VICIOUS
Series: Sinners of Saint
Author: LJ Shen
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 1, 2017
Emilia
They say love and hate are the same feelings experienced under different circumstances, and it’s true.
The man who comes to me in my dreams also haunts me in my nightmares.
He is a brilliant lawyer.
A skilled criminal.
A beautiful liar.
A bully and a savior, a monster and a lover.
Ten years ago, he made me run away from the small town where we lived. Now, he came for me in New York, and he isn’t leaving until he takes me with him.
Vicious
She is a starving artist.
Pretty and evasive like cherry blossom.
Ten years ago, she barged into my life unannounced and turned everything upside down.
She paid the price.
Emilia LeBlanc is completely off-limits, my best friend’s ex-girlfriend. The woman who knows my darkest secret, and the daughter of the cheap Help we hired to take care of our estate.
That should deter me from chasing her, but it doesn’t.
So she hates me. Big fucking deal.
She better get used to me.
“You’re pissing me off,” she said quietly, her eyes still searching my face.“And that’s turning me on,” I retorted, my voice flat. “So you might wanna tone down the hate glares if you don’t wanna find yourself being fucked on this desk with the blinds still open.”
I was still staring at my screen, working on the merger deal I was eager to get signed before Christmas, but I could see from my peripheral that she had paled. I liked how—once again—I’d gotten under her skin. Quickly.
“You’re disgusting,” she muttered, still staring at me—but not in a way that suggested she was appalled.
I cracked my neck, opening my browser and checking the stocks on the screen, skimming through the greens and the reds. “That may well be, but I’m balls deep in your fucking head, Help, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Her eyes glittered with rage, and fuck, I was so hard, and fuck, she was so beautiful. This was so on. I was going to fuck Dean’s ex-girlfriend, use her for my personal needs, and toss her away when I was done.
And after choosing the wrong guy, there was no doubt in my mind, she deserved it too.
“You just gave Floyd a lecture about the inter-office fraternization policy. No mixing business and pleasure.” She leaned forward. Her elbow touched my finger accidentally, and she jerked it away.
I met her halfway, erasing the space between us across the desk. “Correction—guys like Floyd won’t give you pleasure. Men like me would. Besides, the man likes Arrow,” I drawled, as if this alone was a reason to fire him.
To me, it was.
“You know what your problem is, Vicious? You still haven’t decided if you hate me or like me. That’s why you act like this every time I’m around other men.” There wasn’t a trace of embarrassment in her voice. She owned up to this.
What she didn’t know was that I knew exactly how I felt about her.
I hated her, but was attracted to her. It was really that simple.
“You know what I feel right now, Ms. LeBlanc? I feel like you need to pack a fucking bag and start making the necessary arrangements. You’re coming with me to California, whether you like it or not.”
My obsession. My muse. My enemy.
It’s official. L.J. Shen is a witch. How else could the woman possibly crawl inside my mind and create a story that seriously felt custom written for me?
Uber angst? Check!
Hot alphahole hero? Holy hell, CHECK!
A heroine that’s the perfect blend of innocent but with a steel backbone? Check!
An enemies to lovers story that left me practically salivating? CHECK!
A sexual chemistry and a burn so good it makes you want to slap yo mama? CHECK!
An addicting, obsessive read from cover to cover? ABSOLUTELY FREAKING CHECK!!!
The Four HotHoles rule All Saints High. All the guys want to hang out with them and all the girls want to sleep with them. It doesn’t matter that women are more disposable to them than a pair of socks, they’ll gladly give up their dignity for a night…or a few hours in their bed. Vicious is the most brutal of the four. He’s a coldblooded asshole that practice bubbles over with barely surprised rage. And the target for the brunt of his anger is Emilia, his classmate and daughter of the hired help living at his father’s mansion.
Emilia was a heroine you can’t help but like. They say the line is thin between love and hate and that’s definitely the case here. She wants to hate Vicious and he surely gives her plenty of reason to…and yet, he’s like a magnet drawing her in.
Shen did a phenomenal job with character development, that you don’t just read what they’re feeling, you feel it. That couldn’t be more true with Emilia. I clicked with her from the very first page. Here’s a heroine that’s down on her luck, down to her last penny, barely making ends meet working two jobs to support herself and her sick sister, but she still has this undercurrent of strength that you can’t help but respect.
Intersected with flashbacks to their high school years, the story develops in the present. Years after Emilia left All Saints High and Vicious behind. But circumstances soon bring her face to face once more with a man that made her teenage years a living hell.
Now if you’re an angst lover like me, you will gobble up everything about this book and be left begging for more. The sexual tension between Vicious and Emilia crackles with electricity. I loved that added burn of hate lust between them. The woman definitely gave him a run for his money and for all his thinly veiled insults that he throws her way, you can see just how much he craves her underneath it all.
“And that’s turning me on,” I retorted, my voice flat. “So you might wanna tone down the hate glares if you don’t wanna find yourself being fucked on this desk with the blinds still open.”
The writing was absolutely brilliant. Shen simply gets better and better with each book she writes and she truly outdid herself with this one. She gave us four heroes that you not only click with but obsess over. Sure, this book is focused on Vicious and I loved every page of it. But I also loved the three other HotHoles and if the set up for two of them is anything to go by, I already know I need their books.
As for this book? This is what obsession is made of. This book. These characters. This romance. It was too delicious for words. Simply. Addicting.
L.J. Shen resides in sunny California with her husband, son, chubby cat and wild, wild dreams.
Her passion is to write badass stories, sushi, UFC and her awesome family and friends (not in this order, though. Obviously, sushi comes before writing. Oh, and also the family part.)
She spend the first half of her twenties traveling the world and is now paying all the fun with extra shifts in front of her MacBook. Feel free to contact her on her Facebook page. She loves to hear from her readers.
https://www.facebook.com/authorljshen/
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ON BROKEN WINGS
Do you know that feeling when you meet a secondary character in a series that steals your attention from the second he appears on the pages? That was Alex “Easy” Rogers for this girl. Now it’s no secret that I have a weak spot for the unrepentant manwhores, but there was also something much more to Easy. He was the goofball of the group, the easy going one always quick with the jokes and a smile, but you knew that beneath that is the heart of a man much more complex that he first appears. I’ve been slowly dying in my wait for his book since first meeting him in 
If you’re expecting your typical manwhore hero, think again. Alex is such a complex character. His jokes and smile a facade to the deep feelings he hides, but his love for his fallen friend and brother in arms is his worst kept secret. Alex has been in love with Dani Peterson since he first laid eyes on her… as the loving wife of his best friend. Dani has been an unreachable and unattainable dream for him, so he drowned himself in easy and forgettable women, but nothing erased his feelings.
On Broken Wings was a poignant and beautiful romance packed with emotion and meaning. It was full of swoons and steam. There was no clutter to take away from what Dani and Alex go through on their way to their HEA and I loved it. I loved every second of it. I loved every page of it. I. Just. Loved. It.
VICIOUS
THE PAWN
Avery has grown up with everything she could ever ask for. After a terrible scandal with her father’s company, she and her father are left with close to nothing. In order to do anything she can to save her house and care for her father, Avery goes to the one man who might give her a loan. Little does she know that she will meet the man who ruined her father and give her a proposal that she cannot refuse in order to save her house and her father’s life.
GABRIEL. That’s it. Just his name sends shivers down my body. Gabriel is mine. Seriously. Back up, ladies! I know Lana wants to claim him, but NOPE! I refuse. He is ALL MINE, whore! He is a Grade A – Ass….Hole. My kinda man. He treats Avery with nothing less than disdain. She is the daughter of the man that cheated him, and he is willing to put her through hell and humiliation to get his pleasure. I loved the glimpses of compassion in his character, but he inevitably shows his true colors and is true to his inner asshole.
SOMEONE LIKE YOU
If you’re anything like me, then you’ve been both eagerly anticipating and dreading Lincoln’s book. Anticipating it because you love those irreverent playboys, and dreading because you’re afraid that you’ve been building up your expectations in anticipation. Lincoln’s story was the one I’ve been waiting for since 
Daisy is Emma’s (from 
What you see is not at all what you get with him and soon the pieces begin to click together towards the heartrending secret that he keeps. My heart went through a ringer with him. It’s impossible not to fall for him, not to feel his pain, not to want to soothe and heal him. In between the easy friendship that Lincoln and Daisy instantly develop, there was such a deep emotion interspersed with a hidden craving. God. GOD but I loved these two together.
Someone Like You was an incredibly powerful, poignant and emotional romance. It was a story of second chances and healing. It was a stunning story of finding your strength again and moving on. It’s a story of courage and love. It was absolute perfection and reminded me all over again why I first fell in love with Lauren Layne’s writing. The woman can make you feel, laugh, and love all in 228 wonderful pages. If you’ve enjoyed the rest of the Stiletto and Oxford series and you’ve been anticipating Lincoln’s story as much as I have, this is a must read. But have a box of tissues ready, because you won’t come out of it unscathed. Be ready to shed some tears and swoon over the perfect imperfection that is Lincoln Mathis.
THE PAWN
This was easily my favorite by this author to date. Gripping. Captivating. Magnetic. Dark. Erotic. It was EVERYTHING I love about a dark romance. It’s not gratuitous violence and scenes thrown in for pure shock value. It’s a mind fuck. An incredibly written, twisty, and delicious mind fuck that I couldn’t put down from beginning to finish; with a heroine you’ll want to root for, and an anti-hero that you’ll want to hate only slightly more than you love him.
Growing up in privilege and money, Avery had an enchanted life. She idolized her father, she looked forward to her future and starting college, she had a doting boyfriend that she suspected only wanted her for his status, she had little worries aside from questioning her relationship…until it all crashed down on her…
If you’re a fan of this author, and you love a well written dark romance, this is one book that you do NOT want to miss. I may go crazy in my wait for the conclusion, but I don’t regret a moment of it because I have the best book high after finishing this. All of the stars!
MISCHIEF AND THE MASTERS
This series is by far one of my top favorite BDSM series out there. Cherise Sinclair has this knack for writing provocative mixed with emotional and gripping. Her romance is so far beyond simple eroticism and sex with BDSM. Her characters are multi-layered with so much depth that after 12 books in this phenomenal series, each time I pick up a new book it’s like coming home. These characters have become like friends to me. And even though you get a different couple in each book, you get to know each individual character well before. Enough so, that you yearn for the HEA and eager to get to the bottom of their secrets. This was exactly the case for me with Uzuri.
FANGIRL
Cath is starting college, wanting to be a writer. She is already huge in the fanfiction world, but she is excited about expanding her writing world. She faces many new relationships and situations, like new college students do. Of course, it doesn’t help that she has social anxiety and is a writing hermit. At one point, she literally has no idea where to find the dining hall and refuses to try to find it (Bwahahaha!). There is so much of ME in Cather!!! There were so many moments in this book when I just stopped and had to breathe because they writing would actually take my breath from me. I could feel myself in this book and in these characters.
Cath & Levi. I loved these two so much. Levi is Cath’s roommate’s ex-boyfriend, but he hangs out in Cath’s room a lot because he needs help from her roommate to study. He has issues with reading and comprehension, so he usually listens to the lectures. The bond between Cath & Levi will have every reader swooning to no end. Cath ends up reading to Levi, and the cuddling…….THE CUDDLING!!!!! Gah! The AWKWARD. The CHARM. The entire LAUNDRY BASKET SCENE.
This book brought out my fascination for writers. Many people have asked me why I don’t write books since I read so much. Honestly, I have never understood this question. In my head, they are completely different and not related. And my simple answer is that I would be a terrible writer. I have a horrible vocabulary. My brain operates too logically and not creatively enough. Some of my favorite writers have talked about how they have these people talking to them in their heads, and they have to get them out, so they bring them to life on the page. THIS is FASCINATING to me. And I just…..I want to live in their brains. This book is fanfiction brought to life. Fanfiction is this generation’s new way of writing and reading, and this author made it known in this book. I’ve never read fanfiction, but I’ve known about it ever since I became a true reader 8 years ago (I know, only 8 years?! I was wasting my reading on education. Pft!). The Harry Potter parallels killed me. I loved all of the references. I really believe this book is a piece of literature, and the Rainbow Rowell brought this literature to the surface of a young adult romance.
PUNK 57
Ever since I read 
Misha is a grade A asshole in the beginning and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love every page of it. Douglas has this gift for writing some of the sexiest alphaholes I’ve ever read. Yes, they’re mean and you want to slap them at times, but you also understand what drives them to be that way and you can’t help but love them anyway.
This is so much more than a sexy NA romance, however. It’s a story of learning to love and accept yourself. A story of learning to stand up for what you believe is right even if no one stands up with you. It’s a story of friendship and love. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that you never want to get off of and a romance between two people that don’t make sense together on paper but couldn’t be more right for each other. It’s dark and light, it’s love and hate. It’s complete and utter perfection.
TONIC
Joel (aka Hairy) is a tattoo artist….a hairy tattoo artist. He owns the tattoo shop, Tonic, which is getting its own reality tv show. He isn’t excited about it, but he realizes he would rather be the show on tv than the competition to get the show. When he first meets Annika…..FIRE! I LOVED the animosity between the two right away. Annika tries to give him the cold, but his fire is so hot that she cannot resist him. I’ll take a little bit of THIS and THAT. 
