I absolutely loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The perfect book to escape into. I highly recommend it. – United Indie Book BlogSuffering 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. … 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?
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Fabulously fun!
Good easy read. Entertaining.
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book all the way to the end but I enjoyed this this very much so thanks for writing it
I really enjoyed the characters; they came across as people I would enjoy hanging out with. Nice, sweet romp with a happily ever after.
This book starts with a woman’s quest to find herself after a divorce leaves her disillusioned by the concept of love and marriage. She moves away from home with nothing more than what she can fit inside her car, away from everything she has ever known and loved. On this quest, she makes some great friends, who help her open herself up to new possibilities, and a new life.
This is a new to me author, and I really enjoyed it. Unlike a lot of books on the market today, this is not a book for someone looking for an insta-love connection. This isn’t a book with a lot of drama. There is a slow, sweet build to a relationship between the main characters, and the book is more about empowerment and strength of character. I think this is the kind of book that will stick with you, more so than others, because there is actual meaning behind the words. It’s a beautiful story about love, possibilities, and new beginnings.
Favorite Quotes:
You know, Avery, rule one of getting a tattoo—don’t piss off the guy with the tattoo equipment who can wreck you for life.
He, like the elderly women, is also wearing rather tight yoga pants—except his are leopard print. To go with his leopard print pants, he’s picked out a black muscle tank that is leaving very little to the imagination—not that I would have really wanted to imagine his hairy chest anyway. I try not to stare at his pecs, nipples out and all, as I offer a polite grin. I don’t say anything, not really sure how to respond to a man twice my age who has just used the word “electrifying.” Jodie exhales with a little snort… Yoga is not only an epic disaster. It’s going to be epically disturbing.
Oh my God, you’re reprehensible. Both of you. What, are you both a hundred? You do know that at an adult sleepover, you’re not actually supposed to sleep, right?
I’ve never been the woman from the movies—the one who walks seductively in her dress that clings in all the right places, her eyes screaming confidence and sexual energy. I’m usually the girl who walks like a clomping goat in high heels and who has no sense of fashion. I’m the kind of girl who can’t pull off the serious photo face, and usually ends up looking constipated.
My Review:
Inked Hearts provided a realistic premise with real-life issues, an engaging storyline, and adorable and endearing characters. The story developed gradually, as did the character’s confidence and new sense of identity after hitting reset and starting over at age twenty-eight. This was a character-driven story, which I tend to savor and the talented Ms. Detwiler does so very well. I appreciated the lack of contrived conflict and formulaic tropes. The story was easy to follow, relevant, entertaining, inspiring, and could very well be happening in any community.
Avery thought her marriage was forever and solid – until she found out in the most humiliating and humbling manner possible that it wasn’t. There are few among us that after suffering a major set-back have not had the urge to remake ourselves and start afresh, where no one knows of your background, teenaged escapades, family shame, school struggles, unsightly acne, choice of prom date, childhood embarrassments, etc. I did it and highly recommend it, the only problem being that you have to bring yourself along, damn – there is always a catch…
Avery quit her job, packed up her car and massive dog, ditched her pencil skirts and kitten-heeled shoes, found a roommate and apartment online, fled the controlling strings of her uptight family, and moved a state away with only a few other rather sketchy personal plans. Pretty brave stuff. I enjoyed watching Avery gradually open herself up to change, take risks, battle her self-doubt, silence the voice of her ex-husband in her head, and begin to blossom and finally realize she has found her footing. Avery fell into and navigated through alternative routes she would have least expected and were as surprising to her as her newfound love of fried pickles; which is a dish I must now track down and sample.
Ink and needles are not the only things that can leave a permanent tattoo. Pain and despair can etch their marks onto our hearts and souls, leaving reminders that can keep us from finding and accepting love. Lindsay Detwiler explores these invisible marks and the struggle in overcoming the hurt to find happiness in Inked Hearts.
Avery Johannas catches her husband in the ultimate act of betrayal. With her marriage broken and no trust left in her, she decides to move to the beach town of Ocean City and pursue the life she wants for herself. A life without men. With the help of her new roommate, Jodie, she finds a new career, a new home and her freedom. She also meets Jesse, who slowly makes her realize that she wants to have love in her life again.
“With him, I want to be me but braver. With him, I have more fun. With him, I feel like I’m exactly who I’m supposed to be.”
Jesse Pearce is the mysterious owner of a local tattoo shop. He becomes quick friends with Avery and as they spend more time together he begins to find it hard not to be more with her. He respects her boundaries while also taking the time to convince her that they could be good together. Is the pain of the past too much to allow them to move forward, or will he be able to break through her walls and tattoo his name over the lines already carved into her heart?
“I love you. Scars and all. Sadness and all. Let me be here for you.”
This is a sweet, fun, fast paced read that takes you on a rediscovery of life and love. Avery finds herself and truly lives for the first time. I admire the fact that her and Jesse didn’t just jump in together, even though the spark is there from the beginning. They are friends first and slowly develop into more. There was plenty of laughter and tears, from the characters and from me. The witty banter from Jodie made her someone I cannot wait to read more of. She is getting her own book and I am ready to one-click that baby!! This is a great escape read for the upcoming winter. You will feel as if you are on the warm beach along with Avery and Jesse. FOUR friends first stars.
Fun read but……please tell ALL your contributors to STOP WRITING ABOUT “moving someone’s hair behind their ear” That’s the corniest thing I’ve ever read!! NO ONE does that.. Makes me think you have a staff just pulling paragraphs or quotes together to produce a story or writers are using filler just to make the story lon ger.
Starting over and changing professions takes guts. Good story line.
Characters amazing, true to life.
Loved it!
Will read it again
Liked it characters were great!
kind of slow
I enjoyed this book because the heroine was strong and independent. She knew she needed a change in her life to be happy and she did it. She stood up to her parents so she could be happy. Loved the story.
Good read, great characters. A finding yourself and someone to love story.
A unique love story. Two broken souls merge and complete each other. A nice book.
I really liked this book! First time I have ever read anything by Lindsay Detwiler!
I loved the characters. This was a great book and I will definitely be reading more by this author!
I loved this book. It gives you a little hope that there is someone out there for everyone that is the perfect person.
We are over the ink, the MC’s, the shifters, and for crap’s sake enough with the submissives and billionaires. Can we move along please?