Heather Demetrios

"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"--

Bad Romance

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.

Jazelle H

“You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.”

Grace never thought that the tortured-artist, right-out-of-a-Broadway-musical Gavin would ever look her way. She has big city dreams of being a director in New York, not taking the stage for herself, but directing from behind the curtain--just as she does in her own life. Between her OCD-strict mother and unrelenting stepfather, she needs every escape she can get. When Gavin turns the spotlight of his attention and affection on Grace, though, she soon discovers that star-crossed lover status isn’t all that romantic as Shakespeare makes it seem. 

“Here, we wear other people’s skins and it helps us forget our own, lets us pretend, for a little while, that we’re okay.”

The real draw to this story is Grace’s perception of the world as a director, drama student, and appreciator of the arts. She takes the words, “We are the music-makers and we are the dreamers of dreams,” and spins them into her life until we see them embodied in every scene. Grace’s unique, dramatic voice gives the prose an exciting appeal, drawing readers in through familiar references and a vision that adds color to the world. That voice pulls back the curtains of her mind, amps up the story’s momentum, and keeps scenes running page after page. It also speaks to her character; she is a drama student, a hardcore, old-fashioned romantic, and it shows in her view of the world. 

Character investment, however, wavers. Remember the beginning of (500) Days of Summer? “You should know upfront, this is not a love story.” After all, the title is called Bad Romance for a reason. However, having to watch Grace repeat the same vicious mental cycle over and over again becomes just as exhausting for readers as it is for her. This is a story about psychological abuse, not only from a dating perspective, but from a family perspective as well. It’s natural that we see a cycle of abuse repeat over and over, with little to no change. However, it shouldn’t take 400 pages in a novel for readers to see that change, especially when character development is so important to the plot. Grace doesn’t achieve that development until the Epilogue, forcing readers into a time jump just to feel any form of resolution. While Grace’s voice amps up the momentum, her slow-going development totally forces it to drag. 

“I want to be like Viola—weather the storm, then start over, using nothing but my wits and charm to see me through to my happy ending."

From the very beginning of this story, Grace makes it clear that her relationship with Gavin doesn’t end well. She tells the history of her relationship with Gavin from the outside looking in, providing a rare after-the-fact view into the relationship. Knowing the ending doesn’t include a happily ever after amplifies the suspense, encouraging readers to wonder what goes wrong. And so we keep reading, watching the relationship go from giddy, heart-eyes, and darling to disastrous, exit stage left. Except the exit takes far too long, short-term break-ups not lasting long enough. Though the reasoning is sound, all that build up should have brought us to a more satisfying ending that focused on Grace’s healing. Her self-realization takes way too long, and after all the exhausting relationship woes, the real focus should have been Grace’s inner, independent strength alone. If her relationship with Gavin was a rollercoaster ride, the uphill climb keeps our necks bent back in excruciating anticipation, and the downhill drop doesn’t provide that stomach-flipping satisfaction--at all.

Rowena Wiseman

If you've ever felt smothered in a relationship, like you can't be yourself, if you're torn between loving someone and hating them at the same time, then this book is for you. If you've never loved, then this is for you too, because it serves as a warning for how dangerous love can be, even if it feels safe in the beginning.
There is so much about this book that I admired - the clever second person narrative that allows us to know that Grace's romance with Gavin is going to go sour. Yet we can't help falling in love with Gavin too; for his love songs, his gifts, his good looks. We know he's evil, because we're told so on the first page, and yet, like Grace we are charmed by him. As the reader, we fall deeply for him and our hearts are crushed as he becomes more controlling and manipulative.
The added ingredients of a dysfunctional family, a mother with OCD and a miserly step father, give much depth to the story.
I'll leave you with this golden nugget from Bad Romance ... which summed up all relationships for me ... whether you're an adult or an 18 year old just finishing high school ...
'The only reason you should stay with someone is because you make each other happy. Any other reason is bullshit.'

Sven Test

This book... Right now, I have no words. Like, this was just so raw and hurtful and maddening and heartbreaking... Just, wow. I have tears in my eyes right now. I highly recommend this book. It honestly left me breathless with how the story is told and how descriptive and vivid the "bad romance" is. 

The reality is, there are guys like Gavin, who are so manipulative but at the same time, they don't know they're doing it. They really aren't mentally unstable and that's also sad. But what guys like him put women through? That fear... I felt Grace's fear so deep inside me. This book helped me see why women stay in these relationships. Sometimes, they really don't know how to get out of it. And seeing that desperation in Grace broke me. 

I had a bad romance, but not like Grace's. Still, it was extremely toxic and my reason for not leaving was thinking I would never find someone to love me or care for me, even though this guy didn't know how to do that. Every one of us have different reasons for staying in these relationships. It's sad, but it's the truth. 

Full review to come soon.

Carley Whitehead

So torn, because while I did like the book and story, it felt like such a slog sometimes. Definitely a super important story though.

Andra Gabriela

O carte absolut minunata, un wake-up call de care cu siguranta aveam nevoie si consider ca am citit aceasta carte in momentul cel mai potrivit al vietii mele, pentru ca toate sentimentele personajului feminin le-am resimtit si inteles complet pe deplin, am reusit, chiar, sa identific trairile mele si sa dau un nume sentimentelor necunoscute cu care ma confruntam.
Aceasta carte portretizeaza aproape perfect tririle unei relatii tinere, pasionale uneori, dar absolut mereu toxice. Toata relatia lor, a devenit din rea in mai rea si asta portretizeaza inca un lucru, extrem de realist, faptul ca, victima sau mai bine spus persoana abuzata, incoltita, accepta situatia, sperand ca va fi mai bine, cand, de fapt, asta e cea mai mare minciuna pe care si-o pot spune. Relatia toxica nu se poate reintoarce la the honeymoon phase, iar persoana cu care esti nu va deveni inapoi persoana perfecta de care te-ai indragostit, pentru ca tu, acum, vezi adevaratul sau caracter. 
Acestea sunt cateva lucruri pe care mi le-a spus terapeutul meu, si din pacate, inca ma lupt cu aceasta situatie care imi da o impresie continua de nesiguranta, in legatura cu toata viata mea, dar si cu viitorul. 
In orice caz, recomand aceasta carte. Cea mai buna carte pe care am citit-o in acest an pana acum.

Emily C Peterson

This book absolutely wrecked me. It was so reminiscent of behaviors I saw in previous boyfriends and perfectly captured the feelings of helplessness, confusion, and being lost that I felt as an early-twentysomething.

Heather does a great job of highlighting just how damaging emotional abuse and manipulation can be in a relationship even if there is no physical abuse. 

Highly recommend if you can handle scenes of intense emotional abuse and manipulation.

Tiffany Engler

TW: Attempted suicide, rape, abuse (physical, verbal, mental, emotional, sexual and parentl), suicidal thoughts, 

This book was 100% a cover buy. When I saw it on Bookoutlet, I knew I had to have it. Even though I knew nothing of what this book is about. Oh boy, I was thrown for a ride. I just need to say there's so many Taylor Swift songs that will remind me of this story. 

Likes:
I like that the book is written almost like a letter to Gavin. I love that it feels like she's telling him the story of how he is. How she's loved him. How he ruined her. I feel like it makes the story more genuine. 

I felt this book. With every fiber of my being. I reminded me so much of a relationship I had in high school. When I saw Grace in my head, I saw me. This was me at one point in my life. I was young and thought I was so in love. Not realizing how toxic the relationship was. I feel like Heather literally followed my sixteen-year-old self around and wrote a book about me. I love Heather for this book.

I love Grace. As I already said, I see myself when I imagine her. She's such an amazing, well-written character. I'm sure a lot of people imagine themselves as her. I'm sure thousands of people can say they were in her shoes. She's strong. She's brave. She's everything positive. Even if some people don't see her that way. I do. I understand.

I love how Heather wrote Gavin. I do not, in any shape or form, love Gavin. You should never love Gavin. Ever. She wrote him in a way that's true. A way that if a girl in a questionable relationship ever reads this book, will know that what her Gavin is doing is not right. It's not protective. It's possessive. There's a big difference and Heather shows you that. 

Dislikes:
Gavin.

Final Thoughts:
There's just so much that I love about this book. I can go on for days. I feel an emotional connection with this book. I will definitely read it in the future. I'm recommending this book to everyone. Especially younger people who are not sure what a toxic relationship is. This is it. Read this book. READ IT.

5/5 Stars. This book actually deserves all the stars in the sky.

Laura

This isn't actually my first Heather Demetrios. I attempted to read I'll Meet You There last year, but quickly lost interest in it. I don't really know what compelled me to pick up Bad Romance, expect maybe it reminded me of Alex Flinn's Breathing Underwater. I loved Breathing Underwater. It was a unique idea- portraying an abusive relationship from the abuser's perspective- and one that took talent to pull off. Few people would even dare to undertake the idea, and despite the fact it's been a few years since I read it, the book stuck with me surprisingly well.

And this book... well, it didn't. I mean, it's been about a week since I've read it and already it's begun to slip from memory. However, the negatives have, as they always do, stuck around.

To start, I found the language alienating. Demetrios wrote in this obnoxious teenager slang way that, like it did in Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, made cringe. She is trying so desperately hard. It's like when there was nothing else on the TV in my hotel room so I had to watch E! News and spent the whole time feeling desperately sorry for the "anchors". I'm sure Demetrios prides herself on how in touch she is with the kids these days, but it just did not work for me. 

Also, on another, more technical note, I felt often confused about when this book was written, what was taking place when, etc. Demetrios took the letter writing approach, calling to mind books such as Why We Broke Up. This seemed cliched and cheap for reasons I can't quite articulate. In this book's case, I think a straightforward narrative would have greatly benefitted it. Instead, Grace would repeatedly point out all the emotionally abusive behaviors Gavin would use on her like she understood what he was doing now, but then, often in the same paragraph, she would say something in present tense like "why would anyone want to break up with you" or "whenever you kiss me I see fireworks". This made the book feel jumbled and in need of an editor. I also found many of the times the book explicitly points of the abusive behavior to be badly done, especially when I can pick it out myself. I suppose that Demetrios did it so no one would bitch at her for romanticizing abuse, but the book's called Bad Romance ferchristssake. A straightforward narrative would also be far more effective, in my opinion, especially because then we could feel her falling in love with him and then watch her slowly get turned by him, instead of it all being the aftermath when she's significantly more self aware.

The side characters were done particularly badly. I think she attempted to create two fleshed out side characters as her friends, by giving them traits like "socialist lesbian" and "Evangelical Christian" but in the end, they were interchangeable and had lives basically revolving around Grace. Sure, they had their own romance, but I had a hard time figuring out how they figured into the plot. Same with her older sister and younger half-brother. What was the point of them, exactly? Especially her younger brother. While her sister's usefulness was arguable, her brother's definitely was not.

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Megan During

Melissa Bragg 

zaynah

Mellanie Ann Duque

Siya S

Julia

Merve A. 

Jessica Guht

Sarah Sanchez

A heart-wrenching novel about a sixteen-year-old girl trapped in an abusive relationship—and the path she takes to freedom and happiness, from award-winning author Heather Demetrios. “Like Speak, it is one of those rare books that can have a real, lasting impact on readers, and can start important conversations.” —Adi Alsaid, author of Let’s Get Lost and Never Always Sometimes 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. A deeply affecting and unflinchingly honest portrayal of a destructive relationship, Bad Romance is a young adult novel about spiraling into darkness—and emerging into the light again. Also by Heather Demetrios: I'll Meet You There Something Real Praise for Bad Romance: “Like Speak, it is one of those rare books that can have a real, lasting impact on readers, and can start important conversations.” —Adi Alsaid, author of Let’s Get Lost and Never Always Sometimes “A raw, honest, unrelenting novel. Demetrios writes with heartbreaking clarity about the way first love can turn from safe to dangerous, from beautiful to ugly. Brave, bold, and deeply felt.” —Corey Ann Haydu, author of OCD Love Story and The Careful Undressing of Love “[A]n intense reflection on abusive relationships.” —Publishers Weekly “A realistic, worthwhile look at dating violence.” —Kirkus Reviews "Through Grace’s lively, engaging voice, readers gain a vivid picture of the way a smart, self-assured girl can fall into an abusive relationship . . . . Demetrios’ well-drawn characters are tremendously appealing, and Grace’s discovery of the power of her own strength will make readers cheer." —Booklist