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

4 Stars!

Having picked up Ms.Tully's work before i've been wanting to get into more of her books! As soon as this audiobook was announced i started looking forward to it right away! I've been wanting to pick up The Better Bully for quite some time now. I started listening to it as soon as i could and got into it quickly. I so enjoyed this listen!

Being new to both narrators i couldn't wait to listen to Micah Matthews and Colleen Daley! These two captured my attention very quickly with their voices. They were both so very good with their narration. I so enjoyed what they brought to the story as Reed and Violet!

Violet and Reed's journey pulled me in! As these two are brought back into each other's lives at Whitman U, i couldn't wait to see how everything would play out.

I was so glad that i got to jump into both characters minds and dig deeper with them. I loved how i went through many emotions with both Violet and Reed throughout listening. I wasn't sure what all to expect and i really liked how that pulled me into this audiobook even more!

With The Better Bully, Ms.Tully has created such a good story that will absolutely pull you in! From the story to the narration, this audiobook had me feeling so many things from start to finish! I am so looking forward to more from this author and i am so looking forward to listening to more of Micah's and Colleen's narration in the future!

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.

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)!

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.

Bully Romance

I normally stay away from bully books, but this was a really sweet one. It was definitely worth listening to it.

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!

amazing

this book is what brought me in as a fan for Roxanne . To listen to it wow. I can't describe how much I loved this book. this is a must listen.

Sweet, light and sexy reads

I enjoyed listening to this it was quick, fun, sexy, and sweet. It's Enemies to lovers bully, sport's romance. I'm not a big fan of a bully but Reed was a great character he is sweet, caring, and responsible I'm swoonig over him while listening. Violet on the other hand was feisty and sassy I love their chemistry, banter and hate to love relationship. I also love how Reed was so protective when it comes to Violet and his sister. The narrators were great except for some muffled sounds. Overall I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it if you were a sucker to enemies to lovers like me.

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.

Quick and cute enemies to lovers college romance

The Better Bully by Roxanne Tully is a quick and enjoyable sports romance read with a slow burn relationship and a happily ever after ending for the two main characters.

Reed and Violet are both very complex characters. Both of them have compassionate sides and would do anything for the people they care about, but with what happened in high school it takes a while for them to be open to learning that about the other person. Reed’s cocky and arrogant persona as the captain of the football team hides the softness he previously only showed his sister and some past family issues. Violet was hurt by her previous boyfriend and transferred schools to escape everything surrounding that, but she’s working on her insecurities and coming into her own person.

In my opinion, The Better Bully reads more like an enemies-to-lovers romance than a full-fledged “bully” romance. Yes, Reed did make Violet’s life miserable in high school. But he put a hard ban on ever bullying her physically and stepped in when others took things too far. You also learn why he made the decision to ban Violet from going anywhere near the football stadium during his last year, which gave him more of a redeemable quality in my eyes. I certainly don’t like what he did, but the reasoning behind his decision makes sense.

With regards to the narration, there was some room for improvement. I would have LOVED to hear more bite in Colleen Daley’s narration, especially when she was snapping at Reed during the story. The same goes for Micah Matthews, who was narrating Reed’s parts. The performance left me wanting, they didn’t produce the same tension I felt when I was reading the eBook.

I hope Roxanne Tully does a book covering Max and Piper’s story in the future. I would enjoy getting to see how their romance plays out given how much it was played up in this book. I would recommend this book to adult romance readers who love the enemies-to-lovers trope, don’t mind lots of sports references, and are fans of happily ever afters.

Reed and Violet

It was an enemies to lovers, sports, bully, romance. Not your typical bully story. I thought it was narrated well, and The Better Bully is a good listen.

Glad I listened to this

This was actually a pretty sweet book through and through. The bullying was all based in high school back when Violet slams into Reeds life screaming at him at what a bully he is and he has no idea what she is going on about but if she wants a bully well that’s what he gave her. For them to meet up later and him to be her brothers best friend well… fireworks are bound to happen in this fantastic enemies to lovers book. Reed is actually a pretty decent guy a playboy for sure when the book first starts out but he has a heart and that shows throughout. Violet is stubborn and knows her own mind, set in her ways and always striving to achieve her goals. I’m really glad I listened to the audio version of this as the narrators just gave something to this book and I really loved it. ❤️

3.5 stars

3.5 stars My first book by this author and it was a really fast paced, enjoyable read. While it says Bully in the title, the bullying (mostly shown through flashbacks) was pretty light on the face of it. Violet and Reed did not get along in high school and it seems like the same might be said for college, but this is the kind of story that shows that the people you might have been then aren't necessarily the people you are later in life. Viole is really headstrong, possibly to her detriment, and Reed spends a lot of time making up for mistakes made. I would recommend this to someone who is new to the genre and dipping their toes in the water. It also has the brothers friend and the sports romance tropes to balance a bit of the angst out. I volunteered to listen and review a complimentary copy of this. All opinions are my own.

loved it

Such an amazing story and the narrators did an amazing job bringing the characters alive.
if you like bully, sport romances I would highly recommend this one!