EmiliaThey say love and hate are the same feelings experienced under different circumstances, and it’s true.The man who comes to me in my dreams also haunts me in my nightmares.He is a brilliant lawyer.A skilled criminal.A beautiful liar.A bully and a savior, a monster and a lover.Ten years ago, he made me run away from the small town where we lived. Now, he came for me in New York, and he isn’t … lived. Now, he came for me in New York, and he isn’t leaving until he takes me with him.
Vicious
She is a starving artist.
Pretty and evasive like cherry blossom.
Ten years ago, she barged into my life unannounced and turned everything upside down.
She paid the price.
Emilia LeBlanc is completely off-limits, my best friend’s ex-girlfriend. The woman who knows my darkest secret, and the daughter of the cheap Help we hired to take care of our estate.
That should deter me from chasing her, but it doesn’t.
So she hates me. Big fucking deal.
She better get used to me.
Vicious a complete standalone and a part of the Sinners of Saint series
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I’m always late to reading books. I’m a mom of 5 so a lot of times I’m crazy busy. I kept putting these books off because honestly I was afraid they wouldn’t live up to the hype. I usually read darker stories so I kind of went in thinking okay I’ll probably be bored.
I was wrong. So wrong. Vicious stole my heart early on in this book and although most the time I sat there going “You stupid idiot!” There were always these glimpses. Small little hints of his weakness and from the get go his love for Millie was painfully obvious even if he didn’t understand it.
Vicious is a @sshole. An @sshole with a heart that beats for one woman and no other woman can satisfy his hunger, or even come close to her. Not for lack of trying. In fact he is rather man-whorish in his ways but my God the chemistry.
Millie is just a sweet little southern girl, unimpressed by Vic’s money or status and that drives him absolutely WILD and infuriates him at the same time. The constsnt push and pull with these two was at times nearly heart breaking and I found myself devouring the words in this book like I was starving! I wasn’t very fond of her sister Rosie though.
I want to start a new book but…my heart belongs to Vicious and I need some time before I will be able to move on from him. Alas, a 5 star read which completely lived up to my expectations.
Hotholes for the win! I absolutely loved every second of Baron “Vicious” Spencer and Emilia “Millie” Le Blanc’s story. From the start, Shen creates the angst beautifully. I didn’t like the way Vicious was with Millie in the beginning but I knew he needed to be that way for the readers to get the fully effect of his torture, his pain, his anger. I loved how Millie was with him. The slow burn between them in the beginning was amazing and enough to set my heart on fire. When Vicious realizes his feelings…..well, let’s just say I’ve never been so jealous of a character before as I was of Millie! This book is definitely worthy of all the stars! Vicious is MINE!
L.J. Shen
*** 5 “You were always mine!!!” stars***
“He was in my veins.
But I’d managed to crawl under his skin.”
God, i loved this book!!!! And i loved cold-hearted, asshole Vicious!!!!
Yeah, i know that in Defy i thought the worst about him, and still i am (Bahahaha!!!) but i loved him….
I have a thing about assholes, what can i say???? In books, not in real life!!!!
“I used to think of you as a villain, but you’re not my villain. You’re your own villain.”
Vicious was exactly the opposite of Jaime….
He was very difficult, very rude, very selfish, he didn’t care about anyone and anything, he was tough and he was giving shit to the rest of the world…
Nothing could penetrate his frosty heart…. Oh, no!!!! There was something that could penetrate it after all… Emilia aka the Help!!!!
But as an original jerk, he was acting like an asshole toward her and in the end, he just chase her away from her family and home, just because he was refusing to accept his true feelings…
And because he was obsessive and very jealous!!!!
“Emilia, my makeup is revenge. Yours is forgiveness. You’re better than me. I don’t deserve you. But I’m going to take you, anyway.
“I loved her when I hated her. And I loved her when I didn’t want anything to do with her. I was so crazy about her, the lines had blurred together. Feelings were mixed, emotions twisted together.”
Millie or Emilia was a nice, selfless Southern girl…. She was loving her family and she could do anything for her baby sister, Rosie…
The only person that could ruin her good mood was Vicious…. Love and hate became a blurred line for Millie toward Vicious… She was drown toward him, but his actions made her hating him and he eventually ruined her life in a way….
“Why are you doing this to me? I hissed out, searching his blank, stony face.
“Because I can.”
“He was toxic, poison, and he was going to kill everything beautiful in my life if I let him. He was the storm to my cherry blossoms.”
Now, ten years after, they meet again….
Millie would like to stay away from him, but Vicious is very persistant and he is making everything in his power to get her under his clutches….
He wants her to help him with his revenge and in the same time, he wants to ruin her….
She just want to protect her heart from him….
What will happen with those two???
“The push and pull was back. She could push all she wanted, but she was going to be pulled back to where she belonged. My arms.”
“Apologize for not being mine when you should’ve been. Because Emilia, baby…” I tilted my head sideways. “It was always fucking us and you know it.”
Well, i really liked very much and this story by L.J. Shen and i can tell you that after five books, she is never letting me down….
I liked very much Vicious’s character even though he was from the worst kind, and what i liked more is that he didn’t change much and after Millie…. He didn’t suddenly became the sweet and kind guy…. He sticked to his ways and that was more original!!!
I loved his crazy obsession toward Emilia and i loved how intense he was in his reactions…
“He was perfectly imperfect. Flawlessly flawed. Most importantly- he was Vicious.”
“I just want you as you are. Broken. Misunderstood. Jerk. I want the real version, the dark version, the one who made me the saddest I’ve ever been in my life, but also the happiest.”
Emilia was sweet and kind and very artistic….
What i couldn’t really understand about her was a) why she wasn’t fight back then and b) why the hell she got into a relationship with Dean???
And now, the bigger question…. Why Dean decided to mess around with his best friend’s obsession??? It was a common secret that Vicious was obsessive with her, he couldn’t be so blind!!!
“We shared a history.
I had feelings for him.
Bad feelings, good feelings… in short, too many feeling.”
“I wanted to dissolve into smoke, to crawl into him and never leave. It was crazy, but that was how much I craved this man.”
Well, i also have to add that i liked the dynamic between the four Hotholes….
Even the problems, they were very loyal to each other and that was awesome!!!
Yep, their young years seemed a little bit… unrealistic, but i really enjoyed them!!!!
And now, I can not wait for their kids stories!!! I’m sooo thrilled!!!
“Ask me what i want again.”
“No.”
“Ask.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to fuck you and watch your face while I do. To see how you drown in me as I hurt you as much as it hurts me to have to see your goddamn face every day.” {Before…}
“Ask me what I want,”
“What do you want?”
“I want you,” he said simply. “Just you. Nothing else. Only ever you…” {After…}
*********************************************
“I love you.”
“I know,” I said. Because I did. Because who else would ever put up with my bullshit if they didn’t love me?
“It scares me,” she added.
“Don’t let it. I promise I’ll protect you from anything. Even from myself.”
*********************************************
P.S. A quick rereading of this beautiful story which captivated me for a second time…
Since the spinoff of this series is right around the corner!!!
If you haven’t read this series yet, go grab the books!!!! Don’t lose valuable time!!!
***ARC generously provided via NetGalley for the exchange of an honest review***
Really good love story you didn’t think you were going to fall in love with. The love/hate that is soo good you can’t wait till it’s finally realized and claimed! #HappyReading
Holy sweet mother of god! I think I found my favorite book boyfriend ever! It’s true, girls really do go for the assholes.
”I realized that all this time, all this fucking time I was chasing her, I was actually loving her. I loved her when I hated her. And I loved her when I didn’t want anything to do with her.”
Ok…I did NOT want this book to end! I could read about these two forever! I loved it so much I went and ordered the paperback immediately after I finished the ebook and I even ordered Ruckus because I knew at the time I was going to love that one too. Which was true!
Good grief, Vicious is a first class asshole. I’ve read a lot of books with a bunch of asshole alpha’s but Vicious takes the cake. But I love it! He’s like the grinch times ten but I knew he had a soft spot somewhere under that hard exterior.
“He was toxic, poison, and he was going to kill everything beautiful in my life if I let him. He was the storm to my cherry blossoms.”
Emilia didn’t lay down and take it either. She stood up for herself. Loved her! The bickering was my favorite! Vicious with his demands, “Get me my coffee” and Emilia defying every thing he said. “No.”
I can’t even believe it took me so long to read this. I started it so long ago and stopped. Every time I do that I realize how dumb it was because when I go back to it months or sometimes years later, I end up loving it. This was a classic example. I think L.J. Shen just might be my new favorite author!
Vicious is the first book in the Sinners of Saint Series by L.J. Shen.
“My grandmama once told me that love and hate are the same feelings experienced under different circumstances. The passion is the same. The pain is the same.”
Ever since Defy, I was absolutely excited to start this book. Leigh flawlessly executed herself with Vicious. This was hate, love, and devastatingly destructive yet so beautiful. This was absolutely the hate to love relationship. This was enemies to lovers. This was utterly exquisite.
“Only the flush on his porcelain skin reminded me that he was still flesh, blood, and heart, and not a machine programmed to ruin my life.”
Baron ‘Vicious’Spencer is one of the Four HotHoles originated at All Saints High. Vicious is ruthless, brutal, cold, heartless, nonchalant, hateful, and quite frankly just doesn’t give a sh*t. Emilia LeBlanc is loyal, kind, and selfless. Vicious is absolutely brutal to Emilia. He makes her life feel insignificant. Vicious and Emilia is destructive together yet they can’t help but crave each other’s presence. Vicious end up running Emilia out of town.
“A predator stalking his prey, and he had the physical and psychological advantage over me. I was about to become his next meal, and I had no doubt in my mind— he was going to devour me.”
Ten years later, Vicious and Emilia meet again and feelings of hate and annoyance resurface but that wasn’t all. They start the journey of the vicious cycle of making each other’s lives feel different yet needed each other.
“Vicious wasn’t only in my life without my permission. He was in my veins. Always close by, like a shadow, haunting me without really touching me every time he was close enough to grab me by the throat.”
Vicious is a top favorite. This was well-written and Leigh nailed it. The dynamic between Vicious and Emilia was utterly aesthetic and so raw. They were irresistible. There was light in the dark and Vicious was set out to be destructive yet love shined through.
“Because I wanted to lie for him today, just to put a smile on his cruel, beautiful face.”
Vicious was a brutal monster wrapped up in a package that devoured Emilia. I can’t even write enough about this book. This was a force of nature. An absolute masterpiece. Leigh, you absolutely destroyed us with this.
“My obsession. My muse. My enemy.”
definitely one of my favorite books, vicious story is so heartbreaking and hes one of the strongest male characters, Emilia is a badass her life isn’t easy at all I admire how she put her family and other people first, such an amazing story
since page one you can feel the chemistry between these, yes I want to punch vicious, but I can say that he redeems himself pretty good
I admire every author for all their hard work. I enjoyed the story, and will read more books written by this author. The characters are adorable and the story telling is consuming. I escaped in a well-written romantic fictional world until I finished reading.
I didn’t like 10 yrs later or the push and pull. But I did like the authors writing so the rating is for the authors writing since I didn’t like the characters.
What A Ride!!!
Damn, this HotHole was almost irredeemabl!
A**hole the nicest word to call Vicious.
But again, damn, why do we love the broken ones so much.
Vicious deserved to get his Cherry Blossom.
Love everything about this story.
A definite Must Read!!!
Bad To The Bone!! 3.5 Stars
(Read using Kindle Unlimited)
Vicious (Sinners of Saint Book 1)
I read this book after multiple recommendations without really knowing anything about the storyline. I’ve read other books by this author & loved them so wasn’t bothered – I didn’t realise it was a type of ‘Bully Romance’. Are all the books in this series like this?? I wasn’t a fan!!
It’s well written & oh so hot I just don’t find it fun, exceptable, sexy or excusable for broken people to be so vile, even in fiction!
Debbie, 1970, UK
He’s the complete jerk that you just can’t help but like. Well, after you get past him being a bully, vicious attorney, ruthless business man, and just all around nasty individual. But he is fiercely loyal to his friends. Emilia is a sweet girl with a backbone of steel who has been in love with Vicious as long as she can remember. Against her better judgment she keeps finding herself back in his world, a world that will end better than she could ever had expected.
“Because I want to know if there’s still a chance you can know who I am, who I really am, and still…”
The first full book in the Sinner of saints series, it’s well worth your angst, frustration, and falling in love with the bad boy who steers it along
I don’t think there could be a better title for this book or nickname for this man.
Baron (vicious ) is a broken and angry man (and rightly so ) who really is very confused about his feelings .. to put it lightly .
Millie is an intelligent and bright young artist that keeps copping the brunt of vicious’ anger .. or misdirected love ha.
But despite vicious’s cruelty and brutish behavior I still loved his character , still felt his pain and still rooted for him to get the girl ‘
Millie and vicious definitely have reasons to hate each other , and their enemy to lovers journey is enthralling , engaging , addictive and well worth your time !
I love this bunch of characters that we are getting to know in this series ! I love that the hot holes are complete arses but still kind (if that’s possible ) and lovable !
I’m really looking forward to reading more of this series !
Sorry I just didn’t like this book. I loved Sparrow and I was hoping I would like this book that much or more, but I couldn’t stand Vicious. I love a sexy Asshole as much as the next girl, but said Asshole is suppose to have some kind of redeeming qualities. Something that makes you soften to him and fall in love with him. Not Vicious he was just a straight up asshole. At no point in the read did I think wow I can totally see why Millie loves him. At no point did I find him sexy or desirable. I did however find myself annoyed with him and bored with the whole book. I found myself wondering wtf was wrong with Millie that she would want a jerk like Vicious. How could she love him when he was never, ever nice to her. I didn’t care about their relationship. I didn’t really want to finish the book but I heard it got better. I felt the good part came way to late and was so different from the Vicious we knew this whole book that it felt forced. Overall I’m just disappointed and over it.
5, You were always mine stars
Wow! L.J. Shen, blown me away again, I’m addicted, I’m an official stalker of her brilliant writing with the intriguing characters, and an all-consuming plot.
This isn’t just a love/hate story this is a where the heck did that line go story, who blew up the line between love and hate, Vicious didn’t have the fine line between love and hate, it was thread bare from day one with Emilia when she showed up with her parents at the property as the live-in help.
Vicious, he’s a barons son, the popular one in school, he’s one of the group of boys they named themselves The Hot Holes, they rule the roost and this mother hen came clucking.
You can’t help but hate Vicious at first, he’s is rude,arrogant,bossy his smile is a sneer and at the same time; yes that line has gone you can’t help but love him.
I was her black and she was my pink
Emelia, she the daughter of the hired help from day one Vicious takes immediate hate and distaste towards her, made her life hell in school,tried to control her. One thing Emilia wasn’t was a coward, she was a woman with backbone and the one woman who didn’t fall at the feet of Vicious.
You are taken through the lives of Vicious and Emelia, the early years and the later years. There are so many layers, so much depth that begins to peel away as you go deeper into the plot, so much so that I think if I read this again, I would discover something I may have missed the first time around.
L.J Shen, I am absolutely loving this authors books. Vicious had me hooked with the intriguing characters, the subtle plot twists you don’t see coming and fan me down there’s four of these guy’s Yes four so more juicy goodness to come which had me rubbing my hands with glee.
Told in dual pov’s, steady paced and leads to hea, this isn’t just a love story this is two peoples journey to revelation and hallelujah they made it.
Fans of BB Reid’s Fear me will love this.
“She was perfect. Perfect for my plans and perfect to pass the time with until they materialized. A ghost from my past who was going to help me hunt the Demons of my present.”
Vicious was nothing like I imagined and I LOVED every minute of it. This book was a emotional rollercoaster ride of epic proportions. I have to admit this is one of the most charged enemies to lovers stories I have ever read. I loved how it also combined second chance, which is another one of my favorite tropes to read. I felt the book started off a little slow, but boy it by no means stayed that way. Once I really dove in I could not devour the pages fast enough. Every page only brought forth more emotion, more hate, more angst. It was a perfectly spun web of revenge, love, and deceit. I have honestly never read a more hauntingly beautiful love story. Vicious was complicated as it was messy. The chemistry between Vicious and Emilia was completely explosive. I seriously could not get enough of these two. Their constant push and pull made for a entertaining story that was bound to keep you on your toes.
“She was mine to play with. Case in point, from the very first time her eyes landed on me, she looked at me like she was already mine.”
Emilia is hands down my absolute favorite heroine. I could not imagine a more perfect match for Vicious then her. She was a total spit fire, that never backed down from a challenge. Her character kept you on your toes. She loved fiercely, and would do anything for her family. I admired her character so many times during this book. I could not imagine having half the strength she did. Emilia knew what she wanted and refused to settle for less. Her armor was stronger than any knights would be.
“Vicious was vicious. It was too bad that my hate for him was dipped in a thin shell of something that felt like love. But I promised myself I’d crack it, break it, and unleash pure hatred in its place before he got to me. He, I promised myself will never break me.
Vicious took a*$hole to a whole new level. I have never hated to love a character so much in my life. I never knew if I wanted to slap him, or hug him. Everything about Vicious demanded your attention. He commanded every word, of every page during this book. He was cocky, arrogant, and cold. He seemed of detachment and hate. Yet I could not get enough of the haunted boy, and damaged man. No matter what side of Vicious you got his vulnerability out won them all. That was the side that was out to own your heart.
“Emilia, my makeup is revenge. Yours is forgiveness. You’re better than me. I don’t deserve you. But I’m going to take you, anyway.”
*5 STARS*
Well earned for this explosive start to the Sinners of Saint series. I can not recommend reading this book enough. I can not wait to move on to the next Hothole’s story.
My first read by LJ Shen and I’m kinda being sucked into the HotHoles world.
“Lust is when you want the person to make you feel good. Love is when you want to make the other person feel good”
Emilia LeBlanc, will do anything to help her little sister including taking a job with a man she hates, a man who made her school life hell, a man that pushed her out of Todos Santos.
Baron ‘Vicious’ Spencer, is going to need help so when he runs into Help, the girl he tormented through school, he knows exactly how to get her to say yes to his plan by using her love and family loyalty against her.
Vicious hurt Emilia when they were in school, not physically but emotionally and at first I wanted Emilia to hurt Vicious in the same way. But when he started to open up and tell her his secrets and show his weakness, I was hoping that she would forgive him and see him for the broken HotHole he is.
I was so invested in their story from the start. Their hatred for each other, their friendship and their relationship. I loved the writing style and the way the story progressed. I loved the flashbacks to their school days. I found it hard to put down.
If you like an enemies to lovers read, you’ll like this.
I couldn’t put this book down! It had everything I love and nothing I hate. One of the lines from the synopsis truly fits this book. It says; “They say love and hate are the same feelings experienced under different circumstances, and it’s true.” That couldn’t be more true with this book, you will feel them both. I like a lot of books, I love to read and any story that is good I like but getting me to swoon and making my heart flutter? Those are the books I love. That is the sign of a great book and one I highly recommend. It ain’t easy to make that happen.
I’m also very particular about male POVs. They can’t sound like a girl with their internal dialog, they can’t go soft when they fall in love, they must have depth. She nailed her male POV and I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
These two had some very smoking hot chemistry and it’s one of my favorite things about this book. I love enemies to lovers books, I’m so glad that this part of the story was done well.
If you’re in the mood for a darker read then I highly recommend this one!
This book was good, but not great. And it was all me, not the book. So, in case you don’t know, I LOVE to read out of order. It annoys my friends (and some authors I’ve met at book signings) but I love it. I read based on my mood and I can’t help it when a book that isn’t book 1 calls to me to be read first. However, with that said, I think I would have benefited from reading this book first. Not because the others aren’t stand-alones (because they are) or because this one provides more info setting them up (because I didn’t feel it did)…but because maybe if I hadn’t read Rucks first, I would have liked this (and Vicious) more. Because to be perfectly honest, Dean “Ruckus” Cole has ruined me for all other book boyfriends in this series. (Granted, there’s only one left but I seriously doubt he’s going to hold a candle to my man Dean.)
Ok, so about this book. Vicious definitely lives up to his name. Since I did read this series out of order, I’ve been avoiding this book because quite honestly, I didn’t like Vicious. I didn’t like him as a secondary character, I didn’t like how he treated…I was going to say Millie, but really, I didn’t like how Vicious treated everyone in Dean’s book, and I just couldn’t imagine reading a whole book about him. But, I dove in, and while I understand why he was the way he was, I also, well, I also didn’t care. I blame Dean. He honest to god ruined me for Vicious. I don’t think I quite bought the “you were always supposed to be mine” about Vicious and Millie until the author got to the part about Pink & Black and actually explained what that meant with the letters later on in the book. Then I got it. I liked it, and I wanted them together. But up until that point, I wasn’t really invested in them getting together or not.
And I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I spent pretty much the whole book waiting for the events at 83%. I was on pins and needles waiting for the moment Dean found out that Rosie was in New York/Saw her for the first time in 10 years. And honestly, that shouldn’t have been the moment I was most excited for in this book. But I was.
I did like Millie, and I came to like Vicious…and I thought they were good together but at the same time, it seemed to take forever for them to admit their feelings for each other.
Overall, this was a decent book, but doesn’t live up to Ruckus. Sorry!
A must read!! Love the characters love the book!! Emilia and Vicious .