Crispin Barclay, a chiseled 6'6" college student, killed his parents.
The rumor spreads about the hot, blond billionaire heir after his parents' mysterious death.
He's vicious. Cruel. Exactly the type to kill his parents for money.
Nobody stands in his way. Nobody says "no" to him. Except her.
The impossible, dark-skinned, Amina Hewett. Crispin wants her more than he's wanted anyone. He dreams about her. He yearns for her.
But Amina hates everything about him... and not just because of the rumors.
A wicked late-night encounter with the cruel campus bully left her hurt and confused.
Staying away from Crispin Barclay isn't as easy as it sounds. He's determined. Obsessed. Persistent. Pushing him away won't work.
The billionaire heir always gets what he wants.
This is Book #1 of a 6 book series with a morally grey alpha hero, a black female lead and a lovable cast of characters. This series must be read together, in order. This is a spin-off series to The British Bully Series with Ben & Libby, another interracial bully romance set at Rapetti Academy.
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Amina Hewett, heroine, a troubled Black college student and adoptive daughter of the governor of Texas.
Crispin Hargraves-Barclay, hero, a wealthy feared popular White college student and athlete who is thought to have murdered his parents, the Hargraves.
Crazy little mixed up unlikable cast of characters. Many elements and events in the story are repeated over and over again. The dialogue is unrealistic. The heroine has been sexually abuse by her adoptive father causing her to gravitate to accept a demeaning sexual friends with benefits relationship with a couple of the male students. Amina developed an eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, because of her adoptive mother's constant criticism of Amina's physical appearance. This emotionally marred character, Amina, allowed herself to become a defenseless doormat to the ridicule of the other students. Amina, Crispin and the other characters are mean spirited, violent, backstabbing sickos.
I don't hate or love this story, it was a drama filled read and both characters are flawed which is fine.
I am disappointed in coming across yet another interracial book where racists people and circumstances keep happening to the black character, or the black female lead feeling less than simply because she's black, can black authors in the interracial romance genre STOP making their black female leads feel ugly and insecure about their blackness? It's getting tired, I don't think I'll be getting the next book.
The idea that people are naturally inclined to do the right thing is a falsehood. Natural disasters can, at times, be less devastating than the damage human beings inflict upon one another.
Innocence stolen, trust destroyed, and psychological abuse are all things that have shaped Amina into the dispirited, distracted, and hardened young woman she is today.
Limitless wealth, decadence, privilege, deceit, and sex make Crispin a big man on campus. Now that he is perceived as a murderer, this seems to draw more attention towards him than away.
These two characters have too many reasons not to be on each other's radar. The build-up between them is palpable, and while Amina wants to fight it, Crispin is content to play her game for now. However, what everyone else doesn't know won't hurt them, right?
Amina is strong in spirit. I like that about her and was rooting for her to kick ass and take names the whole book. It opens on her at a party with other rich boarding school kids in England where she and a friend are being hazed. The result is that their clothes are cut from them and each has alcohol poured all over. A ten second head start is all they get to escape whoever's lighter can catch them. Amina's friend is caught though we only get the after effects, but although Amina gets away, it's not really a clean break. Crispin catches Amina and although he strongly desires her, but let's her go unscathed. From there, we get insight into Amina's daily life and struggles with the other kids at the boarding school. She and Crispin end up bonding over their collective tragic backstories, he finding his parents murdered and being accused, and she being the adopted daughter of the Texas governor who'd raped her along with issues with food and eating. Once they share their stories, they agree to be secret friends which means no outward displays even though they meet and hang out together in secret where they also share kisses. Much of the rest of the book is a lot of bully behavior and threats to Amina's being kicked out of school for bad grades and stunts which she wants to avoid at all costs because going home means more time with the rapist adoptive father. At the end of this book, the governor visits her in school and is sinisterly about to take her back to a hotel with him off campus, much to Amina's dismay and lack of willingness to go. The cliffhanger sucks because I want to know if Crispin will step in because he promised to help her stay out of her adoptive father's clutches.
The characters are well developed and different, the writing is great, and I couldn't put it down. There were hints of a lot of other stuff going on behind the scenes with the other students that I think kept the book interesting though I couldn't understand why Crispin was being cagey about what Amina's friends were up to. It seems like it'll be a good series overall.
„If you enjoy dark + twisted college romance stories with morally grey alpha males and black female leads, this sensual slow burn book will drag you into one of my most addictive book universes...“
That’s how Jamila sucks you into her world. This book delivers. How?
It‘s the foundation, where we see how bad the entire situation is. I know the payoff down the line will be more poignant. This set up literally had me in tears.
Amina is an orphan, adopted by rich, abusive, political celebrity parents. Crispin (with connections to another Rappetti Academy story) was drugged and present while his parents were murdered. So not only do they each have problems, the whole school situation is toxic. And yet we get to witness the start of a tender friendship between the two, amidst the craziness that is their lives.
There were a few minor typos (maybe one every 10-15 pages), but they aren’t overly bothersome. So far the plot is solid and checks all the boxes for dark bully romances. Characters (including minor ones) are well developed and easy to tell apart. Heroine is dark-skinned. What I did appreciate, was that although this story is set in an English boarding school (high school), the main characters are over 18.
*I don't usually leave reviews like this,but needed to on this one* I wanna like it I do but I just can't (was recommended on tiktok). I'm only 5 chaps in an I wanna DNF. I even prefer th MMC because the FMC is so annoying. Like for examples she can't understand why she's almost being expelled...yet she's ignoring doing 3 subjects and doesn't see a problem 🤔 like girl come on.Even I know you can't just go to school and not do half the work,just because it's not your future job or because you think "you don't have one". Then why go at all,your just wasting other people's time. I get it because of your dad an mom. I already know what happened with them an not even half way. Just move out SMH. And the way she dislikes/disrespect "white people is disgusting. I get doing it to the MMC but she was just doing it to everyone else.Even the Dean like girl get real.Hell her friend got burned because "she left her there" yet she doesn't look so remorseful...there's more I can say but why bother. DNFing. On to the next read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
OMG!!! Addictive drama. It was a page turner and the suspense was OH WOW!!! I was suck right in this story and I was at the edge of my seat. Crispin been through a lot in his life as lost both of his parents. Maybe he had drama going on in his life. But Crispin had to have Amina for himself all he did is think about her. Crispin and Amina chemistry was hot and heavy. And their attraction was forbidden love romance. This was an interracial relationship and maybe a lot of people did not approved of their relationship. This story was based in a college events this was many dark twisted within this action packed drama. Would these two live Happily ever after based on their race. Or will they be torn apart by other who has their own opinion. If you love interracial romance story this book is for you and trust me you will not be disappoint. Because I was not all it was fantastic book.
I received a copy of this book via Bookfunnel and am voluntarily leaving a honest review. Trina Jones
Despicable is the first book in the Crispin & Amina "Dark Bully Series". This BWWM romance is set in a small, affluent college in England, where the heroine has escaped to finish her education, but is often the focus of English style hazing/bullying. Crispin Hargreaves's character reminded me of a version of the Harry Potter series character, Malfoy, if he'd grown up and decided to have sex with various individuals all of the time. Amina's on and off relationship with Devin may have actually had a degree of realism given the assumed maturity level of both characters. Devin also seemed to be developed as the "more realistic" model of Ron Weasly. Other supporting characters did seem to be stereotypes of typical college personalities. I enjoyed the amount of sexual tension between Crispin and Amina, but wasn't so into the amount of reportable sexual assault issues that arose in the story. With this being said, I will read the next installment in the series given that Jasper has a good command of writing and grammar.
Amina is being bullied by the entire school, which is awful and truly despicable. The so-called jokes they play go beyond hazing and enter the realm of attempted murder. Still, Amina suffers through it all. The complexity of her character was lovely! She does owe the world softness.
After trying to kill her, Crispin becomes weirdly fascinated with her. They grow to become secret friends, sharing secrets and enjoying meals. His honesty brought life to his character. He admits both his sexual desire and genuine curiosity.
The plot is surprisingly very gripping and very well developed. If you can handle some violence and do not mind a school based setting, you would enjoy this.
I’m also an author so I analyze books with a different perspective! I loved how Ms. Jamila Jasper fleshed out the characters and their personality. I’m glad I took a chance on this book. It’s definitely not for everyone and some people might even be offended by some of the dark themes. But that’s what makes this book such an interesting read. Amina is broken and definitely all over the place but her struggles will definitely resonate with many. Give the book a shot with an open mind!
This book was close to nonsensical; it jumped around from one scene to another. The relationship between Crispin and Amina (if this is what you want to call it) didn’t make sense. Most of the negative things occurring in the book didn’t make sense, like how shagging came about for a couple of characters. The way it ended was awful, can’t stand cliffhangers. The situation that caused the cliffhanger was not very realistic. This book was despicable
This book was so wonderful and sad. I’m really rooting for my girl Amina she’s so sweet and her friends i don’t like none of them, especially the Bible thumper. I hope book 2 comes out soon i need it!
OMG … Why the cliffhanger? I thought book was about Crispin & Amina! Incident with her Dad is heartbreaking 💔 Seriously she thinks she is handling the bullying at her school?
I didn't like how the hero didn't support or protected her even after he knews he likes her. He let's bad things happen to her even when he knows he could stop it. I tried this book to see if I like bully romance. But now, I definitely know, I don't like this trope.