Pretty Reckless by L.J. Shen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once upon a time, we may have had a chance to get our happily ever after, but in this fairy tale turned nightmare, we both did too many awful things for the prince to claim his princess.

O.M.G!!!! Pretty Reckless, the first book in the All Saints High series, by USA Today and Washington Post bestselling author L.J. Shen, was simply phenomenal. Pretty Reckless has been at the top of my most anticipated read list for months, and I have to say, Leigh really outdid herself with this one. It’s no secret that I am obsessed with reading this author’s stories, and that with each book she releases, I find a way to drop everything to read them and Pretty Reckless was no different.

Ever notice how the heart is literally caged by the ribs? That’s insane. As if our body knows it can break so easily, it needs to be protected.

Pretty Reckless is thoroughly entertaining. I was swept away with this book from the first sentence and read it straight through—as if there was any other option. 😉 The story is captivating and the pace is perfect, it didn’t drag or get too slow for me. It’s a dual POV, enemies-to-lovers, YA romance that takes readers back to the series that put Leigh on the map (for many of us), the Sinners of Saint books. The All Saints High books are a spinoff of the Sinners of Saint series, and readers will love catching up with their favorite Hotholes since the spinoff revolves around the totholes, or high school aged children of the characters from the original series. In fictional Todos Santos, California where affluent residents are the norm and the hotholes rule over all, Daria Followhill is their Queen. While reading Pretty Reckless, I was legitimately on pins and needles. The story was original and well planned out. I already want to sit down and reread it… and not just because I consumed this book at warp speed. I am a huge angst fan, and Pretty Reckless was an extremely well written combination of high school drama, first world problems, and young love angsty book.

When someone hits me with a stick, I run over them with a tank.

The characters of Pretty Reckless cast a huge spell on me. Daria Followhill is rich, entitled and rules over All Saints High. She has everything money can buy her, and she’s absolutely miserable. As the head cheerleader at ASH, she has an image to uphold, and a reputation for being a straight up ruthless bitch… which she maintains with relish! But she longs for things that might surprise you. Daria’s not your typical rich kid. Her insecurities are eating away at her and she’s a complex heroine who is far deeper than I originally gave her credit for being. She’s the girl we all wanted to immolate in high school, yet she is also beautifully broken. Leigh did an outstanding job of entwining the negative attributes of Daria’s character with positive ones.

I’m the tin man. I have no heart. Not since Via left. She was my entire world… My heart was rusty before she left, but after? After, it was gone.

If you follow my reviews, you know I have a thing for Assholes… and Leigh writes the best of them! Penn Scully is the boy who took Daria’s first kiss, and now he’s her worst enemy. He’s Daria’s polar opposite, captain of the rival football team and her new foster brother. He’s the tin man, a class A asshole and one of my favorite heroes Leigh’s written to date. His soft center, fierce loyalty, and protectiveness had me on my knees (wait… that might have just been a fantasy 😉).

He was the first boy who noticed the injured animal behind the camouflage of hostility and tried to give it water and shelter.

Together Daria and Penn were straight up dynamite. Their chemistry is so innate that each interaction between them was straight up foreplay… the way Enemies-to-Lovers romances are supposed to be written!! It’s no secret that Leigh writes seXXXy AF romances, and I often joke that when reading her books, you’ll want to go in prepared—have your batteries charged or your spouses on standby because a cold shower is not going to put out the fires she lights. Pretty Reckless is just another example of her skill with layering the sexy and storytelling. She continues to deliver some of the sexiest reads in contemporary romance and my dirty mind absolutely LOVES every minute of them.

“You smell like my new, steady ride.”

While there is certainly more I could say to justify giving Pretty Reckless a five-star review, I will quit here. There is a reason L.J. Shen is a bestselling author and if you’ve somehow been unable to read her work to date, then I can promise you that you have no idea just how much you’re missing out. I have yet to read something that she’s written that I was less than crazy for and they are all five-star reads! Pretty Reckless should absolutely be the next book you pick up to read!!!!

Quotes:

I have a lot of experience when it comes to fakeness. My personality is basically one hundred percent recyclable plastic. The only person who can still scrape a bit of authenticity from me is her brother.
—
She opens her eyes and stares at me. It’s cool to see her like that. Vulnerable. Scared. She’s not the head cheerleader right now, and I’m not the football captain of the rival team. We’re just two teenagers who never stood a chance to be friends in this world, so we became what was expected of us. Enemies.
—
While I’m his hobby, he is turning out to be my… everything.

Purchase Links:

Amazon US: bit.ly/DariaPRUS
Amazon UK: bit.ly/DariaPRUK
Amazon CA: bit.ly/DariaPRCA
Amazon AU: bit.ly/DariaPRAU

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2zsyMNE