Title: Tequila Mockingbird
Series: Sinner’s Gin, #3
Author: Rhys Ford
Narrator: Tristan James
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Length: 9 hours and 11 minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (11-04-14)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5 Hearts
Blurb: Lieutenant Connor Morgan of SFPD’s SWAT division wasn’t looking for love. Especially not in a man. His life plan didn’t include one Forest Ackerman, a brown-eyed, blond drummer who’s as sexy as he is trouble.
His family depends on him to be like his father, a solid pillar of strength who’ll one day lead the Morgan clan.
No, Connor has everything worked out—a career in law enforcement, a nice house, and a family. Instead, he finds a murdered man while on a drug raid and loses his heart comforting the man’s adopted son. It wasn’t like he’d never thought about men — it’s just loving one doesn’t fit into his plans.
Forest Ackerman certainly doesn’t need to be lusting after a straight cop, even if Connor Morgan is everywhere he looks, especially after Frank’s death. He’s just talked himself out of lusting for the brawny cop when his coffee shop becomes a war zone and Connor Morgan steps in to save him.
Whoever killed his father seems intent on Forest joining him in the afterlife. As the killer moves closer to achieving his goal, Forest tangles with Connor Morgan and is left wondering what he’ll lose first—his life or his heart.
Product Link: http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Tequila-Mockingbird-Audiobook/B00P6XFJ5W
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5779
Reviewer: Tams
Review: Tams e-book review from May 2014…
Conner Morgan is the eldest of the eight Morgan children and with that, he holds himself to a higher standard. He feels the burden of having to project a certain persona to everyone because of who his father is. Everything he thought he was is about to be called into question on his latest case. When one blonde haired, brown eyed, barefoot musician barrels into his life.
Forest Ackerman has had a very hard life. Used, abused and tossed out like trash by his own mother… unless she needed something from him, of course. He was saved by a man who saw the innocence of a child that needed to be protected. Forest found solace in his drums and the studio his dad owned, until an explosion tears his world apart and throws him right into the arms of a large, in charge and sex on a stick Irish cop. Conner Morgan.
Both men struggle with the attraction from the start, sort of. Forest doesn’t want to fall for a straight guy, but said straight guy keeps showing up at the coffee shop Forest works at, every day, making him impossible to ignore. And I don’t think Conner struggled so much with his attraction to Forest, as he did with this persona he had created for himself and a fear of not being what he thought his family wanted him to be.
After the initial explosion and the coffee shop bombing and then the hit and run, Conner finally admits his feelings for Forest. And once Forest is released from the hospital, Conner doesn’t give him much choice but to stay with him. So Forest gets a crash course in Morgan family politics 101 before these two even have a chance to define their relationship.
Now this alone would send most men running, screaming and searching for the nearest EXIT. But not Forest. I think Brigid Morgan, the spitfire pixie matriarch of the Morgan clan, nails it when she tells Forest that his mother simply gave birth to him for her, for Brigid, that he was hers now. And unlike Mickey, Forest relishes the attention.
There was a lot more interaction with various members of the Morgan clan in this book, and I loved that. Classic Rhys Ford with drama, suspense, a mountain of bodies, a psycho killer and some hot, steamy, sweaty gay man sex dripping off of every page! I love the Irish and Gaelic terms that are used throughout this series and the strength of the family unit that is the Morgans. Every last one of them is fiercely loyal, stubborn, outspoken, full of piss and vinegar and carries an exorbitant amount of love.
Yes, if I really need to say it, this is a must read. You must read them in order as well to appreciate the Morgan family as a whole. As well as Mickey/Sinjin and Damien/Damie who it looks like will be staring up a new band, now that they found themselves a drummer. They just need a bass player. Oh, wait, Sionn’s best friend Rafe is a bass player. And this story ended with Quinn Morgan making his way up that tree!
Tams Audio review addition from December…
It is such a joy to listen to an Audio of a book I’ve already read, and find something new within the story. The relationship between Connor and Forest was so much more powerful when the characters were given a voice. To “hear” Connor call Forest a ghrá with so much emotion behind the word added even more depth to this story for me.
Don’t get me wrong, Ford did a great job of conveying emotions with the written version and I devoured that copy. But to hear the strain in Connor’s voice when he is calling out to Forest after the bombing, to hear the love in his voice when he uses the Irish Gaelic term of endearment, hell, to hear the struggle in Forest’s voice as he slowly falls in love with his big, brooding, Irish cop, it was a thing of beauty.
Narrated by Tristan James who is fluent in the Irish brogue that is the Morgan Clan. And you will never be confused as to which Morgan is talking at the time, he has mastered the art of nuance and tone inflections so you always know when there is a shift in character. If you are like me and love to put a voice with the words on paper, then you are really going to get a treat with this one.
This is one of the best M/M series you can get your hands on right now, written by a well-rounded author and narrated by a talented storyteller. Definitely a must read and/or listen, but either way you chose to experience these stories, do so in order or you won’t understand a lot of what is happening from one book to the next. While each story is for a different couple, the core of the stories is a continuation of the characters relationships and how they develop as a whole.
* I received a copy of this book and this audio book from Dreamspinner Press in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *