Broken Knight, an all new standalone about first loves, betrayal and loss from USA Today bestselling author L.J. Shen, is available now!

 

Amazon US   |  Amazon Worldwide  |  Audible  |  Audible Worldwide  |  Paperback 

 

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Blurb

Not all love stories are written the same way. Ours had torn chapters, missing paragraphs, and a bittersweet ending.

Luna Rexroth is everyone’s favorite wallflower.
Sweet.
Caring.
Charitable.
Quiet.
Fake.

See, under the meek, tomboy exterior everyone loves yet pities is a girl who knows exactly what – and who – she wants.
Namely, the boy from the treehouse, who taught her how to curse in sign language.
Who taught her how to laugh.
To live.
To love.

Knight Cole is everyone’s favorite football hero.
Gorgeous.
Athletic.
Jagged.
Popular.
Liar. 

See, the daredevil hellraiser could knock you up with his gaze alone, but only has eyes for the girl across the street.
But Luna is not who she used to be. She doesn’t need his protection anymore.
When life throws a curveball at All Saints’ golden boy, he is forced to realize that not all heroes are knights.
Sometimes, the greatest love stories could flourish amidst the worst tragedies.

Find Broken Knight on GOODREADS

 

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Review

“Always. Whenever. Forever.”

5 angsty, heartachingly beautiful stars!

Oh my God, I have been wrecked by this book! Wrecked but healed, and in mad, mad love. I finished it in the early hours of this morning and I’m so totally book hungover, but it was absolutely worth it to have experienced this amazing story.

The second book in the All Saints High series, this is the story of Knight (adopted son of Dean & Rosie from Ruckus) and Luna (daughter of Trent from Scandalous). Best friends since childhood, their romance was hinted at in the first book of this series, Pretty Reckless, as we saw Knight mooning over his best friend, and I have been so freaking excited to get my hands on this book to see how their story would go down.

First up, this book could standalone as there is good background given, but it will be so much more meaningful if you’ve read the Sinners of Saint series which gives you the backstory of the families, their relationships and dynamics, which are great to see continuing on to this next generation.

Knight Cole and Luna Rexroth became best friends as children, and maintained their super close connection all through their teenage years. Now Luna is 19, still the shy, quiet girl with selective mutism who always preferred to blend into the background and 18-year-old Knight is the gorgeous, popular quarterback who protects his best friend with everything he has. They are madly in love, but still firmly in the friendzone (despite Knight’s attempts to move things forward), and this is the story of two very broken people dealing with big and real problems, trying to find their HEA.

“Moonshine,” he whispered. “You fill up the empty, dark space—like the moon owns the sky. It is quiet. It is bright. It doesn’t need to be a ball of flame to be noticed. It simply exists. It forever glows.”

But OMG, they make it hard on themselves! It’s angsty and SO frustrating in places because it’s unnecessary angst that could have been solved with an open conversation between the two of them, but instead we get this long, drawn-out and heartbreaking situation that is a wild ride of ups and downs, full of misunderstandings and heartache. Honestly, this sort of thing usually drives me insane in a book, but Shen has written it in a way that I was right there with the characters and feeling everything right along with them, and though it hurt, I loved the journey! Yes, there were times I wanted to smack their heads together and tell them to just TALK TO EACH OTHER, but every moment of their battle is just delicious, with so much emotion, and I loved being inside of their heads as they deal with it all.

“There will be no one else, Moonshine. I will never let you get over me.”

These characters are so real. They have more than the usual teenage angst to deal with – both so broken in their own ways and coping with some pretty serious family issues. The romantic drama is on top of all of that, and of course they are going to make mistakes. They are so young and they’re still figuring out who they are and their place in the world, and that comes through so beautifully.

It’s not all angst and torment though. Knight has a wicked sense of humour, and I loved being inside of his head.

If you love someone, don’t set them free. Smother the fuck out of them until they realize they have no chance of escaping. Yup. That was the sentiment I was down with, a method I was willing to try.

The book is written in dual POV, which I love, because it allows us to see everything that Knight and Luna are going through and that is SUCH an important part of the story. They both go through so much, and being able to be a part of that is so incredibly special. There is so much character development that takes place as they grow and change. Luna’s journey is particularly amazing as she finds herself, and it is amazing to watch her embrace her strength and finally be the strong, brave, and whole girl she is supposed to be. Knight is on the same road with her, but his issues are so very different. His pain and vulnerability broke my heart, but again, it’s beautiful to watch him come through that, and seeing them both triumph after it all had tears in my eyes.

The weird thing about this book is that it is not the story I wanted to read. Had I known what I was going to get before going in, I may have just skipped it. But I’m SO glad that I didn’t. There’s something about Shen’s writing that just works for me, and I ended up devouring every raw, gritty, angsty and heartwrenching moment.

And on that note – a moment about the feels. This book made me ugly cry. I was sobbing. My heart actually ached, and the pillow beneath my head was wet with my tears. It’s not an easy one to get through, but I’m so glad that I did. It’s beautifully written, and done with just the right mix of emotion, angst, humour and heart, and of course a gorgeous romance that completely owned my heart.

The rest of the crew from Todos Santos are a huge part of the story. I loved catching up with them and seeing where they are all at. There are some truly special moments as they snark and tease and, as always, have each others’ backs absolutely and without question. I loved the scenes we get with Vaughn (son of Vicious and Amelia), and with hints for his future love interest, I am so excited to get to his book!

I listened to this as an audiobook, and it is absolutely fabulous! Jacob Morgan (aka Zachary Webber) is incredible! He puts SO much heart into Knight, creating the perfect mix of arrogance and vulnerability that you cannot help but love, and OMG, I could listen to that man talking all damn day!
Savannah Peachwood, C. J. Bloom and Christian Rummel round out the narration, allowing us to get the brief perspective of the parents, in addition to Knight and Luna, and I thought that was an incredible touch.

I loved this book so much. It took me on a wild rollercoaster of emotion, but I could not put it down and listened to the whole 11+ hours in a day. An amazing story of love, friendship, family and hope, of moving forward and claiming your happiness. It’s everything, and it’s a fave for 2019.

“Ride or die.”

5 massive stars.

 

All Saints High

 

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Excerpt

Right now I wanted to just be here in silence with my best friend. And somehow, I don’t know how, but Luna sensed it. So we sat there for what felt like two hours but was probably a lot less, until I opened my eyes again. Her eyes were closed, too. I watched her for a while.

When she opened her eyes, it felt like she took something away from me.

“Let’s jump,” she said.

“I’m quite fond of my limbs, Moonshine.”

“Stop being such a big baby.”

“Big, quarterback baby who just finished a football season in one piece and would like to keep all his body parts intact.”

She crawled out of the treehouse and settled on the branch. It was thick, but I doubted it could carry my muscular ass for more than a few seconds before snapping. I rolled my eyes and settled next to her. She slipped her hand in mine.

“Three, two, one.”

It was a short, sweet way down.

 

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About the Author

L.J. Shen is a USA Today, Washington Post and Amazon #1 Best-selling author of contemporary, New Adult and YA romance. Her books have been sold to nineteen different countries. 

She lives in California with her husband, son, cat and eccentric fashion choices, and enjoys good wine, bad reality TV shows and catching sun rays with her lazy cat.

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