RTC, jotting down notes:

<b>CHARACTERS</b>

<b>Briella.</b> FMC. JoJo Siwa "adult". Written like she's a rebellious 18 year old. Inconsistent. Brown-skinned with curly hair (and she never wraps her hair either, hm 🤔). Big mad or big horny. Somehow in a bad position, but she still has a routine of which anyone could follow her and take notice, doesn't scrub her devices or social media presences, never uses dummy accounts and emails and VPNs—yeah, she really trying to stay on the DL. 2⭐️

<b>Jason.</b> Uni-student. Golden retriever energy. Casually crazy. Would love to domme him. 4.75⭐️

<b>Trip.</b> Uni-student. Carpenter. Motorcyclist. Papa's boy. Gruff and tough but eventually caring. Still Some Asshole© but one I think I could vibe with. 3.5 ⭐️

<b>Grant.</b> Some Asshole©. Control freak. Footballer. Daddy’s a Big Bad. Revenge plot. OTT J/P but badly executed. 2⭐️.

<b>Pianna.</b> Briella’s Bestie©. Cares more than her friend gets dici than her friend having a safe space and a healthy mindset. 1⭐️.

<b>STORY TIME</b>

The blurb was better than the actual content. This isn’t really a “dark bully” romance. A more accurate subtitle would be “Pseudo-Dark Assholery” romance.

🙃

The actual story is about Briella (brown/black FMC) who is a bad girl, who’s done some bad things JoJo Siwa style. She helps her messed up best friend Pianna get away from an abusive gangster Joey and runs him over with her car. Though neither Briella or Pianna check to ensure he’s dead because of course they done. 

Time passes. 

Rea estate agent Briella catches Jackie (a librarian at Groveton to whim she is mutually acquainted with) statutory raping a 16 year old male student. She uses this as blackmail, taking videos and pictures of the two, and keeping them on her devices—which is possession of CSAM, if I’m not mistaken. By blackmailing Jackie, Briella can finally become a librarian

Only she still enjoys property surfing like an agent.

In <i>Nimona</i>, there’s this quote:

<blockquote>
— <i>You want me to shift? You don’t want me to shift? PICK A LANE!</i>
— So you’re a boy now?!
— <i>I am today~</i>
</blockquote>

That’s how I felt with Briella’s jobs.

Anyways, Briella has been eyefucking Jason, who is the friendly golden retriever who’s casually crazy. His friends, Trip and Grant, help him blackmail Briella with her crimes of blackmail, though, for some reason, they focus more that Briella ruined Jackie’s life rather than her being in possession of CSAM and not reporting that a minor was raped.

Cool 🥴

Briella, as standard, fucks around and finds out that, no, these boys, sorry, these men aren't just saying this; they'll go through with threats. Well, Grant will. Jason is all in. Trip is halfway. Grant is the stereotypical hold out.

Entire book is largely Briella doing dumb things and being Big Mad. She, of course, has a soft spot for the caretaking Jason. She enjoys Trip’s protectiveness. But she and Grant are always at odds as Grant is the head of the group and she doesn’t conform to his will.

Eventually, Grant’s bad decision in handcuffing Briella to a bed and leaving her in his shared flat with the other two comes back to bite him when Joey’s brother Danny assaults her, intends to rape her and murder her. She’s take to hospital, where she’s done with games, and goes to stay with Pianna for her recovery.

Pianna, who should be in a life debt to Briella for saving her from abuse, yet she easily sells out Briella to the same men who she does know has fucked around with Briella, toyed with her, and left her to nearly be raped and murdered.

Friendship is ✨non-existent.

Doesn’t matter. Briella chooses these men in the end because she’s horny.

But here’s the question: why did they <i>choose</i> Briella?

Well, Jason thought she was hot.

But Trip and Grant chose her because they likened her actions to the Big Bad of the story, Grant’s mafia-adjacent power-hungry father Garry. Which, honestly, if they wanted to toy with her because she was in possession of CSAM and then never reported it? Solid 👏🏾 Nope. Nah. None of that. Eventually, Trip and Grant realized she was like them, not Garry, so it all worked out I guess.

🫠


<b>This was not dark or “bully”</b>. This featured an incompetent FMC who was either Big Mad or Big Horny. There was a dubcon to noncon scene in these with forced orgasms via vibrator. And the blackmail did initiate the relationship. But…that doesn’t make this a dark bully romance.

I’d like to repeat that why <b>dark fiction</b> exists is because it gives a space for stories to tell an explicit, concentrated, and consistent deep dive into the depraved and disturbing aspects of the human psyche, how far we are willing to forsake basic ethics and morals. 

Having to kneel on the floor and be hand fed isn’t that at all. Being horny all the time isn’t that all. The blackmail angle could’ve worked—but that only would’ve worked if we approached this about her storing CSAM on devices and her actually being competent and not just horny.

“Bullies” to me mean they’re actively ruining your life and you’re not enjoying it. You’re not getting horny to it. You’re fearful for your life and complying just to make it stop, not mouthing back and being snarky. And the bullies themselves can have an attraction to you, but they weaponize that.

Grant—I’ll give him that. I don’t know if I qualify him as THE bully, but he’s a bully kinda or a bully lite. But Trip is just Some Asshole®. Jason isn’t a bully at all.

So why state this is a dark bully romance. I expected all three MMCs to be bullies, not just one. And I was hopeful the dark part of this would be dark and not being too afraid to be dark.

Le sigh. Ah well. This was a freebie and it had a brown FMC, so 🤷🏾‍♀️