Title: Vicious
Series: Sinners of Saint #1
Author: L.J. Shen
Genre: Contemporary Romance
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.
This is my first read by this author and is the first book
in the Sinners of Saint series (which threw me as it sounded like an MC series
but it wasn’t!) I would say this is a youngish new adult/contemporary enemies to lovers
and opposites romance.
The storyline covers over ten years with flashbacks and
forwards to the past and present, told in dual POV. The characters were hard to
love but still got to the heart of you.
Vicious is an entitled knob (and that is putting it kindly)
He is the son of the powerfully rich Spencer’s family and the ring leader of
the ‘hotholes’ who are a group of hot super babe magnets who are also best
friends. The girls just fall at their feet and do as demanded.
Emilia LeBlanc lives in the servant’s quarters of the
Spencer’s mansion. Her parents run the household which Emilia hates. There is
little love lost between Vicious and Emilia who he finds an easy target to manipulate
and humiliate at every occasion. The strange thing is that besides all the
messed up things that happen both have a secret unknown draw to the other.
Flash forward ten years and they meet again in a bar where
Emilia is working in New York. Vic is now a high flying lawyer and business
executive for his company he set up with the other ‘hotholes’. Seeing that she
is down on her luck, Vic takes advantage and entices her to go and work for
him. Emilia feels she has little choice to refuse when she needs the money to
support her sick sister.
This was one of those books that in the one moment you want
to throw your kindle at the wall and think why am I reading this but in the
next moment you can’t put it down. Vicious was downright despicable and at
times very immature but for the life of me I cannot fathom how this horrid man
just pulled on my heart strings. There was something so deep inside of him that was damaged and sucked the light out of him. But then Emilia brought the light
back.
There were lots of chemistry, passion and intensity in this
read that it was scorching hot. At times (especially the flashbacks) it did come
across as a little immature for my usual personal reading taste but there was just something
that held me to ransom and read!
Overall it was an emotive read, full of angst, frustration
and darkness but then outshone by the banter, the sex and the heat! I may check
out some other books by this author. She turned my thought process on its head!
Four stars.
*ARC kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
“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.”
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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