Book 1, Tempting: I had a little trouble getting into this one since Kaylee was only 17 (turning 18) at the start of the book. I don't have an issue with age gap when the characters have more life experience, and I do feel this was addressed by the end of the book, but it did affect my impression of the book as I was listening to it. I did appreciate that the author incorporated dealing with mental health in her story. By itself, I would have given this story 3 stars.
Book 2, Hooking Up (Playing): I actually liked this story more than Book 1 even though it was pretty clear where this one was going to end up from the beginning. I liked that it dealt with the topic of addiction. I didn't love the drawn out ending, but I could kind of understand it.
Book 3, Pretend You're Mine: Again, this one wasn't all that surprising with the story line but it was still good and it was different from the other two. I appreciated that all the stories in the set were unique.
I listened to the Audible version. The narration was consistent throughout the series. I've been a fan of the Wen Ross/Kai Kennicott team for awhile, but with this team I prefer dual narration (where each narrator takes one perspective) over duet (each narrator takes all the male or female parts). The duet style made the intimate scenes more realistic, but I would have liked more variation between thoughts vs. spoken words and for the different characters to sound more unique to make it feel more like an audio play when it's in duet style.
Inked Hearts 1-3: A Romance Collection
by Crystal Kaswell
The men of tattoo shop Inked Hearts are brooding, bossy, and impossible to resist!
Dive into this addicting series and see why readers say "Crystal Kaswell is the queen of broken bad boys."
Tempting
He's my best friend's brother. He's off limits. But when I find the brooding tattoo artist's sketchbook full of dirty drawings--drawings of me--I can't resist.
Hooking Up
Sweet, booksmart grad student Iris and I have a friends with benefits arrangement with three simple rules. All fun. No strings. No falling in love. But then I've never been very good at following rules.
Pretend You're Mine
I'm pretending I'm in love with my best friend. What could possibly go wrong?
This romance collection contains the first three books on the Inked Hearts series.
Reviews
Inked Hearts 1-3A (Romance Collection) folliows tattoo artists at the Inked Hearts Shop. n Tempting we get best friends brother romance, Hooking Up, two friends turned lovers and Pretending Your Mine a fake relationship. Within these stories we get realistic topics including depression, drug addiction, cheating, and mental health. Every book has sharp-witted banter, well communicated conversations, realistic characters, and interesting storyline. To top it off ieach book is smoking hot & sensual.
Kai Kennicott, Wen Ross flawless duet narration brought the characters and their stories to reality. Smooth and easy listening. Loved the narration. These two have natural chemistry and talent and make it fun to listen to.
This is my first book by this author and I have to say that I am hooked! Wonderful characters and a beautiful storyline that was well written. What started out as friendship blossomed into something more beautiful. This will definitely not be my last book by this talented author.
