Merry Inkmas is a novel by Talia Hibbert.
Finished on: 12.12.2018

Plot:
Cash goes to the same coffee shop every day. Not really for the coffee, but for Bailey, the barista. One night, Bailey gives John, a homeless guy she knows, the opportunity to warm up in the coffee shop. Her boss doesn’t like it and fires Bailey on the spot. Cash is a witness to the scene and offers Bailey a job at his tattoo parlour straight away, as well as offering to help John out. Bailey accepts the job, even though she feels at least as drawn to Cash as he to her. But both of them have learned hard lessons in earlier relationships and may not be open to make more of their attraction to each other.

Merry Inkmas is a great read that pushed a lot of my buttons – starting with a tattoo artist (tattooed himself, of course) hero and a fat, black heroine. I’m absolutely here for it.

Merry Inkmas is a quick read in both ways – it’s not very long, and it’s hard to put down. I was completely into it. I was also very much into Cash and Bailey. I mean, I have (a thing for) tattoos, so Cash definitely had a shoe in the door just because of that. But he was generally a very hot dude. And Bailey was also such a fantastic character. I may have drooled a little less over her, but that’s just because I identified more with her. In any case, Cash and Bailey are a great couple and they are super-hot together. Hibbert really knows how to write sex scenes, that’s very much appreciated on my part.

I also liked that even with all the trappings of the romance genre (trappings I love, don’t get me wrong), Hibbert doesn’t lose a sense of reality here. We get that with John and his struggle, but we also get in the fact that at the end of the novel, Cash and Bailey haven’t resolved all their individual and long-standing issues, but they have made a commitment to each other to work on them together.

I have to admit that the drama at the end became a bit much for me (the carrying) and things went a little fast for my taste (my usual grievance with most romances), but other than that I have absolutely no complaints about this novel that gave me exactly what I was hoping for.

Summarizing: great.