Pretty Reckless, an all-new standalone high school, bully romance from USA Today bestselling author L.J. Shen, is available now!

We were supposed to be best friends

But turned out to be worst enemies…

Penn

They say revenge is a dish best served cold.

I’d had four years to stew on what Daria Followhill did to me, and now my heart is completely iced.

I took her first kiss.

She took the only thing I loved.

I was poor.

She was rich.

The good thing about circumstances? They can change. Fast.

Now, I’m her parents’ latest shiny project.

Her housemate. Her tormentor. The captain of the rival football team she hates so much.

Yeah, baby girl, say it—I’m your foster brother.

There’s a price to pay for ruining the only good thing in my life, and she’s about to shell out some serious tears.

Daria Followhill thinks she is THE queen. I’m about to prove to her that she’s nothing but a spoiled princess.

Daria

Everyone loves a good-old, unapologetic punk.

But being a bitch? Oh, you get slammed for every snarky comment, cynical eye roll, and foot you put in your adversaries’ way.

The thing about stiletto heels is that they make a hell of a dent when you walk all over the people who try to hurt you.

In Penn Scully’s case, I pierced his heart until he bled out, then left it in a trash can on a bright summer day.

Four years ago, he asked me to save all of my firsts for him.

Now he lives across the hall, and there’s nothing I want more than to be his last everything.

His parting words when he gave me his heart were that nothing in this world is free.

Now? Now he is making me pay.

5 Stars

Review by Lisa Kane

"What would you have asked of me if I took the sea glass?" "To save me all your firsts," he whispers somewhere between my ear and mouth as his body brushes away from mine.

I don't think I've read anything of this author's that I haven't loved. Daria Followhill is the "it" girl at her school-feared, lusted over, but never ignored. But inside she is a mass of insecurities, never quite good enough for her mother, the woman whose attention she craves the most.

Melody Green-Followhill is a former ballerina who lost her chance at being a great dancer when she broke her leg her first week at Juilliard. No matter how much Daria practices she will never be a great ballerina, not like Via . Daria's mother's darling, the beautiful, graceful dancer who is a candidate for the Royal Ballet Academy in London. Melody took time off to take Via to London herself to try out. In past reads Melody never appealed to me, but in this book I actually despised her. Towards the end, I despised her a little less, but she's no June Cleaver.

"Lovebug, stop fretting by the door. You're blocking everyone's way," my mother singsongs with her back to me.

In a moment of weakness, Daria sets into motion actions which have far reaching consequences. But she meets Penn. They may both be only fourteen but they are both jaded beyond their youth.

Boys can smell heartbreak from across a continent. We girls have an invisible string behind our belly button, and only certain guys can tug at it.

Neither will admit to having a heart, but both will lose theirs to the other that day.

"Take the sea glass. Owe me something."

But Daria made a mistake that day, one that lost her any chance with Penn.

Fast forward four years later. Daria is still the girl everyone wants to be or be with, but she is soulless. She has no real relationship with her mother. Not that I blame her-Melody is all about saving everyone else around her- but does nothing to help her daughter who is drowning in self loathing.

Her do-gooder mom decides that it's her duty to take in Penn. He's got a great future ahead of him in football, but she's convinced he will never get that future if he doesn't come to live with the Followhill's.

"Hate," he corrects, rubbing his thumb over his lower lip. "I hate what I see, and plan on seeing very little of it. You're Daria, I assume.

This is so much more than an enemies to lovers to whatever romance. There were times that I felt like a piece of jagged glass was ripping through my heart. I would catch my breath and had to decide do I want to keep reading. It hurts. Too much. Just. Make. It. Stop.

"I'm bored of you, and it ain't worth the risk."

Just about now, I'm in a fetal position rocking back and forth. It can't get worse right?

This was so much more than first love. It was first hate, too.

LJ Shen toys with the reader..slowly...like a cat with a mouse right in front of him. Will the mouse escape? Will the cat let it go? Will my heart be okay?

I adored the Sinner of Saint series, but believe me, I am going to devour the All Saints High series!

Download your copy today for the special release week price of ONLY $2.99 or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LhNRqW

Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/PrettyRecklessLJ

Audio: https://amzn.to/2DCyEui

Add to GoodReads: http://bit.ly/2FZssQ7

Excerpt:

“I don’t want you transferring into my school,” I hiss out. Melody would gladly file a transfer request, and Principal Prichard would salivate over the chance to snatch him up for our football team.

“That won’t be a problem. You guys suck so much ass, you have shit-breath.”

“Still smells better than poverty. You’re poor, right? Your sister was just bullshitting about being rich.”

When someone hits me with a stick, I run over them with a tank. I’m so mean to him I want to throw up. I hate this part of being me. The striking harder at all costs part.

“Just to make things clear.” I put the brush down, batting my lashes. “You’re not my step-sibling, foster brother, or a part of the family. You’re a stray dog. Last of the litter, most unlikely to be adopted, and a charity case.”

Penn takes a step toward me, and my heart is fighting its way out of my ribcage. The closer he gets, the more I realize that my heart might succeed. Penn’s eyes remind me of a snake’s. Mesmerizing, but inhuman altogether. They weren’t like that before.

His scent messes with my head. I want to reach out and caress his face. Kiss his wounds better. Beg for forgiveness. Curse him. Push him away. Cry on his shoulder for what we’ve done. For how it ended. For what we became afterwards, because I’m full of crap and he is totally empty.

We ruined ourselves the day of our first kiss.

Penn looks down at me. Time stops. It feels like the world is losing gravity, falling into a bottomless depth in space when he clasps my chin with his thumb and finger, lifting my head up. I can’t breathe. I’m not sure I want to, either. My towel drops to the floor with a thud, even though I secured it over my chest. I realize that he tugged at it intentionally. I’m naked. My body, my soul, my heart. All my walls are down. Somewhere in my head, a red alarm blasts and my inhibitions are getting armed, ready to fight back. I’m trying to decode his expression. He is amused, irritated, and…playful? The mixture of emotions doesn’t make any sense.

“Mess with me, Followhill, and I will ruin you.”

“Not if I ruin you first.”

About LJ Shen:

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 people's’ 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.