Ransom is the "dad" figure of the group, he's not much older than the guys though. He found each of them, brought them into the fold, and made them family. He came up with their business name, The Brash Brothers.
Colton/Colt/Horsie is amazing. I think he grew so much yet he still has that playful part of him that is so special. Colt gets rid of stress by fighting in an underground fight ring. It's not prominent in the story but he does go during the first part of the story. He is the go to guy, he can find anything and take care of it.
I love Evie. She was a great person, a nurse at the hospital where Brent allowed Holly to volunteer. She helped Holly by giving her contact information to someone that could help her disappear and get away from her abusive husband. Brent didn't like that so he ruined Evie's life. Destroyed her, took everything from her for taking his wife away. When we find her she's living in a small apartment and working a menial job. She's so skinny from going hungry, her adopted daughter Mia, 3 years old, is always taken care of first. Evie does without, so Evie can have enough.
Holly send Evie an open invitation to come to Chicago and join her. She will have a place to live and a job waiting if she wants it. She eventually accepts.
In the last book, Colt saw a photo of Evie and we can tell he's focused/enamored on her. He wants her to be safe, he can tell in pictures of her that she's not eating. He's worried. When he finds out that Evie and her daughter are going to come he goes nuts preparing an apartment for them.
The guys backgrounds are told in many ways. They went hungry, they were abused, living on the streets, in huge group homes, they had lives most of us only read about. These experiences are at their core. They have been there so they want to fix other people's lives. They give money and more to help victims.
Mia's room is painted with pink glitter paint, her bed is a princesses dream, she has every thing she might want.
Of course when Mia hears his name, Colt, and says that's a horsey, she now calls him Horsey. Much to the guys joy as they now take on that for fun. They see hamsters next door to the ice cream shop they go to, they buy hamsters. They get out of the cages and make MORE hamsters. It's a bit like the Tribbles episode of Star Trek. It's hilarious! They buy bikes for everyone so they can have bike races around their apartments, these guys are just big kids and this book brings out that fun in them.
Colt has an older brother, Johnny, who has been in prison for murder the last 18 years. We find out he went to a gang type of meeting and the leader was planning the brother's murders. He wanted to take them out of his competition. So Johnny just killed the leader. The leader has family that will pop up in Cara's story/Declan. That family member is holding a grudge and she's an easy target.
I love this series. There are adult situations but it's making love, not raunchy stuff. Evie has been at the bottom of the barrel financially, socially, and more. Her parents are horrible people. Truly awful. They come to visit and it's hilarious. In that they get what's coming to them. Vindication hilarious.
Each book includes every character and they really need to be read in order to fully understand the references. You can read them stand alone but I do recommend reading the whole series in order.