GROUP REVIEW BY VICKI, CINDY, CARISSA, DANIELLE AND DONNA

 

TITLE: Sloe Ride

SERIES: Sinners #4

AUTHOR: Rhys Ford

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 246 Pages

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.

 

VICKI’S REVIEW

Can I just make this a short review and say this book is freaking perfect? That’s probably not enough, right? Fine. Here we go:

I love the characters in this whole series, I love the blending of the Morgan clan (I’m counting Rafe and Sionn as part of the clan!) and the boys from Sinner’s Gin. I love the quirky characters, from Miki’s prickly attitude, Damien’s mess of a life, to the slightly flighty Forest. Then the strength of the Irish clan, Kane, Connor (oh how I love Connor!), and Sionn.

Now we get Rafe and Quinn. I keep thinking with each book that we’ve seen the most fucked up characters, but then Rhys gives us another couple with issues….

The relationship part of this book is just perfect. I loved the slow build up between Rafe and Quinn. They both have problems with the interfering Morgan’s, even though Quinn is one, they drive him nuts. They are always there. Rafe is accepted by the Morgan’s as a friend and brother, but not necessarily as a potential partner for Quinn. So the pair are dealing with the busybody clan, plus their own issues and the need to build trust between them.

Then there is a mystery involving Quinn. Someone wants him hurt, or dead, or something… Conveniently there is a herd of Morgan cops that can sort this out. Quinn is forced out of his house and stuck in the Miki/Kane/Damien/Connor household with his freaky cat, making him a very unhappy boy. Until Rafe finally offers him a place of quiet. This gets things moving forward on a personal level, and eventually leads to the resolution of the mystery. I have to say I was surprised by the bad guy. I was pretty sure I knew who it was, and it wasn’t who I thought! I liked that.

There were moments that made me chuckle, the inclusion of coffee house inspired by characters from another authors series was awesome, and I got teary eyed when Quinn was lamenting about the old cat he had to have put down (having JUST done that myself, I knew his pain first hand). I was a wreck when a thing happened to a character that I don’t want to say, but this character was in the hospital and I hated to see that! I loved seeing the guys from the other books, I love that each book is mainly about a specific couple, but they are all so tied up together that we see lots of them in the other books.

As always Rhys writes some amazing sex scenes, the perfect blend of emotional connection and flat out fucking. I loved the scenes between Rafe and Quinn, Rafe is so careful and gentle with the inexperienced Quinn.

So yah. Great freaking book! If you liked the others, you’ll like this one. If you haven’t read them, you need to read them first. They are all great, this one was just as good!

 

RATING: 

 

CINDY’S REVIEW

 

I have to admit, I’ve been looking forward to this story for a long time. As a fan of the whole Sinner’s Gin series, the little glimpses of Quinn Morgan we got in the previous books had me dying to get to know him better. I think he appealed to the part of me that knows how it feels to feel like you just don’t fit in your own life sometimes.

Quinn was a character who was easy to love and you can understand his family for wanting to protect him from the world around him that seemed to be hell bent on making his life difficult and then dangerous.

You certainly can’t blame Rafe, a family friend, who’s been in love with Quinn for a long time. But you have to admire the way he just seems to know how to be there for Quinn without making him feel smothered or overwhelmed.

I love every character in these stories and in a way, I’ve come to feel like they are friends of mine I don’t get to visit often enough. Rhys Ford has managed to keep me fascinated right from the first line of the first book and I’m always left hoping there’s one more story to tell about this amazing family.

I have to admit, I kinda figured out where this book was going pretty early on, but to be honest, this one was all about the ride, not the destination. The author helped us get inside the mind of these intriguing and interesting young men, both who have issues that make them feel like they are always just going to be on the fringes of their world until they each show the other how to make their way inside.

The story is smartly written and perfectly paced and once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. I have a feeling a lot of you will feel exactly the same way.

 

RATING: 

 

DONNA’S REVIEW

 

There’s always that one person in a group review who just has to disagree with everyone else…unfortunately, this time that person happens to be me. And it’s killing me because seriously, it’s The Sinners series, but you know what, I think that may be part of my problem.

It’s true to say that this is one of my absolute favourite m/m series and Miki St. John is one of my all time favourite characters. Every fan of these books knew that this was going to be the story that saw Sinner’s Gin (the band) resurrected and performing once more. I think that I was anticipating that so much that I focused on those parts, any appearance or mention of Miki, or Damie or Forest, and I saw the relationship between Quinn and Rafe as taking up too much space. It didn’t matter how interesting or well written the scenes between the two main characters were, I just wanted the band. And the Morgans. There’s always room for the Morgans.

So, like I said, I’m pretty sure that was just my problem and not an issue with the book. Because hello…Rhys Ford! This author can write! As always with Rhys Ford’s books I was struck but how well she can set a scene and drag you right into it. We were already somewhat aware of what had happened in Rafe’s past but actually reading about it took that awareness to a whole new level and I must admit that as much as it wasn’t nice to read, I loved the start of this story. In my opinion, the best scene in the book was when “something bad” happens (I know, how annoyingly vague) to one of this series’ favourite characters and Quinn and Miki share a faultlessly written scene as they deal with their despair. That scene stood out to me as a perfect example of how well this author knows her characters and how skillfully she can communicate them to us as readers. And speaking of skill, no one can deliver a climax (of the non-sexual variety) the way Rhys Ford can deliver a climax. As usual, there are blood spatters and bodies littered throughout this book.

If you haven’t started the Sinner’s series yet, then you are missing out to a ridiculous degree. I recommend you drop whatever book you are in the middle of reading and start at the first book, Sinner’s Gin, right the hell now!

RATING: 

 

DANIELLE’S REVIEW

“Sloe Ride” is one of the books that I have been looking forward to since I found out it was finally coming because well, I simply love Miki! And more Sinners means more Miki!

Yes I know the story is about Quinn and Rafe, but I was certain that it meant there would be more of all the boys. And thankfully that was true.

Perhaps that was also for me the biggest struggle because I was really looking forward to learning more about the band and seeing more of the interactions between Miki and Kane. I wanted to read about Damian and Sloan and Connor and let’s be honest here. I wanted to read about them all!

Yes, this is Quinn’s story about how he struggles being the different “Morgan” and it’s Rafe’s story too as he deals with everything he’s done and how his is always aware of wanting to be doing it again.

Although you can sense where the story is going, I still love to read their struggles. The chemistry between Quinn and Rafe is very real and I like the build-up and also the protective feelings of the others. The way Miss Ford wrote about them getting together and how the band was finally formed was very fulfilling

This story had me smiling and upset, mad and worried, and very hot.

I loved Quinn’s personality and I absolutely loved the complete opposite (yet was it That opposite?) character of Rafe.

As this is a group review I am not going into too much into detail. Rhys Ford has the perfect way of telling this story, as she did with all of them. I can only really beg to see what happened after she ended this one (ok I admit I already begged her) because I want to know what happened—how were the reactions? How do they feel? What is being talked about and many more things.

RATING:

 

CARISSA’S REVIEW

 

There is a scene at the end of the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where Cameron, after a rant about his father, leans against the beautiful red Ferrari, setting in motion one of the most horrifying things I had ever seen in my childhood. No matter how many times I have watched that movie I have yet to sit thru that scene and not cry out “Not the car!” as the poor, defenceless Ferrari plummets to its death thru the plate-glass wall.

It is the same sentiment I have whenever I pick up a book by Rhys Ford. Yet no matter how many times I plead for their precious metal lives, does Rhys listen? No. No she does not. So once again we must mourn the death of yet more innocent cars at the menical hands of Rhys Ford.

Please, let us have a moment of silence for all vehicular lives lost in the course of this book

…oh, and the dead people, as well, I guess.…

*clears throat*

Well, that story certainly had everything I’ve come to expect from the pen of Rhys Ford. Gruesome deaths–check. Twisting mysteries–check. Complex characters–check. Heart-gripping romance…oh yeah.

I know there have been a lot of us readers who were desperately waiting for this book after the last scene in Tequila Mockingbird. Talk about a way to leave them wanting more!

We don’t know a lot about Quinn and Rafe before this book. There have been hints, certainly, in previous books, but the wide scope of their history has been a bit of a mystery. Here as the story grows I have to say that they are two of the more interesting characters in this series.

There is just something about Rafe’s search for redemption, and Quinn’s search for understanding, that I just love. They have so much to fight in this story, and so much to fight for. It makes for a very gripping and heart-rending read.

At some points Quinn’s stubbornness and, yeah, a bit of stupidity, gets a little rough on the nerves. I’m more of a hide-in-a-hole-till-the-evil-dude-is-dead kind of person. His clashes with his brothers/father over there attempts to keep him safe just seemed a bit, well, stupid. But I think that has a lot to do with who Quinn is and how his brain works.

As frustrating as Quinn could get, I really loved this book. I was very much on the edge of my seat for the whole thing. This series has been a lot of fun (and carnage), and as chaotic as it has been at times it is something I’m going to be rereading in the future.

RATING: 

 

OVERALL RATING: 

 

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

ARe

Amazon