Bane, the highly-anticipated next standalone in the Sinners of Saint Series by L.J. Shen is LIVE!

 

 

Bane
(Sinners of Saint, #4)

by L.J. Shen

 

Buy it today!
Amazon  |  Amazon Universal  |  Paperback  |  Audio

 

---

---

Blurb

Bane

Naked surfer. Habitual pothead. A con, a liar, a thief and a fraud.
Last I heard, he was extorting the rich and screwing their wives for a living.
Which is why I’m more than a little surprised to find him at my threshold, looking for my friendship, my services, and most puzzling of all—looking humbled.
Thing is, I’m on a boycott. Literally—I cut boys from my life. Permanently.
Problem is, Bane is not a boy, he is all man, and I’m falling, crashing, drowning in his sweet, perfect lies.

Jesse Carter

Hot as hell, cold as ice.
I wasn’t aware of her existence until a fat, juicy deal landed in my lap.
She’s a part of it, a little plaything to kill some time.
She is collateral, a means to an end, and a side-bonus for striking a deal with her oil tycoon stepdad.
More than anything, Jesse Carter is a tough nut to crack.
Little does she know, I have the f****** teeth for it.

Find Bane on GOODREADS

 

 

---

Review

5 stars!

Jesse Carter was going to be mine before she even knew me.
Before I even knew her.

Bane has made a name for himself in Todos Santos while working his way to the top. Everyone either knows him or knows of him and people who cross him find out quickly why it’s best not to mess with him.

A LIAR.
A con.
A godless thief.
My reputation was a big wave that I rode, on that swallowed everyone around me, drowning every attempt to fuck with what’s mine.

When Bane meets a potential business partner to financially help him build his newest venture idea, a SurfCity center, he has no idea how much his world would be thrown off kilter, especially when Jesse walks into the picture.

From the get go L.J. Shen draws us in and doesn’t let us go. The prologue was haunting and horrific and it set the stage for an intense and emotional rollercoaster. The story is complex and the characters more so, taking us on a bumpy ride through pain, heartache, fear, frustration, and anger, and finally ending with unconditional love, healing, and utter perfection for the characters.

I am wholeheartedly invested in the HotHoles of Todos Santos and Bane is my newest obsession. He is such an amazing character! I’ll be honest that when I first met him I was intrigued but unsure how I would like him in his own book. However, L.J. Shen did not disappoint. She took a character with traits that would normally annoy the hell out of me in other books and made me love him completely.

Fantastically broken and so much more than meets the eye, Bane was well developed and I understood perfectly how his childhood shaped his life. We know his reputation and it’s all true. He’s done a lot of things in the past, most illegal and very questionable, but there was a reason for his actions and he owns every single one of them. He is honest and straightforward about his life, accepting his flaws and the decisions he made to get where he is. He did not hold back and was true to himself which was both respectable and endearing. Though he is a total badass, he still has vulnerabilities and insecurities making his character realistic.

I loved Jesse! She is such an amazingly strong heroine who is fierce and beautiful inside and out. What she went through was horrifying and I felt all of the pain, suffering, anger, and hate she experienced. The Incident changed her for years. Scared to live, the new Jesse became a shadow of her old self.

Fear had a scent. A pungent, rancid smell of cold sweat, and it surrounded me like fog, crawling into my slacked mouth and sucking my soul out.

Then Bane came into her life and forced her to open up. She may have needed a small little push but she ended up growing and healing on her own terms. She overcomes her past the way she needs to and remains strong and independent.

When Bane and Jesse meet, she is strictly off limits but that doesn’t stop Bane from wanting her. He can’t risk doing anything about his feelings if he wants his SurfCity to become a reality, and therefore, she is firmly friend-zoned. However, just because he couldn’t touch her didn’t mean he wouldn’t touch her life.

She wanted to disappear from earth, so she had.
I was about to drag her back to society.
She could come alone, or with her demons.
I really didn’t fucking care.

The characters, the banter, the tension, the heat, the heart, the surprises. I loved everything about this story even if it took Bane and Jesse on a painful journey to eventually get their HEA. From a forbidden and broken situation to an intense and emotional love, this story hit me with the feels. I loved the progression of their relationship. The strong connection between Bane and Jesse sneaks up on them in a believable way and their friendship to more develops smoothly.

Jesse reacts to Bane like no one before and even with his reputation she learns to trust him and doesn’t judge him. He gives her a safe place to be and I loved watching her fall for him. Bane is a rough around the edges kind of guy but he is so sweet and supportive with Jesse and he totally made me swoon. I loved watching him come to terms with his feelings and the growth his character goes through when he decides what is important in his life. And when he goes all in, he really goes all in!

Maybe love wasn’t about feeling happy and whole.
Maybe love was about breaking so the person you cared for would feel a little more whole.

They accept each other for all they are and love not only the good parts but the shattered parts too. Together, Bane and Jesse help each other during the healing process while still allowing them to save themselves.

“You didn’t just walk into my life…You stormed into it. You left me no choice but to heal. Now I want everything.

Then there were the twists. Jaw-dropping, creative, and original, I couldn’t stop the shock that consumed me. I loved it all!

Bane is a complex story with so many intense, heart-pounding, angsty moments to rock your world as well as sweet, swoony interactions that make you fall in love. It was everything I could have asked for and more. It’s a story that will stick with me, still consuming my thoughts days later. I love the Sinners of Saint and am so happy with the way this series turned out. I just wish there was going to be more!!

*ARC generously provided by the author and Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review*

 

 

---

Sinners of Saint series

Find the Sinners of Saint series on GOODREADS

 

---

About the Author

L.J. Shen is an International #1 best-selling author of Contemporary Romance and New Adult novels. She lives in Northern California with her husband, young son and chubby cat.

Before she’d settled down, L.J. (who thinks referring to herself in the third person is really silly, by the way) traveled the world, and collected friends from all across the globe. Friends who’d be happy to report that she is a rubbish companion, always forgets peoples’ birthdays and never sends Christmas cards.

She enjoys the simple things in life, like spending time with her family and friends, reading, HBO, Netflix and internet-stalking Stephen James. She reads between three to five books a week and firmly believes Crocs shoes and mullets should be outlawed.

Stay up to date with LJ Shen by signing up for her MAILING LIST.

 

AMAZON | WEBSITE | NEWSLETTER | FACEBOOK
PINTEREST | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM

 

---