Name: Ana Clara Moreno's review of Playing with Fire by L.J. Shen
Item: Playing with Fire
Rating: 5
Author: Ana Clara Moreno

L.J. Shen

A broken boy on the path to destruction.A scarred girl without direction.A love story carved in secrets, inked with pain and sealed with a lie.Grace Shaw and West St. Claire are arctic opposites.She is the strange girl from the food truck.He is the mysterious underground fighter who stormed into her sleepy Texan college town on his motorcycle one day, and has been wreaking havoc since.She is invisible to the world.He is the town's beloved bad boy.She is a reject.He is trouble.When West thrusts himself into Grace's quiet life, she scrambles to figure out if he is her happily-ever-after or tragic ending.But the harder she pushes him away, the more he pulls her out of her shell.Grace doesn't know much about anything beyond her town's limits, but she does know this: She is falling in love with the hottest guy in Sheridan U.And when you play with fire-you ought to get burned

(Alternate Cover)

Playing with Fire

Sydne Ware

A broken boy on the path to destruction.A scarred girl without direction.A love story carved in secrets, inked with pain and sealed with a lie.Grace Shaw and West St. Claire are arctic opposites.She is the strange girl from the food truck.He is the mysterious underground fighter who stormed into her sleepy Texan college town on his motorcycle one day, and has been wreaking havoc since.She is invisible to the world.He is the town's beloved bad boy. She is a reject.He is trouble.When West thrusts himself into Grace's quiet life, she scrambles to figure out if he is her happily-ever-after or tragic ending. But the harder she pushes him away, the more he pulls her out of her shell.Grace doesn't know much about anything beyond her town's limits, but she does know this: She is falling in love with the hottest guy in Sheridan U. And when you play with fire-you ought to get burned.

Ana Clara Moreno

jesus cristo lj shen mulher vc me paga sua vaca

Ms. Mint

I, so far, only like two L.J. Shen's books. This is one of them, and it's stunning.

Samaa

It's so good I wanna cry

What I really like about character development is facing insecurities and coming to deal with them and accepting them and this book is a masterpiece when it comes to this.
God, I really love when I finish a book without regretting spending my time on it

Leonor Ribeiro 

Sven Test

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.”

--

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korina

Amazing!! I’m in love with West and Grace and the whole book. If you haven’t read it yet, you’re missing out!

Turtle lover

i love this i love this i love this! funny and full of emotions ! it was like I was falling in love again. i love the angst and I love everything.

Luna

The plot is actually really good, idk if it was just me but I didn’t guess the plots until much later on the book even if the clues where there which for me makes an awesome plot. It lacks a little on the smut but I really believe the plot lines compensates for that. And West is just an well written character. A bit of a enemies to lovers which makes everything better.

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.

Wow. This story has everything I’m beginning to really love and look for in my romances: tragic backstories, strong yet flawed characters, suspense, angst, drama and intense feelings and chemistry. And all of it still wrapped up in a happily ever after. I couldn't get enough. I could absolutely have more of Grace and West's story!

Playing With Fire is a story about two broken people finding each other and making themselves whole again; two college kids who are caregivers to their families and end up finding solace in each other's arms. It's messy and angsty and passionate, magnetic and hypnotizing, beautiful and raw, and at times, stressful and definitely not easy. And gosh, Shen's writing! I was completely drawn in and mesmerized from the onset of the story and didn't look back once.

— mutual not-impressing-the-other attitude

— candy apple sticks x pinky truces x ring wishes

— “if you look at her I will kill you” vibes

Content Warnings: drug overdose, death of a parent and family member, fire, burn victim, suicide attempt/ideation, depression, grief/guilt

Leah | @LeahsLittlePleasures

I NEED MORE.

Wow. This story has everything I’m beginning to really love and look for in my romances: tragic backstories, strong yet flawed characters, suspense, angst, drama and intense feelings and chemistry. And all of it still wrapped up in a happily ever after. I couldn't get enough. I could absolutely have more of Grace and West's story!

Playing With Fire is a story about two broken people finding each other and making themselves whole again; two college kids who are caregivers to their families and end up finding solace in each other's arms. It's messy and angsty and passionate, magnetic and hypnotizing, beautiful and raw, and at times, stressful and definitely not easy. And gosh, Shen's writing! I was completely drawn in and mesmerized from the onset of the story and didn't look back once.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:
— dual POVs
— tragic backstories
— forced proximity
— snarky, verbal jabs x banter
— mutual not-impressing-the-other attitude
— fight club vibes
— food trucks x secret sharing
— baggage x trauma x heartbreak
— candy apple sticks x pinky truces x ring wishes
— “if you look at her I will kill you” vibes
— college romance
— damaged bad boy x alpha male
— happily ever after

Content Warnings: drug overdose, death of a parent and family member, fire, burn victim, suicide attempt/ideation, depression, grief/guilt

Taylor Forsythe

** spoiler alert **
           this one of the first books i read by her. i am beyond exciting about it. i am going to go read all her books now. the romance, the smut, the storyline. it was perfection! its about west and grace. he is the towns bad boy and she is an innocent girl who got burned in a fire. they fall in love and its perfect.

i would walk through fire for you baby

-w

LJ Shen’s books are entertaining at best but when I saw some pretty good reviews on this one, I gave it a try. I wasn’t that impressed. 

The thing I liked the best was that the male protagonist wasn’t an asshole. He was just moody and had a lot  of issues. Grace had her own plate full as well. And at the end, the way Grace came out of her shell was really beautiful. This book sent a message that when we necessarily don’t need someone to make us face our fears and live again, we sometimes do need someone to remind us that we’re more than our battle scars. 

The story began captivatingly but I found the romance between Grace and West a little fast paced. I necessarily didn’t like the way Grace handled her grandmother’s illness. Also scenes like West telling Grace exactly what had happened 5 years ago, wasn’t provided which made me think did he ever tell her ? And I didn’t feel the bond between West and Grace was that intense, the way the characters were describing it. 

However, the book was pretty enjoyable. If you’re looking for a book with main characters who are trying to overcome the ghosts of their pasts and help the other one along the way, a book with some angst and an adorable man with a knack for underground fighting and a woman with a sarcastic mouth and nineties obsession, a book where they both help each other up, this is for you.

Ella Zegarra

Micol Scalabrino

This book. I didn't think Shen would be able to make me fall in love with a character more. She did. 
First of all, I'm probably going against you all saying that West didn't steal my heart (hence the 4 stars), Grace did. West is just another bad boy in an American college, doing what bad boys do: fight. But Grace. She is amazing. The choice of portraing a burning victim, portraying Grace like Shen did, with insecurities, doubts and fears, was what did it for me. I swear, I fell in love with her.

Grace is strong, even if she doesn't know it. She changes so much during the entire book that I couldn't be more proud of her.

Final Vote: 4/5

Catarina Silva

This was a solid romance read. Didn't do anything new, but i really enjoyed it

Carla Máñez González 

Sarina Sherman

5 stars 🌟 why does it always take an LJ Shen book to break me out of my reading slump?! I loved this. West and Grace were so cute! And i finally felt the real mess of their relationship and how they fit each other perfectly. This book levels up to Bane imo which is my favorite LJ Shen to date. Playing with Fire was so different for her writing, and while I love most of her asshole characters, this was super sweet ❤️

Linda Quintanilla

L.J. Shen has dropped another angsty romance story. She is the queen in writing angsty romance stories or doubebags characters. It’s her skill, and we better get ready for it in Playing with Fire.Playing with Fire starts off with Grace Shaw facing a terrible fire accident that completely changes her whole life. It takes a toll on her but in the end, it will make her realize who she truly is for her. Beauty is not everything. She will begin to discover who she is even if she has to deal with the biggest a-hole of the university, West St. Claire. West St. Claire is the biggest a-hole that I ever read from L.J. Shen books. And that says something. Most of the time, I really want to stop him from acting like a jackass. Like c’mon dude. Don’t act like this especially to Grace. She definitely does not need to deal with your bullshit. But you know L.J. Shen will always know how to write these big a-hole characters and redeem themselves when they start falling for their ones. And that’s what happened with the West. He truly falls for Grace no matter what she looks like because she is the most beautiful person with all that she has face with. That’s West redeeming moments even if he acts like doube most of the times.

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.”


--

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celeste

at this point i don't even know why i bother with lj shen's books anymore. i guess i keep waiting to find another pretty reckless or scandalous but it's just not happening.

playing with fire doesn't read like any other book she's put out there that i've read so far, mainly because the characters are for once normal people and not billionaires by the age of 20, and the story deals with more real-life problems, which i liked, but was that enough of a change compared to the very questionable books she's put out lately? i don't think so.

i don't think lj shen can write about serious issues without romanticizing tf outta them or being downright disrespectful with the way she talks about said themes. in this particular case: depression, suicidal thoughts, alzheimer's disease/dementia and self-esteem issues. the whole moral of the story that after you find a guy he makes you accept yourself just for who you are and what you look like is a big fucking no from me. and the same can be said about the fact that the hero suddenly stops wanting to die and having suicidal thoughts when he realizes he's fallen in love with the heroine. just, no. i once again cannot stress enough how TIRED i am of seeing the same plot used in romances. i understand that having someone important to you is gonna help with your overall mental health state, but the message that these kind of books keep pushing is not a healthy one. the worse part of it all was the fact that the heroine only came into her own AFTER a guy kept telling her to not care what people said about her facial scars. it reminded me of all those 2010 romance books where this was the norm back then, but i think society has moved past from this kind of messages.

shen's crass writing style is really disgusting me at this point. and it has nothing to do with the book being smutty or not, it's the way she constantly writes disgusting shit when characters are just monologuing or talking to each other (an example i remember vividly is the hero saying something along the lines of "i wanted into every hole she possessed -apart from her urethra, maybe-") and i'm like ??? why is it necessary to make that comment about the urethra please just stop with these comments that appear every time in all of her books. to be honest, her writing style has been very off-putting lately.

related to the previous point i made is how her characterization always feels gimmicky. characters feel caricatures of what they're suppose to represent: the broody, suicidal, misunderstood underground fighter, the pretty popular cheerleader who fell from grace because she has a burn scar on the left side of her body, and the sidekick whose only personality trait and development is being obsessed with the 90's. because they are very underdeveloped or because shen over-exaggerates that ONE trait all the time, they feel underdeveloped and not fully-fleshed characters at all. ergo, i can never find myself emotionally involved or connected to the characters.

i also felt like this book would have been more believable if it had been set in high school rather than college, because i cannot for once believe that people in their twenties in college behave like that. maybe because i'm not from the US and our universities are different but for god's sake, do people actually still have these cliques of popular people and social strata in university? it just felt so ridiculous to read about all these people flocking towards a group of "popular" guys at that level of education and for girls to keep acting like queen bees lmao like i said, completely unbelievable and stupid.

the last 30% was the best part of the book in my opinion, and it's when we get to know the hero's backstory (finally) and we get to understand a bit better why he's the way that he is. overall, this book was a slight improvement from shen's latest books but i think it's time for me to finally accept the fact that me and shen's stories just don't vibe.

Lee Ann

This book is so different from LJ's usual type of book, but it was just as good!

I loved the development of the relationship between West and Grace - it was natural and believable. 

Playing with Fire takes you on a ride through guilt, despair, bad choices, loss and devastation. It's not calm and serene. It's rocky and turbulant with bursts of humour and tough emotional segments.

I love LJ's books, they're always a fun read, but this one is extra!

Kaele Perkins 

3.75 Stars

Good book. I like the twist with the main character. I like seeing that they aren't all perfect. Still feel like the bad boy with a messed up past is a bit overdone. But I definitely enjoyed this one.

Michelle Vasquez

“As I watched him there, I didn’t see the most popular guy in college. 
The sex god. 
The illegal fighter. 
I saw the loneliest boy I’d ever laid eyes on. 
Sweet, confused, and lost.
And I thought, bitterly, he didn’t even know that across the parking lot sat a girl just like him”

A powerful and heart achingly beautiful story of two broken people finding each other through the hells they each have walked through. Grace and West are two people going through life simply surviving. Breathing. Escaping.. their pasts and not living to their full potential. They find their love in friendship. They tell each other their darkest secrets. They give as good as they take. 

The chemistry between Grace and West is off the charts. The banter that is accompanied by Grace, throws West off kilter. He sees Grace beyond the hidden hoodies and makeup. Grace sees West for more than the closed off bad boy he projects to be.
They SEE each other. They bring out the best in one another and built each other up and rose from the ashes that was their lives..

You NEED to read this book. Playing with Fire is a complete standalone and just utterly and completely became my favorite book of 2020.

LJ Shen broke me apart and put me back together with this beautiful story. Thank you for giving us Grace and West.

Sydne Ware &
Playing with Fire by L.J. Shen

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