The world’s had it out for San Francisco firefighter Mace Crawford from the moment he was born. Rescued from a horrific home life and dragged through an uncaring foster system, he’s dedicated his life to saving people, including the men he calls his brothers. As second-in-command of their knitted-together clan, Mace guides his younger siblings, helps out at 415 Ink, the family tattoo shop, and most of all, makes sure the brothers don’t discover his darkest secrets.
It’s a lonely life with one big problem—he’s sworn off love, and Rob Claussen, one of 415 Ink’s tattoo artists, has gotten under his skin in the worst way possible.
Mace’s world is too tight, too controlled to let Rob into his life, much less his heart, but the brash Filipino inker is there every time Mace turns around. He can’t let Rob in without shaking the foundations of the life he’s built, but when an evil from his past resurfaces, Mace is forced to choose between protecting his lies and saving the man he’s too scared to love.
Reviewer: Annika
The opening of this book was brutal, horrible and truly heartbreaking. But it also made us connect instantly with Mace. It made us want for his happily ever after. It made the reader invested in the book.
Mace is a martyr of sorts. He never asks for anything for himself. Always giving it to everyone else, no matter how much it hurts him. He is part of the family, but constantly afraid of being rejected. He exists more than live. He truly believes he was not worthy of love of any kind, having had it taken away several times before.
He lives a lonely life, never having anything more serious than hook-ups he barely knows the name of. So when the attraction to one of the tattoo artists at 415 Ink refuses do die down, he's not quite sure what to do about it. Add in his worst nightmare from his childhood coming back to haunt him in the worst ways and his life as he knows it starts to crumble at the edges.Trust me, Ivo, the only love I'm ever going to get in my lifetime is from you and the rest of my family. That's just going to have to be enough
There was something that kept me from loving this book, and I can't really put my fingers on why. I really like the characters. My heart broke for Mace so many times. For the boy he was, for the man he thought he'd become, how little he thought he was worth. It got to me it truly did.
I also think that it ended there. After reading this book, I can't really say that I know Rob all that much. We never really got to know him beyond a very superficial level. He was always in the periphery looking in. Oh sure, he was always there for Mace and so on, but the focus was never on him. I still don't really know his wants, fears, flaws, hopes and so on.
Then there was the writing. There was something about it that kept me from fully submerge into the book. After that powerful opening scene it all just kind of faded for me, I wasn't all that invested anymore, there was a distance that I can't fully explain. I've read and loved so many of Ford's novels before, but this series, this book don't have their feel to it. If their name hadn't been in the cover, I'd been hard-pressed to guess the writer. It feels a bit clunky and messy at times to the point where I had a hard time really following what was going on.
These are all my feelings and are highly subjective, so please, If you've read and loved Ford’s books in the past, do pick up this book and form your own opinion and don't take mine for gospel.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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