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onthesamepa9e 's review for:
Sin and Ink
by Naima Simone
Tattoo Artist & Ex- MMA fighter Knox Gordon is buried under the weight of his guilt. Guilt for inadvertently leading his brilliant younger brother away to the brutal world of MMA. Guilt for Connor’s death before a big match that Knox could’ve stopped. But mostly, Knox is wracked with guilt over his uncontrollable attraction to Connor’s widow, Eden. Who just so happens to be the manager at his tattoo parlor.
Eden’s life has been in stasis since her husband Connor died two years ago, and she’s tired of standing still. She’s been made manager of Hard Knox Ink, she’s finally moving out of Connor’s parents house, and when she asks Knox for her first tattoo, things get hot and heavy. Of course, she didn’t intend for her first sexual encounter after her husband’s death to be with his brother, but she’s been thinking abut Knox for months, and the chemistry between the two of them is undeniable.
This book is BONKERS DELICIOUS!!! Naima delivers on her signature wit, peppering the text with clever jokes & pop culture references. But what *really* does it for me in this book is how she ratchets up the taboo! I love me an agsty romance, and the TENSION these two feel is absolutely divine- they’re consumed by their desire for each other, but the guilt they feel for the very thing that consumes them is everything! Every page is practically dripping with the tension
Something that I always appreciate about Naima Simone’s books is that the prose is really beautiful, but not in a way that feels unwieldy. I feel like can be trickier to nail in contemporary, since the vocabulary in historical lends to to flowery, articulate language, and to be honest in many cases our words just aren’t as pretty in 2020. But Naima packs such a punch, in a way that feels raw and powerful. Like this (!!!!) :
“Christ. This woman is my Bathsheba, my Delilah, my Mary all rolled into one. My weakness, my damnation…my strength.”
TBH there’s no area in which this book falls short for me. Naima perfectly executes a taboo romance so hot your kindle is lowkey at risk of meting, but the character arc/emotional growth of both MC’s is equally satisfying. Knox and Eden are both really compelling protagonists, and watching them overcome their personal struggles to find their way to each other is just delightful.
Eden’s life has been in stasis since her husband Connor died two years ago, and she’s tired of standing still. She’s been made manager of Hard Knox Ink, she’s finally moving out of Connor’s parents house, and when she asks Knox for her first tattoo, things get hot and heavy. Of course, she didn’t intend for her first sexual encounter after her husband’s death to be with his brother, but she’s been thinking abut Knox for months, and the chemistry between the two of them is undeniable.
This book is BONKERS DELICIOUS!!! Naima delivers on her signature wit, peppering the text with clever jokes & pop culture references. But what *really* does it for me in this book is how she ratchets up the taboo! I love me an agsty romance, and the TENSION these two feel is absolutely divine- they’re consumed by their desire for each other, but the guilt they feel for the very thing that consumes them is everything! Every page is practically dripping with the tension
Something that I always appreciate about Naima Simone’s books is that the prose is really beautiful, but not in a way that feels unwieldy. I feel like can be trickier to nail in contemporary, since the vocabulary in historical lends to to flowery, articulate language, and to be honest in many cases our words just aren’t as pretty in 2020. But Naima packs such a punch, in a way that feels raw and powerful. Like this (!!!!) :
“Christ. This woman is my Bathsheba, my Delilah, my Mary all rolled into one. My weakness, my damnation…my strength.”
TBH there’s no area in which this book falls short for me. Naima perfectly executes a taboo romance so hot your kindle is lowkey at risk of meting, but the character arc/emotional growth of both MC’s is equally satisfying. Knox and Eden are both really compelling protagonists, and watching them overcome their personal struggles to find their way to each other is just delightful.