A Riveting Bully Romance | Heartless Hero by Mary Catherine Gebhard [ARC Review]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

There are rules to being Abigail Crowne’s bodyguard, rules to watching the infamous billion-dollar heiress, otherwise known as the Reject Princess.
Never forget your place, always put the Crowne name above all else, and never, ever hurt the Reject.
Especially don’t torment the Reject.
Even if she is a spoiled brat.
So when an opportunity presents itself to punish her, you definitely shouldn’t take it.
Then again, Abigail loves to be tortured, and I’ve waited patiently for revenge.
I’ll keep her safe… with cruel protection.
Love is off limits with Abigail Crowne, but no one said anything about hate.

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Rating

Heat Level: Steamy

This month is probably the month of bullies and dark romance reads for me. Seriously. I haven’t really read books like this and I am a little bit disturbed but fascinated because I just can’t stop reading them!

Heartless Hero is really a second-chance bully romance with touches of revenge. Theo is definitely one broken anti-hero that I ended up rooting for. Not only are his motivations for vengeance a little bit harsh and at times, cruel, you understand and sympathize with him!

What I find interesting about Heartless Hero is the opening scene. It felt like the reader was thrust smack dab into this crazy and confusing world without knowing anything at all. I don’t think this is a series, though. But anyway, that confusing start actually helps set up the tone of this book. It’s basically Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars/Cinderella all smashed into one sick story that had me fascinated from page one!

I have to say that I wasn’t really sold on Abigail at the start. She felt like an unreliable narrator, most especially at the beginning of the book. As the story unravels, however, we are then shown how her family treats her, which made me feel bad. While she’s not my favorite character, or heroine, for that matter, her story was very compelling and I really wanted her to triumph over everything.

While bully romance is really not my jam, I liked Mary Catherine Gebhard’s writing and the bananas plot of this book. I will definitely be looking at her backlist!