Ruthless Rival

Cruel Castaways

By: L.J. Shen

Narrated by: Stella Bloom, Joe Arden

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

From Wall Street Journal bestselling author L.J. Shen comes an enemies-to-lovers romance about the fine line between seeking revenge and finding love.

When she was young, Arya Roth became best friends with her housekeeper’s son. Soon, friendship turned to young love, and when Arya dared him to kiss her, a chain reaction of disastrous events led to the boy being sent away and out of Arya’s life.

Now, two decades later, Arya is an on-the-rise publicist with her beloved father as one of her biggest clients. So when her father is sued by a former employee, Arya sets out to prove that her father is not the monster he is accused of being. The only problem is the attorney who is determined to destroy her father’s good name. Christian Miller is charming, ambitious, and devilishly good looking, and Arya has no idea he is that same boy who kissed her all those years ago.

Past and present collide as Arya falls hard for Christian. But when she finds out who he really is and about his obsession with getting revenge on her father, can she choose love over family?

©2022 L.J. Shen. (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"This addictive enemies-to-lovers romance…captures both characters’ intense emotions and undeniable chemistry. It’s sure to have readers hooked.”—Publishers Weekly

“L.J. Shen is the master of enemies-to-lovers. She had me in her angsty grip from the second I started until I’d devoured the last page, and I loved every second of it!”—A.L. Jackson, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

“FIVE STARS: One of the BEST of 2022.”—Tia Louise, USA Today bestselling author

Loved it!!!

LJ Shen at her best per usual. You can never go wrong with any of her books, series of standalone. I enjoyed this story and all it’s awesome characters. You won’t regret it!!!

WONDERFUL FRIENDS TO ENEMIES TO LOVERS STORY!

Arya Roth and Nicholai Ivanov come from two different worlds but teenagers see the world with innocent eyes. Unlikely friends, they forge a bond that tragically is broken by their parents and severed even deeper by their lies and deception. Neither knows the real truth.

When they are reunited years later during a ruthless court trial involving Arya's father, Nicholai has become Christian Miller, dashing, rich as Midas, and hell bent on revenge against the Roths. Finding out all that Nicky had gone thru in the years since that tragic day broke my heart. Especially his mother!

As all truths are revealed and passion has exploded between them, they have to figure out how to handle their relationship and the family that has shown their true colors and fallen from grace. Arya finding out that her childhood was full of lies and how wrong she was about her parents. The ending was everything even though I think her father got away too easy.

I listened to the Audible version of this book in kindle unlimited and it was very good! The narration was performed by Joe Arden and Stella Bloom. It was lovely to listen to and I appreciate that I can listen while I work. I really enjoy the Read and Listen books available on KU!

loved it!

I really enjoyed this book. narration, excellent! story, excellent!! character's, excellent! semi slow burn but worth it.

Worth the Ride

There is just something about LJ Shen that draws you into her stories. This is a fantastic enemies to lovers romance that takes you on a journey with the characters. The narrators, Joe and Stella, do a phenomenal job bringing this story to life.

Amazing, and very well told!

Loved it! I had a couple of favorites with this book! Yeah, this one was good and I'd never thought I'd be a sucker for a long lost love.....

Surprised in a very good way

This is not the type of book to be read. The audible version is alluring and a perfect pick me up audiobook. I'm writing this now because it suits my mood and these series are perfect for how I feel lately.

So good!!

LJ Shen has this amazing ability to make you fall for the anti hero of the story. The way she builds their world and tells their story makes them justified in their behavior and outlook on the world. Christian Miller’s story is told in alternating past and present view points and it is the perfect way to build his character. Intertwined in both the past and present is Arya’s story. These two characters were both broken in their own way because of the other, and were both healed because of the other too. Fantastic story!! So glad to know there will be two others in this world.

Stella Bloom and Joe Arden are simply perfect in their roles for this novel. The audio was really good and added so much to this story.

A big YES!

Going straight to my favourites. I'm an LJ Shen fan so no surprise there ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It wasn't that bad!!!

I agree with some of the reviews this was a very slow burn basically the entire first half was slow slow slow...but once over the hump it actually was very good. The twist and turns the suspense and the unexpected return of love. It's worth a listen.

absolutely perfect

Joe arden always does amazing but combined with LJs words was utterly perfect! soooo amazing!