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We have finally come to the end. The final book in Sophie Lark's Kingmakers series is The Spy. This book also kind of wraps up her connected series Brutal Birthright and Underworld. I have mentioned this before, but Sophie Lark is doing a live show on Jenn's (The Book Refuge) channel on Saturday. The first little bit will be just an author hang out, but then there will be spoiler and the discussion will really get into the storyline of The Spy and her series. She and her husband mentioned in the previous live show that the best reading order is to do Brutal Birthright, the few couple books of Underworld until you get through Snow, and then to do the Kingmakers. That is what I did and it really was a great reading experience. Update: I applied this to the prompt of two word title for the 3rd board of Summer of Swoon.
So for this review, I don't want to be too spoilery since it's a huge deal on who the spy is, but I'll try to stick with things are fairly obvious or mentioned in the blurb. There are hints throughout the first three books. I mentioned in my review of the The Bully that I had two options I was waffling between on who the spy was. After reading The Bully, I was 90-10 on my two options. I can happily announce, the Spy is who I though he was. However, why I thought he was the spy and his real persona was a surprise. I want to talk about things, but I don't want to spoil them.
Okay, so Nix is our heroine. She is the only daughter of the Malina mafia. We say dealings with them in The Rebel and her father is known to ignore the normal graces between mafiosos. Like honor and you don't mess with children and women when it's the man's fault and similar things. It may seem odd, but they do have their own code of ethics and you usually see worse punishments towards those that break that unwritten code. Nix has been pretty sheltered, knowing enough of her father's business to not be blind about what he's doing, but also not fully aware of his reputation and actions he's taken. She is quickly ostracized at Kingmakers and realizes that her father has rubbed pretty much ruined relationships with every other family. She makes friends with Sabrina, Nero and Camille's sassy daughter. She kind of gets dragged into the friend group we've been following, but things are still tense.
This might be a little spoilery, but the spy is going to get close to Nix. He wants revenge on something her father did and they are going to use her. A plan isn't completely formed at the beginning of the book, but he knows that he's going to have to get close to her and then betray the trust that gets formed. Of course things escalate between them and they both quickly find a connection unlike any other. I mean, this is a romance.
Why only the four stars? I loved this book, but I did want more from the romance. I understand and liked that Sophie wrapped up so many loose ends and really tied up all three series. It was one of the best final books in a series I've ever read and I feel comfortable with things ending. Even a lot of side characters get mentions of finding an hea. The only one is Kade! Why didn't Kade get an hea? There was a lot and it makes sense that the romance couldn't be forefront the entire time. I don't know, I just was left feeling a little wanting on their connection. I feel like there were more instances where we were told about them connecting instead of shown.
Now, I want to get into a couple spoilers, so if you don't want any, please skip to the final paragraph! One thing I really didn't like was Nix's father at the end. Even when he's dying, he's still trying to choke out his daughter. I guess it helped show that she really didn't have the connection with him that she thought, but he already tried to kill her moments before. How about he tells her really loved her or something in the final moments instead of trying to choke her. I don't know, it just really bothered me that in his last moment he didn't leave anything positive for his daughter to reminisce on. I don't care how bad he was, he was still her dad. Gah! I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Which is another issue I had. We find out that in the prologue/first chapter that the spy's father was attacked by Nix's father. We have met his father before, and I lost it crying. I had to set the book down because I was so connected to him and didn't want to see him die. Now, since this is my spoiler section, he's not actually dead. He's being kept prisoner for ransom. However, it took way too long for my liking to find out he's actually not dead as the reader. Thinking back there were little clues, but I was so emotionally distraught that I missed them. That's part of why this book took me a little longer to get through. I've been struggling emotionally anyway, but add in the Olympics on top of all that it took me longer than usual.
Spoilers are over. I really did enjoy this book and overall really enjoyed Sophie Lark's writing and series. I can't believe that she's still a fairly newer author, only really publishing the past couple years. I definitely want to get through her few standalones and finish the Underworld series. I'm excited to see what she'll write next, it seems like she has a lot of ideas. If you haven't read Sophie Lark yet, I really encourage you try her out. She is mafia and dark, but I feel like she's not quite as dark as others and feels easier to read. I think she's a great starting option! Also, if you want to talk about The Spy in a more spoiler way, feel free to message me!
Have you read The Spy?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: The Spy, Sophie Lark, 4-stars, 3 days, eBook, 518 pages, published in 2021
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