Book Review — The Strongest Steel by Scarlett Cole

“You ready to show me how amazing you are at this?”

“Always,” he said, grinning at her. “One amazing, bad-ass tattoo coming right up.”

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• Buy THE STRONGEST STEEL (Paperback)

Tattooed hero fans!! You’re gonna love this book!!

This is a story about Harper, a girl who’d survived an attack that left her back covered in scars — a constant reminder of a night she wished she could forget. As a way of trying to put the past behind her, she decided to enlist the help of a talented tattoo artist named Trent whose specialty was inking over scars to design to create a large tattoo that turned her back into something beautiful. Even though Trent was immediately drawn to her, once he saw the depth of her pain, he was determined to help her through whatever it was she needed to do or go through to heal, no matter what. And with each tattooing session, they grew closer until their feelings for each other could no longer be denied…

Ok ladies, Trent is seriously guaranteed to melt your heart into a puddle of goo!! This sexy tattoo artist was the most kind, gentle and caring guy you would imaging. He was patient, understanding, and did an amazing job at always putting Harper at ease. Not only that but he was funny, charming, oh-so swoony and once he knew Harper trusted him, he unleashed pure sexiness!

Harper was a very strong heroine. Having survived a truly horrific ordeal, she naturally had a lot of (quite reasonable) fears. But she was also determined to keep living her life and her decision to get the tattoo was the first step towards finally putting the past behind her and taking back the control that had been stolen from her. Under Trent’s TLC and love, she definitely came a long way.

I loved that while both Trent and Harper had flaws and made mistakes, they were also both able to be aware of those mistakes after a reasonable amount of time and apologize for them. Everyone makes mistakes, but its the characters that can learn from their mistakes that I respect the most.

“Fuck.” Trent growled and pulled her into his chest… His eyes were steely. Focused. “We’re in this together. We can keep you safe. I don’t want us to have secrets, darlin’. I want to know more. Everything.”

The whole build up of their relationship as they designed the tattoo and in the various tattooing sessions definitely had my heart fluttering. I loved watching their feelings for each other grow. I loved the way Trent both respected her, helped her, and loved her, while supporting her, and encouraging her to move forward with her life. Trust me, he’ll have you swooning in no time!

“I don’t want to move.”

“So don’t.” He pressed a soft kiss into her hair.

“No one has hugged me in a very long time,” she said… “Thank you.”

“Any time. Tattoos and hugs. I’m great at them both. Just don’t tell the guys out there or I’ll never hear the end of it.”

We were told the story in alternating POVs, but in third person. I found it very easy to read and smooth flowing. This story is also quite steamy. I’d put it somewhere between NA and Adult in terms of steam levels, and there’s a very nice build up to the sexytimes so you so really feel like the characters naturally got to that point — no insta love, even though they had an instant connection.

Now, maybe it’s because I’ve just literally read so much contemporary romance, but the complete truth is that I did find this book very predictable and in many ways almost an unsurprising story in terms of plot. BUT the reason I still loved it so much was two fold: First, it was — to put it simply — very, very well done. Second, sometimes this kind of book is exactly what you need. Maybe a good analogy would be that sometimes, even though mac & cheese isn’t exactly a unique culinary experience, sometimes you just crave good old, delicious, mouthwatering mac & cheese. So for anyone looking for a really freaking good, deliciously swoony, non-frustrating, sexy, fun, romance with a dash of suspense all mixed together with a generous helping of protective, heart-melting, and tattooed Alpha male, THIS IS IT. This is the mac & cheese of contemporary romance (and I mean that in a really good way because I adore mac & cheese).

This is the first standalone in a series of standalones. This has a complete story and Trent and Harper’s romance is completely wrapped up by the end (with an epilogue). The next book is a different couple.

Rating: 4+ stars!! NA/Adult Contemporary Romance Standalone

• Buy THE STRONGEST STEEL (Kindle)
• Buy THE STRONGEST STEEL (Paperback)

Full Series: Interconnected Standalones