ORDER A COPY: Cracks in the Armor
Publisher: Pocket Star
Publishing Date: June 23, 2014
eBook: 50 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Chris, a sexy tattoo artist, tries to win the heart of Sarah, a grad student with little interest in him, in this second e-short and follow-up to Helena Hunting’s gripping love story, Clipped Wings—“twisted, dark, incredibly erotic…a love story like no other” (USA TODAY bestselling author Alice Clayton).
Part owner of the Chicago tattoo shop Inked Armor, Chris Zelter is a talented artist who decorates skin with gorgeous designs. He might look the part of the typical jacked-up, inked-up bad-boy, but underneath is a fiercely loyal, complicated man. Kicked out at sixteen, Chris has had to fend for himself for the last twelve years, making his Inked Armor crew as much family as they are business partners. For him, it’s enough—until he meets Sarah Adamson.
A grad student waitressing at the local strip club, Sarah is used to propositions and crude comments. The job is a means to an end—finish her MBA, pay off the tuition loans, and get a good job. Then she won’t have to rely on anyone to take care of her. So when brawny, tatted up Chris begins hanging out at the club, she rebuffs his advances. At first. But Chris isn’t like her usual clientele: despite his hard exterior, he’s almost…sweet.
I have to admit that I was not the intended audience for this short story. From the description, I believed that this would be a novella about two of the secondary characters of this series which would involve that dark, dangerous hero with the gooey center that I like.
Turns out that this would be the equivalent of two chapters out of the series as opposed to a separate story. We spent some time over at Hayden and Tenley’s new house and there was a lot of discussion about the trial of the people who murdered Hayden’s parents. This was all a continuing storyline from the first two books.
The first chapter was from Chris’s POV and the second from Sarah’s. There was discussion of how both hate Sarah’s job waitressing at a strip club and how the new owner was trying to push her on stage. There was also internal dialog about how Chris wants Sarah to keep a key to his apartment and how she keeps giving it back to him. He doesn’t want to push the fact that he wants her to have a key since he is afraid to be rejected by her turning down his offer, and Sarah turns out wants a key, but is waiting for him to offer it to her.
Generally, that’s about all there is to this story.
Although this book is meant for people who have read the series, I rated it a 3 stars anyway since, if I had been reading it, I would be been disappointed if this was all the storyline that Chris and Sarah’s relationship had been given. What about the strip club owner who was getting pushy? How is the key thing going to work out? But that’s all the questions I have. There wasn’t much more to their relationship offered here.
I had anticipated much more from the description and was disappointed. I would have dropped it at the beginning, but tried to hold on for the whole 50 pages.
Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
