Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Melinda's Review: Trashed

Trashed by Mia Hopkins
Publisher: Little Stone Press (July 16, 2019)
Series: Eastside Brewery, 2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
1st POV


He burns for her. Lucky for him, she likes to play with fire. . .

My name is Eddie Rosas, but everyone calls me Trouble. Since I got out of prison six months ago, I’ve had one goal: find my father, whatever the cost. My older brother says I need to move on. He also wants me to leave our gang, East Side Hollenbeck, and go straight, but I can’t—not until I uncover the truth about our family and its missing piece.

One problem? I’m distracted. My distraction’s name is Carmen Centeno. Smart, passionate, and tough as hell, Carmen is a woman from the neighborhood who’s built her career as one of the city’s top chefs. She’s a master of creating pleasure both in and out of bed. But when our connection deepens, how can I show her I’m not the trash everyone says I am?

The pressure’s rising. Carmen deserves a man she can depend on. And when the ghosts of my past rise up, I’ll have to outsmart them—or lose my shot at a future with the only woman who believes in me.

The Rosas brothers will return in Tanked!



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Reviews for Hopkins' books:








Melinda's Review:



Sometimes in a follow up to a great book an author just…doesn’t fulfill your expectations and it sucks for everyone involved. But Trashed is not that book! In the follow up to Thirsty, Mia Hopkins really delivers another powerful and moving male-focused romance. And that – to me – is really surprising.



We start the book with Eddie just being released from prison and having sex with a woman he meets basically right afterwards. The experience is intense and makes a big impression on him but she leaves immediately after and he’s kind of stunned.



What Hopkins does incredibly well in both Thirsty and again in Trashed is show the emotions of men in an incredibly nuanced way that is pretty rare to see from their POV. I loved Eddie so much – he’s such a romantic at the core. He basically falls for Carmen right after they have sex and is pining for her. Getting to see that from his perspective, and feeling his yearning, and his uneasiness about being good enough for her once they are together, all of this Hopkins pulls off effortlessly.



“I want to go back in time and visit myself, stuck in a prison cell, reading romance novels and convinced that happy ever afters don't happen in real life—at least not for people like me. I would say to myself, 'Just you wait, fucker. Just you wait.'"



This book just felt incredibly real to me in the way that Eddie and Carmen exist in a contemporary world that Hopkins builds with every struggle they face and one step forward but two steps back they take. The couple both deal with financial issues, which I would love to see more of in romance novels. The unflinching way Hopkins approaches the racial issues they deal with was incredibly well done.



I think this works well as a standalone but it’s also lovely to see Sal and Vanessa. You don’t need to know them but seeing their HEA advance even more is a nice reward for readers. I can’t wait to see more from this author.



5 STARS! 


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Source: eARC, author

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Thanks for the review, Melinda! 



Enjoy!



Until Next Time,










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