Kylie Scott recommended Defy by L.J. Shen on Facebook. Being a huge fan of Scott (another guilty pleasure author), I immediately bought the book sight unseen. I did not read the blurb. If I had, I might hesitated in buying the book. It is a high school student and teacher romance. Ugh. I hate this trope.  High school student-teacher romances are just wrong.

So I loved Defy. This romance works for two reasons. The high school student doesn’t remotely act like a high school student. He acts like a 30 year old man. The heroine acts much younger than her age of 26 year. Also, the student is definitely pursuing the teacher. These two factors negated my usual ick response to this trope. This book was sexy and fun.

Since Defy, I have read three more books by L.J. Shen, Vicious, Ruckus, and Sparrow. The Sinners of Saint City is my favorite series and the books get better and better. Shen writes about sexy, tortured alpha heroes obsessed with the heroines. Which is one of my favorite tropes.