Defy

By: L.J. Shen

Narrated by: Tracey Marks

Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's Summary

Defy is a smutty, insta-love, insta-lust short novella. Defy is a prequel to Vicious. It is recommended, but unnecessary, to listen to Defy before you listen to Vicious. My name is Melody Greene, and I have a confession to make. I slept with my student, a senior in high school. Multiple times. I had multiple orgasms. In multiple positions. I slept with my student and I enjoyed it. I slept with my student and I'd do it all over again if I could turn back time. My name is Melody Greene, and I got kicked out of my position as a teacher and did my walk of shame a la Cersei Lannister from the principal's office, minutes after said principal threatened to call the cops on me. My name is Melody Greene, and I did something bad because it made me feel good. Here is why it was totally worth it.

©2017 L.J. Shen (P)2017 L.J. Shen

A HOT LITTLE TREAT TO KICK THE SERIES OFF

This is the sort of book I would normally have passed on (YA and a Novella).. but, because I'd just listened to Vicious' book, and been wowed by it, I had to go back to the beginning and hear Jamie's story too.

So, twenty six year old Teacher Melody bagged herself an eighteen year old toy boy! and not just any toy boy.. oh no, he was one of the School's infamous sexy Four Hotholes - all entitled privileged bad boys, who were cocky handsome troublemakers whose charismatic personalities and rich parents got them out of trouble. However, underneath their reckless bravados there was usually something missing at home that made them that way.. so now this tight Brotherhood partied together, watched each other's backs, did whatever they liked and f everyone else. Jamie should've stayed away from her - he was eighteen, he was in her Literature class and he was the Principle's son - but when did he ever follow rules? he knew what he wanted - Melody.. and he just wasn't going to take "no" for an answer.

Melody had been a ballerina but an injury when she was 18 had forced her life in a different direction.. one she was hating and spectacularly failing at so, when she accidentally reversed her old car into Jamie's shiny new one, she thought it was yet another disastrous thing in her life. However, Melody was very wrong.. because it was the start of Jamie's plans.. plans that would lead to clandestine meetings, stolen kisses, steamy sex, whispered words of heady needs, rocky roads.. and a love that defied boundaries, defied threats and defied all the odds. And it would go on to become a solid partnership two years later when the boy became a man.. and then six years later when they both became more.

I really enjoyed this short listen but it did suffer a wee bit by being only a novella.. I wish it had been a much longer book in the series because Melody and Jamie's story deserved more. But wishes don't make it so and it is what it is.. a prequel, a tasty treat and a taste of things to come in the Sinners of Saint series. It's a forbidden love story, a romance that disregarded an eight year age gap and a story that has angst, drama and secrets. It had a storyline that kept my interest, made me think, made me swoon, totally entertained me and ended on a very sweet HEA. Melody owned her sexuality and knew what she wanted.. Jamie - and he was one possessive, self-assured, sexy and determined alpha. Told from Melody's POV except the Epilogue and Tracey Marks did a great job at narration because she does male voices very well.

Worth a credit? For me, yes it would've been as I'm hooked.. but, at just over $10, I bought it and saved my credit for a more expensive book.

If Loving You Is Wrong I Don't Wanna Be Right

Now this story certainly piqued my interest. Not quite what I expected but oh so delicious. Hotholes! I just don't even know how to describe this whole situation but Jamie and Melanie are just too hot to ignore. I am usually interested in stories around high school romance but this story grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I want more ...

Tracy Marks did an amazing job capturing the teenage and young adult angst while drawing you in to feel all the emotions. This is definitely a hot and sexy listen.

Absolutely worth a listen, get any way you can.

not sure why the voice is accelerated...

but beautiful, sweet, SEXY story!! just slow down pace to 0.8 & it's perfect. live this story!!

Didn't want it to end!

If you haven't read Vicious, then you have no idea what you are walking into with these Hotholes. This is a complete taboo romance between student and teacher with a kid that is so wealthy and powerful and an ex-ballerina that is just trying to figure out what to do with her life.

Every part of this novella is gripping and awesome. The only bad thing I can say is that I wanted more! I want more Jamie! But since that isn't possible, I will relish in this short little novella time and time again.

Tracey Marks is perfect for these sort of roles because she pulls off such a good alpha male voice along with a sweet, innocent. I always know that I will enjoy a book when she is behind it in narration.

Narration can make or break a story

This was my least favorite in the series. I just didn’t care for Melody’s character. Sometimes she was an adult woman and other times she may as well have been a student. Also, the hurried staccato narration just didn’t help. The narration really makes a difference. All the other books in the series along with the narration are worth the time.

adjust narrator to 0.85X speed and it'll be better

Adjust narrator to 0.85X speed and it'll be a better listening experience. The story was a bit shorter than I'd hoped but was a fun part of this series.

Better Read

The automated robot voice is sooooo bad. I know this book is treated like the ugly step-child of the series, but it deserved better. I loved reading this book as much as all the full length in the series. I loved listening to the other books in the series. The narrators are awesome. The automated robot narration on this book is unfortunate. I couldn't make it through the first chapter.

What an introduction to this series!

I love the dark romances LJ Shen has written, like Sparrow and Blood to Dust, but I was hesitant to start this series. Thinking the men were just a little too obnoxious from their nickname, I was put off. But after multiple recommendations, I decided to start with this one. I am also not a huge lover of teacher/student romances, but I have to say this was done so tastefully that I never really felt the taboo in this story. Melody is a dancer, after a career ending injury moves across the country and begins to teach high school English. This school is full of wealthy families and the students are less than respectful. She finds the school ruled by a group of entitled boys and when she hits one of their cars, her life changes forever. Jamie has been watching Mel all year, and now he finally gets his chance to hook up with her. Shen has a way of writing this story that even at his worst, Jamie is endearing. He is loyal, warm and loving but still has a commanding and protective nature. Melody is caught up in Jamie, but knows that there is an end point..graduation day. But can these two have their affair, not get caught and not let their emotions get involved? With all that happens in this short story, I was a little surprised at how things did turn out!!

Tracy Marks is so good in this story, she brings all the hot holes to life, each voice shining their personality traits through. I loved her ability to give a new adult feel to the younger characters and a maturity to the older ones with such ease that the story flows seamlessly. This is a good listen.

Great book

The book was great but the narration was not. She spoke to fast and just wasn't very interesting to listen to. Luckily I read the book prior to listening. I had to skip chapters just because of the narration.

The narrator it's not the best

I really wanted to hear this audio book but the narrator it's not as good as the rest of the ones on this series I couldn't even finish the first chapter, she sounds like she's in a hurry and flat, too bad...

This book is hot

Love L.J Shen and this was one of her best books really wish it was longer. I feel like Melody’s and Jamie’s story had so much more left to explore. The best part of this book was the narration. Absolutely fantastic please We need her to narrate more books.

4 excellent stars

This is an excellent novella. I would have liked this to have been a full novel, which I think it could have been. The story was written from a single perspective, so there was the potential for a longer novel if done in the dual pov.

This is a taboo novel, teacher and student romance (although thankfully the student is 18+). Jaime is a really nice solid character - despite some dubious friends and actions, while Melody is the more emotionally fragile, delicate person. They were a well matched couple.

It was fantastic to revisit the world that the author had crafted so well in the first novel. A good addition to the first book in this series. I loved it.

I really enjoyed the narration by Tracey Marks, she definitely brought Melody to life for me.