Review: Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios

Summary from Goodreads:

Grace wants out. Out of her house, where her stepfather wields fear like a weapon and her mother makes her scrub imaginary dirt off the floors. Out of her California town, too small to contain her big city dreams. Out of her life, and into the role of Parisian artist, New York director—anything but scared and alone.

Enter Gavin: charming, talented, adored. Controlling. Dangerous. When Grace and Gavin fall in love, Grace is sure it's too good to be true. She has no idea their relationship will become a prison she's unable to escape. 


Deeply affecting and unflinchingly honest, this is a story about spiraling into darkness—and emerging into the light again.

Review:



It took way too long to finally pick up this underrated contemporary. I've wanted to read this since 2017 when it released, mainly because of the stunning cover/spine. For some strange reason, they did not have Demetrios's newest novel at my local library so I just decided to buy a copy. It was a good idea, and not just because of the beautiful cover because it was well-written book that destroyed my heart. 

What I Liked:

Writing Style. I've read all of Demetrios contemporary novels and always return to them because of her writing. I'd forgotten show much I enjoyed her writing and now I really want more novels from Heather Demetrios to happen in the upcoming years. I liked the humor aspects but also how she wrote about mental illness and abuse in such a realistic and important way. 

Characters. We only follow one character, Grace, as she falls in love with Gavin and deals with her toxic home life. It was easy to connect with Grace and hard to watch her go through  the abuse. Demetrios also does a great job writing Grace's friends, who are amazing, and her family. She showed the various sides of the characters, the good and bad. 


Plot. The best thing about the plot was how it didn't solely focus on the romance aspect. It also showed Grace's family life, her love of theater, and the other relationships in her life. The biggest element of the plot was the bad romance between Grace and Gavin but it did not completely take over. 

What I Disliked:

I don't have a bunch of dislikes. Instead, a warning. The novel deals with a lot of heavy and hard to read topics like physical and mental abuse, non-consent, and mental illness. Because of some of those elements, I struggled to read this, even though it was extremely well-done and needs to be written about. 

I recommend checking out this underrated contemporary. It is well-written and deals with important issues.

Rating:

4.5 Stars Out of 5 Stars.