Ink Illusions

Title: Ink Illusions
Author: Val Kovalin
Cover artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Allure
Amazon: Buy Link Ink Illusions
Genre: Contemporary M/M romance
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

A guest review by Sirius

Summary: This story was a very enjoyable read for me until in its last part, when one character acted foolishly and another too tolerantly in my opinion

Blurb:

As a gay man, Aaron never dreamed he’d end up in Houston, Texas, helping a female friend raise her child. Then he learns that the child’s father has just been released from prison. Will Travis threaten Aaron’s new family? To find out, Aaron conceals his identity and meets Travis during the chaotic splendor of Mardi Gras, when no one is what he seems.

Travis is ruthless when it comes to locating his child. Otherwise, he’s not the criminal Aaron expected. Aloof and intuitive, Travis works as a tattoo artist. The intricate tattoos on his body celebrate his commitment to Asatru, a Norse pagan religion. Meanwhile, Aaron is his polar opposite, a talkative Jewish sales rep from Las Vegas, who never misses a chance to have fun.

What they have in common is neither man can turn down a fight. Neither can resist their affair, which turns into an intensely erotic struggle as each seeks to master the other. As their lust deepens to love, Aaron knows he must tell Travis the true reason they came to meet. Meanwhile, he fears that the darkness inside Travis’s soul may lead the man to break the law and end up back in prison…

The Amber Allure “Masquerade” Series contains a number of stand-alone novellas which are all build on the premise of two gay men finding love with each other at a masque ball. The mask depicted on the respective cover will make an appearance in the story.

Review:

I love Val Kovalin’s writing and until the last part of Ink Illusions, I enjoyed it just as much as other three books by this author that I have read. This novella has all that I came to expect from this writer — thoughtful research almost in every area this story touches, no matter how briefly; detailed, realistic characterizations; and strong sense of settings. It is her second book that reminds me again how much I really want to go to New Orleans. Mardi Gras seems so much fun!

I loved that Aaron took a stranger into his house and was helping her raise her daughter, which alone showed to me what kind of man he was becoming — a father to Belinda basically. I absolutely loved how Belinda’s mother, Rosemary, was portrayed; her worries that her kid loves her more than Aaron, while mostly groundless, made her characterization even more endearing to me. I really liked Travis, flawed as he was, and how his time in prison was not romanticized or trivialized. Even though it was not given a lot of page space, I could see that the author really did her homework there.

The connection between Aaron and Travis is rather sudden and unexpected, but Insta!Lust is a totally believable animal to me. The way both guys want to see more of each other was rather appealing to me. I am scratching my head about the blurb’s description of them wanting to master each other though, as I did not notice any BDSM in the story.

Aaron’s Jewish background reminded me of some details of my childhood and I enjoyed that a lot. (Grandparents talking Yiddish when they did not want us kids to know what they were talking about for example) It is interesting how Aaron being Jewish is portrayed actually; it is a part of him, even though he did not look particularly religious to me. I can relate to that as well — a lot.

I felt Travis being Pagan was portrayed very matter-of-factly, which was also a breath of fresh air from several stories I have read before where Pagan characters were depicted as somebody special, but not in a good way (more like it was too unusual and odd). Here being a Pagan was also just a part of who Travis was, no more and no less. And I think it was a very wise choice to show how much Travis grew to care for Aaron because of what he did to one of his tattoos, and I totally understood and related how Aaron could not compromise on that issue.

Have I mentioned that sex was as hot as always in this writer’s stories, but it did not overtake the story at all? Oh, and I really, really liked the title and how it could be taken literally and metaphorically

Unfortunately the last part of the story made me cringe and brought down what would have been a very enjoyable read to the rating you see. Closer to the end Travis does something that, while totally in line with his characterization throughout the story, was very idiotic, but I what really annoyed me was the way Aaron reacted to it. In my opinion and according to what I know about Aaron, it seemed out of character for him. I am a big lover of happy endings, but in this case I would have happily accepted less happy ending in a sense that the relationship between them remains strained until Travis can sort out his issues.

Recommended overall.