Front St. Porter by Nina | What you know about them Porter men?

Listen, I don’t even know where to start!!!!

I will preface this by saying I had NO CLUE this was a series. Kindle kept recommending “On Us” every damn time I was on it so I was like what the hell. Once I started reading it, Sav foolish ass had me in tears laughing! So, I hit up Threads asking why no one told me about this book only to get a response saying, “But did you start with Front St. Porter?” Girl whet? Mind you, I’m already starting book 2 at this point lol. So, I had to put it down and backtrack.

Nina came hard AF with all six books in this series: Front St. Porter, On Us books 1-3, Clear Water and Wreckless.

Front St. Porter is where it all began. The Porter boys Lake, Wreck, Vant, Dem and Sav are all the sons of Hassan Porter. They were raised together in a home on Front St. and outside of Dem and Sav, they all have different mothers. Hassan apparently was the man and had multiple women, each respecting the other for the most part. For years Hassan let Lake know that as the oldest, once he was gone, he would have to be the one to stay in the game and make sure his brothers and their mothers lack nothing. So, at the age of 16, he had to become a man, protector, counselor and breadwinner.

Listen, the Porters and everything about them were TOXIC from day 1. The way these “boys” were allowed to run the streets, be violent AF (even to each other), run up in grown women etc was wild to me. Hassan filled all their heads, especially Lake, with male toxicity because he himself was suffering internally. I knew something happened to harden Lake but initially, I didn’t know what the something was. I’m glad he found, and always had, Daly at his side to be there for him. Lake carried the entire world on his shoulders and I don’t know that he would’ve survived without Daly.

One thing that stood out throughout was the love and devotion between these brothers. They fought amongst themselves but would go to war if anyone brought harm to them. These boys lived in the strip clubs and because they ran the streets, everyone knew them, respected their hustle and treated them like kings.

Vant was the wildest of the crew sexually. That boy did not wrap up and was goin up in anything raw as a youngin. Until he met Ivy. Ivy was living in her own personal hell, being sexually abused by every man her mother allowed into their home, including her own father. She would stop at nothing to protect her baby sister, Avery. She was skeptical of Vant, considering men always want something in return, but he was so intrigued by her and the fact that she wouldn’t tolerate any bullshit from him or anyone else. He took care of her and Avery, physically, emotionally and financially, from the day he met them. She also helped him with raising Dem and Sav, so they grew up with Avery.

Dem was battling internally the same way his father was which prompted self-harm, physical aggression/violence and constant attacks on Sav. Sav would do anything to keep Dem out of harm’s way, even if it meant going up against Lake. Their bond was scary AF to me throughout the entire series.

Robbing, killing, physical abuse, sexual assault at some point, they’ve experienced it all. They each had to navigate their own pain, including being love starved, not having their mothers present in their lives and traumatic experiences they’ve had while basically raising themselves. Some scenes from this book come back to haunt them in later books so pay close attention to the details.

TW: sexual assault, child abuse, self-harm, extreme violence, toxic family dynamics

Rating: Baby…. this ride ain’t for the faint of heart!