Defy is a smutty, insta-love, insta-lust short novella. It is a prequel to Vicious (Sinners of Saint #1) and can be read as a complete standalone with a HEA.Now an international bestseller. My name is Melody Greene, and I have a confession to make.I slept with my student, a senior in high school.Multiple times.I had multiple orgasms.In multiple positions.I slept with my student and I enjoyed it.I … slept with my student and I enjoyed it.
I slept with my student and I’d do it all over again if I could turn back time.
My name is Melody Greene, and I got kicked out of my position as a teacher and did my walk of shame a la Cersei Lannister from the principal’s office, minutes after said principal threatened to call the cops on me.
My name is Melody Greene, and I did something bad because it made me feel good.
Here is why it was totally worth it.
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A very quick read and a look into the Sinners of Saint world. You will devour this book in no time and if you’ve read anything by LJ then you won’t be disappointed with Mel and Jaime’s beginning of their love story. Student and teacher, the oh so frown upon relationship, but it works in this book. I read it 2nd because Amazon has it as book 2, but everywhere else has is at .5. I don’t think it made much difference, although you do get a nice look at their life together in Vicious so I think it would be best read first.
Wow! I didn’t want to read this book based on the teaser, but my OCD would not let me skip a book in a series and I am so glad for that! I loved this story, actually, wish it was longer.
After reading Vicious and LOVING IT SO MUCH, I needed to read the prequel to it which follows the relationship between Jaime Followhill (one of the Hotholes which was introduced in Vicious) and Melody Greene (His Lit teacher). You can read this book before starting Vicious if you were wondering.
I did not know what to expect when I started reading it but IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!! The only complaint I have is that I wished we got Jaime’s perspective in it (he just had one in the epilogue) but other than that, it was such a beautiful story and I’m giving it a 4.5 star rating.
We follow Melody as a main character and she is a refreshing character perspective to read from. She does not deny her attraction to Jaime and is on board with the affair (soon to be a beautiful love story). My heart ached for her on what she has been through and I was cheering her on throughout the whole novel!!!!!
I love Jaime as a character. He is the opposite of Vicious. He is such a cinnamon roll and I just wanted to give all the hugs in the world for what he was going through. But even though he is such a cutie to me, he can get very dirty, both in flirting and with breaking laws and I WAS HERE FOR IT!!!!!
The relationship between those two honestly is so hilarious. I have been laughing out loud throughout this prequel and I love when that happens when I read a romance book. The forbidden love aspect of it made me want them to be together even more and I am so happy by the outcome of it!!!!!
I finally get to know what Defy is exactly in this book. It has been mentioned a little in Vicious and reading this book explains what it is.
We also get to see some banter dynamic between Emilia and Vicious (this book takes place during their senior year in high school) and a nostalgia had came back to me when I was reading Vicious for the first time in addition to commenting to the characters (even if they can’t hear me) that you two are GONNA HIT IT OFF!!!!!!!
We also got to see the other Hotholes as well and I feel like I know a little more about Trent especially and it really breaks my heart. As for Dean, I feel that there is something hidden beneath his “nice and polite” expression and I’m excited to read his and Rosie’s (Emilia’s younger sister) love story and how it’s gonna play out!!!!!!
Overall, I really enjoyed this prequel and I highly recommend you read it if you’ve read all the Saints book and are hesitant to pick this up. IT IS SO WORTH IT I PROMISE YOU!!!!!!!
Defy (Sinners Of Saints. 05) is the prequel to this series and gives you a glimpse into the characters of the series. This novella is a forbidden student/teacher romance. I absolutely loved Jamie & Melody. I loved the epilogue. It was fun getting a glimpse of Viscous and I’m looking forward to reading his book next. A pint size story that is serendipity and entertainingly witty.
OMG Jamie I don’t know why I waited so long to read his story, I love it, he is totally great.
Melody & Jamie are so incredibly amazing together, their chemistry is everything.
Jamie has become one of my favourites, I love the way he is with Mel and that he doesn’t mind the age gap or what others think he wants Mel so he’s going to do everything to have her.
And Mel she’s great, not meek or weak she knows what she wants and it’s not ashamed of it she’s perfect for Jamie.
This story is full of love and it has some great angst on it. I truly hate Jamie’s mum she’s awful.
Another great thing is that we get a glimpse of the hot-holes from Mel’s point of view it’s great seeing them through her, the way she describe everyone of them a great introduction for those who haven’t read their books.
Totally worth reading it. It was PERFECT.
Not my cup of tea…
Defy was written well just like every other Shen book I’ve read…good character development and world building. I had a very difficult time connecting with the main characters. The older woman/younger man trope may just not be my thing. I’d still recommend this book.
Jaime is one hot, irresistible asshole! He’s 18 but he seemed so mature for his age. Melody is 26, beautiful, strong heroine and Jaime’s English Lit teacher. One fling turned into something deeper and serious.
I love the story in it’s entirety – the flow and how it ended with Jaime defying all the odds just to be with Melody. Jaime never disappoint me. Definitely one of my top fave student/teacher romance!
Mel was a teacher and Jaime is her student. He turned 18 and started to pursue her. The attraction was just too hard to ignore. Oh and Jaime’s mom is the principal. Great characters and storyline. Highly recommended. Awesome book.
I’m probably one of the few that will say…I didn’t care for Jamie. Haha. I felt like he kind of cornered Melody and fidnt give her much choice in the relationship. I also didnt care for the way he handled his mom and then made Melody feel like shr was the one in the wrong. So….other than my dislike for Jamie I will say I adored this book. It was a pretty quick read, give that it was only 114 pages. I did find Melody easy to relate with and found myself liking Vicious even more even though this wasn’t his story. I guess I’m just a Vicious girl.
***4,5 “Truth or Dare???” stars***
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“That was the problem with society.
It cared too much about who you fell in love with
but never about why.
The why matters.”
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Wow, just wow!!!! I wasn’t expecting it to be so good!!!! I loved it!!!!
But it was too short!!!! I wanted more…
Honestly, guys!!!! If you haven’t read any book by L.J. Shen, just do it, NOW!!!!
This was a teacher- student story, and it was so damn sexy….
But also, this was a nice intoduction to the rest of the series, since we took some glimpses from the heroes in the next books, since Jamie and the rest of the Hotholes were best friends!!!!
“We’re playing a dangerous game here, Jaime…”
“I don’t know any other way to play it.”
Well, Melody was a teacher in a school with very privileged children… The truth was that she didn’t love teaching very much, but she had to choose to do this job…. She was a dancer and at the age of eighteen, she got in Julliard, but an accident made her abandon dancing…
“It was wrong.
It was wrong, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like how wrong it felt.
Whether I was corrupting or being corrupted… I loved how it made me feel.”
Jaime was a little bit cocky and asshole, but a very hot asshole!!!
He was from the privileged children, who also happened to be the son of the principal…
He and his friends were ruling the school, they were having lots of girls hanging around them and they were very troubled teenagers…
“I like the chase. You make me sweat somewhere besides a football field. Turns out… that’s the exercise I’ve been looking for.”
A ‘car accident’, an underlying blackmail and Melody and Jaime started to have sex…. and they agree to do it ’till the end of school season….
Yeah, I know Melody was his teacher, but she also was a woman and this boy-man was driving her crazy by lust…
Jaime was very bossy at the beginning and in a way, it was hot!!!! Bahahaha… But he had more inside of him…
So, there will be something more about those two???
And what will happen when their feelings get on the way???
“Ms. Green…you’re about eight minutes too late to walk out of this arrangement. This…” His hand dunked under my dress and between my thighs…“Is mine until school ends. I will eat it, fuck it, play with it, and sleep in it if I want to. And I want to. I wanna do all those things to you.”
“Run, Ms. Greene. As fast as you’d like. I’m going to catch you, and I’m going to have fun showing you that there’s no escape from this.”
I really loved Jaime and Melody together….
Melody was a great person and she was enough ballsy and i liked that!!! Yep, in one hand she was hesitant about what she was doing with Jamie, but in the other hand, she was accepting that she was thirsty about him…
In the beginning, Jaime was very cocky as i told you before and i could say a major asshole, but then, when he was with Melody he appeared so different, even sweet…. I really liked him!!!
Also, i have to say that he didn’t act as an eighteen years old dude and i liked that too!!!
Those two were so perfect for each other, even though the age gap (8years!!!)… They were so sexyyyyyy!!!!
“I wanted him to kiss me. Kiss me hard and soft all at once, a kiss that’d assure me that I wasn’t crazy for discovering what I’d just discovered on this tattered sofa in this tiny apartment. That I was in love with my student.”
,i>“Your pain is mine, and I want to shoulder it, because I can. Because that’s what I do. I carry my pain all the time. Let me take away yours…”
And of course, even though that Vicious was a bit of terrifying (Melody was agreeing with me!!!), i will run to read his book!!!! And the rest of the Hotholes books!!!
But for him, I’m extra curious!!! And i have to see what will happen with poor, good Millie!!!
“I sometimes wondered if Vicious’s parents conceived him on Hitler’s tombstone or if his mom had a freak accident involving poison and voodoo while she was pregnant. He was too scary for a teenager. Too dangerous for someone who grew up in pretentious luxury. Too dead for a living human.” {Melody for Vicious}
But i will say for one more time that Defy was really short and i think that Jaime and Melody deserved a bigger book!!!!
I hope i will take some glimpses of those two in the next books of the series!!!!
“Truth or dare?”
“Truth. Brave people always choose the truth.”
“Is it true that you’ll always be mine?”
“It’s a truth. And sometimes when you piss me off, it’s a dare. But it’s my life, and you’re part of it. Always and forever.”
“Always and forever.”
Melody’s dreams were shattered, and she finds herself being a teach, an outsider in a rich town of the entitled.
Jamie is the principal’s son, entitled and with his friends knows as the Hotholes. The get whatever they want, and Jamie wants Melody. What starts of with Jamie basically blackmailing Melody after she hits his car, turns into more than either of them expected.
Lets you meet some of the group that you see in Vicious and how their dynamic work. Jamie and Melody never should have happened but they were perfect for each other.
Short and to the point. This story is about Jaime & Mel & how they became. I liked it because I read about Daria Followhill first and didn’t realize at the time that Mel and Jaime were characters in the Sinners of Saints series. I didn’t like Mel too much in Pretty Reckless but reading Defy, it helped me see her clearer and get a better view on who she is. I saw her in my head as a totally different person when reading this one. All these characters in this series are winning me over one by one!
I’ve read and liked several LJ Shen books but this one… not so much. It was a quick read but I just really didn’t like Mel. She is the cliche typical mousy-ish yet sneaky hot teacher that you find in most teacher/student stories. The same goes for Jamie. He is the typical cocky 18-year-old hot jock looking to bang his teacher. He has an odd mix of rich entitled jock friends that the rest of the series will be about. The other books take place when they’re all older, whereas this book takes place while they’re in high school which is why (I’m assuming) this book is deemed a ‘prequel.’
It was just okay for me.
Hot, fast read of forbidden love.
The world building in Shen’s books is generally spot on and this is a prime example. As many other reviews mentioned, she properly told a full story in 114 pages. That’s not easy. The dialogue is funny at times and the characters are ripely developed. This is a short, enjoyable easy read.
Defy is the prequel book in the Sinners of Saint Series by L.J. Shen.
“Sizing up my prey is constructive.”
This was my first ever book that I have read by LJ Shen and to say that it was definitely not a disappointment. This was also my first student-teacher romance. It was absolutely amazing. This was so hot and sexy.
“Whether I was corrupting or being corrupted….I loved how it made me feel.”
Melody Greene is a twenty six years old woman whose life has reached rock bottom. After an accident, her career as a dancer ended and becoming a literature teacher at an elite high school began. Melody is not happy with her life and often thought that it can’t get any worse, but it apparently could. Senior Jaime Followhill blackmails Melody and now she owes him.
“I was stepping deeper into a territory that wasn’t mine. We both were. This was intimate and secretive, two lines we promised we wouldn’t cross outside the bedroom.”
Jaime Followhill is sexy as sin, confident, and arrogant. His mother is the principal at All Saints High and is a big deal in the whole town. He is determined to get Melody so he blatantly tells her so.
“Run, Ms. Greene. As fast as you’d like. I’m going to catch you, and I’m going to have fun showing you that there’s no escape from this.”
This novella was steamy and a little on the forbidden side—Jaime being a senior student and Melody being his teacher. It was fast-faced but it was really fun and sexy. Jaime was so possessive and dominant that I had to remember that he was the younger one. I loved Melody! She was well developed considering the amount of angst she went through.
“We were both defective, chipped, and programmed to fight back. Sculpted by our fate. Scarred by who we were.”
Jaime and Melody was absolutely beautiful together. It was phenomenal and I wished they had a full book. I can’t wait to read more from Leigh!
“But I wanted this disaster. I wanted to bathe in it and love it and live it. To make this disaster my chaotic reality.”
A Swoon Worthy Read!!!
I am irrevocably in Love with the HOTHOLES!!!!
Defy gives us Jaime and Melody’s amazing story.
Completely captivating and a definite page turner.
I can’t get enough of this Series!!!!
This was my introduction to the Hotholes, and boy did Jamie take me for a ride! The gorgeous, rich jock sets his sights on his young beautiful teacher, and he won’t be told no. I’m not one for teacher romances but I do enjoy how LJ Shen crafts her characters and their world. We will see more of Jamie in future books, I’m sure, which will make the relationship more settling. I felt like I needed more.
I’m not always a huge fan of novellas I find them too short and often lack detail. However this one worked for Jamie and Mel’s whirl wind affair and dive into love land .
I love that it introduces all the characters for the connected series and we get. Great
Feel for who the hot holes are and what they stand for .
There’s some hot steamy moments for these two along with strong chemistry that does encourage belief that they are great together despite their forbidden love !
“I was hot and bothered by one of my pupils. Only Jamie Followhill wasn’t just any pupil. He was also a sex god.”
I’ll admit I read Pretty Reckless before Defy and I’m so glad I did. It didn’t ruin a thing for me. I loved getting to expirence this younger new side of Melody and Jamie. I am all for forbidden student teacher romances, and this story had it all. It was a perfectly wrapped package of manipulation, angst and love. It was the perfect chase of cat and mouse. It reeked of scandal, but screamed of love. I could not devour the all the words fast enough. I’m even kind of sad it was a novella. I could have read a full length book of of these two and been completely happy. Jamie and Melody’s chemistry was off the charts. These two steamed up the pages of my kindle. While warming up my heart. Both characters were so broken, so imperfect, only to be so magical together. If I had any complaints it would be that their story had to end so quickly!
“Thump, thump, thump, went my heart. I was a flower and he was a rare sunray, and we are drawn to each other, reluctantly, unwittingly, disastrously. Every cell in my body sizzles, begging for his touch”
*5 STARS*
Well earned for fast paced, forbidden love story. It was a great tease into the Sinners of Saint series. I can not wait to see what this series has in store for me next.