68 Whiskey by Erin Russell
Possum Hollow Book 2
LGBTQ Romance
June 26, 2024-Self-published

Review by Kate H.

I felt like I had to wait a week to write this review because I was so excited about this book that I didn’t trust myself. After a week I can say that my enthusiasm is warranted. This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. It has some of the normal tropes we are used to, but the originality of the writing and the portrayal of the characters make it seem really fresh and new. You can categorize this as an angsty, hurt/comfort romance novel, though the memory Tristan and Ford’s hesitant newfound joy is what I remember a week later. There are some heavy topics: death of a sibling, domestic violence, murder, cutting, and both protagonists carry the scars of their past, some figurative. Tristan is a veteran and paramedic. He lives for the moments of adrenaline high he gets when he works with patients that scenes of trauma and life-threatening illness. He wears his cheerful flirty disposition like a mask. His PTSD is not from the military but from his life. He has moved to a small Missouri town to escape his past and his mother, a small-time criminal whose lifestyle involved using her young boys on dangerous drug drops. Ford lost his mother at age 8 when her ex-boyfriend killed her and attacked him with a knife. He has been selectively mute ever since. He desperately tries to keep his late father’s garage afloat, and lives under the crushing weight of his own expectations.

What is really stunning about this book is the dual point of view. Erin Russell could teach a master class in dual point of view. Each point of view is thoroughly immersed in the character’s way of thinking, understanding, and feeling. Tristan is a bit goofy socially, but internally he is perceptive about his short-comings and needs. Ford seems so solid, but internally he’s in turmoil, but also more judgmental than one might guess. Sometimes I was yelling “noooo!” in my head at one of the guys, it felt so real. I would also add that the language for how each character perceives things is so fresh – there are no cliches to be found. There are also no long passages where they explain and ponder, soliloquys on how they feel and what they should do. But it’s there, built-in seamlessly to their POVs.

Both men are both strong and weak in different ways, and one of the things I liked about the book is that they don’t become different people at the end. Falling in love doesn’t change them other than the fact that they are supported and have a person whereas both were previously alone and isolated. 

I wouldn’t call this enemies to lovers, but the men do have to overcome a lot to be together, so it has a similar tension for the first half or even longer. Both men are big and masculine in different ways, but Ford comes to understand that submission is what Tristan needs. It’s not formally described as B&D, but there elements, like edging, breath-play, and light restraints and the psychology of Tristan’s submission is important to their relationship. 

CW: drug/alcohol abuse; BDSM elements; death of sibling (off page), mental illness, cutting, family and domestic abuse

Grade: A-