Welcome back where everything began at All Saints High.
The hot holes are all grown up, made their luck, found their HEAs, have families and children of their own and these children are now the leads in LJ Shen's highly anticipated brand new series. Jaime and Melody from Defy were my favorite couple in the whole series and I was ecstatic to read one of their kids got the first book in this series, yay.
Daria Followhill puts the b in queen b, she's selfish, spoiled, but insecure and longs for love and acceptance at the same time. You could say she's the typical rich teen.
Penn Scully is from the wrong side of the tracks. He's a good guy who was dealt bad cards. Everything is about to change when the Followhills take him in. What they don't know, He's driven by revenge on one of their daughters.

Pretty Reckless is a story like no other. The storyline is unique, captivating and had me hooked on the book in a second. I read the book, cover to cover in one sitting, I simply couldn't put it down.
The writing is excellent, a no brainer for a Shen book, just saying. While reading there were twists and turns, unexpected but welcomed surprises I never had drewamed off. Marx.
I highly recommend this book and wish I could give more than 5 stars.

L.J. Shen books have been a firm favourite in my library for many years and this book didn't disappoint!!
A classic angst dark romance, bad boy meets cheerleader with inner demons - perfect!

For the fans of the Sinners of Saints series, get ready! This is not your typical Young Adult high school romance. After all, it's about the descendants of the Sinners! They are rich and privileged. Their parents are powerful. Todos Santos is their playground, where appearances and power are all that matter. But if you scratch the surface a bit, beneath this sparkling facade, everything is often fake... or even rotten.

Daria breaks away from conventional stereotypes as she grapples with imperfections and an insatiable need for affection from her distant parents, leading her to engage in destructive behavior. Feeling invisible and insignificant, she turns to the wrong person for support.

Penn, once enamored with Daria, now harbors a deep desire for revenge, holding her accountable for the tragedy that befell his family. However, beneath his vengeance lies an attempt to escape his own culpability. When he finds himself in foster care at Daria's home, he sees the perfect opportunity to execute his plans for payback.

If you seek an intense and thrilling read, this book will not disappoint.

I absolutely love every book that LJ Shen has created. The angsty drama filled high school romance is one of my favorite reads and such a fun trip! Thank you!

this was so fucked up on so many levels. whatta trip

i understand why they call this a dark romance but their relationship was SO toxic and the family dynamics in this book were actually insane.

overall pretty disturbing but ive enjoyed other books by the same author so maybe this was a one off thing

Posted to Goodreads and Storygraph

3.5⭐️

This book was full or drama and angst and I loved it. Daria and Penn’s relationship goes from messed up to in love. Their whole situation was so unique and the way they both effected each other was chefs kiss. The nickname Skull Eyes was everything! Both their lives were so messed up but they got through it together! He took all her firsts like she promised him! This book was super cute!

Favorite Quote:
“I can’t breathe without thinking about the girl across the hall.”

Pretty Reckless is an angsty darker romance featuring entitled and cold Daria and bad boy Penn. The first half of the novel is an angsty enemies to lovers vibe and the last half reads like a more contemporary romance. Where we see Daria shedding her hard exterior.

Overall, I found the book to be an interesting read. I did think many of the side characters were not necessary in the book.

It reads like a Euphoria meets Gossip Girl romance.

𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 is a dark tale of pretty and petty people being way too reckless for their own good in a sense. But it is also a tale of forgiveness and sacrifice.

- ~ -

Daria and Penn own my heart. They can absolutely annihilate it and I'd still thank them. My heart broke for them towards the end but they still managed to piece it back together.

It was an absolute pleasure getting to read the 2nd gen All Saints High and although I want to have words with Mel for hurting our girl but I think she went through enough pain of her own so I'll let it go 😭.

Now I can't wait to dive into Knight and Luna's story!

- ~ -

4.38 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I love a good young adult romance and Pretty Reckless hit all the right spots! Immediately hooked from the beginning.

“𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭,” 𝐈 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫.
“𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨.“ 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡. “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞.”

Pretty Reckless is book 1 in the All Saints Series and follows Daria Followhill and Penn Scully. This book was full of so much angst and drama and I absolutely could not get enough of it. Daria was such a complex character. On the outside, she’s your typical mean girl/ bad bitch FMC, yet inside she’s just an insecure girl with a strained relationship with her mother. And as for Penn, he completely stole my heart! The amount of things I highlighted in this book was unreal! 4.5⭐️

𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕋𝕠 𝔼𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥:
💋Enemies to lovers
💋All the drama, angst, and emotions
💋cheerleader x bad boy
💋HEA

“𝐇𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞.“

“𝐈’𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐞.“

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡. 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦,”

“𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠.”

Only LJ Shen can pull off enemies to lovers this way filled with all the angsty goodness that just has you flipping page after page. This story makes you feel all the emotions and pulls you deeper and deeper not ready for it to end. These characters are flawed and perfect for each other with a realness that is relatable. This is a must read series!

I read the blurb and immediately disliked Daria. I finally kept coming back to it and said I'm going to give this a shot. It was my first book by the queen LJ Shen and I fell in love! Daria is a popular cheerleader with her own inner demons about not being good enough for her mother, she's jealous and outwardly cruel to most everyone around her. Penn is a football player who lives on the wrong side of town and cares most about his sister V. Daria and Penn are connected by his sister and the ballet class they took as kids that Daria's mom taught. V and Daria are enemies and jealous of each other while Penn is unknowingly in the middle. V disappears and Daria's mom looks for her and comes across Penn. She invites Penn to live in her house and go to school with Daria. He reluctantly agrees so they can work together to find his sister. He despises Daria and makes her life difficult by trying to ruin the reputation and life she built for herself. Daria fights her feelings for Penn and sparks constantly fly off both of them. There are twists to the book that really add to the storyline. There is so much angst between these two. This book brought me to tears because the feelings Daria struggles with are so relatable and this character i thought would be impossible to love wormed her way into my heart. Penn is everything especially at the end when we learn about the holes in his shirt and their meaning. This book is an amazing roller coaster that forever holds a special place in my heart

“You were never a drizzle, Penn Scully. When I fell for you, you came beating down, and I felt you everywhere. You were hail.”

This book was a RIDE. Childhood jealousies, ruined dreams, forbidden crushes, dark secrets. The angst of it all made for a stressful but rewarding ride.

Every single character was flawed, and I appreciated how deeply human the emotions and decisions were. I definitely struggled with a lot of the decisions that were made by both Daria and Penn. There was a LOT of immaturity and no thought to consequences. But there was also a ton of character growth, and I loved watching it happen!

If you’re a fan of emotional, angsty characters with lots of enemies to lovers chemistry, you’re going to love this one!

Thank you to Netgalley and L.J. Shen for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I was so freaking excited for this book and unfortunately it really didn't live up to the hype.
I didn't like any of the characters. Daria was absolutely awful, and not in a love to hate you kind of way. I get that she suffered emotional abuse as a kid and has trauma because of it but that's no excuse to be such an awful person. Penn isn't any better.
The writing style was also really weird. It felt super disjointed and jarring. It was kind of hard to get into from the beginning because of the way it was written but I thought everything else would make up for it.
I really can see why other people would like it, I just really didn't.

Penn and Daria are forced to live under the same roof with equal feelings of resentment and attraction for each other. While trying to figure out their own issues and graduate, go off to school, and lead their own lives. But everything seems to be standing in the way of those dreams and for some reason, the only comfort they get is from each other. But what happens if things keep standing in the way of their happy ever after?

When I picked this book up, I literally could not put it down. I started out reading some of LJ's newer releases and then managed to snag ARC for Pretty Reckless. And even though it released a while ago, it is my new favorite LJ book! The entire character dynamic and interaction was incredible. The dialogue, the spice, and chemistry was perfectly written.
I can't wait to add the physical book to my LJ shelf.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloom Books for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Pretty Reckless is an unexpected and surprising book. It ended completely different from what I had thought. It didn’t catch my attention on the epilogue, but I’m really glad I gave it a chance because in the entirety it was really worth it. The characters are complicated and need to be understood, especially my baby, Daria. She was so wronged at a young age and it gives me chills that she could easily be one of the girls my age in real life.

I LOVED the interactions between Penn and Jaime, like Penn can’t admit that he has been more of a father him than the other male figures of his childhood. Everytime they had a scene my heart was melting. I loved Jaime in general.

I only thought some interactions between the main characters were a bit toxic, but in the end they are perfect for each other and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Loved it!

Lj Shen is terrific. This is a re-read for me and it was perfect, yet again. Daria and Penn are my favorites, absolute soulmates. I truly did not think they could get any better, but they did. The bonus chapter was TERRIFIC as well! This enemies-to-lovers will forever be my favorite! Definitely recommend it!

I had high hopes after reading the book summary, as I do like darker, bully romances with characters that in the end get redeemed in some way. However, with this book, I was only able to get a few chapters into it before having to DNF. None of the lead characters at that point had any qualities that I could get into, and the writing style seemed very abrasive and disjointed. While this book ended up not being for me at all, I can see how others might like the style and story. Thank you to Netgalley and Bloom for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

This book felt like a teenager writing a soap opera. The characters were one dimensional and didn’t really have substance at all. I was bored most of the book and needed more excitement. There really wasn’t a whole lot of story development either, I saw the ending coming a mile away.

Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this arc.

A bit too dark and twist for my taste. Hard to read through, didn’t feel much connection to characters or plot,