Book Review | Inked Armor by Helena Hunting

Title: Inked Armor

Author: Helena Hunting

Series: Clipped Wings #2

Age: New Adult

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Publication Date: May 13, 2014

Publisher: Gallery Books

Source: eBook

Purchase: Kindle | Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Play Store | iBooks 

Synopsis: 
In this follow-up to Clipped Wings, the emotional love story continues between Hayden and Tenley; two young people who desperately want to love and be loved but are afraid to completely let go of their pasts.

In the wake of losing Tenley Page, tattooist Hayden Stryker's tumultuous past is haunting him. Plagued by nightmares about the murder of his parents, Hayden reaches out again to Tenley. Having run from the man she doesn't believe she deserves, Tenley finally lays her guilt to rest. Despite their intense physical attraction, Hayden and Tenley struggle to repair their fragile emotional connection. As Hayden gets closer to the truth, he must find a way to reconcile his guilt over his parents' death in order to keep the woman who finally cracked his armor, and found her way into his heart.

My Rating: 

My Thoughts:
Once again, I cried my eyes out reading this story. This seriously pulls at the heartstrings from beginning to the end and the romantic and suspenseful buildup is phenomenal. I loved everything about this and was happy with the ending -- though I was hoping for a marriage proposal.

Tenley Page is back home in Arden Hills taking care of things concerning the lost of her parents and her finance. She's still dealing with her douche-bag of an almost brother-in-law. She's hunted by her past, but learns to let go and take steps forward to live her life as she should. She is still a strong woman to me with everything she dealt with concerning her lost, her brother-in-law and her school. She has her insecurities and doubts, but I love that in this sequel she began to really learn to deal with them and sort through it all. Tenley is still as sexually open as ever. I love her.

Hayden Stryker is more of the focus in this book as his past becomes a constant nightmare in his life. He begins to question the truth behind his parent's murder. Hayden becomes a bit more frantic and paranoid in this book and allows his anger to get the best of him. I loved seeing him learn that he needs to talk about his past and get help in order to move forward. I think Hayden is a brilliant young man -- that professor scene was a shocker to me because he was absolutely smart which I never pictured him being. Hayden is an amazing guy that went from being broken to semi-whole. Great male protagonist.

The romance was still so beautiful and pure despite the craziness they both went through. Their relationship shows that couples can go through hard times and still make it through if and when they are both ready to move forward together. Of course, these two were still sex crazed as ever, but they learned that they had to communicate outside of the sex which was awesome. I love how much they cared for one another and helped each other deal with their trauma. Such a beautiful romance.

Trey is still a jackass. The professor is an annoying old perverted man...I really wanted to see Hayden hit him one. Officer Cross shocked me! I would have never thought that he had that much of a connection to Hayden's parents death. That blew my mind. As for Sienna and Damen I'm not surprised with the end result because they were both too damn skittish around Hayden. I'm so glad they got what was coming to them.

Overall, this was a beautiful story about two unlikely yet similar people that learned to love and be loved despite their mishaps and trauma. Loved and totally recommend if you're looking for a beautiful contemporary romance with some heartfelt romance.

Have you read this book?