Narrated by Gomez Pugh

Trashed is the second book in Mia Hopkins’ Eastside Brewery series. I recently had the pleasure of listening to Thirsty, the first book, and immediately dove into this one.

Eduardo Rosas is recently out of jail and
on parole. He’s a member of ESHB, a gang from his East LA neighbourhood. Eddie,
aka “Trouble”, was locked up, along with his older brother, Sal, for grand theft
auto and carjacking. They both serve five years in separate correctional
facilities in California. Now he’s out and he’s trying to stay that way.

Eddie is the middle Rosas brother. He’s
always been a reckless and impulsive, more likely than his elder brother to
react without thinking. Still, after five long years in jail, he’s looking to
make changes. Unfortunately, one doesn’t just leave ESHB. The gang has largely
left him alone since he got out but he knows that’s not going to a last.

After his release from prison, Eddie crashes
with a friend in his trailer located in a community garden. Eddie spots a
beautiful young woman crying in the garden. One thing leads to another and they
end up have a hot hook up. Eddie has been without sex apart from his own hand
for half a decade but nonetheless, this experience is the hottest of his life.
But the mystery woman who won’t tell him her name disappears and he has no way
of locating her.

Some months later, Eddie is sent for a job
at a fancy LA restaurant washing dishes. To his surprise and delight, his
mystery woman is Carmen Centeno, the sous chef at Giacomo’s.

Carmen is irresistibly attracted to Eddie
and Eddie feels pretty much the same about her. Carmen is a “good girl” but
Eddie brings out her latent wildness. To be honest some of Carmen’s behaviours
are a little hard to understand. Sure Eddie is hot but sex on a cool room floor
when anyone could walk in just sounds incredibly reckless to me and fraught
with danger.

The story is told entirely from Eddie’s first
person POV and so Carmen is a little opaque – some of the things Eddie doesn’t
understand entirely about her remain mysteries even at the end of the book.

Eddie believed his father had been killed – “green-lit”– by ESHB for betraying them – but at the end of Thirsty, Sal and he find out he’s actually alive. Eddie is obsessed with finding out what really happened to his dad and the subplot of Trashed is all about that.

There is a section where Eddie is doing a
bit of travel to find his father which dragged a bit; nothing much was
happening and bus journeys aren’t that interesting, but the rest of the book is
very engaging and fast-paced.

Eddie doesn’t make excuses for his mistakes
and he takes responsibility for his actions. He wants to go straight but finds
it difficult to extricate himself from the clutches of ESHB. His quest for
answers about his dad doesn’t lead to the fairy tale he might have wished but
he does end up with answers enough to move on and a new determination to not
repeat the mistakes of his past.

Through all this, there is Carmen. Eddie
knows she is too good for him. But if she’ll have him, he will do all he can to
be the man worthy of her. I am a sucker for a hero in pursuit and when it’s
combined with one who is totally gone over his lady and who is also all about
consent and respect, I’m a very happy listener.

The sex is Steamy McSteamerson. Let’s just
say that Eddie likes to do a lot more than talk with that mouth of his – far
more than just his words are smooth and slick. Just saying.

I loved the close-knit sense of community
and the Mexican-American culture which is highlighted in the both this book and
the earlier one as well. It had a fabulous sense of place.

Gomez Pugh narrates and his authentic
Latinx-American accent was a bonus I appreciated. Mr. Pugh’s female character
voices were pretty good too and his mid-western American tones were no slouch
either. Perhaps more importantly, Mr. Pugh conveys Eddie’s frustration,
desperation and despair when things are looking bleak, as well as his hope for
redemption, his passion for Carmen and his love for his brothers.

It takes a special kind of skill to narrate
explicit sex and make it sound dirty sexy good and not cheesy or over-the-top
purple. Part of the that is the writing definitely – it certainly helps that
the sex is very well written – but it’s important also that the performance
isn’t overdone. Mr. Pugh delivers some husky growly goodness but also underpins
it with emotion which conveys that what it between Eddie and Carmen is more
than just physical.

Both Sal and Eddie were criminals. They
were guilty and went to jail and served their time. These books are not about
men who were unjustly convicted. They’re not your typical romance heroes. Their
stories are nevertheless compelling and romantic and interesting and worthy.

I enjoyed Thirsty a little more than
Trashed. But both books are very good and I highly recommend both.