I used to be a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend and a friend. A poet, a dreamer and an honor student. But now... now I'm alone, left to fend for myself, with no one to look out for me.

Blood to Dust by L.J. Shen

Standalone
Release - July 17, 2016
Genre - Dark Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat Level - 4 out of 5/several scenes
Format/Source - Kindle Amazon purchase
Length - 266 pages
Publisher - Indie

His name is Beat, and I should hate him.

Bound, blindfolded and bruised, I'm tied in his basement, waiting for the men who stripped me from clothes and humanity to collect his debt to them. Me.

His name is Nate and I should hate him, but I don't.

I'm not supposed to know his real name, even worse, I'm not supposed to care. He is nothing to me but means to an end. The plan is simple: break free, collect the pieces of my broken soul, kill the bastards and run away.

His name is Nathaniel Thomas Vela, and I've never seen his face, though I hear that it's beautiful.

Behind the rugged and handsome exterior, there's a quiet murderer, a killer who thinks guns are for pussies and ends people with his bare hands.

His name doesn't matter, neither does his face, but what does matter is my heart. And right now, sadly, it's his.

Blood to Dust is a standalone, full-length novel. It contains graphic violence and adult situations some may find offensive.

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While it wasn't as dark as I thought it was going to be, considering the blurb, Blood to Dust was full of the off-the-wall craziness I've come to look for in my dark reads. Prescott was a puzzle that I still haven't been able to solve. She was a woman burdened by pain, betrayal and secrets. The life of horrors that she had to live was not for the feint of heart. Good thing this girl was a survivor.


Nate had never had it easy. He suffered through childhood, finally freed himself only to be tried and judged as a criminal. Never really fitting anywhere, this too-pretty-for-his-own-good man carved his own path. When his boss tasked him with holding onto Prescott, keeping her prisoner until his son could 'fetch' her, Nate planned to do just that. Only Prescott had other plans. And when he heard her story, when he found out why she was such a hot commodity, he realized how truly alike they were. His heart, that organ of his that knows the difference between right and wrong, switched sides.


And then it was utter chaos. Granted, what Prescott and Nate did defied imagination. None of it was realistic, but it was still tons of fun to read. She got her own brand of justice and through blood and more pain, these two kindred spirits found their own happily ever after.

“You don’t get a say in this shit,” Ink announces with borrowed authority. I can hear the uncertainty leaking from him. He’s what I call an easy job. If it were just him watching over me, I would have been dancing in Iowan cornfields far away from here by now, Sebastian and Godfrey’s heads tucked in that Nike bag.

“You make me uncomfortable.” I yank my arm away.

“What, and the other guy makes you warm and fuzzy?” He sounds genuinely offended.

Beat inches closer behind me, and I feel the heat of his body drifting into mine. He’s close. Hot-jock-leaning-against-your-locker close. It’s going to be hard to bypass someone his size.

“You think I’m nice?” His breath moves through the plastic of his mask, tickling my ear. I shudder down to my toes. His mouth smells like peach. How bad can a guy who smells like a peach be?

“Nice-r.” I clear my throat, my eyes still trained on Ink in front of me. Ink shakes his head, indicating that I’m dead wrong. The air becomes chilly. Why hadn’t I noticed it’s so chilly?

Because it’s not. It’s August in California, and I’m cold because I’m frightened.

“Let’s test your theory. I’m going to touch you now. Move without permission, and I’m breaking your arm.”

My busted lower lip splits open again as I scowl at his threat. He definitely looks like a guy who makes good on his threats.

“Okay.” I lick my blood, my voice tender.

Beat kicks my legs open and brings my arms up, patting me down dryly, like airport security. His rough fingers stroke the curves of my shoulders as he moves down from my skull to my outer breasts, circling them lazily. Down to my stomach…lower to my tensed inner thighs, pushing the fabric of my mini dress away to make room for his warm paws.

Every muscle in my body is ready to plow forward, to run away, to try and hurt him; the memory of every experience I’ve had that started this way demands for me to take action. But this…it doesn’t feel like a violation. The sour taste of bile has yet to explode in my mouth.

His hands move down my legs, stroking my ankles…then he stops.

“Got something inside?” He squats down, hooking one of his thumbs into my ankle boot. His masked face is eye level with my pelvis, and warmth spreads along my bones like hot wax.

“No,” I lie. There’s still a slight chance he won’t check.

But he checks.

Beat jerks my boot out and a Swiss army knife falls with a clank on the concrete pavement. I let out a sigh and drop my head. Shit.

Happy thoughts.

Frozen yoghurt with Preston down the local mall.

Curling up on the egg-swing with a Mia Sheridan book.

Water lilies blooming over the artificial pond in the Burlington-Smyth’s garden.

A genuine smile from a stranger.

Beat stands up slowly, his gleeful mask zeroing on my face. It all looks like a scene from a horror movie.

And I’m the victim.

L.J. Shen is a USA Today, Washington Post and Amazon #1 best-selling author of contemporary, New Adult and YA romance. Her books have been sold to twenty different countries.

She lives in California with her husband, son, cat and eccentric fashion choices, and enjoys good wine, bad reality TV shows and catching sun rays with her lazy cat.

Cillian was a dirty lullaby, inviting me to sink into his claws and nestle in his darkness.

The Villain by L.J. Shen

Standalone - Boston Belles #2
Release - December 17, 2020
Genre - Contemporary Romance/enemies-to-lovers
Heat level - 3.5 out of 5
Format/Source - ebook borrowed through KU
Length - 395 pages

Cruel. Coldblooded. Hades in a Brioni suit.
Cillian Fitzpatrick has been dubbed every wicked thing on planet earth.
To the media, he is The Villain.
To me, he is the man who (reluctantly) saved my life.
Now I need him to do me another, small solid.
Bail me out of the mess my husband got me into.
What’s a hundred grand to one of the wealthiest men in America, anyway?
Only Cillian doesn’t hand out free favors.
The price for the money, it turns out, is my freedom.
Now I’m the eldest Fitzpatrick brother’s little toy.
To play, to mold, to break.
Too bad Cillian forgot one, tiny detail.
Persephone wasn’t only the goddess of spring; she was also the queen of death.
He thinks I’ll buckle under the weight of his mind games.
He is about to find out the most lethal poison is also the sweetest.

Cillian Fitzpatrick was absolutely delicious. I don't know why I'm so attracted to alphaholes, but he was impossible to resist. He was cold and unfeeling (seemingly), calculating and cunning, successful and ruthless... he was an incredible character to get to know. However, it didn't take me long to realize that he reminded me of someone. Someone who won my heart long ago and so I was predisposed to Cillian's brand of cool.

Persephone wasn't so lucky. I didn't grow fond of her. I'm not a fan of people who are reckless, irrational, immature, and doormats. It annoyed me that she didn't see beyond Cillian's surface. I get that it was necessary to push this story forward, but there's a saying that I'm prone to say to people like her... pick sense out of nonsense. Girl didn't have one observant bone in her body and stood up for herself at all the wrong times for the wrong reasons.

So Cillian gets all three stars. I liked what the author did to give this character dimension. His history broke my heart and only made me love him more. And the ending... yeah, that definitely gave me everything I wanted for this man and his future happiness.

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I leaned against the doorframe, hands tucked in my front pockets, and observed. It took her three minutes to notice me. Another two to lift her jaw off the floor, straighten her spine, and turn scarlet. Our eyes met across the room, and that nagging murmur in my chest happened again.

Get that checked. If you drop dead from a heart attack at forty, you’ll have no one else to blame. She winced, looking like I physically slapped her.

“Mr. Fitzpatrick.”

“Miss Penrose.”

“Veitch,” she corrected, just to spite me.

“Not for long,” I noted dryly. “A word?”

“I know many. My favorite one right now is—leave.”

“You want to hear me out.” I cracked my knuckles. “Now say goodbye to your little friends.”

She looked back and forth between the kids and me, then turned and murmured something to the teacher next to her, and hurried my way, dunking her head down. “What are you doing here?”

She closed the door behind her, whisper-shouting.

I’ve been asking myself the same question since bailing on Keith and his snooze-fest speech. What the hell was I doing here?

L.J. Shen is a USA Today, Washington Post and Amazon #1 best-selling author of contemporary, New Adult and YA romance. Her books have been sold to twenty different countries.

She lives in California with her husband, son, cat and eccentric fashion choices, and enjoys good wine, bad reality TV shows and catching sun rays with her lazy cat.

Célian Laurent.
Manhattan royalty.
Notorious playboy.
Heir to a media empire.
...And my new boss.

I could have impressed him, if not for last month's unforgettable one-night stand.
I left it with more than orgasms and a pleasant memory--namely, his wallet.
Now he's staring me down like I'm the dirt under his Italian loafers, and I'm supposed to take it.
But the thing about being Judith "Jude" Humphry is I have nothing to lose.
Brooklyn girl.
Infamously quirky.
Heir to a stack of medical bills and a tattered couch.
When he looks at me from across the room, I see the glint in his eyes, and that makes us rivals.
He knows it.
So do I.
Every day in the newsroom is a battle.
Every night in his bed, war.
But it's my heart at stake, and I fear I'll be raising the white flag.

Four Continents. Three months. Two lovers. One, broken soul

It should have been easy.
I needed the money. He needed a babysitter to keep him from snorting himself to death.
I was cherry-picked especially for him. Responsible. Optimistic. Warm. Innocent.
The worst part is that I should have known better.
Alex Winslow. British rock star. Serial heartbreaker. Casanova with whiskey eyes.
“Don’t get near the devil in a leather jacket. He’ll chew you up and spit you out.”
Guess what? I didn’t listen.
I signed the contract.
World tour. Three months. Four Continents. One hundred shows.
My name is Indigo Bellamy, and I sold my soul to a tattooed god.
Problem was, my soul wasn’t enough for Alex Winslow. He ended up taking my body, too.
Then he took my heart.
Then he took my all.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Standalone - Sinners of Saint #2
Release - May 23, 2017
Genre - Contemporary Romance
Dual POV - 1st person
Heat - 4 out of 5
Length - 369 pages

Rosie

They say that life is a beautiful lie and death a painful truth. They're right.
No one has ever made me feel more alive than the guy who serves as a constant reminder that my clock is ticking.
He is my forbidden, shiny apple.
The striking fallacy to my blunt, raw, truth.
He is also my sister's ex-boyfriend.
One thing you should know before you judge me;
I saw him first. I craved him first. I loved him first.
Eleven years later, he waltzed into my life, demanding a second chance.
Dean Cole wants to be my bronze horseman. My white knight has finally arrived. Hopefully, he isn’t too late.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Standalone - Sinners of Saint #1
Release:December 27, 2016
Length: 339 pages
POV: Dual - 1st person
Steam: 4 out of 5

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.

Goodreads | Amazon

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