Sequel to Tequila MockingbirdSinners Series: Book Four 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 … 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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** 4.5 stars **
I liked the fact that Ms Ford chose a different way to write about Quinn Morgan’s struggle with mental issues. It was rather lyrical and I enjoyed reading his thought process. Rafe was as conflicted as they came. I liked him for Q because he understood how Q’s mind worked and never tried to change him. Their relationship was more settled than the previous three couples considering that Rafe and Quinn knew each other for a while and it took them a long time to get to the point where they could express their feelings.
The unfortunate events that surrounded Quinn and the Morgan clan and brought two men together escalated quickly and were at times simply vicious. I enjoyed the guessing game, the danger and the gory details. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed about the identity of the killer. I just wanted it to be someone else. Overall, I enjoyed Quinn and Rafe’s road to happiness as well as the birth of Crossroads Gin.
You fall in love with Quinn because he is so unlike the others in his family and they don’t always understand him. Love that he gets his happy ending.
Rhys Ford does it again by giving us a truly amazing sequel of the Sinner series. At the beginning of the book, we are made party to the circumstances of Rafe’s crash and burn in his music career as a bassist. The author covers the anguish of that point in Rafe’s life and Morgan’s family’s support and encouragement. We are also directed to the crush Quinn had on Rafe when he was a teenager struggling to come to terms with his sexual identity, mental illness, and genius-level intelligence. It seems that Rafe was every bit as interested in Quinn as Quinn was, and still is, in Rafe. But it seems others are attracted to Quinn and this attraction blossoms as Quinn’s happiness is fueled by Rafe’s acceptance and love of Quinn. Using descriptive words and phrases so very rich in details, the writer gives a glimpse of the special world of Quinn Morgan and the dark point in his life when he, at age 15, considered suicide. Other aspects of mental illness such as self-harm cutting, drug abuse, addiction, and overdose are covered in the story with sensitivity and handled as challenges the main characters faced and overcame–we were able to see the characters as winners who recovered from taxing situations. There were explanations and reasons given, not excuses. Compassion and acceptance seemed to be a lesson Rhys Ford had aimed to teach, and I love them for that! Rafe benefits from Quinn’s love and support as well as he finds acceptance and a place in the new band Damien Mitchell and Miki St. John start with drummer Forest Ackerman.
A perfect match, on a slow, slow burn. I wanted to read this more slowly, but could not. It yanked me through worse than any of the previous one except for the first, Sinner’s Gin.
All of them are compelling stories, messy with family and conflicts and loyalties, and dangers. This one, the way Quinn and Rafe are with each other, pressed all my favorite buttons. They’re both weird but sweet. Rafe. an addict clean and determined to stay that way, Quinn with an under-control mental illness that was its own trip through hell when he was young, each the other’s best medicine. How people judge, and overprotect or overreact, or both, how meaning well still hurts. I still feel all lit up with it.
The end is pitch-perfect.