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V.L. Locey
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The Ballad of Crow & Sparrow Kindle Edition

by V.L. Locey (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 293 ratings
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Sometimes a man’s biggest blunder can turn into his greatest triumph.

Orphaned at fourteen, Crow Poulin now has to hunt and trap the White Mountains of Arizona, as his father had taught him, all alone. It’s a lonely existence, until one morning, while checking his trap line, Crow finds more than a rabbit in a snare. He stumbles across the outlaw Jack Wittington lying half dead in the wilds. He takes the wanted man in, heals him, and in return for saving his life, the smooth-talking criminal invites Crow to join his family. Starved for human interaction and a father figure, Crow leaves the mountains behind for what he assumes will be a brighter future.

Six years pass. Crow is now a man, as well as a member of the Wittington Gang. He may be considered an outlaw, but his father’s morals are warring loudly with the lifestyle of his adopted family. When the gang decides to rob a train, Crow has no choice but to go along to keep a tight rein on the more bloodthirsty members. It doesn’t take long for the scheme to go horribly astray. Instead of gold-filled coffers, the gang finds Spencer Haughton, son of cattle baron and railroad tycoon Woodford Haughton, cowering in the family’s opulent private car. The outlaws grab the sickly heir in hopes of ransoming him off.

Things then go from bad to worse for them when the law rides down on the Wittington hideout and Crow is given Spencer to hide until the ransom is paid. The pretty young man is nothing at all like anyone Crow has ever met before. Delicate, refined, well-educated, and possessed of a singing voice to rival the songs of the birds in the trees, Crow slowly finds himself falling for the winsome rich boy. But can two such opposite souls find the love they’re both seeking in each other’s arms?
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  1. Print length
    264 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    May 8, 2021
  5. File size
    1202 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B094HKQ3BZ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ (May 8, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 8, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1202 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 264 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 293 ratings

About the author

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V.L. Locey

V.L. Locey

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USA Today Bestselling Author V.L. Locey – Penning LGBT hockey romance that skates into sinful pleasures.

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, Torchwood and Dr. Who, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a pair of geese, far too many chickens, and two steers.

When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in one hand and a steamy romance novel in the other.

To view all my books visit my website - http://vllocey.com/

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
293 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

FLPeter
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2021
Verified Purchase
My first time reading this author, and I have nothing but positive reviews. Awesome story, awesome writing, awesome characters. I love the historical period in which it is set…The rough and tumble ways of the west in the late 1880’s is detailed well, as are the prejudices Native Americans faced.
Although 1 MC is tougher and 1 MC is smaller and more fragile, the dialogue for both as they build to a slow-burn romance is very masculine. I appreciate that as a gay male.. Crow falling in love,and feeling loved, was just beautifully described.
Great job….ready to read something else by this author.
6 people found this helpful
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Brittanie
4.0 out of 5 stars a few issues with the story that forces the reader to stretch reality
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2023
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This book had a lot of interesting ideas, some good and some bad, but it accumulated into a very sweet romance with enough drama and heartache to keep me interested.

Crow is a recently orphaned mixed-race 14 year old who lives in the White Mountains of Arizona. When out checking his hunting traps, he finds a man who is on the brink of death from an infected gunshot wound. Crow is able to nurse the man back to health but it takes a full season. When the snows melt, this John convinces Crow to travel with him south to somewhere in a desert canyon to meet up with his "family" - who turn out to be a band of outlaws. While Crow refuses time and again to participate in any of the illegal activities, which are mainly train and wagon robbing, he does live with them for years, helping by being a hunter and tracker since he had these skills already. However, he reaches adulthood and John convinces Crow to take part in a kidnap/robbery plan to "keep the body count low" due to Crow having more of a moral compass than the rest of the men. But he's shot on purpose by one of the men both out of racism and opportunity but survives and ends up saving Spencer, the son of the railroad owner who is travelling home on the train, and who is kidnapped for ransom. This is all within the first 40% or so of the book - the rest is Crow and Spencer (his "Sparrow" of the title) trying to survive in the Arizona wilderness with a few more action scenes pushing the story forward.

There are a few issues with the story that forces the reader to stretch reality a bit to make sense, despite the plot being firmly set in a realistic historical setting.
Firstly, it's not explained why his father moved them to the White Mountains, into a very isolated cabin. Crow is half Mohawk (from the New York/Canada area) and French Canadian. The Mohawk side of him doesn't really matter particularly, and the author could have easily made him Navajo, Gila, or Apache who actually lived in that area. I can only assume they know more about Mohawk traditions or something that made it more comfortable for them to write about but it didn't really make sense to me. They also never mentioned these tribes and the characters never encounter another Native person in the book, which seems odd, especially when the book takes us into fictional towns on the 1800s frontier. There are only passing comments about people being randomly attacked by "Indians".
The dialogue is also a little stilted, but I chalked that up to English not being Crow's first language - his father speaking mostly French - and it's surprising he knows English at all. He also doesn't know the Mohawk language or culture since his mother died when he was very young. This doesn't make sense for the other characters, however, especially Spencer. Spencer is a white formally and internationally educated rich young man so his language would be very "normal" to today's readers, if a little hoity toity. He uses words that Crow asks him to explain but his sentence structure isn't that different from Crow's - obviously something to do with the writer's skills in writing dialogue rather than a character feature.
Additionally, many of Crow's dreams described in the book take place entirely in a Mohawk-inspired mythical world with what I assume is his mother. You can assume the fact he's dreaming like this is because of his mother's spirit visiting him in a dreamworld but it is a little bit of a stretch in a non-fantasy book, especially when the dreams seem to be all in the Mohawk language with things Crow would have no familiarity with. In reality, Crow's dreams would more likely be in French and in a more Western world because that's what he's familiar with.

These issues may seem huge to some readers but honestly, they didn't bother me enough for take me out of the story. I really enjoyed the sweet romance, Arizona frontier setting, and action sequences so it's still 4 stars for me.
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Rhianna Walker
5.0 out of 5 stars An impulse buy I'm glad I fell for.
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2021
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Not totally sure if I saw this in the Bookbub newsletter or something similar but there was something so unique about the premise that it caught my eye enough that I clicked through. Almost didn't buy it cause I don't read much historical romance and while I enjoy gay romance I just don't read all that much of it either. I dunno what whim of fate made me decide to one-click it but I did figuring I'd never actually get around to reading it. What can I say? I'm a one-click addict for supporting writers doing interesting stuff but I work too much to read everything I buy.

On a stranger whim I downloaded it one night after I finished a non-fiction read and was in the mood for something fictional but the idea of a straight romance made me crabby (I'm going through a divorce, it's a thing). The Ballad of Crow and Sparrow was hands-down one of the most unexpected books that's come through my life. There's so much packed into it that I don't quite want to call it genre-defying but it packs a lot of social commentary, emotion, history, survival adventure, and graphic adult content into one book. I loved it very much and will definitely one-click anything else that comes my way by the author.

So I guess if you're into gay romance and looking for a break from the contemporaries and stuffy regency stuff this is one I whole-heartedly recommend.
9 people found this helpful
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Rachael White
5.0 out of 5 stars Written very well
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2023
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This story is extremely well told. I bought it on a whim and finished it in two days. It captured my imagination with the well rounded world building and Crow captured my heart. Very enjoyable.
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Tinnean
3.0 out of 5 stars M/M in the wild west
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2023
Verified Purchase
3 1/2 stars
An interesting tale. I liked Crow's story. However, I do think, having lived in the mountains of Arizona for most of his life, he'd know enough to care for his horse before anything else. I also hope Spencer had the opportunity to say goodbye to his mother.

I felt really sorry for the Greek. (Don't worry, you'll meet him.) The "good" people of Aurora Gulch were absolutely miserable.

The sad thing is I don't think we've progressed as much as we should have.

But it was an intriguing story.
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Blondebell
4.0 out of 5 stars A sweet mm western
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2022
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I really love westerns but avoid historical Mm since I worry about a true HEA. This one has a wonderful HEA and the journey to that was rife with prejudice and adversity. I enjoyed crow so much. The romance was sweet but not the best romance I have read. It’s was a bit tame and Spencer was a bit of a princess.
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GENE O.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good story
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2021
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The author has written a quite a good story that has a well developed plot.

The relationship of the principal characters is very believable with the events unfolding in a manner that keeps the reader's attention to the overall story.

When sexual circumstances are shared the experiences are presented in a genuine and believable manner. The sexual encounters are not gratuitous and thrown in casually as these experiences further the growing relationship.

The conclusion came off as slightly contrived but still believable.

Enjoyed the period within which the story unfolds as it different so many of the books available.
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Top reviews from other countries

Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful depiction of a world long gone
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2023
Verified Purchase
If they ever wanted to insert a M/M romance into the Red Dead Redemption 2 computer game this would be a perfect candidate, because they both brilliantly portray a world that is no longer there. The main relationship is sensitively, sometimes beautifully written. I like the way Crow cares for his animals, which for a boy alone would have assumed far greater importance. Not run of the mill, not predictable, but one of those books that make you rather sad to finish.
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