Punk Love

by L.J. Shen

From Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author L.J. Shen comes a quick and touching novella about first loves, teenage regrets, and a bittersweet ending

Alex is a taciturn teen with a chip on his shoulder and plans that do not involve having a girlfriend.
Lara is the romantic girl who wants a taste of danger...but not enough to risk her entire life.
When they first meet, they have one thing in common--an acquaintance neither of them is particularly attached to.
What starts as a casual relationship spins into an angsty love story with ups, downs, and heartache.
And through this first love, Alex and Lara find out the most valuable lesson life can teach--that love is a lot, but it is not everything.

Genres: Romance, Audiobook, Young Adult, High School, Novella, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary

169 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 20, 2022

About the author

L.J. Shen is a New York Times, USA Today, WSJ, Washington Post and #1 Amazon Kindle Store bestselling author of contemporary romance books.

She writes angsty books, unredeemable anti-heroes who are in Bill Gates's tax bracket, and sassy heroines who bring them to their knees (for more reasons than one).


Keep up with L.J. on all platforms:
Newsletter Sign up ➜ https://bit.ly/3LhsIrb
Instagram➜ shorturl.at/cDJRZ
TikTok ➜ shorturl.at/frw59
Facebook➜ https://goo.gl/fKCSo4
Website ➜ www.authorljshen.com

Reviews

[Tianna✸loves books✸ · Rating 2 out of 5]

What’s wrong with this book?

I mean it’s not even HEA. Atleast not with each other.

Girl meets boy. They bicker a lot but eventually start dating. Some jealousy and all. But still they stick together.
Later, the H is to go to Sweden for further studies. The h is sad. And they break up.
Does he comes back for her?

NO.
The h goes to university in London where she marries a local. It was convenient as she gets to stay in London and they do love each other. But after five years they divorce. She is still in contact with H now and then. But no, they don’t get together after her divorce.
The story ends with h being single and happy. And H married to someone else.

I’m not impressed.
Not my type.

[Yai Min (semi i.a.) · Rating 1 out of 5]

—⭐ —1/5 stars

Not read but I'm sure is just as bad as the previous one 🤷🏻‍♀️, not gonna apologise for being honest.

I guess karma does exit, when L.J gets an average of 3.9 in her release week 🤣🥳👏🏼, that's what happens when you do wrong.

(It's seriously maddening not being able to lower even more the rate.)

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just the book to get me out of my reading slump.

I never hung out with punks growing up, so I thought this would be interesting and different read an it was.

I have to say I found Alex way more interesting than Lara, here's why, Lara is pretending to be something she isn't. For example she says in the beginning she is a vegetarian but sometimes eats chicken nuggets that's not a vegetarian that's a liar. Then when she meets Alex she turns Vegan well at least she is when Alex is around, see what I mean. Alex is straightforward and knows exactly who he is, an makes no apology for it, you know exactly where you stand with Alex and he, unlike Lara is not a liar.

Happy Reading 📚📒📚📙📚📗📘📚📓📖📗📘📕📔📒📓📚📙📗📚

[augustine · Rating 1 out of 5]

i have no interest in an author who has no confidence in her writing and instead plagiarizes and uses her large PR team to get good ratings. check @sassysparrowx3 on ig to learn more.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe because I couldn't stop remembering being so young and in love but I felt sad the whole time I was reading this story. Like, choked up the whole two hours it took me to finish. No matter how strange I was feeling, which I'm going to assume that was just me, it was a sweet book. And as always, L.J. Shen will forever write heroine's I wish I were and the heroes I fall in love with.




~~Am I the only one who wants to see what "Alex" looked like then and now in real life? AND if he knows about this book? No? Just me then.

[Stephanie Dreyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. It’s realistic. Authentic. I loved the honesty and truth in it. Thanks for sharing this Leigh.

[Bibi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this just fine.

[fay · Rating 2 out of 5]

cute cover

[Lauren Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good! Short! Fun! Super light hearted. Enjoyable!

[PeaceOfGod]

UNBEILEVABLE.


Here , look at this-

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Yesmina · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, Punk Love was a delightful surprise: romance wise and intellectually wise.
As it appears: L.J Shen was in a writing slump and another one of her so many existential crisises, so she said: why not write about my first love: when I was 15-16 years old in the mid 2000s?

And that was the best decision ever! She changed real people names and we got her as Lara and we also got Alex her natively Russian boyfriend who's into Punk Rock, veganism, rebellious demonstrations, Drumming and some alpha mean hot moves!

I loved their story, I loved the teenage angst, I loved L.J Shen critiques of her former self.
Personally (really a personal take) I think Alex was too good for her. On another note, Your first love impact your love life and your work life if you're an author. The first book I've read of hers was Vicious and reading about her story with Alex: I can see where she got many of her MMCs characters and criterias from.
And I was overjoyed because I've never met hot possessive cave men in real life even if I fantasized about them in Romance Land. Mrs. Shen lived a really good life or at least a good teenage love life with that complicated specimen.

On a final note: Over the years I've heard so much shit about the author. People say she's a fraud, a plagiarist, and a mean girl. Haven't done any research and don't care to. But what saddens me is that I don't relate with her books any more. I'll always hold Vicious in high esteem and this book too that offered an interesting take to her life. But maybe she'll surprise me again in the future.

Ticking the square of a romance book starting with the letter "P" in my Bingo Challenge (2025)

25⭕ ┃37⭕┃87┃13┃68┃40⭕┃32┃59┃76┃44
10⭕┃86┃4 ┃45┃47┃98┃50⭕┃14⭕┃85┃75
88┃51┃ 9⭕┃2┃42┃29┃ 24┃92⭕┃ 82┃1⭕
100┃34⭕┃17┃96┃43⭕┃49┃64⭕┃70┃15┃38⭕
84┃31⭕┃ 62⭕┃7┃21┃73┃28┃46┃90┃77
3⭕┃12⭕┃80⭕┃ 69⭕┃52⭕┃ 65⭕┃54⭕┃ 91⭕┃23⭕┃ 72⭕
18┃95┃ 22┃99┃93┃74⭕┃41⭕┃8┃35⭕┃ 58⭕
57┃94┃ 16⭕┃56┃ 5⭕┃60┃78⭕┃ 26┃81┃ 61
97┃48⭕┃ 79⭕┃67┃ 53⭕┃30⭕┃ 6⭕┃36⭕┃89┃ 33⭕
71⭕┃19┃ 39⭕┃66┃ 55┃27┃ 20┃63┃ 11┃83

[Sharon ∞❥ is an emotional book junkie ❥∞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 ⭐'s

I'm not a fan of newsletter stories so I was happy when I heard this would be released in a book.

Alex and Lara meet through a mutual friend, Ryan. They are all in high school and Ryan and Alex play in the same band.

They meet up to go to a vegan protest. Lara is testing her boundaries and what she likes and doesn't like. She's excited to meet other people that are doing the same.

She's drawn to Alex but he's not a nice guy except to her. They start texting and doing things but not really dating.

It's somewhat known that Ryan has a crush on her so when Alex asks her to another protest, she doesn't want to go since Ryan will be there. Alex tells her to just tell him they are dating but she's having a hard time so Alex does it.

This leads to some huge problems with Ryan...a lot that Lara has to deal with daily.

This is a pretty typical first love type of story with L.J. Shen's alphahole. I wanted to like Alex and I wanted to pull for their relationship. However, Lara was very intuitive and her not wanting to have sex with just one person was pretty spot on. I still had my hopes up.

I can't say that I was always happy with the way Lara was going. A roadside meet up got me excited. That's when I knew I wasn't going to be happy with the way this book ended.

[‧͙୨୧ opal reads ୨୧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute coming of age story! I really wanted the mc and Alex to end up together though. A nice way to pass the time :)

[Tapasya · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title was enough for me to not read this book but still I did.
And I didn’t like it.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how, but this got too me sooo bad, just felt so real! I was balling like a fucking baby 😭😭
Happy she got her happy ever after just REALLY wished it turned out differently.... I can't even deal, I'm too upset 🥺😫

[🌹Natasha🌹 · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a free story we got from LJ Shen’s newsletters. Every month for the year of 2021 we got a chapter in our newsletter. Thank goodness it was free because it was not good. Or at least for me it wasn’t good. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I just didn’t like any of the characters. Alex was just an arrogant asshole and not the type of asshole you learn to love either. He came off a little controlling & jealous at times. Leigh, I think that was her name, was kind of annoying. “Oh Alex hasn’t even kissed me yet but I wanna marry him.” I get it was a young adult novella but ugh.

Honestly, there really was no point to the story. It was just boring for me.

I loved Shen’s writing in the Sinners of Saint series and the All Saints High series but since then, I haven’t found anything that I’ve really enjoyed from her. I’m hoping she gets back to writing more characters like Vicious.

[FM18 · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, L.J. Shen’s writing is captivating and raw. When Lara mentioned she wanted to become an author, I started to wonder if the story was not autobiographical. By the end of the book, I really think it is. It seems Alex has inspired many male characters she created later like Vicious. Getting into her head and getting a glimpse of her life is very special and I feel thankful for her to share. Her first love marked her for sure. I gave 4 stars instead of 5 as the end lacked of development. For example, more information about Patrick. Good read overall.

[Desi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh!

1.5/5 estrellas

No me gustó mucho este libro... sobre todo porque el que supuestamente es el protagonista resulta que no serlo.... entonces pa que nos cuenta sobre él en todo el libro... medio incoherente la cosa!!

Además de medio aburrido con todo eso del veganismo y ni hablar del marxismos presente.... pura basura!!

Y los personajes no me agradaron tampoco

[Lucie Lu's Book Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm…where to start. I just want to make this clear that I have read books by this author in the past and very much enjoyed them. Then the whole situation with plagiarism came about, which I do not support in any way, meant not reading her books from then on. I read and finished Punk Love, but this story just wasn’t for me. I read romance novels to escape reality, if I wanted reality I would either stick on the news, or read a biography. I take full responsilbity and know it is my own fault for thinking this book was going to be romantic with a HEA. Therefore I have given it two stars.

[isabella · Rating 1 out of 5]

read it for the sole reason of adding it to my goodreads challenge (but also a little bit of curiosity). Think the one star speaks for itself.

[Smicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it... it was authentic & relateable... a nice interlude. The narration was well done. Just finished the audiobook.

[Lydia's Bookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dont even know what to say other than…
Whaaat the actual fudge cookies was that ending!!!! 😩😩😩 I get that this was based on a true story, and cool, whatever. But I am not okay with that ending. I guess I was hoping for a little bit of fiction thrown into the mix? I mean…why!!

If you know me, you know I need a happy ending.

And if you’re like me, spoiler alert…skip this one.


I absolutely loved Lara’s sarcasm. She made me laugh so many times — loved her! Truly, I laughed out loud more times than I can count. It was a joy watching her grown into the woman she ended up becoming and I can honestly say that I loved her journey.

Alex? I LOVED him too. I could tell his and Lara’s relationship was one that would end up being a stepping stone. You know, that “first relationship” which we all know ends. But helloooooo!!! This is where I needed the fiction to be mixed in with the “true story” part because…AHH.

I am gutted!

This was a story about a first relationship and how Lara “found herself”, I guess.
It was a solid 5 stars until the last 30 minutes or so.


But the narrator?? She was GOLDEN!!
3 stars to the story - only because of the ending
5 solid stars to the narrator.

[c a r í · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia en general está bien y se transmite la verisimilitude. No diría que el final es un 𝐇𝐄𝐀 porque no es por lo menos desde mi perspectiva con respecto al espectro romántico.

Aunque este libro se basa en "𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒔" y no en la ficción, 𝐇𝐄𝐀 está destinada a no suceder y c'mon, después de todo, es una novela adolescente.

En general, todavía disfruté mucho de la bonita historia de amor de 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝘅 𝘆 𝗟𝗮𝗿𝗮, oh, cómo deseo ser joven y enamorarme de nuevo. Es verdaderamente agridulce.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started loving the story, both characters were teenagers and acted like teenagers, so yes they were frustrating and stupid (just ol’ teenagers). The reason for these 3 stars was the final, I didn’t like how it all ended, Alex and Lara were meant to end up together, it was all so rushed, didn’t like it at all

[Fabiana Nieto · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[convertingtobooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was CUTE.

[Raeleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun read I love everything about it ❤️ it was so relatable and fun. Definitely one of my top reads of the year thus far. I love how it was light hearted but also touched in so many issues at once.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first autobiographical story I read. I don’t know what I expected exactly but it was good! Especially the point that your first love might not be your last love comes across very good. Also, that you can still have a friendly relationship with your ex- not every breakup has to be ugly and end in mutual hate for each other.

[Brie (briereadsbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, but not my favorite LJ Shen book.

[Nuard_UM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buenísimo!