Rating: 5
Steam: 3
PoV: dual, 1st person
Series: Possum Hollow #2
Genre: contemporary romance, MM
Tropes / tags: grumpy / sunshine, small town, past trauma
I wasn’t planning on Tristan crashing through the walls of my carefully constructed defences like the Kool-Aid man. He’s mouthy and bratty and mutters filth in my ear like a porn star, and you can only have that throw itself at you so many times before you give in.
Ever since I finished Stupid Dirty earlier this year I’ve been waiting for Tristan and Ford’s story, and Erin Russell certainly delivered!
I loved Tristan and Ford, and I kept sneaking reads whenever I had breaks from work because I was so invested in their story and everything going on in Possum Hollow. The characters were great – the psychotic sunshine description fit Tristan to the T, but the deeper into the story, the more it became clear that it was mostly a façade and that he struggled far more than he was willing to let people know. Ford was a real grump, and I loved the depth and complexity of his character. He didn’t want to show it, but he definitely had a soft spot for Tristan and it was a treat to see how they both slowly fell for each other.
Despite Tristan and Ford’s story dealing with plenty of heavy subject such as past trauma, mental health issues, parental abuse and neglect, there was still a lightness to the story with the way Tristan and Ford interacted with each other. They had a strong connection and I liked how they understood one another, neither of them meant to become attached but somehow they both kind of latched on to each other and didn’t want to let the other one go. I loved seeing Tristan being a brat and totally melting in Ford’s hands, and Ford really knew how to talk dirty, it was a fun and pleasant surprise!
68 Whiskey was a fantastic read, emotional and full of gritty reality. I fell so hard for both Tristan and Ford, and loved everything about their dynamic and the way their relationship slowly came together. It was a far more entertaining read than I had expected – I’m really impressed by Erin Russell’s writing so far and can’t wait for the next story!
“I need you, dumbass. You’re the thing that I can’t live without.”
Book links:
Amazon | Goodreads | BookBub | StoryGraph
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