Troy BrennanEvery 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. … 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.
Sparrow is an Amazon international bestseller.
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I received this book when I subscribed to the author’s newsletter a few days ago. My obsession with her writing started with TKT, but it seems this won’t stop until I read all of her books. So, I read this one, and dude… what a ride! This book was so amazing, different to others I’ve read, but as addictive as the previous books that I’ve read by L.J. Shen. Her writing style is like that, you know. Addictive as hell.
Sparrow and Troy were amazing characters, and it was awesome to see them recognize the beauty in each other flaws, to get over the things keeping them apart (even when they were within themselves) and resolve their love story. A love story unlike any other. I loved this book so much.
Easy 5 stars. This book was amazing. Sparrow and Troy’s story is captivating and suspenseful. Everything was totally on point and it is a very smooth read from start to the wonderful finish!
I loved Sparrow…. Everything about this book felt so real it hurt to read sometimes.
Troy being so dark and dangerous, and unforgiving made him hard to ignore. Sparrow’s make the best of this approach, made me adore her fighter personality.
This book just felt real. It’s beautifully written and has such a good story line, I’m so thankful to have stumbled upon it.
Awesome I wish there was a continuation book
I just finished this and it is awesome. I with a continuation book was in the works. Great reading
This book is so f***ed up, and I loved it. This was so good, dark, but good, and it makes you think about how different we all really are. Darkness resides in us all, but to what degree and to what morality? Whew, I as sad when the book ended, but kind of relieved too, puts you through the wringer!
I tried not to really get into this book. I couldn’t put it down. A great writer
I really enjoyed it much to my surprise. Not my usual read but the characters were multi dimensional and I found myself routing for the bad guy.
Good book, being from the Boston area I have known people like the characters in this story. Troy and Sparrow (lovebird) were awesome and deserved their HEA
Excellent book. I finished it in one sitting, couldn’t put it down!
I’m a big fan of romance novels but this was not your usual guy gushes all over the girl and the girl is not a fan of the guy, but for some reason I loved it and couldn’t put it down.
Sparrow by L.J. Shen is a dark, enemies to lovers, contemporary, romantic suspense told in dual POV.
Sparrow Raynes is forced to marry her father’s boss, Troy Brennan, a powerful fixer and the son of a dead mobster. He is dangerous, cruel, and she has no idea why he has taken her as a wife. He certainly doesn’t care about her or show her any kindness.
All Troy cares about is avenging his father’s death. He made a promise to his father that he’ll marry Sparrow, and keeps his word even though he hates the very idea of it. He’s angry about being forced into this situation and doesn’t care much about making her comfortable or happy.
But Sparrow isn’t the type of bird to be caged for long. She plans to get out of this sham of a marriage and fights back every step of the way. Troy is impressed by her strength and spirit and he eventually falls in love with her, and she with him.
I really enjoyed this story with its suspenseful twists and turns. I liked both characters. Sparrow was sweet, strong and spunky. Troy was a huge jerk, but he was hot as hell and underneath his hard exterior there was a soft side usually kept hidden. Their story isn’t sweet or pretty, but I was rooting for them to make it and happy with the ending.
This book is well-written and I really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it. I will definitely read more from this author.
I could not put this book down, stayed up until 2 in the morning. Great characters and story. Wish I could find more by this author.
My 1st book of Shen’s and I really enjoyednjoyed this well written story! Good character development and world building! I look forward to reading more from this offer!
By far one of the best books I have listened to in a long time. It has so much to offers listener The story has so many twists and turns and not at all predictable. You will love this book
4.5 stars
Because of being in a bit of a reading slump last week, I decided to reread Sparrow. In the hope that a beloved favorite of mine would get me out of my funk.
In this case it’s with great pleasure that I can report that Sparrow was as entertaining and fascinating this time around as it was when I read it two years ago. While it’s amazing to find a novel that truly worked for me, it’s even more satisfying if a reread is as good the second, third or fourth time as it was the first time around.
I love the mob and mafia trope.
I love it when the hero fits the image of a mobster in not only reputation but also character. If I read about mobsters I need the characters to act accordingly. Troy Brennan had no trouble getting his hands dirty. He might not have been a hitman, but he had the balls and guts to get things done when needed. He ruled with an iron fist and had the attitude to back it up.
Sparrow was feisty. She teased, spoke back, disagreed and gave Troy hell when needed. She stood up to him, and surprisingly the more she and Troy spent time together the more Troy saw himself in her. In all honesty, Sparrow was the perfect woman for Troy. She didn’t care about his money, but she also didn’t nag him about toeing the line in regards to his work, especially the outside the box coloring Troy did. All she cared about was honesty, which of course didn’t come easy to a man like Troy.
I absolutely loved above all, how Troy and Sparrow’s relationship changed over time. How from hate and disregard, their mutual feeling grew to respect and a deeper understanding about who they were to each other.
This story is the opposite of insta-lust/love.
Real relationships are hard work and don’t happen overnight, and that’s what I loved about SPARROW the most. SPARROW definitely fit the mold of forced proximity makes for explosive times, and the forced marriage trope worked wonders for this mafia focused novel.
4.5 Red Stars
Oh WOW! I am kinda in shock right now. I finished this book yesterday at 3pm and I have been trying to digest my feelings ever since. I want to say that I just loved this book. Loved it! I am still kinda shocked how much I loved this book considering it has my main pet peeve deal breaker in it…… CHEATING!!! You heard that right this book has Cheating in it and I still loved it. Normally cheating ruins a book for me and gives me a case of the rants, but the way it was written and the circumstances I was able to forgive Troy. But for those of my friends that Cheating is also a deal breaker for them here is what happened so you don’t get this book and get blindsided. The reason I was able to over look this cheating is because even though they were married it was like they hadn’t really started their relationship. They both hated each other and felt forced into the marriage. Even then Troy felt guilty. Sparrow didn’t even feel deeply hurt by it more disrespected. That also helped had Sparrow been hurt badly by his cheating I would have had a harder time getting over it, if at all. And once he started having feelings for his wife he was faithful.
Troy was a complex character. I figured going into this that I would hate him for being a big a-hole. But I never did. I was intrigued by him from the start. I may have hated some of the things he did but I always loved his character. He felt real. There was so many dimensions to him, that I always felt like I was learning something new. But he always stayed true to his character. He was always the mob bosses son, the fixer, the a-hole. Never did he all of a sudden become this sappy wuss and I loved that. He was the perfect anti-hero. Even though he was an a-hole he was a lovable a-hole with charm. I could see how Sparrow fell in love with him. Sparrow was an amazing heroine. She was perfect for Troy. She didn’t take Troy’s or anyone else’s crap. She was sassy, strong, brave, and a total fighter. She may have been in a marriage she didn’t want, but she didn’t let that stop her from living her life and demanding respect. I really loved Sparrow’s attitude. She didn’t fall apart and submit to a husband that had all the power and that everyone feared. She gave him hell at every turn.
I could totally feel Troy and Sparrows love. Their love wasn’t rushed. The build up was strong and felt natural. Hate turning to love made for powerful passion. Sparrow had me hooked from the start. I didn’t want to put it down, but I ended up having to. I had to leave and do something with my kids for like 4 hours and it drove me crazy. All I thought about was Troy and Sparrow. The second I got back home I had my kindle in hand to find out what happened next. This book did have some dark parts but I have read much darker books. I didn’t like Brock from the start. I knew something was fishy with him. And Cat(Catalina the ex and mistress) was a skanky, pathetic , hag and I hated her. I felt sorry for her poor son Sam. I kinda thought this book would be more of a mob read but it wasn’t. Troy wasn’t a mobster he was a fixer for hire. This book was a hit with me. All the characters were well developed and realistic even the ones I didn’t like. I thought the ending was great. Loved the HEA although I wish it would have been a little bit longer. This is my first time reading L.J. Shen but it won’t be my last!
Amazing journey, read it!!
I feel like anyone who follows my reviews might wonder about me giving this 5 stars. I am torn about a great number of things with this book, but because it kept me engaged and reading well into the few hours of sleep I get between my kids waking up, I assigned it all five.
I was initially extremely torn about Troy because that’s my son’s name. I hate the idea of raising anyone remotely like this character. When I started thinking of him just as Brennan, that helped. 😉 He’s an asshole through and through, made this way by his life and career. I don’t feel like some of the things he does are ever redeemable, even though I’m satisfied with the ending of this book. I wanted more from his backstory to explain his motives, his hows and whys. Some of them just rang a little too convenient and hollow.
Then we have Sparrow, who I can relate to, sympathize with, and even find very badass and amusing, but at the same time I don’t understand her. I don’t understand any woman who gets uncontrollably turned on by a violent asshole. Maybe that’s just me.
At the end of the day, I really enjoyed this story, was quite surprised by a number of the turns in the plot and was very satisfied when it was over. There were some items that frustrated me or left me wanting more, or even made me roll my eyes, but such is fiction. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a non-standard romance!