What Was Your First Tattoo?

Rowdy (Marked Men Novel #5) by Jay Crownover

If you would have asked me last year when I read Rule (the first book in the Marked Men series) if I would have liked another Marked Man as much as I liked Rule I would have thought you were crazy.  Rule was the quintessential bad boy tamed by the love of a good woman.   But my friends, as I learned more about Rowdy throughout the series I knew that I was going to love his book.  He was a carefree soul that loves his friends like family and I was excited to see the story from his point of view. 

Salem moves to Denver from Las Vegas in search of a place to call home.  When she received the call from Nash that he needed someone to run his new store in LoDo she googled the shop, saw one handsome long lost friend and knew this was her new home.  Rowdy takes some time to convince that she is in Denver to stay, but as the story moves along and good times are had and bad times are experienced maybe Salem will be in this relationship for the long haul or maybe this is just one more stopping place before she moves on with or without Rowdy.

I love this series.  I love the characters and I love how Jay brings our old favorites back into each story.  I can’t wait to wrap this series up with Asa.  I will be excited to see how he and Royal will be able to overcome the criminal and the cop stigma. 

Well friends, if you like tattoos and romance with a little bit of excitement and a whole lot of angst then this is the series for you!  Keep reading my Friends! 

Nash is the Hard Looking Softy of the Marked Men

Nash (Marked Men Novel #4) by Jay Crownover

Nash Donovan is the silent type of bad boy.  He is overly misunderstood or just people automatically put him in the bad boy department because he has flames going up the side of his neck and has a ring in his nose like a bull.  When Rome gets busted up from a bar fight back in his book Nash and Saint see each other after many years of growing up after high school.  Saint is now a nurse in the ER and Nash is about to be the joint owner of the Marked Tattoo shop that he, Rule, Rowdy, and Cora work in.  Nash is sweet and kind, he works hard and loves deeply.  I enjoyed his story very much.  I loved watching the drama that is Saint Ford unfold and see her grow into a person that could fully handle all the love that is Nash. 

I enjoyed the story and wanted to slap Saint most of the time.  She was not loveable like Shaw, Ayden, and Cora.  She was a little harder to love even though in reality her life wasn’t as hard as most of the other characters.  I loved Nash though.  He’s the sweetest of the Marked, but I have a feeling that Rowdy is going to be my absolute fave.  He’s funny and sweet and carefully put together.  I just have a good feeling that it’s going to be a great read.  I love how Jay and the timber that she writes in.  It flows well and it’s easy to follow.  I put her books in the beach read category and stand by it.  They are easy reads that give you hope for the characters and you cry with them, and laugh with them and love with them.  On a whole, the Marked Men series is great. 

There were a lot more emotions in the book than have been in the previous books.  I felt right along with Nash as he was going through the hardest time of his life.   

Of course I would be ashamed of myself if I didn’t mention that there are typos in the book.  I overlook them because I like the characters and love the stories.  I understand that you can’t catch them all.  I can’t wait for Rowdy!  Keep Reading my Friends!  

Rome is Home, but Not Really Back.

Rome (Marked Men #3) by Jay Crownover

I enjoyed Rome and I thought Jay did a wonderful job writing about what this particular soldier went through after coming home from fighting in a war.  We met Rome in the first book in the Marked Men Series, Rule.  Rome is Rule’s older brother.  He was always the protector of the twins and he even joined the military in order to protect them on a larger scale, to keep America Free.

Cora is a great character, we get to know her a little in Rule and a lot more in Jet.  She lives with Jet and Ayden and she has a smart mouth and she seems to keep everything in the Marked tattoo shop running, she also does the piercings and she has a loud mouth, did I already say that?  That seems to be her biggest and greatest quality.   That’s why she and Rome seem to mesh, because he seems to always get in the last word and over powers her large personality. 

I have enjoyed this series a lot.  I hate to even say this, but I feel that I must.  I found so many typos in Rome.  Just the use of the wrong word here and there.  I was able to easily overlook it and keep reading because Jay writes her characters for us to fall in love with them. 

I have recommended this book and the entire series to people that I think would enjoy them.  As always with New Adult genre, only eighteen and older should read these books.  I hope you read a book you love soon!  Keep Reading my Friends!

Rock-n-Roll is in Jet's Blood!

Jet (Marked Men #2) by Jay Crownover

Did I mention in my Rule blog that I now really want a tattoo?  I have wanted one for quite some time, but after reading Rule and Jet, I want one real bad.  Not anything big or attention grabbing, that isn’t my personality.  The problem is that I can’t make up my mind what I want.  Lots of book nerds get words of their favorite author on their body, that is not me.  At least not yet.  Then others put animals or designs, gosh there are so many options that I have no idea where to start.  So for right now I will go without.  Until I find exactly what I’m looking for, I won’t have one and I’ll keep reading books about guys and girls that have tattoos and I’ll love every minute of it. 

We met Ayden Cross as Shaw’s roommate in Rule the first Marked Men novel.  She’s fun and interesting and smart.  We also met Jet Keller, the rocker of the group who is dark and dangerous and has really descriptive eyes that tell you what he’s thinking without opening his mouth.  So far in the series Jet is the confident one, he knows who he is.  There is no identity crisis there, he wears his tight purple pants and his band t-shirts extra-smedium and he is head over heels in love with Ayden. 

I have never been a huge fan of multiple points of view within a book, it’s hard for me to keep reading when I get to a character that isn’t my favorite.  So, here’s the answer to that dilemma, love both characters and you won’t get stuck.  That’s how it’s been so far with the Marked Men series.  I love the guys POV just as much as the girls and therefore I read them pretty fast because I can’t wait to see what the other person is thinking. 

I loved to see what Rule and Shaw were up to and glad to get to know Cora and the rest of the gang better throughout the book, I can’t wait to see what’s going on with Rome and Cora.  And Rowdy?  I can’t wait for his book, he seems like the cream of the crop, let’s hope he doesn’t disappoint. 

Something I noticed that Miss Crownover did in this book was the use of inanimate objects.  I love it when an author says that a character can smell something that doesn’t smell or hit you with something that’s not possible.  In Jet, Ayden is having a very hard time after some drama takes place and Shaw is worried that Ayden is going to beat Loren (a girl that works at the bar with them) with her own stupidity.  Brilliant!  I love it!

I did catch a few typos, but it didn’t distract me from the plot and I still loved the book and the characters!

I highly recommend this to the 18 year and older reader out there.  With almost all New Adult books I cannot condone any young reader to pick this one up.  Although Jay does a great job of keeping the language to a minimum and I appreciate that. 

I can’t wait to start reading Rome!  Keep Reading my Friends!

Tattoos for Everyone!

Rule (A Marked Men Novel #1) by Jay Crownover

What goes through your mind when you see a man (or woman?) with a sleeve of tattoos?  What’s the first idea that comes across your mind?  Maybe that question is irrelevant.  I know that when I was young it seemed like the only people who had more than one tattoo were bikers and big scary men (huge stereotype, right?).  In the bible belt area that I grew up in everyone discussed whether it was against the Bible to mark your skin permanently.  I still think that some people in the older generations look on tattoos with disgust and judgment, but I know for myself I see it as a choice.  Each person has one life to live.  If ink is a way for you to show your personality and outwardly give people a glimpse at whom you are.  Go for it.  Most of my husband’s family members have more than one tattoo where most of my family does not have any.  I don’t really hear the debates anymore.  My husband has many friends that go to Seminary or are pastors that have pieces that usually are in the original biblical language that say things like “grace” or “faith.”  In the world of ink, I say decide for yourself and enjoy the decisions that you make.

Rule is a New Adult love story between a tattoo artist and Shaw, the girl that has loved him since she was fourteen.  I loved the dual point of view of this book and the way Jay never gave too much away.  We would jump days and we may never find out how Rule was feeling when we were listening in on Shaw’s POV, or vice versa. 

My favorite idea about the story is literally Rule’s eyes were opened up one day and even though he tried to close them he couldn’t stay away from Shaw once the blindfold was removed from his eyes.  She had always been there, always admired his personality, character traits, and loved him for who he was and one day he noticed and that’s when our story takes off. 

Who is Shaw?  Well if you haven’t read this book I don’t want to ruin it.  Jay introduces us to her slowly, and doesn’t give us all of the details of the longtime relationship all at once.  At one point I looked back a few pages believing that I had missed something.  Then I realized, ohhhh, that’s genius!  I love it when authors use words to confuse me just a little before revealing the answers that I was asking the questions about.

I met Jay at the Nashville event, she was the second author and I was so nervous that I was shaking.  I had not read any of her work yet and so I was unsure of what to talk to her about.  So far I had only met Cora Carmack and since I had read all of her books excluding her brand new book (which I bought at her table) I was worried that Jay was going to blow us off since we weren’t spending money on her books.  That could not have been farther from what actually happened.  We ended up talking about Colorado and the premise around her books.  She was super cool and comfortable to be around.  I just can’t wait to see her again so I can tell her in person how much I enjoyed Rule.  I have the next 4 books on hold at the Library!  I can’t wait to get to reading!

Keep Reading my Friends!