This was a very well written, compelling read. I just thought some of the quotes and references were beautiful and natural. I love reading about artistry and tattoo artistry in particular. Liam is such a beautiful soul and it opens with him going into this dump of a place. The aesthetic of the story lies in the characters and their individual hurdles/baggage is brought out slowly and separately so you are not overwhelmed as a reader. It also isn't dwelt on or rehashed over and over. I really like how the author brought so much information into the story without a lot of extemporaneous build up. You know that Liam has past tragedy and even though you are emotionally invested in his character, you are not overly anxious to know what his past baggage is and it comes out naturally through the story. All of the characters were distinct and so I never felt any bleed through when reading the dialogue. I just really enjoyed this romance story but especially the theme that family is of your own making. Made a mistake in the rating of this particular novel. That's what I get for updating on my ipad I suppose. I re-read this one straight after my first read. It's strange to say that a novel is character driven because novels are usually about characters and they're the ones that push the novel forward, even when authors rain obstacles in their paths. This particular novel though, is very much about the characters. Although I don't picture myself gushing over these characters the way I do about Ty and Zane or Tommy and Prophet, I admire these characters an awful lot. I don't think I've ever come across a cast of characters in a book that felt so real. I keep thinking these guys actually do exist somewhere. And I kind of want to know where because I would love to hand out with them (Because, as much as I love Ty and Zane, I really don't think I could hang around them for a prolonged period of time. I can only handle so much crazy lol. That's not the case with Liam, Ace, Goose, Frankie and Deb, though.)I do feel kind of cheated by that time jump, though. I wanted to see how their relationship progressed from what it was in the chapter before that epilogue. Still, it was an interesting read with some truly solid characters.Also: there were some errors that made me think that this title was self-published at first. Nothing truly major but seeing things like "breath" instead of "breathe" was a little distracting.
What do You think about Stories Beneath Our Skin (2014)?
