Dark Sparrow Box Set: The Complete 6-Book Series by India Kells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have enjoyed every single page of this entire box set – even the dark ones that explained some of the horror the evil antagonist spread around the world. Dark Sparrows are the code name of a group of women that have been saved from horrifying circumstances and vowed to repay the favor if their assorted areas of expertise should ever be needed. Headed by Purgatory, an extremely specialized team in rescue operations, the Dark Sparrows never know if they’ll be called upon. Each of them receives their own call from Beatrice and Gabrielle (the Purgatory leader and 2nd in command) in this series. Each of them ends up assigned to their own brother of bastards, all for their own reasons. These bastards, as they affectionately call themselves, prefer to be seen that way than admit the evil monster that is Jamieson Finch is really their father. Brought together by the brother that was intended to be his heir, Lazarus King, each book focuses on it’s own bastard brother and his own journey to bring down the devil, and the ways he interrupts their plans. EACH OF THESE BOOKS DESERVES A TRIGGER WARNING FOR ASSORTED REASONS, PLEASE READ WITH CARE.

LOST BASTARD
Aleksei Voronov is the first son we read about. Aleksei is a brother from Russia who was orphaned and brought up on the streets. He is strong, hard, and never backs down from a fight – just what Finch wanted.

Deva Landry is a former MC princess that fled before she could be forced into a marriage she didn’t want by a father who was head of his club, and as brutal as you can imagine he could be. She upended her comfortable life as a physical therapist for veterans to repay her favor by acting as a therapist in a Chicago fighters gym and help protect Aleksei. She knows the odds of being rediscovered by her father in her hometown, but owes Gabrielle this favor and a finds the fight of her life, for her life, for the new man she can’t seem to keep herself away from.

COLD BASTARD
Archer Blackwood, leader of a business empire, is from London and expanding to Chicago. To help with the expansion, he needs an incredible interpreter to keep up with the languages and dialects of the buyers he deals with from around the world.

This is where Zoe enters. Gabrielle and Lazarus place Zoe within the ranks at the office in downtown Chicago to help keep an eye on Archer. As usual, Finch finds her secrets and uses them against her, even as she and Archer investigate the draw they feel towards one another.

WILD BASTARD
Kai Jones left his carefree surfer persona behind him, he thought with the memories of a very special woman he met on the beach before he joined the Army and later Delta Force. Though still a fan of loud hawaiian shirts and long hair, Kai is a seasoned and deadly soldier. He is the first son that Finch has not yet claimed. Will he be able to keep his focus on Finch when his past comes calling?

Isabel met Kai by coincidence 15 years ago on the beach in Hawaii, but has never forgotten the 2 weeks they shared together. In the years since, she has become an avid and successful businesswoman with an assortment of ways she earns revenue. She is best friends with Gabrielle, but they originally met when she was in the middle of her own crisis. Gabrielle knows she is precisely who Kai needs to help lead him through the next stage of attacking Finch to bring him down. Her biggest fear is that Kai will learn the real reason she deserted him all those years ago.

TRUE BASTARD
Liam Harker is an Irish detective in Chicago, and brother number 4. The other brother Finch has not yet acknowledged, he has fought to be a good man who helps others. His mother was forced by Finch and her faith was too strong to get an abortion for a child she didn’t want and didn’t love. When he meets the Dark Sparrow Gabrielle assigned him, he felt like life was playing a cruel joke on him.

Catriona Walsh is a novitiate with a knack for numbers. An orphan, she was raised surrounded by love and faith and light, and exudes her goodness from her pores. She sees people, helps people, trusts people, and gives them second chances. When she starts running the numbers, she finds questionable information and joins the adventure the brothers have had so far. Will her bright serenity soothe Liam’s soul?

DARK BASTARD
Sam Sarkhan grew up in the desert with his mother, a Bedouin princess. It was a simple life, but he was happy and loved. Until Finch discovered him and took him away. An unbearably hard past has made him a serious and heartbroken man, but his brothers have given him family and a sense of comraderie, and helped him aim towards bringing the infection of their father down. Sam is willing to lay his life down for all of them, but is unable to keep going anymore. Until a voice of desperation on the other end of a wrong number pulls at something in him.

Ellie is an emergency call center operator, and it is taking everything she has to keep going as the holidays bring an upswing in desperate calls and suicides. She doesn’t know why she answered the phone on New Years Eve from a number she didn’t recognize – but it seems fate knows what it’s doing. Sam is drawn to keeping an eye on Ellie – one last mission before he checks out. Things happen very fast after he “meets” Ellie but the connection they have and the way they make each other feel alive again draws them out of the dark. Will they be able to take down Finch while saving each other?

KING BASTARD
Lazarus. The last brother. The ringleader of the bastards. The heir apparent to Finch and the one who started the goal of taking him down. Lazarus has a weakness for family and gathered his brothers and called in the help of Purgatory to help protect them. After avoiding death, he only wants to finish the job and stop having to watch his brothers enter dangerous games with their father. All he wants is to have this over after putting a bullet in Jamiesons head and he is not interested in distractions.

Sasha has been around since book 1, as Deva’s cousin and a battlefield doctor. She is incredibly tough in her own right, and stands toe to toe with Lazarus from the beginning. They continue to circle and show the ways they care about one another, and she helped save Oz’s life after he was shot. While awaiting more missions overseas to help victims in war torn areas, she joins the group in Chicago to find herself ending up in the sights of Finch. Will she be able to withstand him? Will Oz be able to withstand her? Will all the brothers end up finding something worth living for after their goal is accomplished? Book 6 is explosive and an amazing conclusion to this incredible series.

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