3⭐️ 3🌶️
MOOD: challenging, emotional
TROPES: enemies to lovers, second chance, rivals to lovers
GENRES: bully romance, contemporary romance


I had to look back at the BookSirens blurb to figure out why I picked this up and here's what it said "Our bestselling authors showcase a variety of contemporary gay romances featuring bully and enemies to lovers themes. There may be triggers, so be warned that these aren't your average love stories."

With that, I expected more bully romance and while the blurb doesn't say dark the cover does and I don't think I'd put any of these stories in the dark romance category. Even the enemies-to-lovers theme felt really light in the stories when it was present. This was not my favorite anthology and some of the stories I didn't really like even if I liked parts of them.

Red-Light Rivals by Faedra Rose 3⭐️ 4🌶️
Both the bdsm and biker elements felt forced and not what I'm used to reading - have we heard about safe words and discussions of consent before CNC? This one was more rivals to lovers than enemies.

Broken by L.J. Longo 2⭐️3🌶️
This story was hard to get through. I really liked elements of it - both with the mental health and veteran representation but the relationship is horrible.

Seducer by by lea Bronsen 3⭐️ 2🌶️
This one was kinda sweet but doesn't really fit in with the rest of the overall theme of the anthology - there's like 2 seconds of bullying.

Redeem my Heart by Megan Slayer 4⭐️ 2🌶️
This is probably the most representative of the bully theme and what I expected of the stories based on the blurb. It gets a little repetitive at times and some of the dialogue between the characters broke my suspension of disbelief cause it was just not realistic if the bullying was that bad.

CW: (varies by story) sexual content, bdsm content, mentions of death, trips to the hospital, mental health representation, alcoholism, disability representation
DISCLAIMER: I received an advance review copy. This is my honest review.