Title: Vicious
Series: Sinners of Saint #1
Author: L.J. Shen
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 1, 2017
On Sale $0.99 through January 13, 2017
On Sale $0.99 through January 13, 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.
“If you're looking for a book that's a little bit dark, a little bit twisted, with a character driven story that leaves you panting more than once, Vicious is it.” - 5 Obsessed Stars - Reader Review
“Absolutely amazing book! You will never find another guy like Vicious and you will never find another book like this ever.”- Tongan Book Lover 5 Stars
“Christ. Just Christ. The naughty bits are hot and steamy, the love story is unique for sure, and the writing is fucking epic because LJ Shen.” - Mells View 5 Stars
Private - Send LJ Shen a message on Facebook for your invite today
“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.”
Review
5 Stars
Emilia, my makeup is revenge. Yours is forgiveness. You're better than me. I don't deserve you. But I'm going to take you, anyway.
All Saints High is filled with rich, spoiled kids, with the Four HotHoles leading the pack. Every guy wants to be them and every girls want to be with them. Vicious is just as his name describes him, vicious. Girls are used to meet his needs, he fights for fun, and he bullies his housekeeper's daughter, Emilia, just because he can. You'd think time would heal those wounds and bad memories would be replaced, but ten years down the road and things are turning out to be a lot like they were in high school. Bullied into helping Vicious with an elaborate plot, Emilia starts a game of cat and mouse with the troubled boy she never really hated as much as she wanted to.
Because I wanted to lie for him today, just to put a smile on his cruel, beautiful face.
Yes, you are seeing my bookshelf/tags correctly. The handsome asshole known as Vicious wormed his way into my heart and onto my book boyfriends shelf. Thanks, LJ, for making him so darn irresistible and then giving us the most perfect cover to match. More than that, thank you for giving us the story us fans have been waiting for since the moment we even heard a peep about Vicious and then began begging for after meeting him in Defy (Sinners of Saint #0.5). Vicious is a complex story and yes, it features a jerk of epic proportions. It also features a heroine that readers will love to stand with as she takes on the heart-wrenching pain we all know so well, caring for a wolf with a jaded outlook on life.
We were both liars, telling ourselves that as long as we didn't use our hands, this didn't count. Only it did. In my heart, it did.
While Vicious is everything his name makes him out to be, Emilia is anything but the sweet girl her name suggests. Even while down on her luck, she carries herself with strength and dignity, considering everyone else before herself, including the man who first showed her the cruelty of life ten years prior. She is incredibly sensitive, smart, and stubborn. She is a character readers can connect to in so many ways. Speaking of characters, the development of Vicious and Emilia throughout the entire novel is phenomenal. LJ Shen not only brings them to life before your eyes, but they grow from youth to adulthood and from the experiences they have with every turn of the page. I felt every emotion alongside the characters and I felt changed from life's circumstances just as they did. Between Emilia and Vicious is a love-hate-love story that will meet all your angst-y desires, if you're anything like me. These two have piles of history between them, told through flashbacks that really illustrate sordid details of who Vicious really is and why Emilia still can't seem to get enough of him. Through witty dialogue, sexual-tension filled moments, and heated arguments, LJ Shen brings to life a romance story that readers will feel attached to like it is their own.
It broke me.
It revived me.
It ruined me.
I knew I was going to love Vicious from the moment I heard about it, I'm an LJ Shen fan through and through, the kind who one-clicks on release day. What I didn't expect was the kind of love I was going to have for this book, because it is rare that I join in on the emotional roller coaster that an author puts the characters through, and Vicious did that to me. I gasped aloud, I covered my mouth as things got smutty in order to hide my reaction from friends around me, and I smiled with total glee when Vicious showed that he too had a heart that wasn't made of steel and ice. I fell in love with the characters, both of them, and I devoured this book from start to finish. Its the kind of book you can't walk away from, the kind you'll want to read repeatedly, and thankfully just the start of what is sure to be a phenomenal series.
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.
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