Petty in Pink cover art

Petty in Pink

A Novella

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About this listen

Return to the bestselling world of The Devil Wears Black in this Valentine’s Day spin-off where longtime friends with benefits unwittingly find themselves in a serious predicament.

In New York Times bestselling author L.J. Shen’s valentine-themed novella, a surprise pregnancy shakes up expectations between a romance-phobe and her longtime hookup who’s always wanted more.

Layla Schmidt has artfully dodged Cupid’s arrows for six years now, keeping things casual with her standing booty call—no romance, no strings.

As far as Layla’s concerned, it’s the perfect setup. For both of them. With her painful track record, the lively teacher wants nothing to do with commitment, and Grant Gerwig, dedicated oncologist, is too busy for it. Truthfully, Grant wants to make the time, but he knows better than to push where Layla won’t budge.

Their emotional standstill can’t last forever, though.

When a coworker’s wedding brings a blast from Layla’s past, it blows a hole through her future too. Swirling emotions lead to impulsive decisions, and after an adrenaline-fueled night, she finds herself pregnant.

Layla and Grant have a lot to talk about…and a lot to prepare for. Falling in love was never supposed to be part of their equation, but even the best-laid plans unfold with some surprises along the way.

©2026 by LJS Publishing Inc. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Contemporary Romantic Comedy Pregnancy Emotions
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Most relevant
I loved this novella. Petty in Pink is an accidental pregnancy with the right person book.

I loved both the characters - Layla and Grant. There was levity, banter, and a lot of happiness to be found in this story. I had a thoroughly enjoyable few hours spent in this world.

I loved the narrators, they did a brilliant job.

Humour, Hearts and Happiness

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Really enjoyable listen and perfect for Valentines. Also proof you can put out a fully fleshed out romance in 150 pages.

Cute Valentines Read!

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Listened with Kindle Unlimited.

The main characters in this are Layla and Grant, the best friends of Maddie and Chase from The Devil Wears Black, (which is one of my favourite LJShen books btw). We start this story a little while in the future, Grant is still in love with Layla, but Layla is still emotionally unavailable, but they are at least booty call buddies and friends. After a very traumatic wedding (as a guest) Layla seeks solace in Grant, and she ends up pregnant. This story is basically what happens next, and yes there is a HEA.

It’s a fun listen, not too heavy (although there is some heavy subject matter off page, which could be triggering for some). The banter between Grant and Layla is high end, and we get a catch up with Chase and Maddie. It’s quite short, so most dramas are sorted out fairly quickly, so nothing is drawn out. I found it a great pallet cleanser after listening to a rather lengthy series.

Christian is one of my favourite male narrators, and he did a great job, as did Erin who is also an excellent narrator. It would have been better if it was a duet narration, but we can’t have everything I suppose.

Well worth a listen.

Quick, fun, listen

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This story started out really well, but I just lost interest in Layla. Her character was just too self sacrificing and it was becoming a bit annoying. This nearly 4 hour story, lasted a longer and dragged. I also felt that Erin Mallon’s narration came across as very whingy which is why I think I went off Layla’s character. Sorry this one did not work for me

Started out well

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