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Review
“Even villains have a happy ending every now and again.”
4 stars
A dark and gritty romance that is raw, intense and passionate, this story takes us on a trip to the ‘other’ side of the law as a sweet yet sassy girl is forced into marriage with one of the kings of the underworld, changing both of their lives in ways they never expected. It’s a gritty read with a sexy, yet slow-burning love story, and I loved it!
Troy Brennan is a ‘fixer’. He’s the man who fixes problems for those with enough money to hire his services. He’s not a hitman, but he is ruthless and vicious, nothing is too shady, too violent or too underhanded for him. He learned his skills at the side of his father, who was a mob boss, and since his father’s murder, he’s been on a mission to track down those responsible for his father’s death. But he’s also made a name for himself in his own right as a complete badass who is to be respected at all costs.
Sparrow Raynes grew up in the shadow of Troy’s family. Her father worked for his father, but she’s lived a quiet life away from all of that drama, following her own dreams. Until, at the age of 22, she is forced into a marriage that she doesn’t want with none other than Troy.
He smirked in a way that made me want to beg for mercy. “If you think you’re going to give me trouble, think again. I invented trouble. I stir it, I mix it, I fucking fix it. Don’t try my patience, because you’ll discover I have absolutely none.”
Sparrow has known of Troy her whole life, but she is understandably terrified of him. Not only is he obviously dangerous, but she has no idea of his motivations for marrying her, or his intentions now that he has her. But there’s something about him that sparks an interest in her, and as much as she resents it, she reacts to him in a way she’s never experienced before.
He gave me lies, and I ate them from the palm of his hand.
He gave me lies, and for him, I closed my eyes
And for a man who controls his world with an iron fist, who is used to coldly calculated hook-ups whenever and however he wants, there’s something about Sparrow that gets to Troy. She’s brave and feisty, she doesn’t fawn all over him, and she doesn’t back down from a fight. That’s something that he rarely encounters, and he finds that he likes it.
I hated liking her. In a sense, it was like handing her the keys to the pit of my soul while she was tanked as hell and telling her to drive carefully.
Their coming together isn’t your usual love story. It’s dark and twisted and there’s definitely no love there, but there is attraction, and as they get to know each other that attraction shifts from more than just the physical into something all-consuming for both of them.
We didn’t make love, we made war. When she was pulling, I was biting. When she was scratching, digging her nails into my flesh, I slammed harder, faster. Our sex was furious, it was raw, untamed, wild.
The sex is intense, but not too overwhelming. We know they’re doing it, but we don’t get to see each and every encounter, just key moments between them. And what we do see is raw, gritty and passionate and a great reflection of the chemistry between the two of them.
This is a seriously dark read. The world that Troy and Sparrow inhabit is dark and different, and the ‘usual’ rules don’t apply. There is murder, brutality, abuse (childhood sexual abuse occurring off the page), lying and cheating – but be assured that even though the feelings aren’t initially there, the sex between Troy and Sparrow is very much consensual. And in describing their world, nothing is off limits. It’s all out there, raw and intense, and creates a wonderfully dark and broody setting for the story.
And Troy is the king of it all. And wow, what a character! He’s not a badass with a squishy centre. He’s just a badass. Rich, powerful, arrogant and entitled, he’s used to getting whatever he wants, when he wants it. There’s nothing he can’t buy and nobody he can’t control, and he knows it – and uses it whenever he needs.
“Come near my wife again,” I said, “and I’ll show the world just how much of an angry motherfucker I can really be when someone touches what’s mine.”
And you would think that thrusting sweet and innocent Sparrow into his life would diminish her, but no. Her new world is scary, of course, but it provides an opportunity for her to shine as she shows her strengths and thrives despite all that she’s dealing with, and OMG I loved her! And it’s exactly that spark that draws Troy to her, pushing them both to their limits and making them look at each other in a completely different light, and I loved watching things shift between them as they found their groove.
Troy Brennan was the devil, but sometimes, even good girls wanted a healthy dose of evil in their lives.
The sub-plots and side characters help to build the story up to its exciting climax, and as danger closes in and long-held secrets are revealed, it will test Troy and Sparrow like never before, and they will need to dig deep to figure out what it is they truly want and figure out how to get it.
I really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t stop reading, and was madly trying to figure out how everything was going to play out, and I thought the way it happened was really well done. It’s different, but believable, and I loved delving into the darkness with these characters. It ends really well, giving us a great ending that is true to who Troy and Sparrow are, and it left me very satisfied.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and it’s really well done. However, it took me a few chapters to get used to the strong Boston accent that the narrator puts on –which I thought were really unnecessary. But still, it was an easy one to listen to and it really brought the story to life.
I loved this one – 4 stars.
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