Blurb:

It isn’t easy being a Morgan. Especially when dead bodies start piling up and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it.

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.

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Review:

My plan was to save this book for the three-day Labor Day Weekend. I figured I’d have time to pace myself and savor Q’s story because I’d really been looking forward
to it for a few months now.

But…low and behold, I had real life social engagements that had been made for me and that I couldn’t get out of because, for some reason, ‘because I’m reading’ is not an acceptable excuse to some people for me to hole up on my porch in my comfy lounger with nose to Kindle.

So, there were a lot of stops and starts for me to squeeze in reading time in between my public appearances (she says like she’s a freakin’ socialite—but this really means putting on a goddamn bra and being all nice and shit and going out to dinner, and a cookout, and the grocery store, and entertaining people at home, and helping out a family friend, blah, blah, blah in a bra).

Best laid plans and all that…

Stops and starts and interruptions irritate me. They mess with my reading mojo. I have to backtrack a bit to make sure I remember where I had to leave off and put my mind back in that place. Half the time, I get interrupted again. It’s a vicious cycle of first-world problems.

Nevertheless, this was RHYS FORD! I discovered Rhys in April (2015) with “Dirty Kiss” and promptly devoured every available book in the Cole McGinnis series. I delayed diving in to the Sinners series…because…at first, for some asinine reason, they didn’t appeal. Stupid me, and I have no valid reason or excuse because blurb, cover, and other reviews were all awesome. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind, dunno. But then I landed in a book funk and decided to give “Sinners Gin” a go and the rest was history until I hit a brick wall because THIS BOOK wasn’t out yet.

It was this series that made me a bit of a mega-fan of Rhys; and I’ve since read almost every word she’s published—even her scary shit that I would never likely read if it were any other author. Geez, I love her words. I’m a sucker for well formed imagery and subtle, snarky humor. Rhys excels with well-written prose, character development, world-building, and arcing plots that I enjoy in any form of fiction – and is especially delightful (and unfortunately rare) to find in romance. She’s got a talent for mystery writing too—I’m frequently able to figure out the whodunit, but Rhys always keeps me guessing.

Enough sucking up, or maybe not.

The book was all I’d hoped and more. Quinn and Rafe were all I’d hoped for and more. I love characters who are a little off center and Quinn was beautifully portrayed with challenges that were easy to relate to on some levels. Rafe, blessed Rafe, had his challenges too; but he’s a calming touchstone for Quinn that allows him to breathe and focus. Rafe needed to be that for somebody to keep his own monsters at bay. Rafe calls Quinn ‘magpie’—and that’s about the sweetest and most fitting endearment I’ve ever heard.

Review posted on GoodReads and a partial review on Amazon.