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Blog Tour + Review - Bane by LJ Shen


Bane, the highly-anticipated next standalone in the Sinners of Saint Series by L.J. Shen is LIVE

Tittle: Bane

Author: L.J. Shen

Series: Sinners of Saint #4

Release Date: May 10th

Genre: Contemporary Romance

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.

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Review


Holy cow! L.J. Shen nailed perfection with Bane. This book was everything and more. I am overwhelmed and still on cloud nine in heaven. M*erde! My soul was consumed by each chapter. I rephrase it: My soul was consumed by Roman ‘Bane’ Protsenko. I am speechless. L.J. Shen never disappoints me! Her talent is supernatural. She is a LITERARY goddess and I am grateful she shares with us each of her SINFUL and wonderful masterpieces. There is not greater pleasure then reading L.J. Shen’s books! Her sassy and strong heroines plus sinful and possessive alpha males plus a brilliant story is equal to: PERFECTION with capital letters.




This book is part of the Sinners of Saint Series but can be read as a standalone. My advice for you is to read all the books in the series for a better ENJOYMENT. Between the pages of this book you will find a raw romance and strong and complex characters. This is not a fairy tale where the princess needs to be saved by the prince. This book is something more deep. Yes, there is a happy ending but the princess is going to save herself alone. Oh did I forget to tell that there is not Prince instead there is a con, a liar and a thief: a sinful bad boy, a fallen angel ready to defy everyone and everything.




Bane is an explosive, stunning, mind-blowing book that literally will leave you craving more and more. Once you start this book you won’t be able to stop until you devour it whole. The pacing is fast and each chapter will have you at the edge of your sit. The plot is extraordinary well developed, unique and 100% original. It is hands down one of my ALL TIME favourite reads and one that I will never forget.


The storyline is tempting, forbidden and deliciously intense. It’s a compelling story that makes the characters real. Their messed past cannot dictate their present although there is a lot in. Jesse is at the top of my favourite heroines. She has impressed me like no other. Her past is a shadow that is haunting her. Her brightness was replaced with darkness and fear but as a Warrior Princess she defeated her demons. She didn’t feel whole. The ones who should have protected failed her. No one fought her demons BEFORE until Bane: The bad boy, the thief, a con. He will fight them and will fix Jesse to any cost.




Bane is sin personified and maximized. He is a hunter, a fallen angel who hides his real colours. He is dangerous and toxic. He is the kind of boy you won’t introduce to your parents. He is trouble. He also has his demons but he controls them. His soul was lonely until Jesse. He accepted her as she is, broken and damaged. To know her past made him want to protect and fix her. She is forbidden but the chemistry is there, burning his blood. She tempts him like no other woman and he will give up in his desires.


How could someone too toxic save a broken soul? How could a lonely soul fix a damaged angel?


Secrets, money, power and ambition can tarnish the purest soul. Jesse will learn that she doesn't need a prince. She needs a sword and Bane is it. He is the knight that will kill the dragons.


I loved the interaction between Bane and Jesse. They are lonely souls trying to survive. Each one in a different way but both are survivors and fighters. I adored the way Bane gave Jesse the weapons to tame her demons. They belong together. They are imperfectly perfect for each other. They were destined to be more; to be each other saviour.



An awesome book! L.J. Shen penned a strong story, hard, sometimes brutal and savage, but the magic of the narrative is such that it ends up becoming the most subtle of the experiences and a love story like few, one of those that you do not forget. Bane and Jesse’s story completely bewitched me! I honestly think everyone should read this book. It can’t be compared with any other because perfection can’t be compared.




*** All the teasers for this review were made by talented Patricia Hinojosa (River Designs) ***

Rating

Five snowflake stars! Bane and Jesse’s story completely bewitched me! I honestly think everyone should read this book.

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.



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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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