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Boston Belles

by L.J. Shen

The Boston Belles series by L.J. Shen has 4 known books (4 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The Hunter (2020). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is The Rake.

Books
4 known books (4 novels)
Published
4
First published
2020
Status
completed
Shelved under
Romance
Last checked

Start here: The Hunter (2020) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of The Hunter

The Hunter (2020)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. The Hunter

    Novel

    The Hunter (2020, 394 pages) opens Boston Belles with a forbidden, grumpy/sunshine romance between an ex-con and the woman determined to stay away from him, introducing the wealthy, dramatic Sinclair-adjacent social circle the rest of the series returns to.

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  2. The Villain

    Novel

    The Villain (2020, 422 pages) is the second Boston Belles novel, built around a marriage-of-convenience plot shadowed by mafia ties as L.J. Shen widens the Boston high-society world introduced in The Hunter.

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  3. The Monster

    Novel

    The Monster (2021, 398 pages), sitting between The Villain and The Rake in the reading order, is Boston Belles' dark, morally gray anti-hero romance, continuing the series' run of big, dramatic billionaire-world couples within the same Sinclair-adjacent social circle.

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  4. The Rake

    Novel

    The Rake (2022, 414 pages) closes out the published run of Boston Belles to date with an opposites-attract, marriage-of-convenience-for-a-baby storyline, following The Monster and bringing the wider Sinclair/Belles social circle full circle.

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About the Boston Belles series

Boston Belles follows the impossibly wealthy, impossibly messy social circle around the Boston Belles charity society and the Sinclair family men who orbit it. The Hunter opens with a forbidden, grumpy/sunshine romance between an ex-con and the woman he's determined to stay away from; the books that follow move through a marriage-of-convenience plot shadowed by mafia ties in The Villain, a dark, morally gray anti-hero romance in The Monster, and an opposites-attract, marriage-of-convenience-for-a-baby storyline in The Rake. L.J. Shen writes big, dramatic, often taboo-adjacent billionaire romance with sharp banter and genuinely twisty plots — these aren't just rich-guy fantasies, they lean into family dysfunction, old grudges and secrets that surface across the series.

Each book centers a new couple within the same Boston high-society world, and characters cross over between books as the wider Sinclair/Belles social circle gets filled in. The appeal is unapologetic melodrama done well: alpha heroes with real emotional damage, heroines who give as good as they get, and a soapy, high-stakes version of contemporary romance for readers who want billionaire-world glamour with genuine grit underneath it.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in the Boston Belles series?

Four: The Hunter, The Villain, The Monster, and The Rake.

What order should I read the Boston Belles books in?

Publication order: The Hunter, The Villain, The Monster, The Rake. Each is a standalone romance with a new couple, with earlier characters reappearing along the way.

Is Boston Belles by Meghan Quinn?

No — Boston Belles is written by L.J. Shen. It's sometimes confused with other billionaire/dark-romance series, but Meghan Quinn has no series by this name.

Is Boston Belles finished, or is a 5th book coming?

The Rake (2022) is the fourth and, as of August 2026, final book, with no new Boston Belles title announced.

Does Boston Belles connect to L.J. Shen's other series?

Loosely — it shares its extended universe and some crossover characters with other L.J. Shen books, but Boston Belles can be read and fully enjoyed as a self-contained series.

Reading order last verified .