Permanent Ink by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
Review by Lauren
source: copy from Netgalley; all opinions are my own
Official Summary: At twenty-three, Poe Montgomery is going nowhere. He still lives in his father’s basement and spends most of his time tagging with his friends. When an arrest lands him in debt, Poe accepts the front desk job at Permanent Ink, the tattoo shop owned by his father’s best friend, Jericho McAslan. Jericho is nearly twice Poe’s age, but with his ink and prematurely graying hair, he quickly takes the starring role in Poe’s hottest fantasies.
Jericho is known for his ability to transform poorly designed tattoos into works of art, but he was once as aimless and misdirected as Poe. Wanting to pay it forward the way someone once did for him, Jericho makes Poe his apprentice and is determined to keep things strictly professional. Easier said than done when Poe makes his interest—and his daddy kink—abundantly clear.
Jericho can’t resist Poe or their intense chemistry for long. But between the age gap, tension with Poe’s father, and Poe’s best friend calling him a sellout, they’ll need to ensure they’re both on the same page before they can rewrite their rocky start into something permanent.
Review: I really liked this one! Despite not having any tattoos myself, I find them fascinating and I enjoy books that focus on them. Poe ends up getting an apprenticeship at Jericho’s tattoo shop, because Jericho got a second chance as a young kid and he wants to help someone else. Poe isn’t that grateful or interested in the beginning, but he already likes to draw and paint with graffiti, so it isn’t long before he realizes what a meaningful art form tattooing can be. Of course, around this same time, Poe and Jericho realize they are both attracted to each other. Not only do they have a big age gap – but Jericho is Poe’s dad’s best friend. Complicated? Yes, indeed.
Permanent Ink mixes tattoos, graffiti, and an age gap romance. #bookreview #mmromance Click To TweetOf course, it wouldn’t be a romance if these two didn’t get together and they do! Their chemistry is fantastic and while Poe likes to use the word “daddy” when it comes to sex, he’s not looking for another father figure in his life. I liked that the authors explored this dynamic. Because Jericho is older than Poe, he finds himself wanting to steer Poe in a certain direction and he has to realize that he’s Poe’s boyfriend. He can’t tell him what to do.
I also really liked the relationship between Poe and his best friend Blue (yes, it’s his real name). Not that it was entirely healthy, but it was portrayed well. Poe is finally finding stability in his life, but Blue’s not and it leads to a lot of issues between them that affect more than just them.
Finally, I should note that yes, Poe’s name comes from Edgar Allan Poe and I think it’s fantastic. In fact, Poe uses Raven as his graffiti name and tends to paint a lot of skulls and ravens.
Apparently this is the first in the Art and Soul series, so I’m curious to see what comes next!
About Avon Gale
Avon grew up in the southern United States, and now lives with her very patient husband in a liberal Midwestern college town. When she’s not writing, she’s either doing some kind of craft project that makes a huge mess, reading, watching horror movies, listening to music or yelling at her favorite hockey team to get it together, already. Avon is always up for a road trip, adores Kentucky bourbon, thinks nothing is as stress relieving as a good rock concert, and will never say no to candy.
At one point, Avon was the mayor of both Jazzercise and Lollicup on Foursquare. This tells you basically all you need to know about her as a person.
Connect with Avon:
- Website: www.avongalewrites.com
- Blog: www.avongalewrites.com/category/blog/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/avongalewrites
- Twitter: @avongalewrites
- Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/avongalewrites/
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/avongale/
About Piper Vaughn
Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, sci-fi, she loves them all (and has an over-two-thousand-book library to prove it!). She’s an avid tea drinker, a hockey fanatic, a vintage typewriter collector, and loves to travel so much she has “wanderlust” tattooed on her ankle and dozens of countries on her bucket list. Recently, she discovered the world of nail art and realized she’s pretty handy with a paintbrush—as long as it’s a miniature one.
As a bisexual and Latinx person, Piper takes great pride in her heritage. She grew up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood and strives to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. She currently resides in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband, son, and a cat that has Piper wrapped around her little paw. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life … even if it’s only in a book.
Connect with Piper:
- Website: http://pipervaughn.com/
- Blog: https://pipervaughn.wordpress.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pipervaughn
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/pipervaughn
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pipervaughn7/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piper.vaughn/
- Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104698982870458063898
Giveaway
To celebrate the release of Permanent Ink, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Amazon gift card and a “Poe” coffee mug! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on August 12, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!
Thank you for the intro to lesser known books! This sounds SO intriguing to me.
This seems interesting! I may have to check this one out! Thanks for sharing!
That’s a fantastic review, Lauren! One of the things that I really liked with this novel was how excellently the conflict of Jericho acting like a father or acting like a concerned boyfriend been done. It just showed how good these two authors are even in collaboration.
mushyvince(at)gmail(dot)com
I mostly liked this one but didn’t love it. I am looking forward to the next one though. I’m guessing Blue??
For What It’s Worth
I’m thinking Blue too! I’ll be curious to see where his story goes.
Thanks for the review!
vitajex(At)AoL(Dot)com
Thank you for the review!
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
I also find tattoos fascinating. I do have a few as well, but I think the stories behind them are so interesting. So this would probably be a neat read!
I find tatoos fascinating and the whole process even though I don’t have any either.
Nice review and I’m glad to have found a new blog to poke around in for book recs. peachescon(at)gmail(dot)com
This sounds like a great read. I’ve always been fascinated by tattoos as well, even though I’m too afraid of needles to ever get one myself. The relationship between Poe and Blue sounds pretty intriguing. Also love the shout out to Edgar Allan Poe. Great review!
I also don’t have tattoos but I love the idea of them! Tattoos are super cool but it’s my fear of needles that has me not considering any seriously. It sounds like the authors did a great job with the characterization and the romance. I will admit though, the whole “daddy” thing in romance turns me off.
Great review! Have a lovely week. =)
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
Loved this book! Cannot wait for the next one
amie_07(at)yahoo(dot)com
I have 3 tattoos, so I certainly understand the attraction. My tattoo artists never look as good as this though — lovely review Lauren!
I have a few tattoos, and also like to watch tattoo shows on television because the artwork is amazing. Every time I look at one, I get intrigued at the talent of these artists.
I don’t have any tattoo’s either. I almost got one at 18, but chickened out. Then I was going to get one after running my first marathon, but chickened out again! Haha! This sounds like an interesting book and I love the idea of freshening up old tattoos to make them look better!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
I like tattoos but don’t think I could ever commit to an image for life. LOL This sounds good, and I am glad you connected.
Sounds interesting. I might have to check into it.
Sounds like an intriguing series! Glad you liked it and I hope the next book will be even better!
Thanks for the review!
legacylandlisa at gmail dot com
Oh that’s clever with Poe’s name. Nice cover, too.
I’ve never heard of this before but it sounds really good.
Congrats, Avon & Piper, and thanks for the good review. This sounds great. I love the age-gap relationship, being on the high end of one myself, and it will be interesting to see how that’s dealt with. – Purple Reader,
TheWrote [at] aol [dot] com
This became one of my favorite author duo and I’m exicted they will bring us more wonderful stories.
serena91291@gmail(dot)com
I don’t have any tattoos either but have read a decent amunt of books that focus on them and the tattoo parlors. This sounds like a good one to add! Great review!
I don’t have any tattoos but find the process intriguing. This sounds like a great read!
Jill
Doused in Pink