A review by dani_spellboundstories
Inked in Lies by Giana Darling

5.0

I was painted in different strokes and contrary colours...

Giana Darling absolutely never lets me down. She writes sexy, redemption stories that I find myself completely lost in every single time I pick them up. And with each story I read, the beauty of her writing stands out more and more to me as the example of truly exceptional writing. Her writing is poetic, rich with depth and layered with true complexity. Her characters will break your heart as they reach for their HEAs but when they finally reach them…well, there is truly nothing that beats the kind of love story she builds for them. I’ve come to appreciate the way she incorporates an elegance to her writing that is often missing in modern storytelling while still offering a scorching romance. Inked in Lies is the fifth book in The Fallen Men series and my favorite since Welcome to the Dark Side. I cried reading this story...and I don't cry easily. If you’ve never experienced a book written by Giana Darling, you are truly missing out.

For all he pretended to be the affable, casual pretty boy, Nova was sharp as broken glass and just as jagged.

The series holds a special appeal to me as I discovered Giana Darling through the promotion leading up to Lessons in Corruption, the first book in the series. With LIC, I thought Giana's incorporation of Paradise Lost into a modern day outlaw MC taboo romance where a student and his teacher fall helplessly in love with one another was brilliant and could never be beat...and yet, with each story in the series, Giana utterly wows me. Five books into the series, and the things that resonated with LIC still hold true for me with Inked in Lies. She captured my heart and mind completely from start to finish and despite the size of the story, I still read Inked in Lies in one sitting. I thought the story was laid out brilliantly with a pace and flow that is utter perfection and characters that capture my heart completely. And without a doubt, Inked in Lies--as well as every other book she's written—deserves more than the measly five-stars I've been limited to granting.

I wanted to lay her out and play her body like an instrument just to see what chords would make her sing, how many ways I could make music with her form.

Inked in Lies is Nova and Lila's story. A dual POV, brother's best friend/best friends little sister romance where the age gap is taboo and the chemistry out of this world. I've wanted Nova's story since the very beginning of this series. Casanova, the gorgeous biker with the heart to match has long been one of my favorite character and the one I was ultimately the most intrigued by—well, second to Zeus, of course, and anyone who tells you differently needs to have their head examined! And while the books I’ve been honored to read in the past should have prepared me for her to decimate my heart and touch my soul…I still wasn't prepared for the story that Giana penned for Nova and his flower girl. Their love story is unquestionably beautiful and while they’ve had an epic love, their path to get their was not. My heart legitimately broke reading this story and yet, I already want to reread the story and I've only just finished it! If you’re prepared to be helplessly drawn into an action packed, unique and smoking hot romance, that will leave your panties wet and your heart bursting, then you can not go wrong with Inked in Lies. This is one of my favorite reads of the year!!!

Quotes: (May Contain Spoilers—continue reading at your own risk.)

Spoiler

...grief had shifted the prism of the lens I used to view Nova Booth and turned it to something more than love of a brother or a friend.

He was my brother’s best friend. Then he was my foster brother. But now, my feelings for him were anything but familial.

JB + LM surrounded in a barbed wire heart. Barbed because it would protect us. Because I would protect us, our friendship until it could bloom like the lotus into something so much more. Until I was grown and beautiful as the women that lingered around Nova like bees to honey and he would notice how much he loved me too. It was the first lie I ever inked and the last one I would ever do myself. Nova, it turned out, would do the rest.

I knew the only remedy for unrequited love was to cut off the infected limb, amputate Nova from my life in a very real way for long enough to get over him.

I knew he would never love me just the same way I knew I would never stop wanting him. Some things were written in code, hardwired in the body.

My love for him was more hope than substance and it was barely enough to sustain my hungry heart.

He planted flowers all over my body, inside the cage of my ribs, in the fertile soil of my heart, and he never noticed how they bloomed just for him.

She was a sunflower soul with a heart of gold, a hankerin’ for adventure, and a thirst for knowledge. She was raw and earthy, mellow and cataclysmic, sexy and lovin’. She was the epitome’a everythin’ I loved in this world.

She was mine. And I was hers in the way a wolf is owned by his moon, elementally, fuckin’ irrevolcably.