i have been curious about Bane his book from the start of this series, and this book did not disappoint. this book might have been my favourite of the series. These characters were written so extremely well. The dark and bad boy side of Bane and seeing Jesse her growth after going through so much. Them helping each other and letting them be themselves and fully accepting each other their past was so beautiful to read. They both have many flaws, but love each other for it. Jesse deserves the world and Bane would do anything to give it to her. I loved their chemistry and you could feel their love through the book. Also, the spice.......was phenomenal.

Amazing story from one who II expect to be spectacular and Shen did not fail to provide us with a story we remember for some time. Bane was the perfect bad boy your mom warned you about which made Jessie is seemingly immune from him. But that is about to change and you will too reading their story!

Since its first publication in 2018, I had only read Bane once. With its re-release by Bloom, I jumped at the chance to rediscover the story between Bane and Jesse! Suffice to say, I discovered it in a new light and had a wonderful time in their company! I loved the development of each of these characters, who are dented by life but who pull each other up! They're really touching! And then, seeing the characters from the previous volumes is a real pleasure!

In short, a tome that I enjoyed rediscovering!

Depuis sa première publication en 2018, je n’avais lu Bane qu’une seule fois. Avec sa réédition chez Bloom, j’ai sauté l’occasion pour redécouvrir l’histoire entre Bane et Jesse! Autant dire que je l’ai découvert sous un nouveau jour et j’ai passé un merveilleux moment en leur compagnie! J’ai adoré le développement de chacun de ces personnages qui sont cabossés par la vie mais qui se tirent vers le haut mutuellement! Ils sont vraiment touchants! Et puis, revoir les personnages des tomes précédents fait vraiment plaisir!

En bref, un tome que j’ai pris plaisir à redécouvrir!

Though it’s set within the Sinners of Saints World of Todos Santos, Bane is totally different than the Hotholes. Equally amazing, but different!

The plot and character development - amazing! Such a delicious angsty ride, with humor woven in!

Definitely one of my favorites by LJ Shen to date!

Bane, otherwise known as Roman Protsenko, is a 20 something year old professional surfer/entrepreneur/gigolo/con man and I loved this character. Bane signed a deal to receive millions of dollars as an investment into his shopping center - Surfcity. Bane agreed to help the investor’s step daughter Jesse through a time time. He had to give her a job, court her, and not touch her. Bane didn’t know Jesse was broken by years of neglect and abuse. She had one friend, an elderly woman with dementia, her old dog, she ate kit kats and not much more, she ran 10 miles with five of them at 3 am every day to run away from bad dreams. She is one tough girl. The story is described as a modern day fairytale with a princess, a knight, swords, monsters and mazes.

Bane is part of the Sinners of Saint series by LJ Shen. Is it a standalone and it does not require a read of the other books. I first read one of her books in early 2018 and Bane was my book number 7 by Shen. She is one of my favorite authors and this one of her best books yet. Leigh Shen makes a reader love the characters that seem the most vile, mean, broken people. This book is about a strong girl and her knight. Jesse and Roman are one of my favorite all time book couples. If you are not sure take a chance, click on buy, borrow it from kindle unlimited or a friend. This is a must read! ❤️❤️❤️

Spicy dark mf contemporary romance. The author handled difficult subject matter well and the pacing was good. This is the second book I've read from LJ Shen and I'm officially a fan.

Dark romances are sort of hit or miss for me and I had a hard time with some of the subject matter in this one. I tend to like a very specific type of dark romance with alpha men who rule with an iron fist (basically the opposite of what I would like in real life). The male lead didn’t really do it for me, as in he’s not the kind of guy I would be attracted to, but that’s a completely personal opinion thing. I think the author is talented and wrote a story with a lot of action and character growth. She also dealt with really sensitive subject matter and I believe she handled it well. Unfortunately, it was the type of subject matter I don’t want to encounter in a romance, even a dark romance. Definitely read TW before diving into this one but I know many dark romance readers will love these characters and this story.

Bane is my first LJ Shen book, and it did not disappoint.

Jesse is such a strong FMC, going through horrible things but in the end, she persevered and came out stronger for it.

Bane a con, a thief, a liar, someone you would think doesn't deserve love. but maybe that is just what he needs. Especially when he falls hard for Jesse

“Bane,” by L.J. Shen

Jesse is struggling with social anxiety after a group of guys hurt her, until Bane shows up randomly in her life. Bane is struggling to find investors for his dream business he wants to open, and then a deal falls into his lap and also a lonely, mysterious girl that caught his eye long ago. Both are trying to heal from how the world sees them and might be able to heal each other.

I liked this book. It was a bit slow at times, but I liked the characters. I like the relationship with the mafia type feel but on a tropical island and all the overcoming traumas. It was very character driven and the plot was a secondary aspect like most romance books. 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you for the ARC. Netgalley.

Omg. I juts binged through this entire series. The whole series is amazing. Every book revolves around a different couple, but is also in some ways intertwined.

Bane is technically a spinoff of the original series, but still has ties to the original series. I loved watching all of the men in these books find themselves and the love of their lives. Each man and woman are all broken in their own ways, but have beautiful stories.

Banes story, as with the others, shows so much growth and has a heartbreaking story. This story revoles more around the the female that steals his heart ans Bane becoming the man she needs, but because he wants to be that for her.

I loved all the support Bane gives to Jesse. He never made her feel small or unworthy. He always lifted her up and showed her she was worth so much more than the shitty hand she was dealt.

Jesse is such a great character. Her story is heartbreaking and fucked up. I loved watching her grow into herself and re-find her confidence and worth. Her character was really given room to breathe and the story to unfold. And wow.... Her story might be my favorite of the series. Though they are all so so so good.

What a twisted story of redemption, revenge and self discovery!

Pretty early on, I was ready to war for my girl Jesse. She went through things that made you want to burn the world in her name. That leads us to Bane, the hot bad boy who takes Jesse on to fix her, only to remind her of who she was all along and even tackle his own issues in the process. I have so much respect for the fact that this could have easily been a story of the bad boy falling in love and fixing the girl but instead he gave her the tools to fix her own life, make her own way and become her own person with the appropriate support at each level. I felt really proud of them as characters in the end, their growth and development individually could literally be miles long in comparison to who they started as. But it also felt natural and paced right. They became friends first, lovers next and unstoppable in the end!

One note about the writing style, it was overly detailed sometimes. I know this book is so emotional so the inner dialogue is heavy on both sides and I know that led to me believing in their growth but sometimes, you would forget what the last action or outside dialogue was because the inner was so heavy and detailed. It didn't deter my reading experience at all but I do think it could have been lightened some with the same end result!

Considering this is my first L.J. Shen read, I am now going to fall into a rabbit hole!
Thank you to Bloom Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore the Sinners of Saint series - LJ Shen writes those moody hotholes so well. I was never very sure about reading BANE because for me, the series ended with Trent....however, I should never have doubted LJ. This is a complete standalone and is a spinoff from the SoS series, and let me tell you, I absolutely loved Bane and Jesse. Their story was so much more than I had imagined and is probably now my favourite alongside Vicious. It was a delicious slow-burn, full of angst and steam, and I loved every minute.

"𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒕?"
"𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓."
𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 "𝑶𝒉, 𝑮𝒐𝒅."
"𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒕𝒐𝒐."

LJ Shen books never miss. I loved Roman aka Bane and Jesse's story so much. Please do check your tw though before diving in. I wouldn't call this a dark romance but, Jesse's history/past is not a pleasant one. She had some dark things done to her by people she trusted and she was silenced and scared to live for years afterwards until she meets Roman.

Roman is a male escort, thief, pothead and liar but, he's trying to make his mark in this Socal surf town and needs money to open up a surf mall - Jesse's stepfather is willing to invest if Roman agrees to help his stepdaughter learn to live again after being assaulted 2 years ago. She's scared to be around men, she has no friends, rarely leaves the house and is a shell of herself. Only clause is that he cannot tell her about their deal and he can't touch her. Needless to say, Roman does bring Jesse out of her shell buuuutt the man who has never had a relationship before and never loved anyone other than his mother falls in love with our girl. There is angst and their relationship is not an easy one but, it was beautiful.

I loved Roman's character. He never saw her as this broken thing, he knew she was strong, fierce and had so much life in her - she just needed someone to see her and give her a reason to crawl out of the dirt people left her in. I adored how he was with her, how loving her came so easily to him that he didn't even realize it was happening. All he wanted was to make her smile, make her happy and help her find her light and strength again and Jesse..girl went through SO much and my heart hurt so much for young Jesse and what she went through and how everyone failed her in her life until Roman. Under it all she was just a bright light that had been dimmed for too long and just needed someone to clear the fog again for her. She was sassy, she was a spitfire and she was so damn brave and strong. She deserved the World and I'm so happy she got her HEA.

Ratings:
✨️: 4/5
🌶: 3/5

Forget morally grey, Roman "Bane" Protsenko is flat out morally black. And I'm here for it. I love the whole changing only for her vibe, and seeing a bad boy melt to a softer side. And our poor multiply broken Jesse. The strength and growth she shows throughout the story is amazing. I loved watching her come out of her shell and own her past and then conquer it.

Shen is the queen of dark romance and this is book is no exception. She expertly weaves dark heavy topics that keep you emotionally invested, paired with some great spice. Our heroes never really fit a specific mould and are unapologetically themselves. We get so many delicious layers.

If you're looking for dark, twisty, and full of angst, then I recommend picking up Bane. Being cautious of course of content warnings listed below.

TW: childhood sexual assault, gang rape, assault, death of a parent, body mutilation, marijuana use, infidelity, toxic parents

This book was just not for me. From the beginning I didn’t like the MMC, at all. I tried to give it a chance and keep reading but I ended up hating him all the same by the end 🤣 this book wasn’t for me but I’d be open to reading more by this author! Book was fast paced and easy to read. I think I’d like other story lines by her!

He is the bane of her existence...

Bane is not a hero. He's a pothead, naked surfer, a grifter, who made a deal with the devil (Jesse's stepfather) and he's totally down to use Jesse for kicks. She truly is collateral damage and Bane is going to cause a whole lot of damage and there will be no groveling. Ambivalent.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book. Bane is the fourth book in the Sinners of Saint series. This book follows the story of Jesse and Bain. We got a glimpse of Bane in book three and in this one we get to learn a whole lot more. This book does deal with some sensitive topics. This takes you on a journey with Jesse and Bain (Roman) as both of them have some very personal growth. This has been my favorite book in the series. This book doesn't have as much spice as previous books in the series but still is fairly spicy and the plot of this book was great. You can read this book as a stand alone without being confused. I highly recommend reading this book. Once I started reading it I could not put it down.

I fell in love with this series when it was vicious and Millie, and this one, once again didn’t disappoint. Babe was perfection in a MMC and I couldn’t get enough.

This is a must read from Shen, and a hit out of the park!

The final book in the Sinners series, Bane, is a remarkable conclusion that stands out as the best of the entire series. Bane emerges as a compelling anti-hero, and his complex moral journey captivates from the start. Jesse, with his enigmatic past and solitary nature, reveals a more compassionate side of Bane, adding depth to his character.

The story unfolds with a gripping mix of emotional twists and unpredictable action, each development feeling natural and heightening the suspense. This masterful and intricate finale wraps up the series on a high note, leaving readers satisfied and eager for more.