Review originally posted at Ramblings From This Chick 
 Bully is the first book in the Fall Away series by Penelope Douglas. I have been hearing great things about this book for quite awhile, but had never picked it up. I have no idea what I was waiting for, and I can't believe it took me this long. This story was fantastic, and I loved everything about it! Penelope Douglas wrote such a great story, and I felt like Abby Craden did such a great job of bringing it to life with her voice. I was drawn in from the start of this story and I felt like the story and narration did a great job of holding my interest all the way through. 
 Tate and Jared grew up next door to one another, and were the best of friends. Jared helped Tate get over the painful loss of her mother and Tate and her dad gave Jared an escape from his alcoholic mother. But right before high school, Jared went away for the summer to stay with his dad and came back a completely different person. Now he makes it his personal mission to terrorize Tate, going out of his way to make her life miserable. He sabotages her relationships and spreads rumors about her at school. Tate would do anything to avoid him and get through high school until she can leave and head to college away from him. She even went to France for a year to get away. But now that she is back for her senior year of high school, she refuses to let him continue to get away with treating her as he does. She decides it is time to stand up for herself and fight back. But even though things between them have been horrible for years, Tate has never stopped wondering what changed to turn Jared from the sweet best friend from next door to the mean bully he is now. 
 I really loved Tate and Jared. I knew that there was so much going on that we had no idea about, and I couldn't wait to see what was really going on with Jared. Jared was so much deeper that you could see right off, and I knew that he had to have been through a lot in order for him to make that transformation so suddenly. Tate was strong, and I can't imagine having been through everything that she had been put through. Even though I felt so bad for her and hated Jared at times, I wanted things to work out for them so badly. Jared and Tate had such a strong history and they definitely still had a connection. I just had to hope that the truth would come out and that they could put the past behind them and find their back to one another. I will admit that I really disliked Tate's best friend K.C. I thought that she was awful, and I didn't understand her at all. I felt like she crossed a line that you just don't ever cross, and I don't know that she will ever be able to redeem herself. 
 I loved how Abby Craden was able to voice each character with distinction, and that it was very easy for the listener to know who was talking and when. I thought that she did a wonderful job with each character, and her voice was very easy to listen to. In the past I have had trouble listening to audio books because I find my mind tends to wander. But that wasn't the case with Bully, and I think that it was because of the story Penelope Douglas had written as well as Abby Craden's narration. She was able to draw me in from the start, and kept me so interested that I had to know what would happen in the story and my attention was fully focused on her telling of the story. I absolutely can't wait to get more from Penelope Douglas and I look forward to more of this series. I would definitely be interested in more stories narrated by Abby Craden as well. I was really impressed with her ability to bring the story and the characters to life in a way that just reading the book isn't able to. 
 **Audiobook provided by Tantor**