Vicious (Sinners of Saint, #1) by L.J. Shen

Vicious (Sinners of Saint, #1)

by L.J. Shen

4 stars

This truly was an excellent book. Excellent writing, excellent story, and excellent characters. I’d seen this book and read its blurb in goodreads many times over but I was never even remotely interested in diving into it, because it hinted at a simple, badly written story with potentially poor writing (I hadn’t read any of L. J. Shen’s books before). But after finishing it, there’s one thing I’m sure of: it’s not gonna be the last.

The structure was great. The introduction of flashbacks was very well-done. I loved the constant game of letting the readers know there’s a secret the older characters are very much aware of, and then slowly revealing it through through those looks into their f*cked up past.

Emilia and Vicious’ obsessive relationship was a very interesting experience to go through. It started out as a very (very) sickening romance, but it slowly got more friendly; despite the book’s short length the story was long and detailed enough to really show very significant development in their relationship in the span of a relatively short time.

Emilia was a very nice character. She was fun, independent, and she didn’t take any shit from anyone (especially not from Vicious). Still, from the beginning I felt this... pity for her, because it’s made very clear that she’s never moved on, and he’d never truly leave her mind. But she is very wise, not only because she is aware of his permanence on her thoughts, but because she also very conscious of her own value and that she will try to move on no matter how rudely she is treated. And she is not afraid to share some very hard truths:

“You know…” I smiled sadly, ignoring the sleet that threatened to freeze us to the sidewalk. “I used to think of you as a villain, but you’re not my villain. You’re your own villain. To me, you were a lesson. An important brutal lesson, nothing more and nothing less.”

I have to admit that at the begging I hated Vicious. I hated his toxic masculinity, his unhealthy way of handling any type of relationship, his horrible attitude towards of Emilia. If there is something I don’t like, it’s people that are mean for the fun of it. I could not have been proved more wrong. It really is incredible how at the end his initial crappy attitude makes so much sense. It was a satisfying conclusion to his improvement as a person.

All in all, this was so awesome. My mind was completely blown by how much I enjoyed it, having expected so little from it. I actually wasn’t convinced I was going to finish it until well into a third of it, but I’m glad I persevered because it was absolutely worth it.