Thorne Princess

By: L.J. Shen

Narrated by: Samantha Brentmoor, Sebastian York

L.J. Shen delivers a charged, addictive stand-alone about a tabloid princess who is desperate to self-destruct...and the grumpy bodyguard who saves her.

I landed in hot water with the tabloids one too many times. What can I say? My nipple wanted to come out and say hi to the paparazzi.

After that, my father presented me with an ultimatum—either he cuts off the gravy train and stops paying for my lavish lifestyle or I agree to have a live-in bodyguard.

And by bodyguard, I mean a sexy, formidable, out-of-this-world babysitter who just happens to be good at breaking spines.

Ransom Lockwood, ladies and gentlemen.

Now he is forcing me to try all kinds of weird stuff. Stop partying, clean up my act, get a job....

A part of me wants to tell him to get lost. I’m past saving.

But the other part? The other part wants to save him.

©2023 L.J. Shen (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

Shen is back! A screaming 4.5 stars!!!

YES!! Finally, the writing Queen, also known as L.J. Shen, is BACK y’all!! I know I’m in the minority (& totally okay with it), when I say the last several books have been…off, not as exciting or emotionally charged nor giving warm fuzzies, like they normally do, these “hero’s” were jërks. They all seemed too harsh and a ton cold and uncaring to the female lead. They trashed the female lead so much I had a VERY hard time with the redemption portion of those books. No H was ever made to grovel nearly long enough. I realize this book follows mostly the same formula, HOWEVER, the H is not even close to as bad as the Boston Belle boys. As doüchy as her H in last few books, thank goodness Ransom had a fighting chance. Full disclosure, I have not read the book directly before this one as I just didn’t want to be disappointed again. Leigh is one of my most owned paperbacks and I rarely read anything physically, I usually go electronic so that’s a major compliment for me, spending money on books. ALL that being said, this book, this piece of frickin heaven reminded me, whole-heartedly, why I fell in love with this author in the 1st place. Shen pulled out all the stops and got back to her classic L.J. writing. Thank you!!! Now, onto a bit about the - actual story.
Hallie is so broken and lost but always ready to put on a smile…maybe too much so at times and spends a lot of her days silently screaming for help, for someone to SEE her, to listen, to make her feel like she matters. Yet during her constant struggle she refused to give in to the pain and quit. Oh no, she was giving and kind and looked out for those who couldn’t on their own like animals! She is a vegetarian who advocates for pets.
Then there was hotty ba-toddy Ransom who was the complete opposite, or was he??, than Hallie in every way. Dark, dry sense of humor if he had one at all, also cold, uncaring, AKA,the robot.
You’d think this was a match made in heck but oh how well did they truly fit! Like missing pieces to a puzzle. Experiencing their journey and watching them grow and mature was EVERYTHING! Their quirks and kïnks, their victories and losses, their despair and hope. I ran the gamut of emotions during this book and it will stick with me for a long time to come.
Cheers to BOTH stellar narrators!! Samantha Brentwood and Sebastian York. Both already on my list of favorite narrators from the past and, no surprise to anyone, hit it out of the park. They brought this amazing story to yet another level and really added an element of drama and passion that gave me an added insight to the characters, indeed, a whole other dimension!
All in all, this was back to the O.G. Shen and I am so stinking happy about that! This novel is why I read Shen and to lose myself in a fantastic novel is incomparable. Literally nothing like it in the world. Thank you for rekindling my confidence in you and bringing us a bänger of a story to boot. I was so engrossed I had to fight myself to do listening mostly instead of just inhaling the kindle version. It was that good folks.

Samantha Brentmoor rocked this one!

A spoiled, rich former President’s daughter who doesn’t have a “real” job is hard to root for, but Samantha Brentmoor made you feel for Hallie and grow to root for her as we learn more about her dyslexia and past trauma. Sebastian York was perfect for gruff, grumpy Ransom. Another great LJ Shen book!

I love the story

The relationship that develops is BEAUTIFUL! I love the revenge scene!! (Thank you L.J. Shen for that! You have no idea how it helped me feel!! THANK YOU!!)

This book is awesome! I love how the characters are super observant and just work so well together! I’m looking forward to another piece of this story if you write one!

Thorne Princess

Thorne Princess by LJ Shen is a new standalone told from dual points of view by Hallie Thorne and Ransom Lockwood. This book is hilarious from the very start.

It starts off with something happening to Hallie and her father decides she needs a personal bodyguard to be with her 24/7. Ransom is one of these guys. I was cracking up with the banter between these two from the very moment they met to their whole encounter between them.

Ransom believes Hallie is a spoiled princess, but he will do what he has to protect her so he can get a meeting with her father. However, as time goes on he realizes not all may be as it seems.

I really loved these characters. We got to see some personal growth, some great banter, and just an overall great time!

Oh my gosh, YES!

Yes, yes, yes! My second favorite L.J. Shen book so far. I 100% recommend and am so glad I didn’t let the bad reviews put me off. Who even were those people? The things they believed about Ransom and his behavior? I disagree. I was expecting something bad, but both main characters were great.

Yea, Ransom was a dick in the beginning. It’s a very human trait to judge someone based on partial information. Especially when you believe you know all their is to know. It’s not the right thing to do, but everyone does it to an extent. His sexual preferences? Who cares. Everything he did was consensual.

I loved Hallie. She was great. I do think she was a bit unreasonable and immature towards her family, some of the time, but not all of it. I get where she was coming from. And again, very human. Very real. She started out a hot mess, but she had a great heart. I loved that she had, what are traditionally considered to be, left leaning views that were a constant part of her personality, but never felt preachy.

The character development from both MCs was awesome and complete. Also added a nice message of self improvement to the plot. The slow burn romance was perfectly paced and so touching. This story had a lot of emotion packed in and I felt it all with the characters.

The narration was great. Especially from Samantha. Her voice for Ransom sounded just like Sebastian’s so the pov transitions felt seamless. And I can’t imagine it’s an easy task for a woman to get their voice to the depth of Sebastian York’s. Very impressive. Both narrators had nice range.

This was very funny and sexy. A great story. As I was reading it I was already wanting to read it again. My only complaint is that there wasn’t enough sex. And I NEVER say that. I like the smut, but I don’t need it. But in this case, I felt deprived. The MCs needed one more really good sex scene. The one they had was too brief and not even kinky. What a tease!

10000% recommend.

I want a body... Protective Security Officer....

Story: 4.5 🌟
Spice level- 🌶🌶🌶 🌶
Re-read/re-listen: 100% yes!
Recommend: Duh! Of course, check TW's
Audio lovers: 5 🌟. Narration was spot. Freaking on!! Samantha Brentmoor and Sebastian York are the narrators and were amazing.

Let's start off and say, Ransom is an a$$hole! I laugh as I type this because I was thinking, "Oh my gosh. What a jerk," multiple times within the first 40% of the book. His antics and how he tried to get her to "reform" ....damn! But oh, you can't help but love the a$$holes that LJ writes us. Hahaha. He, of course, has the best sweet side.
Hallie, I love her!! Love her. She.... geez, what do I say. What she faces is truly heartbreaking. I found myself tearing up several times throughout this book. This girl is resilient! I think she is in my top 10 female characters . I know this post is rather vague, but I really do not want to give away too much. You need to read or listen and get ready for one hell of a great book.
Check your triggers. Both the main characters have heavy up bringings, they valance one another, and Hallie's heart is so generous and humble and is exactly what Ransom needs to humanize him.
As stated above, check your triggers.


As stated above- Sebastian York and Samantha Brentmoor were fan-freaking-tastic. They were perfect at bringing Hallie and Ransom to life.

A little of Everything

Not bad. You have a little of everything in this bodyguard romance. The mafia, the kidnapping, betrayal, and many more. However, LJ does not disappoint. As always I like the perfect imperfect couple. Because none of us is perfect!

Love the wit

Love the funny books lately. Even though I felt the female lead was right for the role. Just wished that she could do the jokes better. I missed the humor because it was narrated too seriously… love the evolution of L.J. keep going!

A new favorite ♥️

Excellent, absolutely amazing performance! The narrators are some of the best out there and did an amazing job telling the story! I got completely sucked in and lost, and adored every second of it♥️

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

I truly enjoyed this book. I will remain a LJ Shen fan. Can’t wait for her next.