For my angsty age-gap romance lovers...

     For those of you who love an angsty forbidden romance with an age gap, then I have just the book for you! DJ Krimmer’s latest release Fox, which came out on March 31st, is the first book in the Hel’s Ink Series and has all of those tropes and more!
     When Janie's father passes away, she assumes grieving will be as simple as closing a book and starting another. Only, her dad had other plans. Leaving her his beloved tattoo shop, she's stuck to figure out what exactly to do with it, all while being constantly reminded of him. Selling it was the easiest option, but after hearing some of the artists elated at the idea because they swore she'd ruin it if she took over, Janie's determined to prove them wrong. The only problem is Fox. Hel's Ink was supposed to be Fox's and he thinks leaving the shop to someone like Janie was a bad idea. Sure she may be able to make it look good on the surface, but there is more to running this place than social media posts and some paint. Only, the longer she's here, Fox finds it harder to believe his own words.
She's too young for him, and far too complicated, but he can't help but wonder what would happen if he just gave in.
     I truly don’t think I’ve ever read such a long, test fast-paced book in my life. Nor do I think I’ve ever read a book where so many of the characters could do with *severe* therapy sessions. It’s not that I didn’t like this book, it’s just that I didn’t love it either.
     I found Fox to be too immature at times, despite his age, and some of his reactions in certain scenes felt like they didn’t match up with his character/personality. Similarly, I found Janie to be VERY annoying in the beginning of the book and then eventually grew to like her, but some of her actions felt very immature for a girl in her late 20s. And even though she gains more and more confidence as the story goes on, she still reverts back into a needy and bratty person which makes her whole character arc seem futile.
     Throw in the fact that this enemies-to-lovers age-gap romance begins during the main characters’ father/mentor’s death where both of them are grieving and emotionally unavailable makes the whole relationship seem unhealthy from the start. So yeah… getting invested in these characters took a bit of time for me. (Especially when the enemies were enemy-ing a little too hard in the beginning to just full on making out with each other the next second.)
      I did love the setting of Hel’s and while some plot points including side characters seemed like they never got resolved, I did like most of the supporting characters!
     Did I like these characters? Eh… Did I like this book? Eh… Will I continue reading the rest of this series? Maybe, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to do so anytime soon.

*I received an ARC from Literally Yours PR in exchange for my honest opinion.

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