If I see this author it's an mimetite grab, I adore all of her books. Arsene and Winnie were so engaging. The spirited banter, chemistry and connection just took off and never slowed down. The wait for this second book in this series was so worth the wait.

YAY EROTIC ROMANCE BOOKS! Getting that out of the way some trigger warnings would have been appreciated especially given the psudo-incest in the book. I tend to read for the romance more then the plot which served me well in this book but I don't know if I would recommend it. I adore this author so I will keep reading her books this one just wasn't a fave

I am not even entirely sure what I want to say with this review. I really enjoyed some of the author's much older work but sadly I just don't find myself enjoying her recent releases, though I saw this and decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, the beginning seemed to drag for me and it took me and exceptionally long time to get through this book. I actually had to put it down and take a break for a few weeks and come back to it. I do think the second half was more enjoyable than the beginning, but it still left several unanswered questions and I did not fully buy into the romance between the main characters at all.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

3.5⭐, 2 🌶️

This just didn't hit the mark for me. It was an enjoyable audiobook (Digital book and audiobook available free through Kindle Unlimited, audio narrated by Joe Arden & Savannah Peachwood) and an interesting storyline after part two began, but I couldn't fall for the romance in this storyline, and the relationship between Arsene and Winnifred just didn't feel romantic for me? Having to go through Part one where they are both in "love" with their partners may have just ruined the love connection for me. Like I don't believe they were true love - but maybe that's because of how unique of a character Arsene was, especially with his wild relationship with Gracelynn? I couldn't peg down my feelings for Winnie either...she just felt a little too southern belle, but with a dark side, and I couldn't vibe with her.

Tropes:
💙Billionaire
💙Enemies to Lovers/ Opposites Attract
💙Forced Proximity
💙 Slow Burn - Open Door/ Mild Spice

Brief Blurb: When tragedy and betrayal by their partners bring Arsene and Winnifred together, they couldn't be less pleased. After multiple negative encounters, neither wants anything to do with the either, but through multiple points of "forced proximity" they try to uncover some of the truth behind the deaths of their partners, and their partners relations with each other.

Thank you NetGalley and Montlake for an eARC of Fallen Foe, written by L.J. Shen. This is my honest review!

This book was awesome, the plot really unexpected and in true LJ Shen fashion there was lots of sparks, great banter but also hurt and serious topics.

Do not go into this book lightly. Arsene is not a great character and the premise of his fiance and who she is is a tough one to swallow given some of the behavior towards each other. Winnie is a good character but as a character driven reader, one really bad character whose redemption feels iffy makes it difficult for me to read through the book. That's how I felt about this story and this book. I guess, based on the descriptor, I expected more focus on the growing of the relationship between Arsene and Winnie but a good part was set up with the character and his prior relationship. That threw me a bit and I wasn't a fan of that aspect either. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the early read.

Great slow burn/ enemies to lovers story. Full of heartbreak and humour. You really are able to relate to the characters, and feel their horrible revelations, as well as their triumphs, along side them
Absolutely loved Winnies sisters. My favourite line:
"What if a war breaks out between us and Canada? I know, they're nice, but can we truely trust people who buy their milk in bags? I've seen somethin' about it on the news. Its a thing, Winnie. And its real"
I would definitely recommend this book, Shen did an amazing job with the character building, and it was so empowering to follow alongside Winnie and Arséne's character developments.

I recieved an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

L J Shen writes dirty talk like no other! Very glad to have read the arc! Thank you for early access!

𝘖𝘩 𝘈𝘳𝘴è𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘦. 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓!!! I was 𝐍𝐎𝐓 expecting this plot at all. When I read 𝘙𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭, and it was mentioned that Arsène hated his stepsister, I was like YASSSS. Forbidden step siblings!!!! Lol but it turned out, I 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 the stepsister with a passion. 😅 ⁣
⁣
There are two parts. Part two, I believe it's 8 months later. Part 1, got me really confused, frustrated, pissed, sad. And then part 2 got me laughing, happy, swooning, smirking, giggling. Lol ⁣
⁣
𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐋𝐉 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐲!!!! Lol the 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 between Winnie and Arsène was 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝!!!! Arsène was this broken hero that doesn't like losing at all. He'd do 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 as long as he knows that he won, even if he'd sacrifice his happiness. Winnie was this girl who just wanted a happy family, white picket fence house, and to act in plays. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐬è𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝗪𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞'𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝. ⁣
⁣
I totally 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐃 the book. Even when I hated part 1, I still couldn't put the book down. Lol But I seriously 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 of Arsène and his Winnie. 😭😭 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦?! 🙏 Lol⁣
⁣
Another amazing release by LJ Shen. I already can't wait for Riggs' book. Lol

My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️

Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thanks to Netgalley.

General Thoughts: This book has received mixed feedback, and it's receiving a lot of mixed opinions. Let's start with why, which I'll do without spoilers. I should note I don't typically like to start my reviews this way, but in this case, it feels necessary.

First off, you don't really meet or truly get the FMC's POV until about a third of the way through the novel. She's introduced before then but only briefly and you don't see her POV until a third of the way through. That means over 100 pages before we get her viewpoint. So while this is a dual pov, that's a lot of one person. As such, Arsene seems much more fleshed out than Winnie (FMC).

Winnie is also not Arsene's first main love interest. For the first like 40% of the story, you see Arsene's relationship with his step-sister, Grace, who seems to have absolutely no redeeming qualities. You see their relationship developed between a back-and-forth timeline. The synopsis says she dies, so that's not a spoiler, but having the relationship that's been built up for 40% of the story suddenly end would require a great building of the next relationship for it to match. And it doesn't quite happen for me, at least. Their relationship doesn't really come together until the last portion of the novel. And most doesn't seem to happen on page.

So rather than reading a romance novel, it kind of seems like a guy superficially realizing he was in a toxic relationship and his obsession with the dead girl rather a genuine relationship between the FMC/MMC. I don't feel like their relationship was given enough time to really be the center of the story. It feels like the story was just starting when the story ends.

There are also some major plotholes. Others think that Arsene and Winnie are not very fleshed out and are very much based on stereotypical tropes. I think that's fair.

Now then let's get to the positives: Despite the shortcomings I mentioned above, the actual quality of the writing itself was good. The story didn't drag. The characters, despite not being well developed entirely and being based on stereotypes, were still interesting enough. I thought Arsene was well crafted, Winnie seemed to be based on the stereotype and then breaking it. Some of her decisions didn't seem well explained throughout either. I have such mixed thoughts on this one. On one hand, I enjoyed it, and on the other, it frustrated me.

This is an interconnected standalone. It wasn't my favorite I've read by the author or in the genre, but I still really liked it. This is a dark romance featuring a taboo theme, so if that's not your cup of tea, pass.

Steam Meter: ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥.5 It’s steamy, but not as steamy as many as I've read. I rate off of frequency and how graphic it is.

Romantic Tropes
-taboo romance (for part) step-siblings
-dark romance
-billionaire romance
-contemporary romance

It was ok read for me...I don't know something was missing and there is so much talk about nudes and some certain scenes which seems overdo. Male lead character was also feels kind of half done. But overall it was 3 star for me.

Having read the first book in the Cruel Castaways series, Ruthless Rival, I figured that I would enjoy Fallen Foe as well. While this book did have a bit of a slow start, I truly found it to be an entertaining read.

Arsène Corbin had a complicated and harsh childhood which turned him into the man he is today. Ruthless. Angry. Complex. Then we have Winnifred Ashcroft, a sweet and passionate actress. These two opposites meet each other at difficult points of their lives, with tragedy and betrayal bringing them together.

Fallen Foe really pulls you in from the very beginning, with it being well written, having a captivating plot, intriguing story, and true character growth. There are also various topics in the books also may be relatable and difficult to read at times.

There were two things I didn't necessarily like in Fallen Foe. The first was the stepbrother/stepsister relationship between Arsène and Grace, he didn't love her and even went as far as to not only admit this to himself but also felt he could control her with his money. (Extremely dysfunctional to say the least.) The second aspect I didn't like was that Winnie, the main female character, was only truly integrated into the story in the second part of the story, after briefly meeting both Arsène and Grace in part one.

While this might not have been my favourite L.J. Shen's work, it still was an overall light and enjoyable read.

eARC was kindly provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I used to love earlier L.J. Shen's books, but this one was a miss for me. The blurb sounded really interesting, and I was so excited to read this. Sadly, it wasn't the best personal experience.

This book was very oddly divided, in my view. The first part was too long and with another woman. Had I not read the blurb before, I would have believed the FMC is not Winnie. And because I got lost in that first part, I had trouble connecting to the rest of the story. Also, I would have wanted more emotional scenes, but I did appreciate the take on infertility.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this ARC!

Fallen Foe - Cruel Castaways #2 - Review

Couple: Arsène Corbin & Winnifred Ashcroft

Author: LJ Shen

Tropes: dark romance, contemporary romance, enemy to lover, boss/employee, new adult romance

Review: WOW! Be prepared to feel all the feels in this read by LJ Shen! The book is about two people who appear to be the least likely to find love but end up stronger together than apart.

Arsène is a dark and broody man who has “loved” the wrong girl most of his life. The book begins with him meeting Winnie while his then fiancé is with him. We soon learn that Arsène’s fiancé had ben having an affair after she is lost tragically in a plane crash that takes Winnie’s husband as well.

Arsène is a man who rejects change. He is unable to deal with the loss of his fiancé and her betrayals and instead walls himself off. Enter Winnie. When she proposes that they work to find out what happened, we see sparks fly and we also see Arsène begin to Geel again.

I really enjoyed this book. LJ tackled the ideas of loss in a way that makes you sit back and take it in. She also did a phenomenal job on Arsène’s character development. I loved how we saw him grow so much with Winnie and how she just understood him. Of course I enjoyed the dark humor and banter they both had but man that tension!!

When both realize they have feelings for one another I was shocked that Arsène was the one to let Winnie go. I was also happy that we get to see Christian and Arya again. Personally, I loved how Arya is now one of the few people who Arsène trusts implicitly and I loved how she and him were almost like siblings…but healthy ones!

The book is full of wit and banter that we expect but it also has a lot of softer themes that are the undercurrent of the story. WE see both MCs tackle grief differently and we also see them grow as friends and lovers. It is a beautiful story of finding love in unexpected places.

Rating: 10/10, dark and broody MMC for the WIN!

This was an intriguing book in that I really found the hero distasteful initially. I found him to be harder on the heroin when they first met, and he needed to be but I said learn his story. I began to understand his motivations better. I liked how they both had to deal with things from the past that they weren’t aware of at the time in order to move forward. They had chemistry and it was fun to see how the romance progressed.

I am a longtime fan of Shen's romances and know that most of them follow the bully trope, however, Arsene in Fallen Foe felt truly irredeemable for me at multiple points, and I found the couple hard to root for.

I'm sorry this is a DNF for me. I can't read anything that has step1siblings having sex. I don't like taboo at all.

I don’t know how she does it, but every time LJ releases a book. She pulls you in with every word and emits raw emotions from her characters and from her readers. Arsene and Winni chemistry is down right great. I love that they fight the attraction at first, because the angst is so so so intense, I love it! This forbidden, work place, opposite attraction novel will consume you with every word until you finish. I can’t wait to see what see writes about next.

I have been seeing L.J. Shen books all over bookstagram and surprisingly this was my first dip into her writing. As a person who is very susceptible to book/author recommendations from the bookstagram community I had high hopes for this book and I was not disappointed at all.

This is the story of Arsene and Winnie, two people who meet at an event for their significant others' company and do not get along. After their significant others die in a plane crash together, Arsene and Winnie decide to work together and get some answers for shared questions. As they share information they learn that spending time together might be what they need to heal.

What I loved:
- Parts, I enjoy books that are split up into parts since it helps my brain register something is about to change
- Winnie's support, as Winnie goes through a lot in this story I loved that she has such an amazing support system including her family, friends and even an old ex-boyfriend. They are all able to provide her the support and advice she needs at different times
- Grief, I think this job does a great job at showing as different people process grief. They both lose someone close to them and they deal with the grief in vastly different ways
- Support, with both of them going through their grief I liked how they each tried to be a support for the other even when they didn't necessarily like each other that much

There was a lot of good stuff in this book and I'm only wanting to share things that are broad strokes as I don't want to spoil anything. Even though it was part of a series I never felt like I was missing anything for not reading the first of the series and now I'm trying to figure out how quickly I can start the first to learn more about Arsene and his friends. This is a great book who likes a darker enemies to lovers romance with a bit of taboo and a good amount of spice throughout. If you are looking for a book with romance that makes you feel and maybe want to shake a main character or two then I would absolutely recommend this book for you!

3.5
I liked the second half of this novel, but the first part was telling the story of a total different couple of what the actual book was about! I thought it was good to know the back story but we didn’t need to go on for 30% of it. The first part of this book tells the story of our MMC and his stepsister who also happens to be the one who he’s spent his whole life with in a secret relationship they have had a toxic relationship sense they where kids. Grace the step sister was awful and I really hated her character! But our MMC is obsessed with making her his and when he finally succeeds and they get engaged but than she is suddenly killed in a plane crash with her boss. Which brings us to our actual leading lady! She is the wife of the boss who died in the plane crash and she doesn’t belong in his world she is form the country and an actress. As she tries to move on from her husbands death and the life she had before she gets a job as actress in the club he owns and why he tires to get rid of her at first they realize soon that there is a lot of questions unanswered with grace and Paul’s death and why he is ready to know what happened she is hesitant to let go of him she knows it wasn’t what it seemed, I liked these two together and thought she did such a good job showing him how to love and be loved and what he had with grace wasn’t love. This would of been a 4 star with out the first part being so long!