Trashed

I have been eagerly awaiting Trashed, as Thirsty is a absolute and utter steamy delight. Like whoa, my face is red reading this in the break room and I need to take a moment. Trashed does not disappoint. After being released from his five year prison sentence, Eddie Rosas hooks up with a beautiful stranger in a public garden a few days after finally being released from prison. While Eddie wants to blame his forced celibacy for the fire between him and the woman he cannot forget, he knows there is more. Something about her twitches Eddie's memory. When Eddie gets a dish washing job at a fancy Italian restaurant six months later, he is stunned to find out the beautiful woman he still dreams about is running the kitchen. Their chemistry is impossible to deny and when he and Carmen get caught making out in the cooler and they both lose their jobs. Trying to be more for Carmen, to be more for his family, to be more for himself, Eddie must navigate his budding relationship and his fear of falling back into old habits, falling back in with the East Side Hallenbeck gang. What follows is a story of working hard, of taking your chances, of trying to do what is best, even if it isn't quite right. Eddie's story is important, as Hopkins deftly shows how the Rosas brothers deserve their happily ever afters. Gritty, angsty, and so utterly delicious, I love this series! Also, I have to say I really enjoyed how Hopkins portrayed Eddie and Carmen's struggle to be alone. Eddie lives with a family friend in a trailer in the same public garden he and Carmen first met in. Carmen lives with her parents, despite being in her mid-twenties. Carmen could live on her own, but feels both obligated by her family to stay and the pressure to save money for a rainy day. Watching these two try to find a place to be together, alone, was super frustrating and SO hot because of it. I feel like we barely see financial struggle in romance novels as usually the characters all have wonderful jobs, wonderful careers. Of course your small cupcake business is just fine, makes all the money. This series banks on these struggles and feels all the more realistic for it. While I have huge hopes for Eddie and Sal's brewery business, I also feel their concerns, their difficulties, the realities of starting up a small business, especially for POC. The discussion of trying to keep their new business in "their neighborhood" before the white gentrify-ers show up was especially on point (Jackie Lau's newest series, Baldwin Village, also deftly deals with these small business worries). Content warning for discussions of gun violence, gang violence, physical violence (fighting but never between the main couple), drug use. I received a free copy in exchange for a fair review.