All Saints High
Mini ‘Sinners of Saint’ are here to mess with all of us!
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1. PRETTY RECKLESS by L.J. Shen
SYNOPSIS
Penn
They say revenge is a dish best served cold. I’d had four years to stew on what Daria Followhill did to me, and now my heart was completely iced. I took her first kiss. She took the only thing I loved. I was poor. She was rich. The good thing about circumstances? They can change. Fast. Now, I’m her parents’ latest shiny project. Her housemate. Her tormentor. The captain of the rival football team she hates so much. Yeah, baby girl, say it—I’m your foster brother. There’s a price to pay for ruining the only good thing in my life, and she’s about to shell out some serious tears. Daria Followhill thinks she is THE queen. I’m about to prove to her that she’s nothing but a spoiled princess.
Daria
Everyone loves a good old unapologetic punk. But being a bitch? Oh, you get slammed for every snarky comment, cynical eye roll, and foot you put in your adversaries’ way. The thing about stiletto heels is that they make a hell of a dent when you walk all over the people who try to hurt you. In Penn Scully’s case, I pierced his heart until he bled out, then left it in a trash can on a bright summer day. Four years ago, he asked me to save all my firsts for him. Now he lives across the hall, and I want nothing more than to be his last everything. His parting words when he gave me his heart were that nothing in this world is free. Now? Now he is making me pay.
BOOK REVIEW
All Saints High is the spin-off series of the Sinners of Saint one from one and only L.J. Shen. And Pretty Reckless is a beautiful kick-off start about the second generation straight from Todos Santos, focusing on Daria (a daughter of Jamie and Melody from Defy). This enemies-to-lovers book was full of so much mature teen angst and drama, as well as filled to the brim with mind-blowing twists and turns that left me with my jaw chilling on the floor.
“I love you, Daria Followhill, and I think you love me, too. In fact, I think we fell at the same time. You, like rain, in drizzles, over the weeks. Me, like the fucking sky above my head, all at once, crashing without the faintest chance of stopping.”
Daria Followhill was an entitled, privileged, and simply spoiled brat. But despite possessing seemingly everything in the entire world, she was extremely unhappy and painfully lonely, suffering deep inside with insecurities that took over her almost completely. Daria struggled so much in her life and had to endure a lot in order to survive parental neglect and not to fall prey to peer pressure, losing on two fronts all along. She was fake but raw and real at the same time, making me feel for her pain and love this beautiful broken girl.
“You were never a drizzle, Penn Scully. When I fell for you, you came beating down, and I felt you everywhere. You were hail.”
Penn Scully was the complete opposite of Daria, but similar at the same time. He was a beautiful fighter with a hardened by unfair circumstances exterior that functioned as a temporary band-aid for his bleeding scars inside. Understandably, he didn’t love many. But the few he did love he loved fiercely and wholeheartedly.
“I’ve loved you in secret, and I’ve loved you openly in front of both our worlds, and if you think I’ll stop loving you if you put an ocean between us, you’re dead wrong.”
The relationship between Daria and Penn was something I never anticipated. The connection they shared felt natural, like a heavy rain after overly lengthy draught. The chemistry was like a scorchingly hot flame, inextinguishable by the said rain.
Pretty Reckless was mind-blowing and all-consuming, with angst to the max. It was an emotional rollercoaster that wrecked my weak for L.J. Shen’s writing heart. Highly recommend!
PS. The original hotholes as parents were strikingly different in the best way possible. Seeing their love for their kids was incredible. To be honest, I never liked Melody, but Jaime as a father was an absolute best!
2. BROKEN KNIGHT by L.J. Shen
SYNOPSIS
Not all love stories are written the same way. Ours had torn chapters, missing paragraphs, and a bittersweet ending.
Luna Rexroth is everyone’s favorite wallflower. Sweet. Caring. Charitable. Quiet. Fake. Underneath the meek, tomboy exterior everyone loves (yet pities) is a girl who knows exactly what, and who, she wants—namely, the boy from the treehouse who taught her how to curse in sign language. Who taught her how to laugh. To live. To love.
Knight Cole is everyone’s favorite football hero. Gorgeous. Athletic. Rugged. Popular. Liar. This daredevil hell-raiser could knock you up with his gaze alone, but he only has eyes for the girl across the street: Luna. But Luna is not who she used to be. She doesn’t need his protection anymore. When life throws a curveball at All Saints’ golden boy, he’s forced to realize not all knights are heroes.
Sometimes, the greatest love stories flourish in tragedy.
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BOOK REVIEW
When you refuse to pay your dues to love, sometimes the price goes up. There’s an inflation, and you end up losing more than you’d bargained.
Broken Knight by L.J. Shen was a beautifully written coming-of-age friends-to-lovers story. It was alluring, captivating, and intense. It was just addicting with all its angst and feelings. I absolutely loved #Lunight and their ride or die!
There were two Knight Coles. One was mine. The other everyone else’s.
Knight Jameson Cole was so precious, but at times, I felt very conflicted about him. He had lots of issues... He was an arrogant asshole but loyal to a fault, especially to Luna and Rosie. His stubbornness was both his strength and weakness. And Luna was... Luna. Not going to lie, I didn’t like her. I felt like her character development was not self-sufficient, mostly pushed by other people around her. The way her actions were justified was groundless, and I felt really bad for Knight who turned out to be some sort of a semi-villain when all he did was reciprocating.
I didn’t want to kiss her. I wanted to zip open my skin and tuck her into me. Hide her from the world and keep her mine.
I did root for #Lunight to end up together after their constant miscommunication and annoying refusal to finally concede. But I just knew they meant to be together. Honestly, their tumultuous journey to each other was pure torture. It broke my heart. I twisted and turned and cried so much while reading.
I don’t want to spoil the reading experience for you, just grab the book and read it! L.J. Shen didn’t disappoint. For the most part…
PS. Broken Knight was almost perfect. And I say ‘almost’ because WTF was that ending?
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3. ANGRY GOD by L.J. Shen
SYNOPSIS
Vaughn Spencer. They call him an angry god. To me, he is nothing but a heartless prince. His parents rule this town, its police, every citizen and boutique on Main Street. All I own is a nice, juicy grudge against him for that time he almost killed me. Between hooking up with a different girl every weekend, breaking hearts, noses and rules, Vaughn also finds the time to bully little ole’ me. I fight back, tooth and nail, never expecting him to chase me across the ocean after we graduate high school. But here he is, living with me in a dark, looming castle on the outskirts of London. A fellow intern. A prodigal sculptor. A bloody genius.
They say this place is haunted, and it is. Carlisle Castle hides two of our most awful secrets. Vaughn thinks he can kill the ghosts of his past, but what he doesn’t know? It’s my heart he’s slaying.
BOOK REVIEW
I genuinely wish I could say this was everything that I’d ever hoped the book of the only son of my favourite Vicious and Emilia would be, but it was just a complete disaster more than anything… I absolutely loved the very first book in the All Saints High series, while enjoying the second one (it was a little messy towards the end but still). Honestly speaking, I seriously don’t know how the third and final one turned out to be the way it did. In Broken Knight, the banter between Vaughn and Lenora was on fire. Their chemistry in Angry God was funny. I simply didn’t believe in their relationship. Vaughn and his blowjobs were ridiculous. Lenny and her stunts were annoying. Their character development within the twisted (in the worst way possible) plot was pretty much non-existent...
“Son, are you gay?” I spat the cognac out, choking on the earthy liquid. Dad remained calm, crossing one leg over the other. “Be frank. You know we don’t care, and we’ll support you no matter what. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it, all right, but I’m not gay.” He blinked, saying nothing. “Why the fuck would you think that?”
“You’re not a huge fan of the other sex.”
“I’m not a huge fan of the human race.”
“Me either. But then there’s your mother. I am a huge fucking fan of hers.”
The only highlight of the book was my precious daddy Vic, not even Em (why was there even a need to ruin her). For the most part, I just didn’t care for the story. I’m sorry. (But maybe it’s because my expectations were too high for the story of Vic’s son.)
So, Angry God by L.J. Shen was just a miss for me.
PS. There’re trigger warnings, loves! And the scenes are rather graphic, which threw me off. Be aware!
4. DAMAGED GOODS by L.J. Shen
SYNOPSIS
Bailey Followhill is the perfect daughter. Sweet. Charitable. Pretty. Control freak. Not a hair out of place, not an inch out of line, she is everything her troublemaking sister Daria isn’t.
When her A game turns out to be a lukewarm C- at Juilliard, Bailey’s picture-ready life starts fraying faster than the worn satin ribbons of her pointe shoes. She’s becoming a piece of gossip. The Troubled Child. A drug abuser. Underneath the goody two-shoes persona is damaged goods… but can the bad boy across the street save her?
Lev Cole is so golden, he’s got the Midas Touch. Prized quarterback. Football captain. Hottest guy in SoCal. A textbook cliché. With a girlfriend he doesn’t love and a career path he doesn’t value, Lev is coasting. The only two things he cares about—Bailey and becoming a pilot—are unattainable and out of reach.
Only Lev is done being satisfied with the life others have chosen for him. He wants to pick his own cards. To demolish the seamless kingdom of lies his family stitched together upon the ruins his mother left behind. Question is—can he race against the clock, save his best friend and his dream?
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BOOK PREVIEW
As childhood best friends, Bailey always took care of Lev, and while their relationship was always platonic, Lev always harbored feelings for Bailey.
But after professing his feelings to her before she leaves for college, she gently tells him she only sees him as her ‘brother’.
But when Bailey comes back home from college after struggling with a painkiller addiction, it is Lev that is the one to nurse her back to herself.
But Lev is not the same guy Bailey remembers and she’ll have to find a way to heal herself before she can finally give in to her feelings for Lev.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L.J.Shen is an International #1 best-selling author of contemporary romance and new adult novels (her brooding alpha male characters are to die for I must say).
She lives in Northern California with her husband, young son and chubby cat.
She is very active on her social media accounts (I absolutely love her Instagram page), giving her readers the time of the day and engaging with them. I find it amazing and very inspiring that L.J.Shen (although very pretty and super talented) doesn’t feel that her time is more valuable than that of her dedicated readers.
I definitely don’t tailor my releases to cater to whatever people want to read right now. Having said that, I am lucky enough to be writing in a genre that is very popular (romance), and I usually stick to familiar tropes that I enjoy reading myself (boss-employee, age gap, single dad).
It is never a calculated decision to “write a single dad story” or mimic someone else’s results or work. On the contrary, I usually find that when a book “explodes”, there’s a trail of very similar books popping out like mushrooms after the rain, weeks and months after, but they never do as well. So I always try and write what I love and what moves me the most.
Formula—there are definitely some things all my books have in common. Strong alpha males. Romance as the primary genre. I tend to write about the wealthy. I love banter, angst, and having my main character exhibit the maximum range of emotions. Other than those key factors, I don’t have a formula. Everything goes. Dirty Headlines was a workplace rom-com set in New York, while The Kiss Thief was a darker, dub-con, mafia read with a heavy feel to it. I’m a huge believer in writing what works for YOU at that moment in time. I think readers want to be moved and wowed by a writer, and they do not want a rehash of the last book they’ve read from you.
- L.J.Shen