Quinn Morgan never quite fit into the family mold. He dreamed of a life with books instead of badges and knowledge instead of law—and a life with Rafe Andrade, his older brothers’ bad boy friend and the man who broke his very young heart.
Rafe Andrade returned home to lick his wounds following his ejection from the band he helped form. A recovering drug addict, Rafe spends his time wallowing in guilt, until he finds himself faced with his original addiction, Quinn Morgan—the reason he fled the city in the first place.
When Rafe hears the Sinners are looking for a bassist, it’s a chance to redeem himself, but as a crazed murderer draws closer to Quinn, Rafe’s willing to sacrifice everything—including himself—to keep his quixotic Morgan safe and sound.
I’m so in love with this series and have read and listened to each installment. If you haven’t listened to Greg Tremblay read Rhys’s words, you haven’t listened to an audiobook. And, I digress, already. A good Tremblay will do that to you.
Miki and Kane’s story has been my favorite thus far. No one writes a stronger broken character than Rhys Ford and Miki is the epitome of that man. And then I met Rafe and Quinn up close and personal. These two aren’t epically damaged like Miki was, but they still had their own flavor of hurt that was just as powerful for them to live and for me to read.
Quinn is a different kind of Morgan, but a Morgan all the same. It frustrated me to no end to see his brothers try and keep him in the box they expected him to fit in. The dynamics were really interesting to read (again, frustrating) but still interesting. It was actually pretty refreshing to know that the Morgan’s are human and not without their flaws. They wanted to protect Quinn so badly, they no longer saw him for the man he had grown into but the Q-Bert they remembered growing up with. I have to say, I loved when Quinn got all growly and Morgan-y on them all. He may not carry a badge, but he is no less a badass than the rest of them.
Rafe is the definition of a hot mess and it’s self-induced. I really had a lot of respect for him and his attempts to make amends without sugarcoating all he’d done and glossing over the pain he’d caused. I can’t lie though, the best thing about him is his unapologetic snark. All snarking aside, he’s a man with a lot of penance to pay and he does the best he can with his limited skill set and the unwavering Morgan support.
Quinn and Rafe have history and we learn about it as the story progresses. What happened between them (or didn’t) was realistic given their ages at the time. Learning more about them, they had to have the time and distance they had to make their mistakes and grow into the men they were supposed to be.
As is customary with Sinner’s Gin, there is mystery galore to be had and it’s another reason to love this series so hard. There’s always a good amount of tension that goes along with the who and the why that keeps you moving anxiously from one page to the next. I always think the next chapter is going to give me THE clue I need and if I can have that I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a good dose of UST between the MC’s. Rhys delivers in spades with this story on both counts.
Quinn and Rafe are going to stick with me for a long time. They needed each other, but both of them recognized their need to be able to stand on their own so that they could stand for one another. Rhys has a way of weaving beautiful words around ugly realities. Her stories are like the “thinking persons” mysteries with a good dose of humor and dirty thrown in. The ending made me squee happily and my only complaint is that I would love to have more about the whole moment from every perspective.
For more info on Sloe Ride and the whole Sinners series, check it out on Goodreads.
**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**
Need to read this one but my reading schedule is taking taken to the end of 2015. However, what a way to start 2016 than with a Rhys?
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