Thirsty (Eastside Brewery) – book review

Thirsty
by Mia Hopkins
Release Date: March 13, 2018
Publisher:  Loveswept
Book #1 in the Eastside Brewery series
Number of pages:  240
Kindle Edition
Source: Amazon Purchase
Contemporary Romance
Ages 15 and up
CW: violence
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A gangster hiding from his past. A single mom fighting for her future. Can she show this bad boy the man he’s meant to be?

My name is Salvador Rosas. Back in the barrio, my past is written on the walls: ESHB. Short for East Side Hollenbeck, my father’s gang—my gang. Hell, it’s a family tradition, one that sent both my brothers away. They used to call me “Ghost” because I haunted people’s dreams. Now I’ve got nothing going for me except a hipster gringo mentoring me in a new career. An ex-con making craft beer? No mames.

Still, people in this neighborhood look out for one another. That’s how I became Vanessa Velasco’s unwelcome tenant. Chiquita pero picosa. She’s little, but with curves so sweet they’re dangerous. I remember Vanessa from the old days, the straight-A student with big plans. Plans that were derailed by another kid stupid enough to think he was bulletproof. Now Vanessa knows better than to believe in empty promises. There’s fire in her . . . and if I touch her, I might get burned.

I’m trying everything I can to go straight. But when East Side Hollenbeck comes calling, I might have to risk it all to find out if there’s a future for Vanessa and me. Because she’s the only one who can quench my thirst for something real.

I’ve been hearing about this author’s book Tanked for months now. Romance writers, romance readers, romance reviewers…they all have something to say about Tanked and most of it is great. Since it’s the third book in a series, I’m starting at number one.

I felt as though I was holding my breath through this whole book. I knew Sal aka Ghost would make mistakes. I even knew, for the most part, what those mistakes would be. It’s not a secret, the author isn’t hiding anything from us. She puts Sal’s moral and emotional struggle right on the page for us all to live along with him. I was rooting for him to overcome, and rise above and to not break Vanessa’s heart.

This story is a journey. There are ups and downs; there is beauty and pain. For the most part I really enjoyed being along for the ride. Yet there were a few things that niggled at me. From what I can tell, there are three brothers. The second brother is talked of often, and even makes an appearance in this story. But I didn’t even know for sure that there was a third brother for a while. He’s skimmed over and it had me wondering where the heck he was throughout this whole book. I’m assuming he will be the main character in Tanked, but as of right now I know nothing about him other than he’s the youngest.

The descriptions of the neighborhood, the shop owners and families, were fantastic. I could picture it all and was easily pulled into the story every time I picked my book up. I adore Vanessa and Sal together. She’s so strong and determined, and really so is he. This author did a superb job of laying it all out and getting every emotion out of me along the way.

4 stars