I didn't really feel their connection. This low key dragged and i'm not quite sure why. It wasn't for me but it had its moments i think.

I started off wanting to fight Vicious, now I’m out here defending him like he’s my toxic bestie

Still can’t get over the fact that vicious rolled a blunt outside a birthing room...

Not for me... i only read one chapter and it was awful... anoying and didn't feel the connection with main character... I just wanted to roll my eyes... terrible way to begin a book!

HELLO!??!?! HELPPPPP what the hell was this

Tbh i don’t care there’s something about this book that I clearly like bc this was a re-read and I liked it just as much as the first time lol

***CONTAINS SPOILERS*** L.J. Shen's books are either a big hit or total miss for me. Playing with Fire is amongst my favorite, and I enjoyed reading The Villain immensely. But this one right here definitely falls under the latter category. Why? 1. I don't mind teenage drama (and this book is full of it) when the characters are actual teenagers. I don't mind the stupid decisions that these high school kids are making because hello...teenagers? No, I don't mind those. My problem is when there's a ten-year time jump--the characters are now around 27/28 y.o--and yet their emotional intelligence had never made it past high school. Here's an example: Vicious and Dean are best friends. They're also business partners. In their senior year in high school, they were involved in a love triangle. Dean got into a relationship with Emilia, whom, of course, Vicious has feelings for (despite his teenage ass denial). They were a couple for about eight months when Vicious, an asshole that he is (but that's a discussion for another time), decided he couldn't take seeing the two of them together anymore. So, he threatened Emilia with her parents' job in exchange for her leaving Dean and the town after their graduation. Fast forward ten years later. Apparently, Dean's still salty about Emilia leaving him all those years ago. He found out Vicious's been sleeping with Emilia in his apartment (even though he, too, has been whoring around in Vicious' apartment), and they got into a fist fight. Seriously, Dean. Ten years is a long time. You meet new people. You experience new things. You live and learn. You move on. You don't exchange blows with your supposedly best friend, whom you also co-found a multi-million dollar company with, just because he's been fucking your ex-highschool-gf. 2. Emilia. She's a freaking mess. And I just can't like her. She describes herself best: "I was everything illogical and reckless, everything stupid and irrational...because I was his" - Chapter 28. I mean, what do you say to that? 3. The resolution of the conflict between Vicious and his stepmom feels...anticlimactic. It was built up nicely, but in the end, I was left with just feeling meh. 4. Not a fan of the simultaneous back and forth swap of the dual timelines. Ergo, nope, this one just didn't work for me.

The beginning and middle were so good but the end felt a bit anticlimatic tbh I expected more and it got a tad boring but the the first 250 pages were great!

Your girl loves a good grovel!! Wtf do they put in the water in Todos Santos? Because JAAYSUS.

i might be a little bit in love with them

Vicious is a hottie boottie and I enjoyed this book V much.

4.5

You know what?

I didn’t hate this book. I didn’t love it that much either, but oh well.

These characters were cute ah. Now, I’m stressed to read dean and Rosie’s book because I loved them as parents but the fact that Em was Dean’s ex kinda is a turn off omfl.

I’m hoping they’re like an incredibly cute couple.

But I remember what Rosie said about him… and I’m not going to be happy, I just know.

Also I hate vicious’ blood family. They suck.

☆ 3.5 / 5 ☆ So I had quite some issues with this book, which is disappointing because I was really excited to read it. 😭😭 The ebook. It was so messed up I sometimes had trouble understanding the text; I still pulled through it like the baddest queen ever. The paragraphs were divided into lines and it confused me a bit. I couldn't even see the book cover on my shelf. Like ??? It's a no no. It stressed me a lot so I deleted the book file after I was done with reading it. I think I lost at least 25% of the plot. But oh well. It was after the 65% mark that I finally started enjoying the book and having interest in the plot. Another issue for me is that I did not like Vicious. He was not it for me. I also felt like Millie deserved more than Vicious. Idk. Yeah I think that’s it. I would probably reread this in the future if the ebook is in better condition or when i have enough money to buy physical book copies.

I never thought I would enjoy this book more than I have expected! Full of banter and wits!

4 stars! It was a good book, an amazing experience! This is my first time reading something from L.J Shen and I’m not stopping anytime soon! :)

ummm Vicious is insane. an actual asshole. I actually yelled "what's wrong with this guy?!! he's literally psychotic!!" while reading this. but um he kinda won me over towards the end IM WEAK OKAY #ViciousiscrazybutcrazyforEmilia <3

I just finished the series and the spin-off, and "Vicious" is my favorite book of all. I simply love Vicious. I loved this book for all the wrong reasons :))) He's deadly, he knows what he wants, he does what needs to be done, even if everyone will see him as the villain and he doesn't care about anyone's opinion but one person. The way the dialogue between Vicious and Emilia has been written is perfect. The jokes, the fights, the hunt, is all there and it's perfect. PERFECT.

tbh, didn’t like the hero for a good 85% of this, heroine was alright but annoyingly forgiving of said hero at times. don’t really know what else to say, I zoned out for a lot of this (audiobook) but all in all: it wasn’t bad, I was invested enough to finish it (or did I just have it on in the background while doing art homework…)

Loved the story, especially the end.

red flags look green when im down bad

I just finished the series and the spin-off, and "Vicious" is my favorite book of all. I simply love Vicious. I loved this book for all the wrong reasons :))) He's deadly, he knows what he wants, he does what needs to be done, even if everyone will see him as the villain and he doesn't care about anyone's opinion but one person. The way the dialogue between Vicious and Emilia has been written is perfect. The jokes, the fights, the hunt, is all there and it's perfect. PERFECT.

התיאור החיצוני של וישס זה כל מה שאני מאחלת לעצמי בבעל. כשקראתי את זה בפעם הראשונה אהבתי את זה ואז אחרי כמה חודשים (שנה?) פתאום ממש רציתי לקרוא את זה שוב בלי איזו סיבה מיוחדת (סתם דחף מוזר) אז כמובן שזה מה שעשיתי ואיכשהו זה היה אפילו טוב יותר

3.5-4