Hate Crush

By: A. Zavarelli

Narrated by: Stefanie Kay

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

They call him the devil.

When I crash-landed into him on my first day at Loyola Academy, I was sure that couldn’t be true.

He was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen in real life.

Little did I know he was also the cruelest.

I went from starstruck to stunned the moment his cynical eyes cut through me.

I can’t tell you what it was that made him want to punish me. But from that day forward the brooding recluse of a man made it his goal to torment me.

I want to loathe him, and some days, I do.

But good or bad, nobody’s attention has ever tasted so sweet.

What do you do when you have a hate crush on your bully?

Worse yet, what do you do when he’s also your teacher?

Hate Crush is a full length standalone age gap bully romance with a complete ending.

©2019 A. Zavarelli (P)2020 A. Zavarelli

Meh…

This is a perfect example of a book needing two narrators. Although Stefanie Kay did a decent job narrating the book, I really think having a male narrator read Sebastian’s thoughts would have given this book more stars. The plot was decent and I finished the book, but that is pretty much all I can say.

3.5 Stars

I'm not typically a fan of age gap or student/teacher stories, but the idea of the teacher being a bully intrigued me. And for the most part, I enjoyed it. I'm not big on angst, so when we hit the part where the likelihood of discovery started being hinted at, I started to lose interest. I found the reveal to be overshadowed by another storyline, and for me, this was a good thing, as it lowered the angst-level. But I'm not sure others will like that as much as I did.

I was glad that everyone got what was coming to them, whether bad or good, but felt like some of the wrap-ups were a little too clichéd and for this book, over-done, as the same thing happened to basically unrelated characters.

But overall, it was a good book, and though the audio was done with only one narrator for alternating view points, it was well done.

It was good but...

I really had a problem with how weak the heroine was. She was way too submissive and didn’t stand up for herself enough. I like when the women characters are much stronger. I’m sure we’ve all suffered some form of mental abuse in some way but you do finally reach a point where you say ENOUGH!
No matter how much you love that person.
The chemistry and erotic sex scenes were pretty hot which made up for some of the things that were lacking. All in all it was okay.

Breaking Through Barriers

I loved the ebook so hearing it in audio was fantastic. The narrator did a fabulous job or bringing Sebastian and Stella to life. I loved this story. This taboo student- teacher trope is exciting.

Dual POV

First I'll start off with the narration. The female narrator is good and switched between characters seamlessly. With only a female narrator listed I assumed this was told in the heroines POV but it's a dual POV story. I really wish there was a male narrator for those chapters. I didn't get that alpha vibe when she read his chapters. Had I known this before purchasing I probably would have read instead.

The story itself was good, different from the other books I've listened to by this author though. I am still scratching my head over how inexperienced the heroine was too all of a sudden being a pro. She always caved super easy and I would have liked a little more resistance on her part. The hero was cruel and demanding and along with some of her peers made her life miserable. He had a lot of baggage and that made him closed off to any type of relationship. There was an accident that happened years prior and I'm surprised he never did anything about it especially considering his personality.

Overall I'd give the story 4 stars and recommend if you're looking for a bully type book. I did enjoy the smexy times and the way he cared about her safety.

Narration 5 stars for heroines chapters. 3 stars for heroes chapters.

Teacher/Student Romance

I own the ebook of Hate Crush and really enjoyed it, however the audio version knocked it out of the park for me. Funnily enough, this story has three tropes I never go out of my way for: Teacher/Student taboo relationship, age gap and bully. Ashleigh Zavarelli knows how to reel in a reader, though, and this story is no different. I wanted to punch the Hero in the face several times and there's the normal teenage angst as this story takes place at an exclusive school, but it's really entertaining. Over the top, but a great read with a bit of grit.

As for the narration? I flipping loved this narrator. Her versatility with the characters was one of the best I've listened to as someone relatively new to Audible, to the point that I'll be checking out her other work. The accents were great, especially for Sybil (my favourite voice in the story).

If you've read a Zavarelli book before, you'll know what you're getting. She's a one-click for me and this Audible was the cherry on the cake. Loved it even more than the ebook, which is a rarity for me.

Hot. Hot. Hot.

Hot. Hot. Hot. Loved Sebastian the teacher and Stella the student's story. Forbidden romance that was meant to be. Love these kinds of books. I could not stop reading.

Attention Keeper

I couldn’t stop listening to this book. Wonderful narration and attention captivating throughout. Highly recommended!

LOVE IT

this audiobook was so good! i finished the book in less then 3 days! yall go check it out!

Loved this entire audiobook!!

The narration was fantastic!!! The story just pulled me in from the very beginning! I love this author and her books! The audio was executed perfectly to fit the story. Definitely a wonderful experience