Scarlett Cole - The Strongest Steel

Harper Connelly never expected to find herself outside of a tattoo parlor at one in the morning. The scars that decorate her back are just one more reminder of things she'd rather forget, the past she wants to leave far behind her, but before she can move on, she needs him.
Trent Andrews has his own reasons for specializing in inking over scars. And there's no way in hell he's going to turn Harper away. Not when a swirling mix of tenderness and desire slams into him every time her sees her. Being with Harper is like going ten rounds in the ring—exhilarating, powerful, and dangerous. She stirs feelings in him he thought were long gone... if he can only get past her carefully constructed defenses.
Running was the only thing that saved Harper last time, but each session at Second Circle Tattoos brings her closer and closer to Trent. His lingering touches seduce her, making her believe in a life without fear, where she can be happy, whole, in love. But when cryptic messages start appearing on Harper's phone, strange deliveries arrive at her door, and Second Circle is vandalized, Harper is convinced that her ex-boyfriend has tracked her down, and worse, that he knows about Trent. She ran from her past once before; this time will she have the strength to fight back?

Comment: I got interested in this book because it would portray a supposed fragile heroine who decides to do a tattoo and I admit there's some catnip in this scenario for me, to imagine someone who wants a tattoo and by forging a relationship with the guy who tattoos her discover they have a lot in common, especially the tattoo artist has tattoos himself, there's an interesting dichotomy between what people usually think of two supposed opposed people being together.

In this story we meet Harper Connelly, a young woman who works in a coffee house and lives with the scars of an attack by her ex, now in prison. The story begins with her approach to Trent Andrews, a tattoo artist known for some work he has done with scars. At first, it takes some time for her to trust Trent but as their professional relationship develops so does her enjoyment of talking with him and just spending time. Their feelings develop and it gets to a point where it seems they are much into one another.

The problem is that the scars are only the visible part of Harper's terrible experience and when hidden threats start to arrive her way, can she trust the new friends and the new man in her life with what happened to her?

I'm quite glad this didn't end up being one of those classic cases where the hero comes as the knight in shining armor to save the heroine. She saves herself by trusting and sharing things with those around her but nothing is ever perfect and this only happens after a few stumbles on the way.

Nevertheless, if the purpose was to write a story where the main idea is to present a person who has all reasons to hide and be afraid, renovate herself, improve and makes choices, then it was achieved.

Harper is an interesting character in the sense she does have reasons to be afraid but she is still out there, trying do something, even if away from her family. Throughout the book we know why and often I felt had I been in her shoes, I might not have been as brave.

To be honest, part of why I didn't give this a higher grade is precisely the apparent ease in how the heroine went from afraid to trust the hero. I felt we didn't have enough scenes with her indecision or convincing herself it might be a good idea. I suppose this would be too boring for many readers but the moment she acts on her wishes, it seems things develop too easily.

The romance is sweet enough and I liked the hero not only because he was a great guy with many tattoos, something still not always accepted by many people, who add tattoos with a certain style or label. I liked how great Trent was and I liked knowing about his thoughts and family and why he decided to be a tattoo artist.

His group of friends was cute and supportive enough and I do wish the author could have spent a few more scenes giving them a stronger personality instead of, for instance, adding up to the supposed chemistry between hero and heroine which already was a given.

The way abuse and the outcome of it was portrayed was well enough. The time is more spent on how the heroine has lived with what has happened and not her remembering or reviving each detail. I liked that this information was only the necessary for us to understand the impact it had on her and was not really exploitative.

The overall effect is that this story has many good details, but something in the way the characters so quickly and so easily go from mildly aware of one another to trusting to be in love didn't feel as fluid as it could have been. I'm probably picky but this could have been a more engaging story if the main couple had had more scenes interacting in different levels instead of just "romance". I wouldn't go as far as to say this should be a slow burn type of romance but slower could have been the key to make it even better.

Grade: 7/10