Sparrow: A Decadent Mafia Romance

Title: SparrowAuthor: L.J. ShenDesignation: Full-Length Standalone Novel, NO CliffhangerReading Platform: Kindle UnlimitedGenre: #Romance #Mystery #Suspense #Thriller #CrimeDramaMy Rating: Five 'Now-That's-What-I'm-Talkin'-About' Stars*****OMG! Now that's what I'm talking about! I'm just so excited about this book; I'm literally bouncing in my seat! This was my first experience with L.J. Shen and had no idea what to expect but I saw a great review from a friend on Goodreads and decided to give it whirl....and so glad I did! It was only 99 pennies for a full-length standalone novel which I thought was an excellent bargain and sounded exactly like my cup of tea. I purchased it on a Sunday evening just before bedtime with the intention of reading it later in the week. I decided to read the first few pages, you know, just to get a feel for the book. But folks, I could not put the darn thing down. A few minutes turned into an almost all night read-fest and this book was AMAZEBALLS...and totally unlike anything I've ever read! I LOVED it! It's very seldom an author can lead me on a merry chase without me being able to figure out who is who and what's gonna happen but Shen kept me on my toes and screaming "What the heck" through the entire book. It was magnificent. Sparrow is a realistic, thrilling, emotionally gripping and highly imaginative contemporary crime drama filled to the brim with mystery, suspense, danger, drama, violence, angst, sex and romance. It's exceptionally well-crafted and edited with a beautifully written clearly defined his and her first person narrative. The dialogue is smart, seductive, easy to follow, well executed and flows effortlessly. But without a doubt, my favorite component of this story is the cast of intriguing, well-developed, realistic and very engaging larger-than-life characters. They are magnificent. Have you ever read a book where you thought you had all the good guys and bad guys all figured out, only to discover you were completely wrong??? Well, prepare yourself because this is one of those books! I fell head over heels in love with the not-so-nice Troy Brennan aka The Fixer which is totally out of character for me because he's one very bad man. And Sparrow Raines is a breath of fresh air and completely delightful. Their sexual chemistry was off the charts sizzling hot. It's hard to talk about this book without giving spoilers so I will simply say, expect the unexpected!Sparrow Raines could not believe the nightmare her life had become. In only a matter of hours, she had gone from being an aspiring chef to a prisoner in a gilded cage. For some ungodly and completely unknown reason, her father had literally given her to the worst criminal in Boston, Troy Brennan... and she was to become his bride. What? She didn't even really know the man but she knew his reputation and it wasn't pretty. He was feared by everyone in Boston...including her. She'd seen him a few times growing up because her father had worked for his father, deceased former mob boss Cillian Brennan. She didn't think Troy was actually in the mob but he was still the most dangerous and feared man in all of Boston. He was known as The Fixer, and he...well...he fixed things and I don't mean the plumbing. He fixed situations, as in got rid of people...um...problems. Yup, he's a dyed-in-the-wool, stone-cold killer and soon to be her new husband. What the heck? He doesn't even know her and it certainly couldn't be because he was enamored with her brain, body or beauty because she wasn't smart, didn't have a great body and certainly was not beautiful. He had simply come to her dad's house,made a deal with her father, collected her, taken her to his penthouse, literally imprisoned her and then promptly left. Now, only a few days later, she's in a church with hundreds of guests and about to be married to a complete stranger. None of it made any sense at all. Well, she may have to marry him but if he thought she was going to bow down to him, he better think again. She would never allow him to touch her. Good grief, she was twenty-two and still a virgin. She had no experience with men at all and he was at least ten years her senior. He was handsome, filthy rich, dangerous and feared by all...even law enforcement. He was also rude, crude, entitled and downright mean. She'd seen pictures of him all over the media with nothing but beautiful sophisticated women hanging on his arm. She wore ragged jeans, hoodies, and tennis shoes, so what the heck did he want with her? Hmm...I guess we'll see. No spoilers from me but I will say this... Smart, sassy, aspiring chef who refuses to be a victim-check! Handsome ruthless criminal with ulterior motives-check! Danger, drama, deceit, lies, manipulations and a plethora of unexpected plot twists that you'll never see coming-check! Heated attraction, fiery passion, steamy sex and not-so-sweet romance-check! Hang on to your hats, folks! This is one wild, wicked ride!Did I like this book? No, I LOVED it! Would I recommend it? You bet and I am but only for adults since it contains violence, profanity, and explicit sex. Will I read this author again? Abso-freakin-letely! Was I entertained? Totally and completely! If you're looking for dark, dangerous,thrilling, delicious, can't-put-down romance that will keep you glued to your ereader from the first page until the very last line with your heart fluttering wildly in your chest, then this is definitely the book for you! Fabulous entertainment and an awesome read.***Warning***There are two scenes which may be considered by some readers as cheating.

I read this book after I read The Hunter and The Monster from the Boston Belles series, which is one of my all time favorite series. I wanted to see how Sparrow and Troy came together and the family roots of Sailor and Sam.Unlike the books from The Belles series, which I devoured, this one took me some time to get through.First, and I know this is a me problem, but I hate when a character cheats. It makes it very difficult for said character to redeem themselves after that. The fact that Troy already had so few redeeming qualities the cheating just tipped the scale for me and I never warmed up to him.I did however like Sparrow. She was smart, strong and sassy. Nothing is worse than a damsel in distress type of heroine and Sparrow was far from that.I don't know that I would classify this as a slow burn because there was very little spice in this book and I never really felt the connection between the two main characters.That being said it was still a good story. I love the flow of LJ Shen's writing. There was plenty of angst, twists and turns that kept me coming back to it.For me it was more of a Mobster Mystery than a Mafia Romance.

I really was so intrigued by these two characters after reading all about the Boston Belles. In particular Sam’s story. I just HAD to know Sparrow and Troy’s story. I’m so glad I did. It was one of the best reads of this Author so far. Loved it!

5 Second look at Sparrow by L.J. ShenA Quick SummarySparrow is taken from her home, life, and friends to marry a man she knows nothing about. He is her father’s boss, but rumors is all she knows of him. He’s a fixer.Troy finds that Sparrow is strong and he loves her spirit. Though he was forced to marry her, he starts to fall in love with her (though he doesn’t know it or see it for what it is). He’s mean, hard.Sparrow is kidnapped and he must fix the situation once again.My Take on the Book :I hated Troy until I loved how he was with her. Sparrow is all he ever loved.My Review of Sparrow by L.J. ShenLet's Talk About the Girl...Sparrow Raynes is a survivor. She can’t be caged or caught or forced unless she wants to. Abandoned by her mother at an early age and caretaker for her alcoholic father, she has learned that life is never going to be easy. She was never going to have free and easy. She had to work for everything she has. That’s fine. She doesn’t mind working hard for what she loves. She’s going to cooking school with dreams of owning a food truck one day. Until, everything gets taken from her… yet again.Let's Talk About the Guy...Troy Brennan knows death. He knows blood and loss and pain. The son of a murdered mobster, Troy is on a mission to find the men that betrayed and murdered his beloved father. It was a promise to his father.10 years ago, his father made him make another promise –to marry and take care of Sparrow. Another burden that his father heaped on him. He is stuck with her, but he won’t ever love her and she better get used to it.Let's Talk about the Story...Troy Brennan is on a mission to avenge his murdered father. But before he can finish his mission he has to full fill a promise to his father first. Marry Sparrow Raynes. Yes, he’ll be stuck with her, but that’s beside the point. He doesn’t have to like her. He is just full-filling the promise he made to the father the loved. He informed her of their impending marriage by take her from her home, installing her into his apartment, supplying her with take out menus and leaving her to it. Have a good week.Marriage is new for him. Feeling are new to him. Her spark of fire and take-no-shit attitude attract Troy. She reminds him of… well, him. He doesn’t really see the point in caring about her. He know their relationship is doomed from the beginning. (See Spoilers) But he does like to see her occupied and maybe a little happy. (It would get her out of the house and allow him to see his mistress without having the worry about her) So when he finds out that she likes to cook he installs her into his high end restaurant where she meets Brock, right hand man of Troy and restaurant manager.Sparrow tries to finds her way in the new world that she is trust into. Working, jogging, meeting with friends. Living with her awful husband as best she can, but it’s more that difficult. He cheats on her openly and living with him is a chore. She tries to connect with him but he takes joy in trying to make her feel small. Well, good luck with that. She can’t be taken down by a man like her husband.As the days go on, Troy watches Sparrow take all of his challenges and rise above them. All of them. She is strong. She proves that daily. He stops looking at his mistress as the ideal beauty and starts to really see this small, red haired, girl-woman as the true beauty and warrior that she really is. As he learns more about her life, he finds she has survived much more than he knew (See Spoilers).When she is taken on the street on morning, Troy must finally come to feel and acknowledge the feeling that he hasn’t been dealing with for a few weeks. He has to find her. He finally sees what his hate has been blinding him to for too many years. He has to save his wife.I really liked this book. I liked the story and the characters. The pace of the plot is good. Nothing is too fast or too slow. You get to see the couple first hate each other, then slowly find things they liked about each other and then come to love each other in the ways that they can, but so much of this book is about Troy’s mission and Sparrow’s past. Troy isn’t ever going to be anything but who he is, but once he figures out that he loves her, Troy loves her wholeheartedly.

This was a blind read from TikTok, and it's so refreshing! Different from the norm.I love sparrow, in fact, I am thinking of renaming myself sparrow at this point. I identify with her struggles and emotions.I didn't want the story to end; i just love their love.....

Got my order, and the book came in great shape

First book I'd read by this author. Loved the cover and how different it was to other romance book covers with pictures of men or couples. I thought it was going to have suspense, drama and emotional depth. I enjoyed the book and read it quickly. But felt it lacked the right emotional depth for me and I didn't totally buy into the connection between Sparrow and Troy. For me Troy didn't have enough redeeming characteristics to be a well-matched partner for Sparrow and I just didn't like him enough to buy into their relationship. I wanted to see more positive change in Troy. I guess that is what the Miami vacation in the epilogue is supposed to show but there was no suggestion Troy was going to change his line of work.Also I think it is irresponsible for authors of hot romances to not address safe sex. Troy didn't take care to reduce Sparrow's risk of STIs after being with someone else without protection just days before taking Sparrow's virginity. Even though it was orgasmic for Sparrow, losing her virginity seemed too rough for a first time. Why do we still have an obsession with the women being virgins despite the men being so experienced?So overall not really my thing... But if you like innocent virgins with bad guys you will probably like this.

With a book review blog not reading for a while isn’t really an option, so I picked up Sparrow by L.J.Shen with the intention of forcing myself through it even if I didn’t really want to read. But I am so glad I did. It was bloody AMAZING. I started getting into it on my break, then when I came home from work at 7am instead of going to bed I stayed up and finished it. I had to. It had its claws in me. Deep. In work I was reading and laughing to myself, grinning and having toe curling moments all on my 60 minute break. I literally struggled to put it away. I loved the brutality of certain parts. The directness, the honesty and the sexiness of others bits just made this a really refreshing read.Troy Brennan is a ‘Fixer’ and the son of a dead mobster boss. If you have a problem, he can make it go away and I love how Shen doesn’t shy away from using blood and violence. He forces Sparrow Raynes into marriage, for reasons he’s not willing to share, but their union turns out differently than he expects as he realises that Sparrow isn’t going to take everything sitting down. She’s feisty, independent and doesn’t need Troy or his money, so buying her off to keep her happy isn’t going to work.This book is told from dual POV which I thought was great, because unlike some of the other reviewers on Amazon I LOVED Troy. Yes he’s flawed, and at times a bit of a muppet but he’s the son of a mobster, involved in an organisation that is full of traitors and backstabbers waiting for him to trip up. Who would come out of that unscathed? I also loved Sparrow, she has a fiery temper and a determination that makes her perfect for the guy who bribes, buys, kills or tortures his way into getting everything.So thank you L.J.Shen, because you brought me out of my book funk with a dark, funny, sexy story that left me wanting more.

Why have i waited so long to read this!!!Ok so i bought this book last year and after reading other books written by LJ Shen lately decided to read Sparrow and OMG im so annoyed i left it so long!Absolutely LOVED this story!! Jammed packed with love ..betrayal.. emotions and a few twists and turns to keep you guessing and turning those pages!!!This is the story of Troy who starts the book by getting revenge on the men who set up his fathers death... cut to a few years later and we find him at his wedding to Sparrow a young girl from the neighbourhood who has been forced into the marriage without being told why but is all as it seems at first?? .. loved the banter between main characters and the way Sparrow answers Troy back... she is 100% a strong confidant woman. Could not put this book down from start to finish!

Why have I waited so damn long to read this author?? Because I'm stoopid that's why. OMG it feels like a cruel joke that this has been satin my kindle all this time unread. SMHTo everyone who loves a real bad boy.. An anti hero with an attitude to match, then Troy Brennan is for you. This deliciously dirty, dark, dangerous man is the anti hero of anti heroes & all wanted to do, the more I read of him, was to devour him whole. He oozes dominance, power & control, yet this man has a squishy heart & I loved him.Sparrow & Troy were magnificent. Their journey was hot, passionate, gripping, & oh so TENSE!!! From start to finish I couldn't tear my eyes away. The plot twists were cunning & oh so sneaky, but blimey did they keep me hooked. I lv d their connection, their chemistry & the way they both opened their heart to love, in way neither expected or wanted.Ugh I didn't want it to end. Amazing read & cant wait to read more from this fabulous author.

I loved this book. I knew I would because I have yet to come across an L.J. Shen book, I didn't enjoy. Sparrow has been on my TBR for ages. I put off reading some books for a long time, simply because I love that very first read through. That satisfying feeling I get at the end, when the author wraps up the story and I wish it could go on forever. That's when I know the world contained in the story, became 'real'.Troy is the opitomy of the bad guy. He is uncaring, cruel, spiteful and downright nasty.Sparrow is the picture of innocence. However, she is feisty, strong, independent and resourceful.Slowly, the hand life has dealt Troy and Sparrow, changes them. They start to see each other for what they are on the inside and not just what the world perseves.Slowly but surely, they navigate their delicate relationship. But there will always be outside forces to try to ruin things for them.I got so caught up in this story, I am happy to say, I am glad I kept it for so long before reading it. It is without doubt one of my favourites for 2019.