Review ~ The Darkest Link ~ Scarlett Cole

The Darkest Link by Scarlett Cole
Series: Second Circle Tattoos #4
Published by Swerve on August 30, 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 456
Format: eBook
Source: Gift

When her car breaks down off the side of a lonely highway far from her sunny Miami home, tattoo artist Lia never expected her very own white knight to ride up on the back of a barely street-legal motorcycle...and she never expected to fall for her dark savior. After a string of failed relationships and a bruised heart Lia is not looking for forever, and the hot mechanic, with his sexy scruff and shaggy hair, is simply impossible to resist. He's the perfect candidate for a mind-blowingly-perfect, no-strings-attached one-night stand.

Reid left his life in Chicago far behind him and hasn't been back, but he's never been able to escape the guilt he feels about his own painful role in inviting a monster into his baby sister's life. A monster who almost destroyed her. Being with Lia is an unexpected gift, one he doesn't feel he deserves. As unique and beautiful as the designs she inks, theirtheir one night together has him wanting more than he should. When he surprises her at her tattoo studio, Second Circle Tattoos, in Miami, he's in for a shock—and a fist to the face—when his past and present collide.

With secrets coming to the surface, Reid and Lia are thrown into a world of betray and lies that threatens to pull them under, and the last link to his former life may be the darkest of them all.

With The Darkest Link, SCole delivered a gripping story with characters I was truly curious about and did it in a way that tied all the stories together beautifully. It was a wonderful way to end the Second Circle Tattoos series.

Lia, a tattoo artist at Second Circle Tattoos as well as good friend to Trent, Harlow, Cujo, Drea, Pixie, and Dred, is a character I’ve always admired and wanted to know more about. She’s seemingly very comfortable in her own skin and that’s a trait I not only admire but also envy. I also think it’s beautiful. She dresses like a 40’s pinup girl and wears her American Traditional tattoos with pride. Plus, she’s such a generous person! Gah! I really just adore her. When she breaks down on a desolate road, she has a knight on a shining motorcycle come to her rescue. They click immediately. And when I learned who he was, I was SO excited.

Reid runs a garage in a small town about 2 hours from Miami. He’s got a nice business, good friends, and a great group of boys he mentors. He’s an all-around good guy…but one with major regrets about his past. Reid’s punishing himself for his mistakes despite having learned from them. He’s not sure of starting something with Lia but neither he nor she seem to be able to help themselves. Then when Lia’s friends meet him… well, that was quite a turn of events.

The suspense element in The Darkest Link was well-played. I didn’t know who was behind the things happening to Lia and Reid. And with one of the possible suspects, I just didn’t want to believe it! But the circumstances have the whole gang circling the wagons and I loved how it brought them all a little closer.

The romance was well developed even if it was fast. Even Lia and Reid felt it was fast but sometimes you just know when you know. They had real chemistry but they also understood each other in ways most people couldn’t. Lia and Reid also supported one another from the get-go. There were a few bumps in the road but in the end… sigh. Yeah, it was awesome.

I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect ending for this series. (There is a novella I’ll be picking up because it involves a secondary character that I really like.) I’ve so enjoyed getting to know all the peeps from Second Circle Tattoos, watching as they grew and fell in love, as well as cultivated en even stronger bond between each other. I’m a HUGE SCole fan now and I am eager to dive into the spinoff series.

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