Pretty Reckless (All Saints High, #1) by L.J. Shen Series: All Saints High #1
Published by L.J. Shen on April 21, 2019
Pages: 362
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Angela Goethals, Maxine Mitchell, Michael Crouch
Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
Genres: New Adult, Sports Romance
Amazon Audible
From USA Today and Washington Post bestselling author L.J. Shen comes an intense, high school enemies-to-lovers romance with a twist.
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 was 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 my firsts for him. Now he lives across the hall, and I want nothing 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.
L.J. Shen is a master at dishing out seemingly irredeemable characters that you love to hate and serving them up with massive side of angst. Pretty Reckless kicks off the All Saints High series, which is a spinoff of the wickedly addictive Sinners of Saint series. (Side note: Although these series revolve around high school students, they are definitely on the New Adult side.) Defy readers will remember the scandalous affair between Jaime Followhill and Melody Greene. Daria is their daughter.
Daria Followhill is the “villain” in Pretty Reckless, but I never got to the point where I actively hated her. Make no mistake. Her behavior is completely despicable. However, she readily acknowledges her jealousy, insecurity, and spitefulness. As wrong as she is, I understood the reason behind her actions. Her pain is so obvious that I actually felt sorry for her. She is the strongest and most developed of all the characters.
Penn Scully is holding one heck of a grudge, and he is determined to make Daria pay for one extremely misguided action in which he has a part to play. He crumbles like a house of cards, though, in her presence. If he was really on a mission of revenge, I wanted him to put up more a fight. I did love the push and pull dynamics between the two of them. Their chemistry as a couple is everything I hoped it would be.
Jaime and Melody are a disappointment. For the most part, Jaime is a passive bystander in the train wreck that is his family life. Melody is frustrated by Daria’s behavior, but is either too exhausted or oblivious to effectively parent. She makes a string of bad choices when it comes to her daughter, which made me empathize with Daria all the more.
Pretty Reckless has the angsty goodness I love, and an unpredictable plot that kept me guessing, but I had some issues with the storyline. There is a heck of a lot of vindictiveness going on between characters, and the amount of maliciousness seems disproportionate to the degree of perceived wrongs. It’s almost like a contest to see who can be the pettiest. I also think the resolution and epilogue are on the cheesy side.
There is no doubt that Shen is great at manipulating my emotions and incorporating fascinating characters. I’d like to learn more about Vaughn and Knight—two other Sinners of Saint offspring—so I definitely plan to keep reading the series.
About the Audiobook:
I really enjoyed the expressive narration by Maxine Mitchell and Michael Crouch. They do an excellent job of bringing out the vulnerabilities in Daria and Penn. There are only two chapters that are not told by Daria or Penn—one from Melody’s point of view and one from Jaime’s. The chapter told from Melody’s viewpoint is narrated by Angela Goethals. However, rather than using a different male narrator to read Jaime’s chapter, Michael Crouch continues to narrate. It’s a confusing choice because his voice sounds exactly the same as Penn’s—there is no attempt to make a distinction between the two characters’ voices. I kept forgetting that it was Jaime’s story being told. Other than that, I think the audiobook is excellent.
About L.J. 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 peoples’ 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.
I was surprised by Jamie and Melody. I think you’re right. They were kind of a disappointment.
I honestly don’t like books where the female character is the “villain” or “despicable” as you said here Angela!