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Ruthless Rival cover art

Ruthless Rival

By: L.J. Shen
Narrated by: Stella Bloom,Joe Arden
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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 

What listeners say about Ruthless Rival

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Ok

I have loved nearly everything LJ Shen has written. This was ok, but not my favorite…I think it’s because I just really didn’t like Aria and found it hard to relate to the attitude/decisions she made. I did like that Christian/Nici did seem to truly understand the person she was and loved her anyway and I guess there is someone for everyone!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

💘 oh my heart! *clutches heart*

I love LJ Shen & all of her characters in this book. Especially Christian, I'm worshiping the ground he walks on.

I've listened to all of LJ Shen's books. I'm grateful to have so many astonishingly well written book boyfriends now, 😉.....and those voices !!!!! The narration is perfect, wel, what can you expect with this collaboration.

Now I'm off to listen to 'Atonement' ......you'll understand why 💚

Apologies if there are spelling mistakes in the above, couldn't find my glasses for love nor money

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

l loved every minute

This is a slow burn romance with plenty of angst and twist and turns. The story as a quite engaging storyline with lots of complexity.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • P
  • 28-01-23

Weak - disappointing

I thought this book would have more teeth. All a bit meh! Not Shen’s usual standard.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good but suspend belief

Between all my thrillers I love a good romance. In 2022 Romance was second most read genre.

I enjoyed this book but it has its flaws. We all know these books are unrealistic but for this one you have to suspend your belief that she does not recognise him at all. I spent the entire book thinking I recognise people I went to school with with ease and yet she is clueless despite him dropping anvil sized cleavers around her.

However, putting that aside the romance serves it purpose and I actually really liked the authors style.

Overall this is a good read as long as you suspend belief a little.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Falls short

I’ve listened to or read most of LJ Shen’s books and loved almost all of them. This one falls short for me though.

The narrators were great, if a little slow. I had to play at 1.1 in order to hear it at what sounded like normal speed. Other than that though the narration added to the story as always.

The story fell short for me. I didn’t particularly like either of the main characters, Arya was naïve to the point of irritating. I really didn’t believe she didn’t recognise him, particularly given his supposed distinctive eyes. Also she made the statement at the beginning about how her father wasn’t aggressive, yet she witnessed him beat up a 14 year old boy for nothing more than kissing his daughter. So the whole premise for me was flawed. She had a lot of clues as to who Christian really was but missed them all.

I had more Sympathy for Christian given what he went through, but he was pretty stupid taking the case in the first place and that didn’t fit with his character.

There really wasn’t that much to the story, not much angst, not much mystery, there were no surprises whatsoever, which is unusual for an LJ Shen novel.

I will of course eagerly await the next release.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it!!! One of my favourites!

Omg! I absolutely loved everything about this book! The story was exciting beginning to end. The characters were great and the narration perfect.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

hated this book

I found this do slow
they have made it so hard to return a audable book now I have spent 1hr and
still haven't achieved it!!!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Couldn't put it down!!!

Loved every second of this book. Aria and Nicky as teens are adorable, all the things the grown up around them out then through, unforgivable. This enemies to lovers romance is amazing, I couldn't put it down and was on the edge of my sit quite often. The spice level was just right for the story and the scenes were HOT. Great ending. It is worth buying but the fact it is on KU is a massive bonus. would highly recommend hybrid reading as the audio book is amazingly narrated, their interpretation of the characters is so good you feel their emotions deep. Stella Bloom is always outstanding, but this is the first audio book I listen with Joe arden's narration and he was fantastic. The audio book was free with ku but I will purchase it anyway as I want to be able to keep.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • BB
  • 29-08-22

More please!

Couldn’t put this book down and hope there’s a story for Gillian!
Well read, brilliant story

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