*** Book Review ***
Pretty Reckless by L. J. Shen
(All Saints, Book 1)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ♾️
New Adult • Romance
Print Length: 368 pages

🌿b*lly romance
🌿enemies to lovers
🌿academic setting
🌿forced proximity
🌿foster brother romance
🌿sports romance 🏈 🩰
🌿potential other woman/baby

“You make me want to grow
Even though you act so small.
I want to put you in my pocket and save you from yourself.”

Have you ever set a paper on fire and watch it burn? Watch how the fire consumes everything. Fast. So fast. A blink and it’s over. But you can’t stop staring until there’s nothing left but ash?

That’s how I felt reading this book. That’s who I was reading this book. It set fire to everything inside me and I just watched it burn.

“Some fairy tales are screwed up.”
“All the good ones are, Skull Eyes.”

The angst was not just in them, between them, on those pages. It was in me too. It consumed me. Devoured me. And I couldn’t take it. So, I did something bad…

Entry #101: I googled spoilers. Well, one of them. I tried everything. Searched every comment. Every post. I needed to know if it was true.

Reason: It was breaking my heart. I didn’t know if I could survive it.

But do you know what I found?! NOTHING! Not one thing about them. Not a single thing to calm my tormented heart. Because apparently it’s true what they say, misery does indeed love company. 😫

“I won this battle and lost the entire f*****g war.“

If the tropes sit well with you, do yourself a favor and read this masterpiece of a book.

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

Now excuse me while I go sew my heart back together with the golden thread those epilogues gave me ❣️

I read Pretty Reckless back when it came out in 2019 and decided to request the new Bloom edition to give it a re-read. I am sad to say that this book didn’t hit the same, guess I’ve done a little growing up in the last four years and I found this book oddly too immature and too mature at the same time.

Characters: I don’t mind our leading characters, Daria Followhill and Penn Scully. Daria is the daughter of Melody and Jamie whose story is featured in Defy, which is not my favourite take on a teacher-student romance. Daria has a horrible relationship with her father, calling her Melody rather than Mom as a distancing mechanism. All of it stems from Daria feeling like her mother puts more energy into her sister Bailey and her ballet student Via. This plot line drove me a bit crazy as it took Melody way too long to realize she was ignoring one of her daughters, especially the daughter who is a carbon copy of her husband. Daria has such mean girl energy, which is sometimes justified otherwise she comes across as annoying. Penn is the ballet student Via’s brother and he and Daria don’t get along. I don’t really like Penn, and I remember enjoying the characters better in future instalments.
Setting: This story is set in Todos Santos, California which is where the original series was set. All Saints refers to the high school where much of the book takes place. It’s really hard to write good romance books in the high school setting as they often feel immature to an older audience. Daria and Penn do feel like teenagers, but there are also so many content warnings in this book that would encourage me not to recommend this to a younger audience.
Pacing: As I mentioned before this was my second time through this book. I remembered much of the general plot but forgot how much the petty high school drama was annoying. I felt the opening had me invested in the initial conflict, but then the next one hundred or so pages dragged. I got back into the story, but I consistently would fall in and out as to how invested I was about what was going on.
Romance: What I did like about the novel was their enemies-to-lovers dynamic kept me hooked. My favourite scenes were the one-on-one scenes between Daria and Penn. L.J. writes some very hot sex scenes, but I also found I was emotionally invested in happiness for Daria. I was apprehensive about Penn because of another character who plays a role in his romantic life and how she is still very much on the scene, this boy is just riddled with red flags.

Pretty Reckless is a contemporary romance novel for young girls who've never felt like the first choice, the likeable sister, the sweet, shy girl next-door-type. It's for Taylor Swift's Anti-hero and You're On Your Own Kid girlies. It's for the mean girls, the queen bees, and the popular ones at the top of the pyramid who have to constantly fight to remain there knowing everyone else wants to cut them down and loyalty will never be promised. No true friends, no understanding family, and no reliable guys who see you. That's Daria Followhill and she's for girls like me and that's why I love her. This story has characters unlike any other and that's what sets it apart from typical high school bad boy bully romances. It's raw, real, and rough at times because Daria seems like she has it all on the outside with her Barbie-doll looks but no one bothers to peel back the curtain and see beyond her rich bitch persona, except for the only person who shouldn't. Penn Scully is the rival school's football god, her new foster brother, and the consequence of one of her Hulk-moments. What follows is a story of redemption, healing, and blossoming love painted with the fresh strokes of Shen's contemporary and witty writing style. Read this novel if you're looking for something gritty, human, and emotional because I promise you've never read a story quite like Pretty Reckless.

I wanted to like this book because a few of my friends have really liked LJ Shen's books. But I tried & failed so many times to get into this one. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I'm not the biggest fan of this author's writing style. Maybe I'll try this book again in the future but it's just not for me right now.

Thank you to NetGalley, LJ Shen, and Sourcebooks for sending me an early copy of Pretty Reckless.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.
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This book confused the heck out of me. The plot was a convoluted mess. The relationships between all the characters were mostly toxic, it was so exhausting to read. The characters were too unlovable in my opinion. The author put in too much angst that I think it was just unnecessary. I totally wanted to love, or at least like, this book but it just didn’t work for me. The only reason I’m giving it 2 stars instead of 1 is because I managed to finish it despite almost DNF-ing it multiple times. So the 2nd star is for myself. 😅

Sparks fly when Daria's parents take in Penn Scully for their senior year. Daria and Penn shared a first kiss when they were 14, but when their actions cause Penn's twin sister to disappear their curiosity toward each other turns into disdain.

Daria and Penn are perfect in their imperfection. Daria is the quintessential mean girl, and spews vitriol at others as her defense mechanism. Penn is hot and cold with his new foster sister, sometimes making her feel desired, others making her feel awful. The two of them collide in personalities at every turn, but the line between love and hate in their relationship is razor thin.

LJ Shen can't write a bad book IMHO, and she is one of my autobuy authors. If you love a good dark romance with imperfect characters and dysfunctional relationships, then she is the author for you, and this book is the first in an amazing series.

Thank you to Bloom Books for providing me with a copy of this book.

Oh my word I had goosies and that zing feeling throughout with these two. Absolutely loved the chemistry. So enjoyed watching the personal development Daria had. The hate to love was for her character far more than her and Penn. just a great story!!!

I have to say, the first 40% of this book was hard for me to get through and I was unsure if I was going to be able to get into this storyline. I think had the ages of our characters been a little older, it would not have been as hard for me to grasp how terrible they were, but I think a level of their immaturity and inability to treat another human being with respect is a little more believable making them the ages that they were.

I will say that once the story picks up I was invested and interested to see how things were going to play out based on characters who become more of a focus and bring some unexpected "twists" into the story.

This definitely is darker than books I normally read and think that may be why I was more invested in the dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship and the dynamic of those "closest" to Daria.

Overall if you are into bully style romances (which I am not sure that I am) with an underlying message surrounding the concept that everyone has secrets, I think this will be a great book for you.

Every time I read a high school romance, it's always a bully one LOL.

I super enjoyed this, and read it in one sitting! This is a spin off series about the children of the HotHoles! This book had everything: angst, drama,

Emotional. The tension between these MCs Penn and Daria is fulfilling. The angsty teenage feelings are very present in this book. I loved all the secondary characters and the emphasis on Daria and Penny’s story was well rounded. The poetry prompts at the beginning of each chapter were fitting. The character growth was apparent. Penn wanted revenge and instead fell even harder for Daria.
As soon as I finish reading this book I went and read Defy, Daria’s parents novella in the Sinners of Saint series. I will now go read the rest of the Sinners of Saint while the rest of All Saint High are published.

Welp. I pretty much read this in one sitting. And stayed up until 3am. It was THAT good.

You know those stories that make you uncomfortable because you never know what kind of danger is lurking around the corner? Yes, it usually happens with romantic suspense stories... but my anxiety was caused by mean highschoolers. You just never know who is a real friend or who is out to screw you over? Yeah, that's how this story started. Angst and anxiety for DAYS!

But then as the story goes along, it really turns into a sweet love story. And there are so many lesson takeaways.

Daria and Penn. <3 Marx, I just loved them!
For two people who start out doing pretty despicable things, they really find redemption amongst this story in a spectacular way.

Stayed up passed my bed time and finished in one sitting! I was so into this story! The relationships were definitely toxic but I loved the character development and growth and how it all came together. I enjoyed the dual pov and the extra chapters from Dars mom and dad. I was definitely hooked from the first chapter!

My first time reading L.J. Shen book and I didn't like it. Took a long time for me to finish this book. I struggle a lot reading this book.

It was too much drama and too much characters. All of them is evil and a bully. The only good thing on this book is when they stand up for Daria.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for letting me read this and posting an honest review.

Wow, just wow...Penn & Daria...this isn’t your typical HS romance or YA...this is so much more...had me reminiscing about My So Called Life and ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL the emotions in my youth. This will suck you in, have you on your knees begging for Mercy ..then the tears....sobs, really..and also have you cheering/rooting for LOVE. This author is SO talented at hitting you, eviscerating you, having you so down low you think you’ll never be high again then bringing you higher than the Sun...read this, absorb it, and all it’s feels. This is gold my friends, this is real, this is EVERYTHING ❤️

Pretty Reckless: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

L.J. Shen (All Saints High #2)

“You’re tearing confessions from my mouth
Reactions from my flesh
Fights from my fists
Blood from my heart
With your eyes alone
Sometimes I want to break the wall I built between us
Let you in
And watch you destroy me”

This book has a very special place in my heart. the characters are raw and flawed—what I love most about it. I cannot recommend that you read this enough.

Daria Followhill is real. and honestly, that is why I connected with this book so much. she is not the girl who is ALWAYS insufferably kind and good. She is human, she has faults, she has genuine feelings. she acknowledges she isn’t perfect, even if the world she lives in thinks she is. She is such a carefully constructed character and so very strong, especially with everything she has gone through. she’s inspiring & genuine.

Penn, on the other hand, is honestly wise beyond his years from a lifetime of having to grow up a lot faster than the other kids his age. He is one of my favorite L.J. heroes of all time. A tortured boy who is trying to escape his shitty reality by playing the sport he loves. He's a hard worker and he genuinely cares about Daria–even when it sometimes feels like he's the only one in the house that does.

Pretty Reckless is an incredible story, so true and as the tension between the two of them is palpable. Penn Scully has my whole heart. Daria & Penn are everything & more. So grateful for this book. I adore them.

Penn Scully has had four years to stew on what Daria Followhill did to him, and now his heart is completely iced over. He took her first kiss, and she took away the only person he ever loved. He asked her to save the rest of her firsts for him, and she walked all over his heart in stiletto heels and left it bleeding out on a bright summer day

Pretty Reckless is a story of young love, betrayal, and the icy depths of a grudge. The story revolves around Penn and Daria who spend four years of seething resentment. I enjoyed the dual perspective of Pretty Reckless because the reader was able to view the complexity of their emotions. The story relies heavily on melodrama and angst, which might feel excessive to some readers. While many of their scenes convey the intensity of emotions, some of the language used could also be seen as immature.

LJ Shen captures the raw emotions that arise from betrayal and young lust, painting a vivid picture of a heart turned cold and emotions stunted by pain. Penn and Daria grapple with the sharp contrast between their external world and their internal turmoil. It reminded me a bit of The Blind Side where the character struggles to adapt to societal hurdles and addresses disparity in educational opportunities.

Although the angst may not resonate with every reader, the spice and character development make it a worthy read for anyone seeking a tale of young love's complexities and the struggle to mend shattered hearts.
Pretty Reckless
by L.J. Shen
Pub Date 22 Aug 2023
Sourcebooks Bloom Books
#prettyreckless #NetGalley


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This was a non-stop emotional rollercoaster that doesn't let go until the last page.

Daria's family is beyond dysfunctional, and Penn's family is nonexistent. This story covers so many issues from: student/teacher relationship, principal/student relationship, rape, child from rape, drug abuse, overdose, death of a parent, and religious cult.

This was like nothing I've read before and I was definitely hooked. This one won't be for everyone so know what you're getting into before giving it a go!

3 generous ⭐️

Sigh. I have to admit I struggled a bit with this one and my reading slump of the past few weeks may or may not have something to do with it.

I love LJ Shen, I consider her one of my auto-buy authors. My Dark Romeo and Fallen Foe are some of my favorite books. But unfortunately, it seems like high school drama is not for me. This book felt all over the place and I couldn't connect to the characters and their story. Not to mention all the pettiness, high school mean girls theatrics, the vain characters... Sigh. I outgrew that type of stories. So while all the boxes were checked in theory, I liked the enemies to lovers tension, the forbidden opposites attract vibe, the usual banter and sharp words, overall, I can't say I really loved this book.

Penn is actually my favorite character, his POV was the only one I felt. By the end of the book I got curious about other side characters so I may read their stories too, but when I'm in the right headspace. As it stands, this setting is not working for me atm. I'm not a fan of Daria or her circle. Her family is cringe and the entire cast of characters interactions felt forced. Also, there were so many characters, I lost count and forgot who was on whose team... It was confusing.
It was all so toxic and while I'm no stranger to toxic relationships, morally grey heroes, questionable actions and darkness, here it felt over the top, almost exhausting.

I'm sorry. I will keep trying at a differrent time since Shen has an addictive writing. Maybe next couple will be more my style who knows...

I will say, my favorite part about this book were the lyrics at the start of each chapter. I wish I could print it out in a notebook for re-reading purposes! I usually like Shen's brand of dark humor and banter and her way of expressing emotions so that's the only win...

Thank you Bloom Books and NetGalley for the ARC. Sorry it wasn't a more glowing review, but if it helps, I love most of your (and LJ Shen's) titles. :))

I have to start off by saying L.J. Shen is one of my favorite authors. And Pretty Reckless did not disappoint. The character development was great. At first I didn’t wasn’t sure how I felt about Daria, but the more her story came out I understood where she was coming from. I loved Penn. You can’t help but root for them. This story is full of angst and drama, heartbreak. I could not put it down.

💀Enemies-to-Lovers
🩷Bully
💀Forbidden
🩷Foster Brother
💀Close Proximity
.
“Save me all your firsts.”
.
Review: This is book 1 in the All Saints High series and a spin off (2nd generation of the Sinners of Saint series). I was so excited to get to re-read this book since I first read it in 2020. How is it that I fall more in love with the characters the 2nd time around!? I am VERY picky about my Bully romances, but LJ Shen just knows how to nail them and have the groveling surpass the pain!

Daria is a queen bee at All Saints High. Penn is the star football player of their rival school Las Juntas. Oh, and her new foster brother...what could possibly go wrong? Oh my gosh the push and pull of these two was delicious. They couldn't stand each other, but they also couldnt stand to stay away from each other. The mystery surrounding them keeps you hooked! You just have to know more. I devoured this book even as a re-read and couldn't put it down. The new bonus epilogue from Penn's POV and new character insiration was chef's kiss! I love every little bit I can get of this world! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this one if you love High School Enemies-to-Lovers!