The banter in this book was probably my favorite part. I did love the character development of Arsene & Winnie. I thought it was a good book with a great plot. I was interested from start to finish. Look forward to finishing the series.

2.5⭐
Genre ~ alpha male romance
Series ~ Cruel Castaways, #2)
Others in the series ~ Ruthless Rival
Setting ~ NYC
Publication date ~ May 9, 2023
Publisher ~ Montlake
Est Page Count ~ 356 (33 chapters +e)
Audio length ~ 10 hours 33 minutes
Narrator ~ Joe Arden, Savannah Peachwood
POV ~ single 1st person POV, present & past tense
Featuring ~ I’ll list below for each part since they have different FMC

Possible spoilers ahead

Arsène & Grace
What to expect in part 1:
~ single 1st person POV, present & past tense
~ they’re step siblings
~ toxicity and obsession up the yang
~ flashbacks to a neglectful childhood
~ billionaire
~ cheating
~ some steamage

Part 1 ✔
Grace is finally dead. I know that sounds awful, but I didn't really care for her. Also, not a spoiler since it's in blurb. Arsène is quite the arsehole, but the past chapters are making me see why he is the way he is, still didn’t make me like him one bit. .

Arsène (35) & Winnifred (28)
What to expect in part 2:
~ dual 1st person POV, present tense
~ slow burn
~ enemies to lovers
~ minimal steamage
~ health (view spoiler)

Part 2 ✔
Winnifred is sweet and a breath of fresh air compared to Grace. I like how she took time for herself to get her life straightened out instead of just falling all over him. Too bad she eventually does because she could do better. He’s still talking about Grace a year later like he’d take her back in a heartbeat after what she’d done. Also, hated his nickname for her with a passion.

Overall, this wasn't really for me at this point in my life, but I do think it was well written for it's genre so I'll round up. There’s no doubt L.J. sure knows how to write characters that are real douches because all males in this book pretty much are one. Not sure I got a good enough vibe from Riggs that I’ll want to read his book next.

Series notes:
Characters from Ruthless Rival make appearances, but it doesn't seem totally necessary to read that one first, but you’ll have a better understanding of their story.

i feel like this is a story that could have been enjoyable if the characters had been completely different and more tolerable.

The premise of this story isn't horrible. In fact, I actually think it's a pretty good recipe for an entertaining story. But man, the characters in this suck.

They just aren't good. Arsene is not a person anyone should be falling in love with. He doesn't make me swoon, he makes me want to call the police. My feelings would be different if he redeemed himself by the end, but that never happened. And Winnifred is a two dimensional stereotype. Although she didn't repel me like Arsene did, she's just a massive snoozefest.

I feel like this is a story that could have been enjoyable if the characters had been completely different and more tolerable. Oh well.

I feel like it's time to move on.

LJ Shen was once one of my most cherished authors. I adored her books. Sadly, that has changed.

I feel like I "grew up" and the author "regressed". Whatever it is, maybe her style of writing doesn't work for me anymore, because her characters feel even more juvenile than at the beginning of her writing career.

Honestly I don't feel as if the author "grew" at all in the last few years.
Every of her books feel and sound the same.

And the bitter truth is that they leave me dissatisfied and wanting for something else.
Something that leaves me in a positive and happy mood.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and author for the copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love everything L.J. Shen writes and this story was no exception! Unexpected Foe turned out to be unexpected surprise! This story was so interesting and I was enthralled.

I don't remember the last time that I liked something by LJ Shen and this was unfortunately no exception

3⭐

After I read Ruthless Rival, I had high hopes for this series. I really wanted to read the stories of Christian's friends to get to know them better. But Fallen Foe wasn't what I expected. This book aroused a lot of contradictory emotions in me.

Although this book is about Arsène and Winnie, the first part of the story is about Arsène and his stepsister Grace. Even at the very beginning, I was wondering how the plot would turn out, that Arsène and Winnie would be together. I wasn't ready for the way L.J. Shen turned the plot. That was one of the reasons why I didn't like this book.

I hope I like Riggs's book, because he is a very mysterious character who I want to get to know better.

Jeez, that was heavy

This is not an easy book to read. I get why others would rate it so low. You have to really toughen it out if you want to get to the good part — the part where they heal, fall in love, and have their happy ever after.

I always hate when the guy is with another woman who isn't the female lead. It's because I'm a jealous bitch. And I hate, hate, hate reading those words Arsene was thinking about Grace, who ironically, has the same name as me.

But I get that that's how it was for Arsene at the time. He was having a toxic relationship with his stepsister because he has never been exposed to a good example of love - familial love and romantic love.

So of course it will be the sunshine-y, country bumpkin who will show him how to love.

I guess I appreciate their finally coming together more because of everything they went through (and I went through as a reader) in the first half of the book.

I do recommend this book. LJ Shen is a really good story teller - can make you feel all the feels, and that's what I've always been about. But as I said, the first part of it is a tough pill to swallow so be prepared to go through some gritty times.

Will I reread it in the future? Maybe. I'm actually really chicken when it comes to rereading books that are heavy on the heart. Right now, I feel like I've been through the wringer. I still have this heavy feeling in my heart and I don't know how soon I'll recover.

Still, I think it deserves all the stars.

This story follows Arsène and his stepsister / fiancé Gracelynn. From the get-go, both of these characters are extremely unlikable. Gracelynn is a biotch, blatantly rude to people she deems "less than" and always needs to be the center of attention. She can't stand anyone, but also can't stand that people don't like her. She is fake and two-faced. Arsène is arrogant and slightly less dreadful than his sister, but still obsessed with her. He is obsessed with getting revenge on her, but also he is in love with her. They say there is a fine line between love and hate, and I think this books displays that perfectly. With two incredibly unlikeable characters, I had to DNF this book at 25%. I am usually ok with taboo tropes, but reading about two characters left me feeling like I didn't care about what happens to them. This book is also, apparently, book two in a series, but from what I read, it felt like a standalone. I typically don't like starting a series in the middle, but I didn't mind that aspect of the book, it really was just the horrible characters that made me dislike this book. If you don't mind reading about unlikeable characters (that were possibly made for each other) then, you will probably like this book, but for me, it was a miss. #FallenFoe #NetGalley

This wasn’t for me: neither the writing or the characters pulled me in and I found myself skimming.

I don’t think I’ll continue the series.

I DNF’d this book unfortunately as it wasn’t gripping me. Again, I will usually give things a second go if I feel like it’s something i would otherwise enjoy - so when I’m feeling more into the romance mood, i will definitely be giving this book a second chance because i love LJ Shens writing style.

Did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, I thought that gracelynn would be the heroine as she was built up to be a prominent character with the step brother trope, however the twist was un tasteful for me and I did not personally enjoy the direction in which this story has gone.

Thank you to the publishers, netgalley and LJ shen for the arc.

Love the billionaire trope. But I didn’t love how much time was spent on the mmc’s first love and not the evolution of his story with the fmc. Too many flashbacks for my personal liking.

I not only DNF’ed, but actively hated, this book. For one very simple, yet important reason, the male main character. I’m not new to reading about questionable men in books, but Arsene takes the cake. His treasure trove of daddy issues turned him into a pompous, self-righteous misogynist, and I have absolutely zero interest in reading about his story, or inevitable redemption. He can fall off that roof again, the end!

Fallen Foe is a story that that digs its claws into you and doesn’t let go, long after you’ve finished it.
Loved, loved, LOVED this book. Honestly, it is perfect.
LJ Shen is a unique storyteller who created characters that will name you feel a rollercoaster of emotions. Arsène owns my heart!
It was amazingly heartbreaking, full of passion, list and angst!
Top Read of 2023

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

I was super excited about this read after finishing Ruthless Rival, and boy did it not disappoint!! LJ Shen writes the most binge worthy romances 😂🙌🏽

I was looking forward to reading this book after enjoying the Sinners of Saint series, but unfortunately this book was just not for me. I unfortunately couldn’t get behind the incestuous relationship and the toxicity of the MMC.