Bane
by L.J. Shen
Series: Sinners of Saint #4
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 10th, 2018
Blurb:
Bane
Naked surfer. Habitual pothead. A con, a liar, a thief and a fraud.
Last I heard, he was extorting the rich and screwing their wives for a living.
Which is why I’m more than a little surprised to find him at my threshold, looking for my friendship, my services, and most puzzling of all—looking humbled.
Thing is, I’m on a boycott. Literally—I cut boys from my life. Permanently.
Problem is, Bane is not a boy, he is all man, and I’m falling, crashing, drowning in his sweet, perfect lies.
Jesse Carter
Hot as hell, cold as ice.
I wasn’t aware of her existence until a fat, juicy deal landed in my lap.
She’s a part of it, a little plaything to kill some time.
She is collateral, a means to an end, and a side-bonus for striking a deal with her oil tycoon stepdad.
More than anything, Jesse Carter is a tough nut to crack.
Little does she know, I have the f****** teeth for it.
Buy now:
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https://amzn.to/2rqvtiI
Amazon Universal:
http://mybook.to/BaneLJShen
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Excerpt:
Bane
Then.
A liar.
A con.
A godless thief.
My reputation was a big wave that I rode, one that swallowed everyone around me, drowning every attempt to fuck with what’s mine.
I’d been known as a stoner, but power was my real drug of choice. Money meant nothing. It was tangible, and therefore easy to lose. See, to me, people were a game. One I’d always known how to win.
Move the rooks around.
Change the queen when necessary.
Guard the king at all fucking times.
I was never distracted, never deterred, and never jealous.
So, imagine my surprise when I found myself being all three at once.
It was a siren with coal black hair who robbed me of riding the biggest wave I’d seen that summer. Of my precious attention. Of my goddamn breath.
She glided from the ocean to the beach like nightfall.
I crouched down, straddling my surfboard, gawking.
Edie and Beck stopped beside me, floating on their boards in my periphery.
“This one’s taken by Emery Wallace,” Edie had warned. Thief.
“This one’s the hottest masterpiece in town.” Beck had chuckled. Con.
“More importantly, she only dates rich bastards.” Liar.
I had all the ingredients to pull her in.
Her body was a patch of fresh snow. White, fair, like the sun shone through her, never quite soaking in. Her skin defied nature, her ass defied my sanity, but it was the words on her back that made my logic rebel.
It wasn’t her curves or the way she swayed her hips like a dangling, poisonous apple that warranted my reaction to her.
It was that tattoo I had noticed when she swam close to me earlier, the words trickling down the nape of her neck and back in a straight arrow.
My Whole Life Has Been Pledged to This Meeting with You
Pushkin.
I only knew one person who went gaga over the Russian poet, and, like the famous Alexander, he was currently six feet under.
My friends began to paddle back to shore. I couldn’t move. It felt like my balls were ten tons heavy. I didn’t believe in love at first sight. Lust, maybe, but even that wasn’t the word I was looking for. No. This girl fucking intrigued me.
“What’s her name?” I snatched Beck’s ankle, yanking him back to me. Edie stopped pedaling and looked back, her gaze ping-ponging between us.
“Doesn’t matter, bro.”
“What’s. Her. Name?” I repeated through a locked jaw.
“Dude, she’s, like, way young.”
“I will not repeat myself a third time.”
Beck’s throat bobbed with a swallow. He knew damn well that I didn’t mess around. If she was legal—it was on.
“Jesse Carter.”
Jesse Carter was going to be mine before she even knew me.
Before I even knew her.
Before her life turned upside down and her fate rewrote itself with her blood.
So here was the truth that even my lying ass wouldn’t admit later on in our story—I wanted her before.
Before she became business.
Before the truth caged her in.
Before the secrets gushed out.
I never did get to surf that day.
My surfboard broke.
Should have known it was an omen.
My heart was going to be next in line.
And for a small chick, she did one hell of a fucking job obliterating it.
START THE SINNERS OF SAINT SERIES HERE:
Vicious
by L.J. Shen
Series: Sinners of Saint #1
Buy now:
About the author:
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.
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My review:
Wow. I was
unsure of what to make of Bane because although I liked him in the
previous book, I couldn’t wrap my head around having an H whoring around
in a story. So, anyway, I was surprised that I found myself loving him
despite his flaws or even because of them. A manwhore, massive jerk,
cocky Roman Protsenko alias Bane was one of those characters you will
either hate or love. I obviously belong to the latter.
'Roman
'Bane' Protsenko was beautiful like a Pushkin paragraph. You could read
his face a thousand times, and each time, you'd find something new to
admire.'
Jesse was a
spitfire hiding behind walls she had built around herself for
protection, but her sass shined through thanks to Bane who tried to
break through her defenses. Though the consequences of the burning
desire and growing feelings could only have a fatal outcome because he’s
bound to give in to the attraction and break the contract with her dad.
Both was bad enough but worst was the inevitable - that she was going
to get hurt in the process.
'Because I found you in the dirt that's called life, and you stood out. Like an opportunity I cannot miss.'
Although
I wish I could have read this story in one go, life got in the way, but
the story managed to pull me out of a small reading slump and each time
I picked up the book I was instantly captivated. The writing was
phenomenal and the story lured me right into Bane’s world. There was
more to him than meets the eye and although his reputation was the
opposite of a golden boy, his broken aura was fascinating and pulled me
in. It was also just a matter of time until his fragile and carefully
constructed house of cards was tumbling down.
'The secret to being an asshole was to not be an asshole.'
Bane
and Jesse couldn’t have been more different, right?! While he was out
living his life to the fullest and not giving a damn about anything, she
was hiding in her room not giving anybody the opportunity to harass
her, whether it’s with stares or hurtful words.
But when you look
closer, you notice that these characters actually do have a lot in
common. Because Bane was as broken and hurt as Jesse was. He’s just
dealing with it in another way and burrowed his dark thoughts deep
inside, hiding them behind walls nobody can see. Jesse on the other hand
erected walls so high that people couldn’t even see her because of
them. She wanted to be invisible and she let her fears rule her life
while Bane couldn’t look his demons in the eyes. Both have lonely hearts
that seek love and companionship. They didn’t even recognize that their
world was going to crumble and that they needed to hold on to each
other.
'I was really a special kind of fucked.'
The
characters of this story weren't all black and white. They were in a
grey area where I questioned a lot and tried not to judge due to my
upbringing and life experience. A lot of things were impossible to put
in a box and label, whether I tried to or not, because they just didn't
fit anywhere. And that's the hardest part, the one that still has me
pondering about this story after I’d finished it.
'Hey, being the only guy who was from the wrong side of the tracks in a town that had no tracks had its appeal.'
I’m
sorry if I don’t make any sense here, I’m just not really good with
words. Read the book and you’ll know what I’m trying to say because this
was one of my most anticipated reads for this year and it did not at
all disappoint.
'My Whole Life Has Been Pledged to This Meeting with You.'
-- I received an ARC of this book from Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review. --
My rating:
4.5 of 5 stars
View review on goodreads
