The Better Bully

An Enemies to Lovers Sports Romance

By: Roxanne Tully

Narrated by: Micah Matthews, Colleen Daley

Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Reed

Hang on a second. I never bullied anyone. I’m not that guy.

I was a star quarterback in high school with more friends than I could keep track of. With it being my senior year and college scouts already taking interest, I had a bright future.

Then, this crazy redhead shows up ranting at me like I’m the filth of the Earth...what right does she have? So naturally, I had to defend myself. I may have gone a little overboard - but it was only to ensure she’d stay out of my way for good.

That was four years ago.

Now she shows up at Whitman U and I find myself going beyond my norm to keep her from dodging me at every turn.

Violet

The fresh start I was supposed to have by transferring to Whitman is starting to feel more like a big bag of dirt. And when things couldn’t get worse, I come face-to-face with an enemy of the past.

But it seems I’d fallen into some sort of alternate universe. Because instead of making my life hell, Reed Hayes had become my unforeseen protector in the havoc that has become my life.

Author’s note: This is an enemies-to-lovers sports romance.

©2021 Roxanne Tully (P)2021 Roxanne Tully

This one is all about those feels!

I loved this storyline! It was well written and flowed magnificently. I was quickly absorbed into the lives of the characters and couldn't stop listening! The narration was great too. This was my first book by Roxeanne Tully but I will definitely be watching out for more from her in the future!

Loved this audiobook!

I loved The Better Bully audiobook! I love a sports college romance book and this one is amazing! The voice actors did a fantastic job portraying Violet and Reed! A great enemies to lovers story too!

Love the story, narration could’ve been better

I originally read this book, and loved it. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the narration. The female narrator lacked a genuine “in the scene” vibe. I felt she was just reading it instead of acting it. The male narrator was better, but at times had the same vibe.

Great!

While the sound was not the best I still loved this story. It was my first time with this book and while I am glad I was able to hear the characters come to life; the sound was not the best. I loved the story and the chemistry, I loved how they story unraveled. This was such a great enemies to lovers.

Great story

The story was good the male narrator was great. The sound was muffled half way through which took away from the experience. The storyline was good Reed although a great athletic still got in his own head. Violet was protective of her brother but unseen by her family. Reed ended being the one to see her. Good enemies to lovers story

Great enemy to lover

I really enjoyed this book. I am a sucker for an enemy to lover romance. The title made me think it was a bully romance but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved the chemistry between Violet and Reed. They definitely seemed like an unlikely pair from the beginning but they really worked. Their story is a good example of how people can grow and change. Both of them were pretty terrible to each other when they were in HS, the big difference was Reed didn't seem to realize the extremes people went to when he said he didn't want Violet around. He was the big man on campus and she was essentially a nobody. I loved seeing them work through their past and figuring out misunderstandings. I really liked that they both looked back on the past and really looked at how their "bully" behavior affected each other as well as the fact that looking back, it was not the end of the world. That is an important message I think a lot of teens need to hear what they are going through now is not necessarily forever nor is it always as bad as it seems at the time.

I gave the performance 4 stars because the parts read by Colleen Daley were a little muffled and sometimes, I really had to stop and focus to understand what she was saying. I do not think it was her reading, cadence, or intonation that was the problem, I think it was the quality of the recording. Both Micah Matthews and Collen Daley were pleasant to listen to. I listened to this on Samsung Galaxy earbuds, Heyday noise-canceling headphones, Heyday sport Bluetooth earbuds, my car's Bluetooth speaker as well as my phone's speaker to see if it was an audio output issue but I found it did not matter what I was listening on.

good story

I loved this story but not the audio so much. I ended up stopping the audio and picking up the book to finish. I just had a really hard time with the narrations. Their volumes and sound didn't match and just weren't very clear to me.

Great story

I loved the story. My only issue was that there was just the lowest feedback sound during the FMC pov. But for real, this story was fantastic and I loved it!

Must listen!!

Ohhh myyy…I absolutely love The Better Bully. The Better Bully was a fantastic story and the narrator only enhanced my enjoyment. I have listened to a lot of audiobook and The Better Bully is going on my favorite audiobook list. From the beginning to the end I kept listening whenever I had the chance and when I was doing other stuff while home alone I would hook up my phone to the sound bar to make sure I could hear while sewing and other household chores. When my batteries would run out I would use the best feature of all time and read the ebook. Anyway, back to The Better Bully. Whether I was listening or reading my attention was on The Better Bully. I got to the point where I had to stop and just listen to what was going on. I admit to having several emotional reactions like laughing, frowning, and a few others. I love when an author writes a book that can do that. It means that I felt like I was there right along side the characters and know what it means to feel that way (yes, I cry during sad movies). Roxanne Tully will be an author that I hope to be able to listen and read her books in future and she has definitely captured my interest after listening and reading The Better Bully. Happy listening (and reading)!

A great story with middleing narrators

On the story:
This is a dual point of view, college sports romance novel. It hits all of the high points that you would want from the trope and scratches the itch if that's what you're looking for. Bonus points for the hero being brother's best friend. I could have done with a little more groveling but that didn't detract from the story

On the narration:
Full points to the male narrator, he did everything exceptionally well except for distinguishing between characters, which is a challenge, I recognize. The female narrator wasn't bad, but it very much felt like she was reading the story to me as opposed to performing the story.