Better When He's Bad

By: Jay Crownover

Narrated by: Mia Barron, Leland King

Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to the Point…

There's a difference between a bad boy and a boy who's bad.… Meet Shane Baxter.

Sexy, dark, and dangerous, Bax isn't just from the wrong side of the tracks, he is the wrong side of the tracks. A criminal, a thug, and a brawler, he was the master of bad choices, until one such choice landed him in prison for five years. Now Bax is out and looking for answers, and he doesn't care what he has to do or who he has to hurt to get them. But there's a new player in the game, and she's much too innocent, much too soft…and standing directly in his way.

Dovie Pryce knows all about living a hard life and the tough choices that come with it. She's always tried to be good, tried to help others, and tried not to let the darkness pull her down. But the streets are fighting back, things have gone from bad to worse, and the only person who can help her is the scariest, sexiest, most complicated ex-con the Point has ever produced.

Bax terrifies her, awakening feelings she never thought she'd have for a guy like him. But it doesn't take Dovie long to realize…some boys are just better when they're bad.

©2014 Jennifer M. Voorhees (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

A definite MUST read!

Jay crow over has done it again. This book drew me in from the beginning and was packed with action and a love story I guarantee you'll love.

SUPERB, EXCELLENT, GRIPPING AND GRITTY!

I'm convinced that Jay Crownover can write a compelling story about anything, or anyone, but most of all about bad boys!! As the first book in a new series, Crownover creates a world of contrasts between right & wrong, and the good & the bad when it ones to people, and the life choices they make. But, what I really love about Crownover's writing is her ability to write about incredible relationships between very real, flawed people, and she has more than delivered in this book! I was touched not only by the beautiful & gritty relationship between the leads, Bax and Dovie, but also the theme of family and relationships between brothers that included Titus (Bax's brother), and Race (Dovie's brother and Bax's BFF). "Better When He's Bad" is not only about the choices one makes with limited options and the trajectories those choices bring, but it's also about who brings you freedom. Most of all, I think this is what Dovie did for Bax; she brought him freedom and allowed him to unlock himself from a self-destructive pathway that would have lead him to the grave, or a life-time, in and out of prison.

The balance between the action, plot developments, revelations, and the hot romance is superb. Dovie is an admirable heroine and the way she and Bax connect with one another is passionate, intense, and always feels like there's an expiration date (until the HEA, that is). The need to resolve conflicts driven by the pressure and violence of evil villains equals one very riveting read/listen. I can't wait for Race's story, and even though Bax and Dovie found a beautiful HEA, I'm sure we will continue to hear about Bax and Dovie's love story in the books that follow.

Narrators: Mia Barron and Leland King were excellent. They performed very well. This is a great audiobook. I loved the sentimental intro. music at the beginning and the end of the book….nice touch!

It's ok.

The story just didn't flow like their other books. Bax went from finding Dovie ugly to hot in a minute. They're constantly chasing someone w/o any explanation that made sense.
Kind of disappointed. 😢

Better When He’s Bad

This was a great audiobook! I loved the suspense! The characters were all well written into the story! I would listen to it several times!

Kept My Attention!

Would you listen to Better When He's Bad again? Why?

Yes.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Shane. I liked the characters evolution.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene was after Bax discovered the young girls leaving the group home.

🌻Not so much of an antihero!🌻

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻V from Kansas🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

After I’ve listened to this book, I’d say that Bax is the mildest antihero I’ve ever experienced. There were some actions, from his past that were eluded to, that were bad, however, his actions during this story were pretty tame. He was more self sacrificing and destructive more than anything.

The story was interesting, however, it wasn’t as emotionally powerful as I’d been expecting. I think it was a good listen, but not a Great listen. It was still credit worthy, however.

What a book!!!

First time read of this author and I plan on buying the entire series. I couldn’t put it down, I read straight through minus a little sleep. My first thought is this guy is going eat this innocent girl up and spit her out but as the story unfolds, my thoughts are all over the place. Bottom line, I loved the book.

Bad Boy & Good Girl

Y’all, it was sweet. Downright tender. I don’t know if I could find a better example of a romance featuring formerly troubled kids growing up and healing through love.

Jay You NEED some new lines

Would you try another book from Jay Crownover and/or Mia Barron and Leland King ?

I have all Jay's books at this time, I want to see what happens to the characters so yes I probably will but the language is so repetitive it's getting hard to ignore

Would you recommend Better When He's Bad to your friends? Why or why not?

probably not, I prefer the Marked series and would like to see how that wraps up. I'm not that interested in "the Point" as it feels like it's a cartoon version of an inner city written by someone who considers Denver an urban city, it's a big place but decidedly not very rough.

What about Mia Barron and Leland King ’s performance did you like?

they did a good job with so so material

Was Better When He's Bad worth the listening time?

it definitely dragged and let's face it these are modern romance so I could have skipped all the crime and underworld stuff it was completely unnecessary and didn't really serve to round out just how bad Bax is supposed to be.

Any additional comments?

This is directly to "Jay Crownover"
Hi,
I'm a loyal listener, I've paid for 5 of your audio books. I spend lots of time in my car and have gotten through them very quickly. Some constructive criticism.

1. Stop with the crazy soap opera names, for real. Each new character name has my eyes rolling up in my head, Saint, Salem, Dovie, Reeve, Bryson, Titus-each one is worse than the next. Like a waspy 3PM soap meets the new Beverly Hills 90210. C'mon already, no one would be named these names. A sexy Latina girl from Texas who's last name is Cruz is not going to be named for witch hunting Salem. It adds an amateurish quality to your writing that I'm sure you don't want.

2. No character in your future books needs to let one corner of their mouth kick up in a grin or raise one shoulder and let it drop. It's time to find a new way to say "smile" and "shrug", I'm sure you can do it, I believe in you. I lost count by Nash but I believe this happened approximately 29 times in the Marked Series and I think Bax would have smirked rather than grin. There you go, "smirk". You don't even need to give me credit.

3. I would suggest you listen to your audiobooks if you are not already, the repetition of lines and adjectives is much more obvious when you hear it aloud.

I'm happy to keep supporting you, I like the story of you as a writer and I think it's great. Just don't go down the path of so many other series writers who cop out and start following the same formula on repeat. You're heading into that territory.

Action, Packed, Sexy And Funny

Shane Baxter has just done five years after being set up by his best friend. Now he is out and looking for answers. Except the one person that can give him what he is looking for is MIA. In Race's wake is a little redhead that gets in his way, demands his attention even though she is scared to death of him and makes him reevaluate his choices for the first time in his life. Dovie Pryce has had a tough life. Unwanted by both parents, she grew up in the system until Race found her and saved her. He gave her a life of normalcy and love, but now he is missing and she will do anything to find him. Even associate with ex-con, bad-boy Bax. He terrifies her, but he also makes her feel safe like nothing bad will ever touch her as long as he is around. And falling for him could happen easily. Bax can see there are evil forces playing at the Point trying to pull him down, Race and Dovie are just pawns in the game. He went down to protect his friend five years ago and he can see all sorts of bad things going down again every time he is near all the good and pure and light that is Dovie. Keeping her safe is all that matters. "Better When He Is Bad", tells the story of a bad boy that finds his redemption in the most unlikely of places, in the arms of an innocent and lovable girl that chips away his attitude and sees the good in him. But more than that, she is capable is loving all of him, the good and the bad. She understands him because she's had it as bad as him. And he is all she wants bad and good.