of the series to binge.
This book conflicted me.
I really wanted to like it, and don’t get me wrong for a lot of it I did, but found myself cringing at his behaviour. Yes it was given a explanation of why, but his extremes were too much at least for me. Plus add in the fact his mum’s a doctor, how did she not realise?
It was nice to see the female main character grow a backbone and her strength was inspiring.
I’m intrigued to see what happens next.
Wow! This is a very intense story about extremely real topics that are also very difficult to control. Bullying in any form is not alright, as we all know, and this is demonstrated very clearly and very loudly in this story. All forms of bullying are explored and all just as horrifying too. There are no excuses for bullying!
The main victim, Sarah, annoyed me a bit in the beginning because I couldn’t understand how she did accept everything. Well no, she didn’t accept it and the story reveals what happened prior and explains a lot. As frustrating as I felt for her and the situation it is nothing compared to how a victim truly feels. But experiencing emotions is something you do as you read, many are despair and fear or anger but not all.
There are lighter moments to balance things a bit but be warned this story is real and it is disturbing at times. Now for book two!
Reviewer: Robyn
Wow! This is a very intense story about extremely real topics that are also very difficult to control. Bullying in any form is not alright, as we all know, and this is demonstrated very clearly and very loudly in this story. All forms of bullying are explored and all just as horrifying too. There are no excuses for bullying!
The main victim, Sarah, annoyed me a bit in the beginning because I couldn’t understand how she did accepted everything. Well no, she didn’t accept it and the story reveals what happened prior and explains a lot. As frustrating as I felt for her and the situation it is nothing compared to how a victim truly feels. But experiencing emotions is something you do as you read, many are despair and fear or anger but not all.
There are lighter moments to balance things a bit but be warned this story is real and it is disturbing at times. Now for book two!
Wow….my head is spinning. Both Sarah and Hayden are both so lost in darkness and don’t know how to interact with each or others. Vera Hollins gave an afterword that talked about the psychological effects of what goes wrong with Hayden and How it affects Sarah (sorry don’t want to give the plot or too much info). Bullied was a very intense and emotional. I cried and really felt for both Hayden and Sarah. Ended with cliffhanger and can’t wait to read Pained (lucky for me it’s already out and downloaded to my Kindle app; bad part is my Kindle app has been crashing a lot and had to uninstall and reinstall several times already and the problem with that is all the ARC I have to download for the cover page to show and I usually have my kindle arranged by author and unfortunately it is not all scrambled). Anyway, I hope that you will read Bullied and find out what happened to Sarah and Hayden. Just have our Kleenex on hand. Also, if you have triggers this book is not for you. Hope you enjoy this book as much as I do!!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Lord Have Mercy is what I said after reading this book. I have to say that this book is disturbing and full of bullying and things that may be a trigger to others.
Where to start okay I will try not to give to much away but it will be hard for me. Sarah moves with her mother to another town where she meets her next door neighbors Kayden and Hayden. She soon becomes best friends with Kayden. Then something tragic happens and Kayden dies. After the death of Kayden his twin Hayden blames Sarah for his brothers death. So he and his friends begin to bully her.
Sarah is bullied everyday. She is determined not to break when she makes friends with a girl Jessica. Jessica stands up for Sarah but it doesn’t help it makes it worse. But Sarah is determined not to break down and let these guys bully her. The bullying is so bad she is verbally abused and sometimes physically abused.
I wanted to reach inside the book and kick some serious arse! I mean if you don’t like bullying then you should not read this book because Sarah gets seriously bullied and hurt both emotionally and physically.
Vera Hollins
Bullied (Bullied Book 1)
This book was well written.
From the story plot alone you will be intrigued. This book explains a lot about the MC and what direction this book
Will go,I realize that this book is not a standalone,and you will want to read the next book to find out more. Overall
This book is the beginning of something amazing. I voluntarily read an advanced copy and this is my review.
So beautiful but cruel was he. Such malice and hatred aimed at her. He blamed her but in reality he hated her from the moment they met.
He was the dark and violence to his twins light and calm, and now hes the only one standing hes going to wreck havoc upon the girl who broke him.
She wanted to hate him for all that he did, and all that he was but she had hope that he wasnt all she could see and that’s what her heart longed for.
Can they forgive each other, and admit the truth, or will the storms continue until nothing and no one is left standing…
Oh my giddy aunt!! This book has put me through the wringer!
Hot under the collar as he got up in her face, followed by cold sweats as he belittled and bullied her time and time again.
My heart broke for her. Something that was whole is no more, it’s been completely and utterly annihilated by his brutality and her inability to protect herself from him.
What a read! freaking sensational! This is so much more than your average bully book. It’s like the north star in the sky. The one that shines brighter than all the rest!
The characters are so unpredictable in their actions and I loved that! moments of weakness turned to actions of strength, and hatred turned to confusion and despair. Amazing!!
The end broke me.. It truly did. I’m hoping and praying for more to rebuild and repair myself.
I can breathe again now.. but it feels wrong!
This is the first book that I have read by this author and I didn’t really know what ton expect. This book is very dark, very twisty and very raw and has some difficult moments to it. This book does come with a warning because of the intensity of bullying and abuse that is happening and the fact the character has BPD. This book touches on a lot of difficult subjects and I don’t think this book will be for everyone.
I read this book in one sitting and was desperate to see what was going to happen. After witnessing her best friend in the world and the only person to ever stick up for her gets killed that’s it, it breaks her totally. Sarah is hurt, tormented and completely wrecked in every sense and all ‘he’ keeps doing is humiliating her completely.
Sarah goes through so much and all the way through I just want to hug her because I really felt for her. She has so much strength inside and after every she’s experienced at home to I just want someone on her side. She has a terrible home life to with her alcoholic parents and she feels so alone.
Hayden from the beginning I really did hate him but as the story goes on and we find out why, this may make you feel different, me I wasn’t sure still. He has a deep struggle going on inside himself and he blamed her for a lot.
This book had my emotions all over the place and is a very raw read. Some parts were very hard to read but this book does capture bullying on another level. This book was well written and highlights a lot about mental health, bullying and pain and suffering. Readers should defiantly take the trigger warning seriously too because this book is not really a romance book but a very deep, dark bully book.
This book is defiantly age rated at 18.
A heart-wenching story of unfulfilled love and personal insecurity with a backdrop mental illness. This book captured bullying on a raw level, extreme at times, sorrowful; all in the personal struggle to be loved, be accepted because of who she is, who he is. Sarah is as strong as a girl in her trying circumstances could be. Hayden is almost scarily disturbed though it was apparent he harbors feelings he can’t quite emotionally contain for the heroine.
Sarah, having endured bullying since middle school, arrives to new town full of hope, wanting friendship, and meets Kayden, the one person who befriends, her only friend among a school of enemies, bullies, one of whom his brother, Hayden. The cruelty demonstrated against Sarah was unspeakable, from taunting to physical acts of humiliation. In addition, her home situation with an alcoholic mother was pitiful. In these, the storyline explores bullying heavily, mental illness, self-worth, and personal redemption.
The book was well-written, the choice of words very fitting, carefully crafted. The characters were descriptive and distinct — Melissa, Jessica, Kayden, Hayden, as well as Hayden’s friends, the elderly from the home. This was an atypical bully romance in that, at least book 1 was not a romance at, rather the beginnings of a love story amid interludes of compelling attraction. For much of the story Sarah demonstrates as weak, but understanding her circumstances, her history of persecution combined with a dysfunctional relationship at home, you understand how she’s shaped to be the frankly fragile person she has become. As the story progresses she grasps at being stronger, better equipped. Meanwhile, Hayden, cold, often heartless, angry, and jealous, is being shattered little by little, exposing who he really is and what Sarah means to him. He harbors feelings for Sarah that when realized change the direction of this story.
Very engaging tale of angst, and while not a romantic love story (yet), is a part 1 / episode 1 of personal discovery to strength and hopefully love. A very enjoyable but at times disquieting read. I hope to read about their personal growth, redemption, and resolution for the troubled hero and healing for the heroine in the next part.
This book is amazing!!! I couldn’t put it down and I can’t wait to read more by this author!
This is the 1st in a new series and what an eye opener Hayden and Sarah’s story is. This is a well written story which is an emotional roller coaster journey throughout, with 2 damaged souls who are inexplicably drawn to each other. This story has angst, emotion, and engaging characters, and I cannot wait to read the 2nd book in this riveting and addictive page turner. This story may contain triggers due to some of its content, so just be aware of the warnings!
From the day they first met Sarah and Kayden instantly bonded, there was an instant connection that lead to beautiful friendship. But waiting in the wings was Kayden’s twin brother Hayden, and he feels a little threatened by their newly blossomed friendship. She is coming between them, and that just can’t happen. Not to mention the fact that she chose Kayden over him, why was he not worthy of her attention and friendship?
Then an accident happens, Kayden loses his life, and Hayden is determined to get a little revenge… at Sarah’s expense!
The pages of Bullied delivers a heart-wrenching story of two souls shattered by the death of their brother and best friend, and their struggle to move past it. It was impossible to read this without feeling the pain of these two young people. Hayden’s mission to find justice, and Sarah’s struggle to survive his torment darn near broke my heart completely, I cannot wait to see how this all plays out. I hope there is some happiness ahead for these two, they certainly deserve it. Highly recommend this one, it’s dramatic, emotional, and destined to keep you enthralled from the first page until the last!
I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest opinion.