Heartless Hero by Mary Catherine Gebhard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have mixed emotions on Heartless Hero, and I feel I’m going to be in the minority. Mary Catherine Gebhard is an incredible author who writes with such complexity and depth and Heartless Hero is a true testament to that writing. There was just something with the story that isn’t fully allowing me to dive into 5 stars.

Normally, I don’t have a lot of aversions to different tropes, so a dark bully romance didn’t bother me at all. The two main characters have left me feeling really perplexed. Theo is an emotional assassin, who had me reeling one minute to overly happy and sentimental the next minute. I liked Theo, but I had a hard time handling the split personality he displayed at times. Infuriating one minute and then endearing the next. How is a girl supposed to know what’s real and what isn’t, which leads us to Abigail.

Abigail, poor sweet Abigail. Despite having it all monetarily, she was the one character that needed something more than money could buy. Abigail’s mother, Tansy Crowne, is a narcissist to the core and the least likely person that should be a mother and a role model. Mr. Beryl Crowne is the third richest man in the world and Abigail’s grandfather. Beryl along with Tansy only care about one thing, money! In order to get it, they will do anything they have to in order to sustain the company. Unfortunately, Abi is stuck in the middle of this dysfunctional house. She is a girl with big dreams, never thinking she can obtain them, so she has settled into the role of doormat and black sheep.

The emotional battery of Theo’s whiplash still affects me, and I finished the book a few days ago. In all honesty, if you like dark romance reads with bullies (notice the plural there), Heartless Hero is one you should check out. Mary deserves 5 stars, but because of Theo’s emotional tennis match, I sadly give her 4.25 stars.

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