Tragedy and betrayal bring them together, but will their painful pasts hold them back—or fuel their desire?
Fallen Foe, an all-new enemies-to-lovers, billionaire romance from USAToday bestselling author L.J. Shen is available now!
Arsène Corbin does not intend to marry for love. His fiancée has always been a means to an end, a woman he wants to conquer. But when she dies suddenly in an accident, Arsène’s grand plan unravels.
Still reeling from his fiancée’s death, he meets Winnifred Ashcroft, a struggling actress who lands a coveted role in a play at his theater…and knows things about his late fiancée no one else does. The only problem? They can’t stand each other.
Backstage at Arsène’s theater, Winnie begins to let down her guard around the tempestuous billionaire. She appreciates his wit and quirky affection for astronomy. And Arsène, jaded as he is, respects Winnie’s headstrong personality.
Tragedy and betrayal bring them together, but will their painful pasts hold them back—or fuel their desire?
First of all, awesome names for hero and heroine (Winnifred and Arsene). The premise is also different – a struggling actress lands a role in a play at the hero’s theater. Love the heroine – she is strong, hardworking, kind, and all sunshine and rainbow. The hero, as you are expected from Shen – a villain, jaded, alpha male, pretty much impossible to love. You really have to be in the mood to enjoy this type of hero Winnie and Arsene have something in common – their significant others were cheating with their partners. My confusion is that I am not sure what relationship Arsene had with his step-sister. Sometimes, it is definitely toxic – he hates her and was using her, but other times I feel like he is totally obsessed with her. Any rate, a lot of the book is rehashing of Winnie and Arsene’ relationships with their perspective partners. After Arsene’s fiancé passed – they come together trying to solved the mystery of when / where / how their significant others got together and fell in love. There were some really good banters, hotness, and slow burn. Interesting plot opposite attracted / enemies-to-lovers. As usual, in the end the hero redeemed himself once you get to know him a lot better. They both had to overcome betrayals, secrets, learn to trust and find second chance at love again. If you like the “rich bad boy” as hero who find HEA with a sweet girl, Shen is a queen of this genre. Quick read and I enjoyed it over all.
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