This was not my favourite from LJ Shen..
The first 1/3 of the book is about the mc relationship with someone else, at 40% in the characters have only met briefly 3 times. It was hard to root for them when there was so much built up on the relationship that came before and the love for other people. I did enjoy the last bit of the book more as I felt the story picked up.

L.J. Shen is killing me with these boys and their f***ed up backgrounds. I am a sucker for fixing broken things or in this series case, fixing & breaking & then healing them irrevocably. I genuinely enjoyed this. This is pretty woman meets the hating game set in a broadway theater. Ars is very much the guy from the Big Bang Theory with a sprinkle of astronomy facts. Grace is a horrid character and I knew something was wrong with the scene with Ars and the blood. I love Winnie she reminds me of the mom from Ginny and Georgia on Netflix. She is willing to do anything for the people she’s loves and doesn’t know. It’s a dangerous combination. The character chemistry is top notch. I feel for her women health care concerns. Ars’s character development is so epic and swoon worthy I love it. He’s like a modern day Mr. Bennett. The sex scenes were scarce but heartfelt compared to the first book in this series. All thoughts are my own & thank you for this Advance Review Copy! I look forward to Riggs’ story :)

I don’t know where to start with this review. I have so many mixed feelings about the story. I wasn’t too keen on Part One, I didn’t particularly like the toxic relationship between Arsène and Grace, and I didn’t understand it. Arsène actually did become a better person without the added toxicity of Grace in his life. Their relationship definitely wasn’t black and white. I absolutely loved the relationship between Arsène and Winnie from the get-go. They were volatile, they were passionate, and they thought they hated each other, and we all know there’s a fine line between love and hate. Arsène truly is a despicable person, but he was honest throughout, in fact it’s his inexcusable yet honest, behaviour towards people that I was drawn to (Winnie too if I read her correctly). A true enemies to lovers romance with a lots of secrets, few surprises and a lot of drama. I love Shen’s writing, she can weave some fantastic stories, I’m loving this series, I can’t wait for Riggs’s story. I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my honest review.

My first book by this author, and boy did I regret requesting this ARC only a few pages in. I had no idea this is erotic fiction, nor was there any warning in the blurb that it features pseudo-incestuous relationship. Not quite what I had in mind. Arsène Corbin was the ultimate arse for a good chunk of the book. Absolutely obsessed with his step-sister whom he has had and on/off toxic relationship with for half of his life. They're both gawd awful people who deserved each other. Too bad one person died and now the other was left to roam mateless and impose his nastiness on the too nice Winnifred. Shen had to constantly shove their step-sibling relationship down our throat so it's not even something one can overlook.

Arsène’s bizarre attachment to this evil, self-centered woman is quite incomprehensible, especially when he is fully aware of what a nasty piece of work she is. She has tried to kill him and destroy his life many times over and she does not even try to disguise her bitchiness towards his friends. But all of this just serve to enhance his attraction to her. He wants her not just for the sex but as a permanent mixture in his life, as his wife! Who the hell wants a psychopathic person to contribute genetic material towards his offspring? Both she and her mother are cut from the same cloth so likely future progenies will be too. We spent a third of the book following the antics of this dysfunctional couple and it was a third too much. Bleh! I just want to bleach it from my mind.

I skim-read through the whole book. Winnie is too bland and benign when we finally got to her. There is a bit of of spirit in some of their exchanges but generally, she's dominated by his alpha maleness.

This is not your typical billionaire romance it is angsty, trauma driven, and offers many twists and turns to keep you hooked. While it is understandable why there is a connection between Arséne and Grace, I think you get too invested them in the beginning and I wonder if maybe the story was suppose to go a different way and was changed once Winnie was seen with Paul.

I think that there is some missing chemistry/events for Winnie and Arséne for this to feel like a romance novel. I feel that this is almost a mystery thriller/suspense with spice and slight romance.

I will say, major props to L.J Shen for writing this one because it feels so much mature and written with some great plot points that I could not predict what was going to happen next. The office door we had to wait for drove me crazy until we got to "go in".

Spice level 3/5

2 POV: Arséne (for part 1 soley)
Winnie (Part 2 of the book) and Arséne (part 2 of the book)

This is a tumultuous five-star read. For the first third of this story, it was struggling to get a single star, honestly Winnie pulled it out and pulled it through. I really enjoyed the first Cruel Castaways story, so knew this may be a hard read, and I honestly think that it I had started this first, I wouldn’t have finished it. But that being said, I am so glad I did keep reading, as Arsene was written so well that you could see how he pulls himself out, and really turns it around to being more than just a horrid human with bags of money. This won’t be the story for everyone, as it features lots of put downs for people, step sibling romance, cheating, rich privileged men. But if you can suspend your ideas and just get into this story you may find that in the end you enjoy it, I know I did, so if you pick it up and just can’t get into it, keep going as I know you will get hooked soon.

I haven't read any of L. J. Shen books for a while and was very curious to try her recent ones, so you can imagine my excitement when I got the eARC of Fallen Foe.

Pity, I didn't love the story as much as expected. First of all, Arsène, the main male character, is a typical rich white alphahole, who cannot love because of his trash parents, and he blends with many other Shen's characters. Moreover, his transformation into ardent, gentle lover failed to convince me. Second, it seems that there is too much emphasis on his relation with his fiancée, who actually is not his love interest in the story. I mean, for a whole third of the book he is with another woman, while his relationship with Winnie, the main female character, felt rushed and underdeveloped.

Still it was an easy, entertaining read with some unexpected (or expected) twists, the banter is quite good, and I am very thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this ARC.

LJ Shen is queen of antihero’s but this fell short in my opinion. The MC’s asshole origin story was tired and unoriginal. Some of the banter was decent but I got so annoyed every time he said bumpkin and then tried to make in endearing?? And the timeline was super jumpy. Not my fav read of hers.

Unfortunately this was a huge miss for me. I just need something new from Shen, it’s always the same from her. I don’t care for pop culture references and brand names in my romances. The hero wasn’t all that redeemable.

I received this as an ARC, i saw the title and cried when i saw what book it was. L.J. Shen is an amazing author and this book exceeded my expectations. i knew this would be perfect but i did not expect to cry as much as i did. 5 stars. Re-Read worthy 100%.

the story is about Winnie and Arsene. after Arsene’s fiancé dies he becomes very reliant towards love in general. He meets Winnifred at a theatre he owns. he absolutely hates her but decides to befriend her in order to discover his now dead fiancés past life….

This was one of my anticipated reads this year and I’m conflicted to say the least. LJ excels in banters and wit between her characters however the romantic aspect between the two main leads fell short. It just didn’t feel believable enough to me. I don’t believe that they both fell in love with each other during their first encounter.

Fallen Foe is the second standalone in the Cruel Castaway series. This book is separated into two parts: part one and part two. The second part of the book was far more enjoyable to read compared to the first part of the book. And a spoiler warning for the safety readers, the first part of the book isn’t safe.

To me, Fallen Foe is somewhat of the love child from Playing With Fire meets Sparrow with a sprinkle of Vicious. Winnie’s love for acting reminded me a lot of Grace’s love for theater/acting in Playing with Fire while Arsène’s relationship with Gracelynn resembles Troy’s turbulent relationship with Cat in Sparrow. Some parts of the book dragged on while some parts weren’t fleshed out enough. And as I mentioned before, the romantic aspect fell short for me. It felt too rushed, too sudden and too forced in making reader believe it was love at first sight

This book is reminiscent of Shen’s older works which was what made me adore her writing in the first place. However, a majority of Shen’s male characters oftentimes tend to blend among each other resulting in a lack of individualistic characteristics which unfortunately fails to make them stand out from one another. They always share common traits whether it be in terms of physical appearance or mannerism or the lack of emotional availability, the need for revenge, or the belief that they can’t love or aren’t able to love. This is the case with Arséne. He wasn’t anything new. The only characteristic that separated and made him unique from her other male characters was his love for astronomy. But other than that, he was the quintessential rich alphahole Shen always write about and I wished there were some sort of individualistic variety in her male leads. Her female characters, on the other hand, does have some degree of variety while still maintaining some semblance of innocence that Shen always incorporates in her female leads in one form or another.

With that being said, Fallen Foe was an enjoyable read but I still prefer Ruthless Rival over it. I’m anticipating Rigg’s book, Coldhearted Casanova, book three in the series next year.

Thank you to NetGallery for giving me the chance to read the ARC!

3.5 stars -Fallen Foe is the second book in the Cruel Castaways series and is about Arsène finding his HEA.

The positives:
This book was a page turner; I loved the premise; it was unique and interesting. The story had some of my favourite tropes (grumpy sunshine and enemies to lovers); bonus – L J Shen writes a good asshole hero. Arsène is one of the worst; horrid, rude and generally unlikeable. Winnie is a loveable heroine who unfortunately crosses paths with Arsène after a tragic event. Their interactions and banter were fun to read.

I think this book also does an excellent job of portraying how a truly toxic relationship can endure despite the harm it causes the couple.

The negatives:
I think Arsène and Winnie could have worked better as a couple. I don’t think their romance was developed enough by the end of the book to make it believable. It wasn’t quite clear how their relationship grew from attraction to love in the end especially since most of the book was focused on their relationships with their previous partners.

Overall, I enjoy reading LJ Shen’s books and look forward to reading more - this was no exception. It was nice to see Arsène get his HEA with Winnie especially after he had been so scarred by his horrific childhood and the toxic people in his life.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Kept me awake most of the night as I just had to finish it. A great read… grabbed my attention from the first page… with each new revelation, I just kept wanting to turn the pages… I highly recommend this book

•••Maybe spoilers ahead but you’ve been warned•••

This is the second book in a stand alone series. I kept going back and forth on rating this a 3 or 4 star but decided on 3 because of the following:

- I’ve read this story before. Actually it was 2 different books I’ve read before put together.
- the ending felt rushed and not well explained. I wanted to dive a bit deeper into the issues both the main characters had
- And it feels like not much happened. Like the plot is kind of “meh”. It’s just the characters

All that said I enjoy the writing of this book. Normally I feel like LJ doesn’t write like this and I’ve heard before that she does have ghost writers do her writing for her so I think one of them wrote it. I’ve read a bunch of books by her and they weren’t as well put together in the writing department as this book. This felt like the old LJ

I love, love LJ Shen and her dark broken men. Because at the end of the story our man has found some kind of peace. He might still be a jerk, but he's found some sort of happiness that he didn't know before.

This book was wild! Now our guy was.... whew. He had some issues. When we meet him he's obsessed with his stepsister. But I am certainly a believer that people are influenced. And man, was he influenced by the people who were supposed to love and care for him. So yeah, he is a product of his environment.

Winnie was a sweetheart. One that could and did fight back. Sometimes when we read these sunshine/grumpy novels the sunshine looks too flat one dimensional. But not her. She's been dealt a hard hand and it was great to see her on her upward climb.

I was desperate for the two of them to interact and be together! I would get upset when one would push away!

Great read, won't be my last LJ novel. Thank you for letting me read it.

This was okay. It's starting to feel like the author's books are all bleeding together. I think the format could have been worth switching up a little bit. But it was a decent read that fans of her work will probably enjoy. Wasn't really for me though. The hero was too much of a jerk.

I had the amazing opportunity to read Ruthless Rival (Cruel Castaways #1) by L.J. Shen and y’all it was just outstanding. Absolutely loved it.
So I was thrilled to see FF and jumped at the opportunity to start this new story in the series.

Fallen Foe is book two in the Cruel Castaways series by L.J. Shen.
This whirlwind romance was amazing.
Arsène and Winnifred are characters who were so addicting (at least to me).
I was hanging onto their every word and devouring their world.
Shen’s writing kept me engrossed from the very first page.
If you’re looking for an entertaining, slow burn romance….. pick this up.
This author delivers another creative, compelling story that was so hard to escape from.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Montlake for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Arsene and Winnie are forced together after a tragic accident. They’ve seen each other before but didn’t exactly hit it off. Now they have to learn to deal with the other in order to figure out a secret involving the people they loved. Their opposite personalities do nothing but clash- him: cruel, cold and calculating and her: warm, sunny and caring. Yet they find themselves falling for one another anyway.

This was a quick read. Arsene was a grade-a jerk, for reasons that will be explained, but it got a little taxing. LJ is the queen of writing super a-hole MMC, but I just couldn’t get on board with this one.- it’s was over-the-top. His sudden change to a delightful caring guy when he starts to fall for Winnie felt slightly rushed and unbelievable, but their chemistry was hot regardless. Winnie was a little naive and doe eyed for my liking but they evened each other out and it all worked out in the end. Not my favorite LJ book!

This was an interesting take on step sibling rivalry. Neither one of the are capable of showing weakness or loosing. What will it take to make both of them see winning is not everything?

I am dnf’ing this because I personally don’t enjoy romances where the main characters have explicit sex with others who aren’t each other. It’s a serious turn off for me.