Playing With Fire, an all-new emotional and raw small town standalone romance from USA Today bestselling author L.J. Shen is available now!
A broken boy on the path to destruction.
A scarred girl without direction.
A love story carved in secrets, inked with pain and sealed with a lie.
Available Now!
Amazon | Amazon Worldwide | Paperback
Blurb
Grace Shaw and West St. Claire are arctic opposites.
She is the strange girl from the food truck.
He is the mysterious underground fighter who stormed into her sleepy Texan college town on his motorcycle one day, and has been wreaking havoc since.
She is invisible to the world.
He is the town’s beloved bad boy.
She is a reject.
He is trouble.
When West thrusts himself into Grace’s quiet life, she scrambles to figure out if he is her happily-ever-after or tragic ending.
But the harder she pushes him away, the more he pulls her out of her shell.
Grace doesn’t know much about anything beyond her town’s limits, but she does know this:
She is falling in love with the hottest guy in Sheridan U.
And when you play with fire—you ought to get burned.
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AJ’s Review
“I’ll walk through fire for you.”
5 raw and emotional stars!
What an amazing read! A dramatic, sexy and emotional enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story, told with Shen’s unique edgy rawness. With a strong but emotionally damaged heroine and a deliciously broken bad boy, this book completely captivated me, and I absolutely loved it!
Grace Shaw used to the perpetually perky popular girl – cheerleader, drama geek, and destined to coast through life on her charm and beauty. Until a tragic accident changed everything, leaving her devastatingly scarred inside and out. Now she’s in college, but living a reclusive life hidden behind layers of make-up, hoodies and her constantly-present ball cap, trying desperately to fade into the background.
West St. Claire is the cocky and confident campus bad boy. An underground fighter, he is known for his bad attitude, and the constant stream of women that are in and out of his bed – never the same one twice. He’s broody and angry, and he doesn’t give a shit, and it’s clear that the demons he’s wrestling with from his past are very, very dark.
Grace and West’s first meeting is far from friendly, sparking an ugly dynamic that gets even more awkward when West gets a job at the food truck where Grace works. Day after day, they bicker and snark at each other as they work side by side, until one night when Grace needs help and West is there for her. A delicate truce slowly turns into friendship, and as they begin to open to each other, attraction blossoms. It’s not quick or sudden, it’s a slow burn that is truly heartfelt. West helps Grace open up like she hasn’t since her accident, and she helps him rediscover the softer side of himself (sort of). It’s easy, and they just go with it, and they soon find themselves in a relationship that neither of them expected.
“I was getting the fucking girl. Whether I deserved her or not.”
It’s so gorgeous. Angsty, funny, sexy and unexpectedly sweet, but still with the edgy snark, and there are some really funny moments as Grace and West bicker and banter. I loved seeing them together, I loved seeing them change each other, though still stay true to themselves. Shen has a way of writing loveable assholes, and that’s exactly what she’s done with West. His aggression and broodiness is a big part of who he is, I loved his POV which allowed us wonderful insight into his character, and I love that he never loses that part of himself, even as he falls in love.
“You don’t complete me, Grace Shaw. You create a better me.”
There’s a lot of drama and emotion as we delve into Grace and West’s lives. They are both dealing with so much, and the true extent of it all is revealed slowly throughout the book. It’s blended wonderfully with the love story, and with Grace and West’s individual journeys as we watch them work through it all and find their way forward. They don’t always make the right decisions, and the story is sometimes raw and angsty, but it feels real, and I loved watching it all play out.
“The worst day of your life gave me the best version of you”
There’s a great cast of side characters supporting Grace and West along the way, and I would be thrilled if Shen makes a series out of this. Grace and West’s best friends are just begging to have their stories told, and I would be here for it if that ever happens.
The book ends in a great place, and I finished this book with a big grin on my face, feeling immensely satisfied.
5 stars!
The audiobook is narrated by Desiree Ketchum and Christian Fox, and they do a fantastic job telling this story. They put just the right of emotion, humour and vulnerability into the characters (and Fox brings just the right amount of arrogance to West) to make them completely irresistible, and I loved listening to this one!
About the Author
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 nineteen 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.
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