Blog Tour & Review: Pretty Reckless by LJ Shen

Tuesday, May 7, 2019
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.


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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.”

** 5 STARS **
I've been patiently waiting for Pretty Reckless ever since LJ Shen announced this series, and let me tell you that it was definitely worth the wait!  Penn & Daria's story was just the perfect way to reintroduce us to life in Todos Santos and the next generation at All Saints High.
Daria - she was everything I had hoped for being a tothole, yet she was nothing that I could have ever expected just the same.  She was her own worst enemy - extremely impulsive in her words and actions trying to hurt others, but she immediately feels remorse for the things she says and does.  She knows those decisions she makes will come back to haunt her, but she just can't help herself.  She projects an aura of confidence and perfection, but truthfully nothing in her life is as it seems.  One can never truly know what goes on behind closed doors, at home or elsewhere......and Daria sure knew how to keep secrets and keep people guessing. 
And Penn - oh my goodness.  The guy from the wrong side of the tracks falling for the princess of the rival school.  Seriously, he was such a jerk at times, but I could get why he acted that way towards Daria.  He felt a sense of loyalty to his twin sister, yet he couldn't help but resist that pull he had with his skull eyes.  He completely surprised me by some of the things he said and did, and I could totally see why Daria fell in love with him. 
I also loved that we got some perspective from Melody and Jaime, as they played a large supporting role throughout the story.  I was saddened to see the turn the relationship between mother & daughter had taken; but no way would Daria be anything other than the apple of Jaime's eye.  And even though they weren't in the story much, I loved the little scenes that we did get with the rest of the hotholes.  I just love them. 
If you start Pretty Reckless late in the day, be prepared to stay up all night and get no sleep, as once you start reading.... you won't be able to stop.  Such a fantastic and addicting story of teenage angst.  Another book to add to my best of 2019 list! 

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.

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