Publishing Date: March 1, 2016
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Pages: 310
Romance/Suspense
The Premise from the Author: "Troy Brennan. Every Southie in Boston knows that name. The son of a dead mobster. The heart-throb with steel-blue eyes. "The Fixer" who can make or break you in this city. Oh, and my new husband. Sparrow Raynes. That's me. No one seemed to remember my name up until he barged into my life. But then he caged me. Kidnapped me. And killed every chance I had to run away from the place where we grew up. Put simply, Troy Brennan clipped my wings. I have dreams, big ones, but I doubt he'll ever let me chase them. I have no idea why he decided to take me as his wife. But I do know this: pissing off this man will not do me any good. At all" (Shen).
My overall thoughts and review: So I first started my love with L.J. Shen's writing with her book Vicious, I absolutely loved it and I'm slowly working my way through her backlist. I always have such a hard time writing reviews for books I really love because I feel like all I say is, it's good, it's good, it's good. But I really want to write a review promoting L.J. Shen's books because she is slowly becoming one of my favorite romance authors ever. I'm going to slowly write reviews for all of her books, and this one is one that I've read recently and literally devoured in a day. I had a day off and spent the entire day in bed reading this. I could not put it down and when it ended, I was pretty sad that there wasn't more. There is something about her writing that is so captivating and I'm immediately drawn into the world and the characters. The story of Sparrow has the premise of an arranged marriage between a mob boss' son. Sparrow is forced into marrying Troy, who she barely knows and has only heard some rumors about. Those rumors she heard also weren't really good and they were about Troy murdering some people. Immediately, Troy is definitely a hard-to-love character, but you can't help falling for him. Everything he even says to Sparrow, makes you as the reader, fall for him. He is so mysterious, charming, and cutthroat. He doesn't make excuses and gets right to the point which I like. I also really liked how Sparrow was because she was his equal. She didn't stand for any of his crap, and anything that he dished out to her, she was able to throw it right back. They had a slow-burn romance that I am a big fan of. I love seeing relationships develop and do a complete 180 and surprise the reader. I absolutely loved watching their story unfold and how much of their relationship began with their family and their mistakes. I will say that this story does not get a full five stars from me simply because of some questionable things that happened with Troy and also with another character, Catalina (who I absolutely hated!). Some things simply didn't sit well with me, regardless of technicalities (Sparrow and Troy weren't a 'real' couple yet, but still). Besides that, I really enjoyed this read and it is my second favorite of her books after Vicious. There are so many layers to Troy & Sparrow, and I loved that it was more than simply a relationship between a girl and a mobster's son. Shen does an amazing job at world building and making sure that her characters actually live in the narrative as opposed to simply relying on dialogue. I was definitely surprised to with a few revelations so the story is always keeping you on your toes. If you haven't been introduced to L.J. Shen yet, what are you waiting for? She mixes romance perfectly with crime and suspense.
My rating of the book: ✮✮✮✮ (4/5 stars)
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