Pretty Reckless

By: L.J. Shen

Narrated by: Angela Goethals, Maxine Mitchell, Michael Crouch

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

We were supposed to be best friends....

But turned out to be worst enemies.

Penn

They say revenge is a dish best served cold.

I’d had four years to stew on what Daria Followhill did to me, and now my heart was completely iced.

I took her first kiss. 

She took the only thing I loved.

I was poor.

She was rich.

The good thing about circumstances? They can change. Fast.

Now, I’m her parents’ latest shiny project. Her housemate. Her tormentor. The captain of the rival football team she hates so much.

Yeah, baby girl, say it - I’m your foster brother.

There’s a price to pay for ruining the only good thing in my life, and she’s about to shell out some serious tears.

Daria Followhill thinks she is THE queen. I’m about to prove to her that she’s nothing but a spoiled princess.

Daria

Everyone loves a good old, unapologetic punk.

But being a bitch? Oh, you get slammed for every snarky comment, cynical eye roll, and foot you put in your adversaries’ way.

The thing about stiletto heels is that they make a hell of a dent when you walk all over the people who try to hurt you.

In Penn Scully’s case, I pierced his heart until he bled out, then left it in a trash can on a bright summer day. 

Four years ago, he asked me to save all my firsts for him.

Now he lives across the hall, and I want nothing more than to be his last everything.

His parting words when he gave me his heart were that nothing in this world is free.

Now? Now he is making me pay.

©2019 L.J. Shen (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

4 We're all human stars

I have to admit that I didn't like Daria going in. From what was mentioned of her in the previous series I thought she'd be awful. While she was queen bee and ugly most of the time, I felt her pain. Knowing what she felt and what she was going through I immediately understood her actions. Did that excuse her? No. But in the end we are all human.

I hope to get more of her and Penn. I fell in love with him too. When he was hurting I hurt too. He was a jerk but he had a lot of anger towards Daria. I'm just glad that he didn't give up on her or on himself.

Now Melody....yeah I've never been her biggest fan.


Narration
Female 4 stars, pacing was a little weird.
Male 5 stars, he was perfect for Penn.

My 2nd by this author

I read series in reverse but this was a good audiobook! It’s a great high school/adult problem read. I enjoyed the rich girl poor boy angle but not the vindictiveness of a certain family member or the rich girl in the beginning.

A millennial story of A Hazy Shade of Winter

For those whom suffered thru the 80's... it's an angsty high school melodrama with an HEA

Pretty good!

I actually enjoyed this book. I completed it in one day. I loved Daria’s evolution. She went from a selfish, heartless mean girl to a lovable, humbled woman. I found the story to be well executed. The book showed how much more difficult and destructive life can be when we let miscommunications, jealousy and envy fester and spread like cancer. I felt the emotions conveyed by the author and narrators. I felt the compassion, love and forgiveness of family and friends, the hatred of misguided, envious enemies, the heartbreak of unrequited love, a fathers revenge, the struggles of adolescence and the redemption of broken souls. I felt all of this and more in one pretty awesome story. well done!

Such a great book!!

Have you ever read a book and not be able to put it down? You skip sleep because you can’t not read the next sentence? This was that for me! I start this book at 11 o’clock at night and finished seven hours later! The drama, the personal growth, and the world building in this book are perfection! I have read one other book by this author and love that one too. I look forward to reading many more by L.J. Shen!

This one just cracked my heart wide open!

There’s something to be said when someone’s writing just reaches in and grasps your beating heart. Just completely takes hold, squeezing, until it bursts and then pieces you back together again. I’m in awe of L.J. Shen. I anticipated the greatness that is her writing but what I found was so much more. Daria Followhill and Penn Scully had me a complete mess, in the most satisfying way.

One of the best!

This book really touched and moved me at the same time. The characters in the book struggle - but with issues far from what you normally meet in romance novels. Therefore this story really caught me and I will definitely listen to the story again and go look for more from this auditor.
Furthermore, the author includes point of view from others charactors than the main two, adding further to the story. Really interesting story and totally captivating.

NOT THE HOTHOLES

I don't like this spin off. I was blown away by the Hotholes series and expected more than what I got from this story. The actual plot was too thin to warrant the amount of angst from the characters. The female narrator was terrible. The nuances in her delivery were annoying. Her speech was drawn out, over the top and not natural at all. Daria had absolutely no redeeming qualities. She was also written like she had a mental illness (bipolar, split personality, depression, etc.) with no mention of mental health issues. Hard to through.

loved

this book should be read after reading Defy. Defy is Dorias parents loved both... I enjoyed the hole series.....and now enjoying this series.....

woman voice is terrible <br />couldn't go any further

woman voice is terrible
couldn't go any further than first chapter
my ears bleed awful

A great story with fantastic voice acting.

I didn't know how to categorise this story. YA or NA. Most of the characters are in their final year of high school and adults surrounding those students, but this is a dark romance, suspense and is a raw, angst filled tale that is too violent and sexually explicit to be a YA. 
Having said that, this was such a good story. The angst and intensity made this a raw story of both love and hate. While Penn and Darla are the main focus of the book, there are so many other relevant characters and they are so well developed. The whole plot is so involved and so well written.
 I cannot fault the narration by Angela Goethals, Maxine Mitchell, Michael Crouch. Their vocal talents give a voice and intensity to the story and bring it to life. This story requires proper voice acting and the narrators all delivered.

All the feels! One of Shen's best books to date!

Not sure I can do justice to how amazing this book really was. I devoured it so quick and now I am bereft. I love the characters. It was pure Shen magic. It is very difficult to capture the same magic when it comes to spin off series but honestly, she outdid herself with Pretty Reckless. Penn and Daria are not typical teenagers, there is so much depth to both of these characters. Shen is a master at making you feel for her characters and feel you will!!! All of the characters are flawed and human and so relatable and this to me is the best aspect of this book. This one would be reread many times over, for sure. Cannot wait for the rest for the series. Love love love LJ Shen and I wish she would write 100 hooks a year :) kidding... Not really :)

Well written story that was real and relatable.

Raw and realistic. Good story with characters with depth and relatability. Enjoyed the different voices for the character made the whole story far better, than just one for the two main characters.

Not the best

The voices were okay but the storyline didn't capture me. the main characters didn't have a real connection and I struggled to finish it

Read now!

At first I was thrown off by the narrators but grew to love them! Read it in 2 days, sooo good!

LOVE THIS

Couldn’t put this down and completed it in 2 days. Just downloaded another audio book of LJ Shen 🥰

amazing

absolutely loved this book. my first audiobook and a great choice. I'm now addicted. love the story the characters and everything about it

Great voice acting

Great voice acting. it is also a beautiful and gripping story. I went through it in one listen.

predictable

The sex scenes were too graphic and the language was atrocious. of course at the end the boy gets the girl.

5 stars

I love Leah's books her writing is amazing no matter the genre haven't been disappointed once. This one was really good i have a daughter and this book really resonated with me. Loved Daria and Penn hope to see them in the upcoming books in the series. I highly red this one.