Inked Hearts by Lindsay Detwiler

Title: Inked Hearts

Author: Lindsay Detwiler

Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing

Publication Date:  October 21, 2017

Blurb:

Suffering from the sting of betrayal, twenty-eight-year-old Avery Johannas quits her job and moves hundreds of miles away to Ocean City, the beach town of her dreams. With the help of her zany roommate, Jodie, Avery finds a new career, home, and freedom. Throughout her self-exploration, she makes only one rule: She won’t give her heart to a man again. She’s living for herself this time.

But then she meets Jesse.

A tattoo shop owner, the green-eyed Jesse Pearce is wild with a touch of mystery. As Jesse and Avery explore Ocean City and their friendship, they’ll have a hard time drawing a line in the sand between their hearts.

When summer nights get a little more heated than either expected, they’ll have to ask themselves: Can they let go of their notions of love, or will their hearts be permanently inked by past pain?

Review:

If you’re looking for a soft, romantic read with limited drama and some real emotion then look no further.  Inked Hearts by Lindsay Detwiler is the sort of novel you’d want to read in the bath with candles and some classical music playing.  That’s not how I read it.  I actually read it while splayed out on my couch with a cat across my abdomen, but that’s how I wish I read it.

Finally we have a woman who has been cheated on who isn’t a total cliché.  It’s a beautiful thing.  Avery’s emotions of anger and sadness and confusion are real and honest.  I wanted to reach through the pages and embrace her in a hug at times and other times I wanted to throttle her for her missteps. I found myself flipping through the book desperately hoping that Avery got what she wanted—what she needed—in the end.

Jesse is a breath of fresh-air among male protagonists.  He was funny, confident, and sexy and I completely believed that he could successfully convince a woman, who had sworn off men, to give love another try.  Let me tell you.  Something about a nice, tatted guy who doesn’t mind showing his emotions gets me all fired up.

Avery and Jesse make such an authentic couple.  I love stories where the couple is wildly attracted to each other and fall into bed the first instant they can and have passionate, wild sex… but this isn’t that story and I didn’t even care.  Avery and Jesse are wildly into each other, that’s for sure, but due to Avery’s sense of betrayal they approach their relationship as though it’s their first.  There’s all that innocence and harmony that makes you remember your own first.

The title might make you think you’re about to fall into a tattoo-filled book but in reality the tattooing falls by the wayside to make room for sweet romance, cute dogs, and boisterous secondary characters.  It was a delight.

You can pre-order Lindsay Detwiler's novel here for a mere $2.49!