52 pages • 1 hour read
L. J. ShenVicious
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Series Context: Sinners of Saint
Vicious is the first installment in L. J. Shen’s Sinners of Saint series, which follows Vicious and his friends, known as the “Four HotHoles” of All Saints High School in the fictional town of Todos Santos, California. The 2016 novel, published on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited/Kindle Direct Publishing platform, is commonly recommended on “BookTok,” the book-themed community on the social media platform TikTok.
The series contains four novels and a prequel novella, which takes place before the events of Vicious. This prequel novella, Defy (2017), follows Jamie, one of Vicious’s close friends, and his affair with his teacher. The protagonists of this taboo romance (a genre term for romances centered on relationships that defy social norms) are married in Vicious.
The other installments in the series include Ruckus (2017), which features Vicious’s friend Dean and Emilia’s sister, Rosie; Scandalous (2017), which centers on Vicious’s friend Trent; and Bane (2018). This last book is the only novel not to feature a character from Vicious as a protagonist.
Shen has a further spinoff series that takes place in Todos Santos. The All Saints High series features the children of the main characters in the Sinners of Saint series.
