"Tattoo Thief (Tattoo Thief Book 1)" Book Review

My Rating: ★★★★☆ 4 Stars

Let’s get one thing straight, this book has absolutely nothing to do with the stealing of tattoos, because c’mon, that would be torture to the highest degree; however, the thought of someone carving out tattoos from a person’s body does make for a compelling premise of  a future novel. Hint Hint.

So, Tattoo Thief – music, romance, second chances, real estate, drugs, insta-love/infatuation and a judgmental pseudo-psychologist is what we get.

Beryl, our protagonist, is a small town girl of Eugene, Oregon, living a small town life working at a coffee shop and three days a week at a brewpub. She gets the opportunity to become a house sitter for the ultra-rich in the big apple.

Her new-found job places her in the home of rock star Gavin Slater – lead vocalist of Tattoo Thief (yup, it’s a band). His place is trashed, his dog abandoned and Beryl makes it her duty to get to the bottom of this – why he left his place in such a mess, why he disappeared in such a hurry and what part did he play in the death of his muse?

I gave it 4 stars because it was well-written and there was an actual plot, the romance did not overpower the plot at all.

The plot started out great – a small town girl getting a job opportunity in the big city, getting to house-sit for a super-rich, hot, rock star. I loved that about the book, I even loved that she had the opportunity to fall in love with the guy. I found that to be a dream come true fantasy. Ugh, what I would give to be in her shoes.

However, the romance between Beryl and Gavin blossomed prematurely and because of that it felt like they didn’t have much in common except for their loneliness. It would have been more plausible if the author chose to keep them as friends, which is what they were more suited to be based on their conversations.

Beryl was also pretty judgemental toward Gavin. There’s a difference between telling the truth like it is and plain out being judgemental, especially when it’s someone you’ve just met. Like hold up chick, this is my life, not yours; you don’t know what went on so shush. But no, Gavin didn’t tell her that, just wishful thinking on my part.

She also did this creepy thing where she wore his ex-girlfriend’s clothes; the same clothes he told her to throw out. Believe me, I understand that the wardrobe must have been expensive, but don’t go wearing it when you’re going on a date with him. I mean c’mon! Be more considerate toward the poor guy, he’s going to be distraught in memory lane when he sees his dead girlfriend’s outfits on the new girl that he’s dating. That was just wrong and inconsiderate of her. Tsk tsk tsk, any human would know that Beryl.

So there it is – a well-written book with a plot, even though some parts were pretty ridiculous. It doesn’t fall in the erotic genre by the way.