Does anyone else feel this way about LJ Shen?
okay i need to know if anyone else feels this way about LJ Shen because i genuinely have never experienced this with another author 😭
the first book i read by her was Bad Bishop and it instantly became one of my top 5 favorite books ever. after that i read The thift kiss and loved it too. then i read the Forbidden Love books (Truly Madly Deeply, Wildest Dreams, Handsome Devil) and i thought all three were AMAZING.
so naturally i fell into the whole LJ Shen universe and started reading everything in order from the family trees/timeline on her website.
but here’s the thing: her books are either absolutely incredible or absolutely terrible to me. there is NO middle ground.
like with the Sinners of Saint / All Saints High / Boston Belles universe, i’ll read one book and give it 5 stars and then the next one in the same series gets 2 stars because i can barely get through it 😭
for example:
- one book will have insane chemistry, tension, emotional depth, unforgettable MMCs, etc.
- then the next feels flat, repetitive, overly edgy, or like i don’t care about the couple at all
and it keeps happening over and over again with her specifically. i literally don’t think i’ve ever given an LJ Shen book 3 stars. they’re either:
⭐️⭐️ = “this was painful”
or
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = “i’m obsessed”
does anyone else feel this way about her books?? especially people who’ve read the full connected universe and not just one standalone. i’m so curious if this is a common experience with her readers or if it’s just me.