I wanted to like this one. I LOVE a damaged hero. I love bully romances. I'm a sucker for those darker reads. This one just didn't work for me.

Fiona, our h, has been the target of Damien's hate since they were five years old. She went through school always worrying about what he was going to do next. He was cruel. She had zero backbone, and never stood up to him. I think I would have liked this one more if there were more push/pull between the two, but it was really one sided. Damien was mean to her and she altered her life to fit his hatred. She didn't go to parties. She didn't try to date. She basically hid away at home, with her best friend, Vicky rather than risk incurring Damien's wrath.

Damien is your typical damaged hero. Bad childhood. Doesn't know how to deal with his feelings for Fiona, so he lashes out. Usually this is the kind of book I am HERE FOR.

Problem #1: Damien waits ten years to "claim" Fiona. Apparently, he always knew he was going to end up with her. She was his, he just had to go and get her. However it's mentioned that he goes to Yale, becomes successful, and he's a millionaire by the time he goes after Fiona. So, the dude seriously had the resources. There was no reason for them to be apart for ten years.

Problem #2: Damien wants only Fiona, or so he says. He hires a PI to keep tabs on her. He knows every move she's made. When she goes to college, when she starts her business, who she's dating. The dude is supposed to be seriously obsessed with Fiona. He isn't the guy who slept around in high school (even if it looked like he did). Instead he ends up climbing into Fiona's window on the night they graduated and they have sex. It's Fiona's first time (and we later find out it was also Damien's). But then Damien goes to college and by his sophomore year, he's sexing it up with various women. He doesn't have sex with brunettes, though. Because that would remind him of Fiona. He'll only do it with blondes and redheads, or women who don't remind him at all of Fiona. Because, in his mind, by not sleeping with anyone who reminds him of Fiona, HE IS BEING FAITHFUL TO HER. What the fuck? He's obsessed enough to stalk the girl, but he can't keep his dick in his pants? I had a hard time seeing this as him being head over heals for Fiona. Especially since he says he always knew she was meant to be his, and that he had planned to be with her.

Problem #3: Fiona, who isn't pining for Damien, only has sex with one other man. IN TEN YEARS. And, of course, as with so many other books in this genre, while the H is out having amazing, albeit emotionless sex, the h has sex with one guy. And she's in a relationship with him. And, of course, the sex was just mediocre. Because, no one other than the H can make her feel the way the H does. (BLEH)

Which leads me to Problem #4: STOP SLUT SHAMING WOMEN! This book officially lost a star from me when Damien and Fiona are broken up, briefly. Damien is thinking about Fiona, and about how he knows that she loves him, because she and him had sex a certain way. According to Damien, if a woman lets you take them "there", she's either in love or she's a whore. And, as he says "Fiona's no whore".

Basically, I just didn't like these characters. Fiona was a total pushover, not only with Damien, but when it came to her parents. Damien is awful to pretty much everyone. He has a best friend, Will, but for the life of me, I couldn't see what Will got out of that relationship. Damien treated him awful. He even beat him up in hs because Will questioned Damien on whether or not Damien should move on from Fiona.

Bottom line: These characters just weren't ones I was going to root for. By the end, I really didn't care if they ended up together or not. Frankly, they both could have done better.