Playing with Fire: A Bad Boy College Romance

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Plot holes - SO MANY PLOT HOLES. I really wish I had been a beta reader for this before it was published because I have so many questions and am dying for answers. What happened to Mary/Baikey’s coworkers? Why did they just never show up? Did Audrey have something to do with it and what? Julia doesn't understand what is happening to her daughter, but she thinks she knows what's causing it. She is terrified for Lily, and for herself, but what scares her more is that no one believes her.

On this humid afternoon, my instrument sounds deeper, richer than ever, the tone mellow and warm. The first thirty-two bars of the waltz are as beautiful as I'd imagined, a lament in a mournful baritone. But at measure forty, the notes accelerate. The melody twists and turns, jarred by the accidentals, and soars into the seventh position on the E-string. Sweat breaks out on my face as I struggle to stay in tune and maintain the tempo. I feel as if my bow takes off on its own, that it's moving as though bewitched and I'm just struggling to hold onto it. Oh, what glorious music this is! What a performance piece, if I can master it. The notes skitter up the scale. Suddenly I lose all control and everything goes off-pitch, my left hand cramping as the music builds to a frenzy. When L.J. Shen says she is writing something so different from what she has ever written, take her word for it and then some. Playing With Fire is nothing short of I have only myself to blame for not reading any of R.J. Blain's work sooner. And I will definitely be reading much more. No one can ever say that Shen pulls her punches. Playing With Fire is an explosive one-two combo of perfection and pure excellence! Grace and West were absolutely incredible. Two damaged people hiding from themselves and their pasts who find one another and the strength to face their fears and traumas. ETHAN. this dude needed more screentime. i needed to see more bromance because he was actually such a good best friend?? always looking out for West, always making him sandwiches just to make sure he's eating, aaand without him West would " be all alone in the world". aaawwww.A number of other reviewers here complain that Fleury is an arrogant, self-centered jerk who doesn't actually own up to his mistakes. I didn't get that impression at all-- or rather, I agree that he comes across as an arrogant, self-centered jerk, but he's also an arrogant, self-centered jerk who chose to make himself exceptionally vulnerable and is taking responsibility for (most of) his mistakes, both as part of his own healing process and to serve as a role model to others. It may be that some readers find his arrogance so off-putting that they have a hard time perceiving that such a person could also believe themselves to be responsible for their own actions. But that's what I saw, and I felt that this combination of arrogance and vulnerability made for a compelling and strangely sympathetic character. There is much to like in this novel...some of the history of the fascist years and holocaust in Italy is new to me and may be new to other readers. I enjoyed the historical detail. Gerritsen provides historical detail in an afterword. The details of Julia's confusion and worry seem realistic but, for me, the two parts of the plot seemed somewhat disconnected at times. I thought the ending was well done however, just wonder at some aspects of getting there. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh as it is an interesting idea.

weeelll... at least she wasn't being compared to a sneezed on pizza. but apparently this is all fine and dandy just because he only does one night stands, doesn't eat the 😺, and he was thinking about Grace while hooking up with Melanie... My biggest problem with this book was the ending. I HATED how the book ended. I actually needed to reflect on it for a few days before I could sit down to write a review. In Julia's case the solution seemed like nothing more than a cop out. I honestly cannot remember the last time that I was so thoroughly disappointed in the ending of a book. The part of the epilogue that attempted to pull the two stories together a little better was also a huge letdown. The writing itself was no problem, and the editing was good — I only caught a couple minor typos or grammar issues, less than in many "major house" publications. What words can I say to fully articulate well to show my emotion of what L.J. Shen’s word to do to me each time I open one of her books?The review above give details about how this book is ridiculous and how the hero is a total irredeemable piece of shit In the opening part of the book we meet Julia who is in Venice following a concert given by the quartet she is a part of, she plays the violin. She is looking for a last minute gift for herself when she stumbles upon an antiques store and an odd bit of old music, a beautiful waltz she has never heard of along with a book of “gypsy” music she buys them. This is the L J Shen I feel in love with. I've missed this side of her writing. Emotional, wonderful and deep characters who you'll connect with on a deeper level! She did such an outstanding job with West and Grace! I loved them and their emotional bagagges, seeing them finding each other, become friends and eventually more was such a fun yet emotional journey. I loved every second of it. Bailey’s relationships and virgin status - she says that she wanted to make friends and have relationships, but in the eleven years since she left her parents she hasn’t ever had friends or a boyfriend? It seems like she has a good relationship with her boss and Perky seems to like her, but she’s convinced she’s a bitch (mentioned wayyy too many times). Also - it’s very unbelievable that if she wanted to lose her virginity (which we’re lead to believe), that she couldn’t. Also - I hate this trope that the woman needs to be a virgin when she finds her true love - it reeks of purity culture and is a personal pet peeve of mine, especially when the character doesn’t want to be a virgin/isn’t waiting for something particular and is older. It may seem like I always wax eloquent about LJ heroines but for good reason, and in Grace she may have created a major favorite of mine. Her strength (such an incomplete word) and her resilience are astonishing, as is her grace, in the face of all the crap life keeps throwing at her. It’s made her all bent and wonky, but never broken; just a baby Phoenix waiting to unfurl her wings and rise from the ashes of her imploding life in a burst of brilliant sparks.