Name: Playing with Fire
ISBN: 9781408113592

Jonathan Harlen

Fletcher Smith, Sports Private Investigator, is on a mission. The Australian rugby team coach has been abducted and Fletcher is going to solve the case - no matter who is trying to stop him.

Playing with Fire

Bethany Phillips

This book was a book I didn’t know that I was looking for, honestly. I love L.J. Shen as an author—I first started with Vicious and I’ve never looked back. 

I loved everything about Playing with Fire, and I don’t say that lightly. I love that Shen created a perfectly imperfect female MC and an equally flawed male character to be her counterpart. I love the depth of each character and their backstories. I love the intricate details that are interwoven throughout the story, that you don’t even notice until the big reveal. This was a romance, sure. But more importantly, it was the story of two people truly healing and experiencing true personal growth. 

The romance was fantastic (as is usual with Shen), but the relationship and all its ups and downs were really fun to be a part of; I truly felt like I was along for the ride. West & Grace’s story isn’t straightforward or easy—it’s messy, emotional, and stress-inducing at times. The grit of it all is what truly makes this book shine. The writing is filled with such perfect little nuggets and the character development is realist and believable. I really loved this one!

Lacey

I'm happy to say I enjoyed this one! It took me a bit to get into it in the beginning, but West and Grace grew on me soon enough. I really liked their connection, the banter, and the push/pull of the romance. These two frenemies are forced into close proximity while working together at a taco food truck, which I thought was so fun! There are emotional and heartfelt moments as they connect over their traumatic pasts and current loneliness. (I almost cried when we find out West's tragic past. It. Is. Heartbreaking.) This was an emotional ride with plenty of ups and downs. I'm glad we got a college romance from LJ Shen!

*****

I’m going in!! I’m genuinely excited that this is a college romance 😍

Ashlee

Another slam dunk for LJ Shen. I devoured this book, or better yet ... it devoured me.

Everything about Playing with Fire is there for you to love. The characters, the romance, the setting, the story.

One of my favorite aspects was how visceral and uncensored the characters felt. There’s no Band-Aids or glossing over the dark realities of their lives and the pasts they’re running from. Except in their escape, Grace and West run right into each other and forge something so desperately beautiful together, they don’t realize how much they’re clinging to one another until the cards have fallen.

This one is going to stick with me for awhile and I just want to send a shoutout to LJ for writing a female character struggling with society’s standards of beauty, bullying and self consciousness. Grace may not be the definition of what we’re told it is to be beautiful, but as West would surely attest to, she is stunning. Her resolve, her kindness, her intelligence, her passion are one in a million. She doesn’t need or desire our pity, but she surely deserves our admiration and respect.

Also ... West ... damn. I don’t think I’ve read a male character quite like him ... certainly not in a romance novel. He’s in a dark place through the better part of this novel and is not shy about his self loathing, destructive behavior and guilt ... to the point that he realizes he is fighting the desire to end his own life (trigger warning there for suicidal thoughts). I appreciate LJ for exploring these situations in a character that might look bad and dark and troubled on the outside but is truly just lost and searching for their home. The synopsis might read like you’re getting a typical bad boy love interest, but it’s much deeper, much more layered than that. West is a good person who has lost their will to enjoy life until Grace comes into it.

Anyway, if you can’t tell by now – highly recommend this one! It’s the perfect storm of a romance novel for me. A million thumbs up.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

It was before the 100-page marked that I realized this book was something special, when I realized that this could very well be LJ Shen’s best work to date, and I was right. 

Shen wrote a story about a girl who was less than perfect with her looks, all due to an accident. This girl, Grace, used to thrive in the limelight, lived for the attention, and most importantly, depended on her looks to achieve her goals. When a fire occurred, and her left side of the body, especially her face, received the worst of it, she became a shell. She wore hoodies in 100+ degree weather (Texan weather) and ball caps to hide her face. 


  The worst day of your life gave me the best version of
 you.

West’s life changed after turning 17-years-old. He lost someone very dear to him and years later, he’s literally paying for it. He fights on Friday’s and uses the money to send it to his parents. He’s going through college without a care in the world, lives for the one-night-stand. But one look at Grace has him questioning everything. 


  ”Hi, Grace’s pu**y. It’s me. West. We meet again. Actually, we haven’t met face-to-lips yet. I usually send my errand boy your way. You might know him—tall, thick, accompanied by a couple nuts?”


I just want to protect West and Grace for life. These two characters got under my skin and decided to build their home there. Grace has already gone through a lot, add to that her grandma suffering from Alzheimer’s and not wanting any help. Her plate is entirely full, but even then, she’s so devoted to her grandma and her closest friend. But even this sweet personality came to an end where West was involved. 


  ”Clearly, you’ve never taken care of someone.”


  ”Clearly, you’re talking out of your ass.”


  ”My ass still makes more sense than your mouth.”


  ”Don’t know about that, sweetheart, but it’s a great ass, so I enjoy listening.”


The banter and sass these two threw at each other was electrifying. Grace gave it to West real good, and I kept rooting so hard for her! She never backed down from any comment West threw at her, which would make West laugh, and West hasn’t really laughed since he was 17. 


  Scar tissue never bothered me—my heart was 100% made out of that shit. But she had an attitude the size of Mississippi, and I had a strict no bitch-porking policy in place.


Back to the sass and snarky comments, this is probably one of the best I’ve read. I love banter like the ones in Playing with Fire! LJ Shen checked off all of my boxes! 

While the banter was fantastic, seeing these two slowly come together was magical and beautiful. They went from hating each other, to becoming friends, to ultimately realizing they cared for each other in more ways than one. The way West cares for Grace melted my heart. Right from the start, he was already treating her differently than anyone else in his life. He truly helped her in rising from the ashes and becoming a wonderful woman. 


  When I took at you, I see a fighter. I see resilience and strength and defiance that no one can tough. You take my breath away, and no one—and 
nothing —will change that.”

Another thing I loved from this story is that West and Grace we’re both so flawed, physically and emotionally. It wasn’t pretty, yet there was beauty even in the ugly. They both fought for each other, and forced one another to accept their flaws, to embrace them. Because of everything they went through together and how their relationship was, I truly felt their friendship/relationship was genuine, their feelings were genuine and real. 


  ”I’ll walk through fire for you.”


There’s so much more I want to say, but they would be spoilers. All I can say is that LJ Shen threw it out of the ballpark with this story. She took characters that were tainted and broken, and molded them to raise up, like a phoenix, from the ashes. 

Playing with Fire is a raw and heart-felt story about two flawed, yet real characters that will get under your skin and stay there for life. It’s a story about rebirth, love, accepting oneself, friendship, overcoming difficult situations, and ultimately, rising above it all. 


  ”Every time we were together, we smashed each other’s walls with a hammer. It was ruthless. She put a mirror to my face. I put a mirror to hers. We saw each other at our best and worst. We made each other face our fears and insecurities and loneliness.”


--

Follow Me
Blog ❃ Instagram ❃ Twitter ❃ Bloglovin ❃ Goodreads ❃ Pinterest

Playing with Fire

Reviews

Highlights