L.J. Shen

"Maddie Goldbloom stitched up a plan to ensure everything in her life was perfect - from a career in fashion to a chic NYC apartment to a pediatrician boyfriend. When her ex, Chase Black, storms back into her life with an outrageous request, her immediate reaction is to refuse him. But he only wants to fulfill his father's last wish. So even though he's the man who broke her heart, playing his fiancée shouldn't be hard, especially if it means she gets to watch the arrogant devil squirm a bit. What ensues is a chain of events that detonates Maddie's life - and when Chase's walls come down, they both are forced to face reality."--Provided by publisher.

The Devil Wears Black

Paige Moody

“I want to be your every fucking thing, until we bring a replica of both of us into this world and become slaves to them, because you're into having kids and shit."

i forgot about the entire story not when i read it but i remember i had fun reading this book

Mikala Mawer

This was a very fun, easy read! I love the romance between the two characters and their endless banter.

Laura 

This book was... meh, it was a quick read and it definitely had its moments... but it felt very predictable, I pretty much predicted every "Plot twist" that happened ( which it's not.. great ), I didn't like either character that much and there were some things I found repetitive.
And although I like a good rom-com, I think L,J is much better at writing Dark Romances, frankly, one of the things I liked in this book was the darker/angsty parts of the story.
I'm definitely happy we didn't get a copy-paste of previous L.J books ( cof..cof... Vicious...cof..cof) besides of course, the whole thing L.J has for a heroine to have a quirky sense of style and the hero being "cold".

Kathleen Tom

5 Stars ★★★★★

HI BOOKLOVERS,

Why did I decided I wanted to stop reading L.J Shen again? I don't even know the answer to that. Cause I read most of her books. No! I actually read all of her book and cause I'm just weird and half dumb like that. 

But let me tell you about this, I have never plan to read this. It was never in my tbr list tbh but yesterday I was going through some of 2021 release that I haven't go read yet and taaadaa. I found this. At first I didn't want to read it but then when I go through the reviews on Goodreads, here I am. LOVING IT. ENJOYING IT A LITTLE TOO MUCH! 

I think I'm not the only one that haven't read this so I will try not going to spoiled it. KEY WORD: TRY. 

I'm putting this under second-chance romance. I just love this book. I love Maddie's character. She's funny, strong headed, independent, full of life but not too much drama with her Marta Maddie Attitude go figure what it means. Not going to spoiled it you know. Bla bla bla! 

And Chase Black. He's the with boyfriends attitude but not into relationship kinda hero you know the type. The asshole you read on romance book but I promise you HE IS NO BORING! I love him. 

Not gonna elaborate more than I should but you guys have to read this. 

Highly Recommended :) 

xoxo. Kath!

One of my favorites. The family drama, plot twist, character growth, SPICEY-ness, it was so perfect!!! The ending and epilogue had me in tears!!! 

Turtle lover

Enjoyed this! I rlly love the sarcasm and how the story turned out. lots of love and life lessons 💖

Megan Lowe

A quirky story, with lots of humour.
I liked Maddy. Chase was less likeable, but I liked his redemption.
I do wish there were more spicy moments, but this was an enjoyable book.

soph

4.5
Este libro es taaan adictivo, no podía parar de leer. Algunas partes me dieron cringe y en otras quede medio confundida pero todo fue tan lindoo, amooo

Navya 

Jayla Poindexter 

Megan BV

It’s cute, it’s sexy, it’s emotional. I read it quickly and generally enjoyed it. 

Also, only slightly related to the book but I might need to go on a romance hiatus. 

Pauline J

3.5/5 ⭐️

This is unlike her other books—first of all, I would categorize her other books as dark romance, and i’d say that’s what i’m usually used to with her writing (ie: see Vicious, The Villain, or The Kiss Thief).

This was just plain old contemporary romance (which... NOTHING wrong with that—it just threw me for a loop). There is a tiny bit of “spice” here but definitely not like her other books, so I wouldn’t go into reading this with that in mind. It was very mild, which, on a scale for me, I would give a 2 out of 5. It’s enemies to lovers with a second chance romance sprinkled in AND a fake engagement.

If you guys are into the whole “we’re going to fake being engaged for so and so reasons and then later come to realize how deeply in love we are with each other,” you’ll like this.

Maddie dated Chase for a few months until she dumps him for cheating on her. Six months later, he waltzes back into her life and asks for a favor—pretend to be his fiancée so that he could pretend his shit is together for his father. Maddie, being dubbed Martyr Maddie for having a big heart and doing the absolute most when people need her help, agrees to pretend for ONE night. But when does it ever end with just one night? 😏

One of my favorite parts definitely included Chase just being completely flabbergasted when remembering that Maddie wormed her way into being his girlfriend without him ever realizing it the first time they dated. Anytime it was mentioned, I laughed and tabbed my book.

They were sweet together, filled with tension and some banter, but I didn’t completely feel the spark like I did with her other book couples. I also didn’t feel a large connection with Chase or Maddie’s relationships with the other characters (the sister, the dad, the best friends, etc.). It should also be noted that I didn’t feel the PULL when reading this the way I did with her other books—you know, the pure excitement to unravel the story. It was dampened with this one, if not completely missing.

It was a good read, but I wouldn’t say it ranks as one of my favorites from her. I was expecting just straight HEAT and steam, but that’s on me for not realizing this wasn’t dubbed as a dark romance.

Just want to say thank you to LJ Shen for sending an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Shafia Ghassani

Elif Gültekin

Micol Scalabrino

isabela. 

tbh this was like bad but i enjoyed it lmao

Lani 

Lee Ann

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Surprisingly low angst but full of sarcasm and humour.

Annie.

Monique

This is not the type of books I read usually, but a friend recommended it and I might have found a new favourite book. The book made me laugh and cry. Chase was a huge asshole in the beginning but he grew on me a lot near the end of the book. Julian made my blood boil and Layla is just a big spirit animal. I loved how sassy Maddison got and this book just made me want to buy it in book form. So I can't wait to read more of your books because I absolutely loved The Devil Wear Black.

Kristin Hamill

When I began this book I did not have high hopes. I hadn’t read a Shen book before so I was not sure what to expect, but I ended up loving this

We follow our main characters Maddie and Chase. Maddie is a wedding dress designer and has been planning her dream wedding since she was a little girl. Chase is the COO of Black & Co and under no circumstances will he get married. Not exactly a perfect match, which is part of the reason they broke up in the first place. But, when Chase finds out that his father has cancer, the only thing he can think of doing to cheer up his family is tell them that he and Maddie are engaged. Reluctantly, Maddie agrees to go along with his scheme.

This story is so artfully written. The enemies-to-lovers trope can sometimes feel so heavy handed, but the transition that happens is so well done, it feels completely natural. Chase Black is a character that you start out loving to hate, but the growth that happens with his character and with his relationship with Maddie is perfect. As the book progressed, I found myself falling in love with his character right along with Maddie. There were some really sweet moments, moments that made me angry, and moments that left me teary-eyed. It was everything that I look for in a romance.

Ashlee

Another angst filled, fun romance from LJ Shen. I think Chase and Maddie are definitely high on my list of favorite couples that Shen has written so far. I particularly loved that Chase had some undeniably swoony and heartwarming qualities and wasn’t a jerk to Maddie throughout most of this book. I do wish we had gotten a little bit more of them at times, particularly their friendship and some more scenes in which Chase’s layers are peeled back, but I can appreciate this book for also being fulfilling and exactly what I needed right now. 

Loved the banter too, especially the notes and text exchanges.

The Devil Wears Black

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