Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of Bruised in exchange for an honest review.

I love stories about grief. I love sapphic stories. Bruised sounded perfect.

Boteju does a really good job of writing teenagers in a way that feels real and it made Daya's pain, grief, and unhealthy coping mechanisms pack that much harder of a punch. I loved her journey towards healing and while I did like the romance, I'm not a big fan of healing stories being intertwined this strongly with the beginning of a relationship. I'm not a massive fan of how the relationship plot thread ends (which I obviously can't really get into details about because spoilers) but other than that, I loved this.