🔘Marriage of convenience
🔘Angsty
🔘Friends to lovers

Daphne "Duffy" is desperate to marry into money. However, her rich longtime boyfriend left her, leaving her desperate for a solution to her visa troubles. Without hesitating, she resorts to blackmail, targeting Riggs Bates, her boss's lover. For unknown reasons, Riggs surprisingly agrees. Except, Duffy doesn’t realize that Riggs is actually a billionaire.

✨ Thoughts ✨
Oh my goodness, I am completely in love with this story! It was an absolute whirlwind of emotions, infused with just the right amount of angst and drama that gave this novel its own unique essence.

The main characters, oh, what a delightful duo they were! Our FMC, Duffy, may appear to be perfect, concealing her true self behind a facade of an aspiring gold digger. But as the story unfolded, her layers slowly peeled away, revealing a character so truly lovable and relatable. Her aspirations were admirable. And then there's our undercover billionaire, the epitome of a charming Casanova. Riggs possessed a heart of gold. His incorrigible nature made him all the more endearing!

Overall, if you enjoy a marriage of convenience, look no further. This book is the perfect read! Thank you Netgalley, Montlake, and the author for this arc.

Such a good romance story! Duffy and Riggs are the cutest. Throw in a fake wedding for a green card, lots of angst and the fact that he's a billionaire? Perfection

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I read quite a bit of L.J. Shen's books a few years back and always loved the way she managed to capture complex, morally-ambiguous characters. Riggs is no exception to her go-to, and there are multiple moments that had me cringing for both characters sake.

Cold Hearted Casanova was a really interesting read for me. I was completely engaged in this very typical marriage for convenience plot. However, there was a really intriguing storyline with Riggs that broke my heart a little bit. There is a strong possibility that I may have shed a tear or two.

Daphne wasn't my favourite main character. Although we are told that she is a gold digger due to her complex past, this didn't seem to resonate with me at all. She was a really hard character to like and there were multiple times where I thought they were both absolute idiots in the way that they miscommunicated.

Regardless, I still really enjoyed this novel and I recommend it if you are also a fan of the marriage of convenience trope and morally ambiguous characters.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Montlake for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I love this series so much. Briggs and Duffy had a marriage of convenience, and mainly didn't like each other. Honestly I didn't like a lot about Duffy's personality for half the book. She's not your usual heroine you would root for. But I did warm up to her and so did he. Even though he REALLY didn't want to. There was a lot of humor in these pages, great banter, an almost enemies to lovers vibe, and moments that made me cry.

I don't know which story has been my fave. They're all so stinking good in their own, unputdownable way! I wish it wasn't over and have a bit of a book hangover going now.

Daphne walks in on her boss getting railed by the hero. I don’t know why the book summary says that Daphne blackmails Riggs, because she doesn’t. She tried to. Riggs walked away but then came back when the marriage would also benefit him. This was a marriage of convenience, nothing else. I don’t feel like the plot was very thought through to be honest. I felt like that several times, which ruined my reading experience a bit.

- Age gap(37-26)
- Marriage of convenience
- Dislike to love
- No communication
- 2.5/5 spicy
- Slow burn

Riggs Bates:
Riggs is your cliché ”I don’t do monogamy” hero. He doesn’t like being wealthy and doesn’t want people to ”like” him because of his wealth, which is why he wont tell his fake fianceé that he’s loaded. He moves in with her and makes her pay for almost everything and I don’t know whether it’s more laughable or tragic.

Daphne (Markham) Bates:
I was expecting a bad ass fmc to be honest. When I read the summary and saw she ”blackmailed” Riggs, I was very intrigued. Unfortunately she was more obssessed with wealth than anything else. If all you care about is making money(in the beginning of the book), I don’t give a shit. You do you. But if you’re looking to marry someone just for their money...no thanks. My girl even admits to being a gold digger. Looking and being rich was more important than anything else. Sure, she wanted to marry for guaranteed finansial stability since she didn’t have that as a kid but she had and still have a loving family who are doing well enough and she has a job. It’s not like she was in desperate need of money.
Someone who as a kid had problems getting food doesn’t go around and buy second hand luxury items to make themselves look better. They know better.
People who’ve had money problems are also usually humble and doesn’t judge others for not having money. Duffy takes one look at Riggs and looks down her nose at him. Shallow bitch. Sorry, not sorry.

The third act:
Fucking morons. The both of them have the mentality of low iq, 20 year olds. I wanted to whack them both with a frying plan. I hate when mc’s wont just communicate. The third act break up could so easily have been avoided if they’d just talked to each other and shown each other support. I do understand where Riggs was coming from more than I understood Duffy. She still seemed like she only cared about money. She cracked a comment 60% in about why she wanted to marry rich. A few thoughts about ”maybe I don’t need all that money” isn’t enough. You have to show and tell. And then she gets sad/mad when Riggs thinks she’d choose money above him. Nothing pointed in the other direction. Riggs did not act like an adult about the situation though, which was disappointing. He’s 37 and goes out to get drunk and behaves like a petulant child. It was all just a clown show to be honest.

Tw/Cw: healthy food obssessed fmc, Huntingtons disease, death of parent(on page), death of parent(off page), cheating ex, owd, omd, fraud, consistent headaches, weed consumption, alcohol consumption

I did enjoy the story over all I just wasn’t a fan of the mc’s. I liked the secondary characters. Their banter in the beginning was quite fun. Okay character development from the both of them, they just changed their ways a bit late.

3 stars

"Cold Hearted Casanova" is a captivating novel by L.J. Shein that follows the story of Duffy, a woman who needs to get married in order to obtain her green card. Her situation becomes even more complicated when she catches her boss and Riggs, a handsome and mysterious billionaire, in a compromising position. While Riggs is undeniably attractive, he is fiercely private and doesn't want anyone to know about his wealth. Despite their differences, Duffy and Riggs decide to enter into a marriage of convenience to help each other achieve their goals. However, keeping their relationship strictly platonic proves to be a challenge, especially when they start to develop feelings for each other. Along the way, readers will be swept up in a whirlwind of hot and steamy scenes, as well as some tricky situations that threaten to derail their plans. This book is a quick and satisfying read that will leave you rooting for Duffy and Riggs until the very end. Mark your calendars for April 8th when this hits the shelves.

I just reviewed Cold Hearted Casanova by L.J. Shen. #ColdHeartedCasanova #NetGalley

She's a self proclaimed gold digger and he's a billionaire that makes her believe he's a poor photographer - she blackmailed him to marry her because of her Visa problems after walking in the room while he was having s3x with her married boss - definitely girls just wanna have fun 😂. This book is hilarious!

The amount of laughter I had while reading Duffy and Riggs love journey is endless.
I don't know who I love the most - she or him- both are so well written that I can't think a bad thing about either of them.

You can find a little miscommunication, but it's not much frustrating. You get so into the story that you can understand the reason behind it.

The supportive characters were good, especially Riggs best friends 👀. Apparently this is book 3 from a series - I haven't read the previous ones but after reading Cold Hearted Casanova I'm guilty of purchasing the previous two books.

I loved Duffy's family - they were charming 🥹. As I twin myself I related to Duffy's relationship with her twin brother -their quite unique, isn't it? 😂-

The revelation of Riggs past was something I didn't expect. I mean the world's a tiny thing after all.

This book gives us a heartwarming lecture - money isn't the key for happiness, having our loved ones safe and sound it is. And not to lose yourself in the material world 💕📚.

If you love enemies to lovers/ opposites attract this is a hell yeah! A brilliant, delightful story I must add.

Thanks to NetGalley, Montlake and L.J Shen for an ARC copy.

It was super fun, the banter was top notch and the writing so engaging.
I like it so much when books steer away from the stereotypes of the genre, in this book's case, I loved how forward honest both Riggs and Daphne were.
They were aware from the very beginning that they were attracted to each other, and when they started to catch feelings, they were mature enough to admit that they liked the other, even if only to themselves.
They didn't like the fact that they were falling in love, but they didn't do the whole "No, I don't care about them at all!" scenario.
I found Riggs's apprehension about the golddigger thing weird because he was supposedly living as a normal person, not as a billionaire, so his response to Daphne's preference to marry up was quite extreme.
On the other hand, Daphne's insistence about being in relationship with her ex was super frustrating. The man was literally a walking red flag, and she knew it! She just chose to tolerate everything for the money, which sucked.
In the final few chapters, big ole miscommunication trope arrived. They were just breaking up for the sake of bringing angst to the book. It didn't made any sense!
They both loved each other, it was apparent to everyone. They just woke up and chose ignorance.
The book has a HEA, but it should've been way earlier. We didn't need the heartache at the final parts.
That being said, their chemistry was chief's kiss and the romance was sizzling and swoony.
I enjoyed it and definitely recommend it.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

3 stars. I liked this! I didn’t understand why Duffy had purple eyes… I literally couldn’t look past that? Like was she born that way…? Or like how did she have purple eyes I don’t understand. Anyway, the romance was good, decent chemistry too. Overall, not too memorable of a read but still entertaining!

A special thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4, 5 Stars

NYC: Duffy finds herself in desperate need of a visa when her boyfriend of seven years decides to just spend half a year in Asia right before they were supposed to get engaged. She always wanted to marry rich and is devastated that not only are her plans not coming to fruition, she is also about to be deported back to England. Good thing (maybe?) that she finds her bitchy boss in a compromising position with dirt poor photographer Riggs, who is definitely not her boss's husband. Much to Riggs' dismay, his boss wants to send him to Alaska for a job. The only way he could avoid having to go there is if he had other responsibilities keeping him in NYC, like, say, a wife. To avoid Duffy selling her boss out and to have a reason to not have to go to Alaska, Riggs and Duffy decide to get married. What supposed gold-digger Duffy doesn't know though, is that her new husband is secretly filthy rich.

L.J. Shen is an author whose works are hit and miss for me. I really liked the All Saints High series, meanwhile the Boston Belles series I just couldn't fully enjoy. This one is one of her better books. It's funny, witty, easy to read and well paced while also being emotional. I even spilled a tear or two. Sure, the plot twist is not very realistic, but what plot in a romance book really is? I liked the MCs alone and together, even though the way Duffy talked sometimes was just weird. I have not yet read the other two books in the series that came before this, but since this is a standalone it wasn't a problem.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Romantic and funny. Lovable characters and proper angst and passion. I loved this whole series. Daphne and Riggs both were fantastic together like all other previous couples. Nice to meet Christian and Arsene again. Beautifully written, Highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

LJ Shen is known for angsty romances with alpha males, and while the hero wasn’t her typical alpha-hole, Riggs was a completely enjoyable character. I struggled a bit with Duffy, our heroine, mainly because I didn’t connect with her character until 3/4 of the way through the book. Her over the top British terms were too many, but as the plot unfolds and you find out more of her motivation for why she is the way she is, she grew on me.
I am grateful to Netgalley for the ARC, and will of course read the next book Shen releases.

Despite this being the perfect ending to this series, I'm really going to miss these characters.

This book can be read as a standalone, but the books before this one are 100% worth a read!

Cold Hearted Casanova follows serial playboy, secret billionaire and professional nomad, Riggs. as he navigates his life and feelings after being blackmailed into marriage by Duffy,. Duffy is a prim and proper British girl who has dedicated her recent years to being a Kate Middleton-esque posh Brit who dreams of marrying up. She thought she had it all figured out: her wealthy boyfriend would propose to her and she would be granted her green card. Unfortunately, as her current visa is coming to an end, her boyfriend decides not to propose but to take a 6 month trip across the world. With time running out, and the threat of deportation creeping up, Duffy takes matters into her hands the only way she knows how... blackmailing the first man she comes across into marrying her.

I loved this book! I loved the premise, the tropes and the character development. I cried multiple times throughout this book and I will 100% be rereading this entire series!

Cold Hearted Casanova is Riggs Bates, a late thirties photographer roaming the world never wanting to settle down. A complex character and although a billionaire never lets it be known living as if he hasn’t a care or penny to his name and flits from woman to woman determined never to settle down mainly due to abandonment issues.
‘Duffy’ Markham working in New York for high maintenance boss Gretchen is worried what she will do as Gretchen is moving to Washington DC and Duffy will be unemployed. Duffy has also been shaped by her childhood coming from a poor family and knows hunger and bullying she is determined to stay in the States and hopefully her rich boyfriend of 10 years will finally propose.
Catching married Gretchen having sex with Riggs she’s sees a chance of staying in America by blackmailing Riggs into marrying her to obtain a green card. Riggs couldn’t care less about being caught but he too needs a reason to get out of an assignment he doesn’t want to do.
Though instant dislike between the two they marry, and here the story of their burgeoning relationship starts. These two are brilliant characters and well described, both backgrounds are heartbreaking and easy to see why they both have complete barriers on relying on anyone else.
There is heartbreak in this story that had me truly invested in wanting the very best outcome for them both, but there is also humour and a cast of characters past and present that add much interest.
A brilliant read that will lift your heart up with joy.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

Enemies to lovers??? Sign me in especially if it’s L.J Shen, I’m a big fan of her books!

The main characters development in this story was so very well done that it got me really engaged into their love story and what’s going to happen next. The banter made me laugh out loud, the sensible moments made me tear up and the twists were unpredictable. I was truly impressed about the writing, everything made sense and even during arguments and miscommunication moments the characters acted like realistic adults and that’s what I love the most about L.J. Shen’s book: her characters are realistic and relatable.

From enemies to lovers to marriage of convenience, found family and a slow burn story this romance is definitely my favorite from the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for a digital ARC copy.

#ColdHeartedCasanova #NetGalley

Cold Hearted Casanova is the third book in the Cruel Castaways series. You don’t need to read the first two books in the series to enjoy this one. I absolutely loved this book and would have finished it one sitting if my Kindle didn't run out of power and I needed to be up in 4 hours.
Duffy (MFC) and Riggs (MMC) enter into a marriage of convenience so she can get her green card and he can get out of a dreaded work trip. I'm not normally a fan of age gaps but I barely noticed this one due to his stunted emotional growth and her childhood trauma that makes her act older. The age gap gets lost in the story and is not a significant. The miscommunication plays the leading role in a very good way. Duffy starts out as a very unlikable character and it is difficult to read but stick with it it's part of what makes the character so good.
The book has explicit sex scenes that flow naturally with the story. You can easily skim past them if that is not your thing without missing any important dialog or internal thoughts. If it is your thing it is well done and didn't make me wrinkle my nose.
This book was witty and had me chuckling and highlighting all the funny bits. The Banter, the second hand embarrassment, the plot twists, all good. This is the second book by this author I have read and I enjoyed them both immensely. I need to read more from L.J. Shen.

LJ Shen never misses for me and these tropes are *chefs kiss*. she writes billionaire, enemies to lovers SO SO well. the angst is great, spice levels are great. Characters are always interesting and likeable. Highly recommend this series a lot

I’ve read LJ Shen before so I always know what I’m getting into. I expect it to be fun and bingeable and to rot my brain and this was no exception. I haven’t read the first two in this series but I certainly didn’t feel like I needed to which was appreciated. Some of the dialogue was cringey and clunky, but some of it was funny. Riggs seemed a bit too much of a man child for me, which took a bit away from my enjoyment but I did really like Daphne’s character. Surprisingly not as spicy as I expected.

Duffy is an assistant who is in the US on a work Visa. However her Visa is set to expire in two weeks. She works for Gretchen who is an unholy tyrant who demands Duffy to complete tasks at all hours of the night. On one evening Duffy walks in on Gretchen with a man (Riggs) who is not her husband and decides to use it to her advantage. Her pretentious rich boyfriend of 7 years was supposed to purpose but instead leaves the country for 6 months.

Riggs is a Billionaire but hides the fact he has money. He travels the world as a photographer. Never staying anywhere longer than needed, never settling down. He thrives on change. Deep seated childhood abandonment.

Duffy needs a husband for her Visa, Riggs needs a wife to avoid Alaska for his job so they both agreed to get married in name only. Only problem is the more time they spend together the more they actually enjoy one another.

The banter 🤣. I found myself constantly laughing. I loved seeing the characters grow especially Riggs. Who knew deep down he actually had a heart of gold.

Thank you @netgalley and montlake for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Solid 4.5 rounded up

Title: Cold Hearted Casanova By L.J. Shen

Cruel Castaways #3

4.5 Stars ✨

I received this book in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley.

In this witty romance, Daphne "Duffy" Markham is desperate to marry into money and stay in the United States.

When her almost-fiancé leaves her and her work visa is about to expire, she resorts to blackmailing billionaire Riggs Bates, caught in a compromising situation. Riggs, who keeps his wealth a secret and avoids commitment, agrees to a fake marriage to extend his stay in New York. Despite their mutual dislike, their arrangement leads to unexpected sparks and feelings.

As their fake marriage starts feeling real, Riggs and Duffy must navigate their growing connection amidst their initial distaste for each other.

This can be read as a standalone. However in my case, it left such an impression that I'm eager to dive into the previous books in this series series!