If I’m ever struggling for inspiration for blog posts, Days of the Year (this isn’t an ad I promise) usually come up with some really great prompts and today is no exception because did you know that Monday 17 July 2023 is National Tattoo Day. Even though I’m too much of a scaredy cat to get one myself, I love tattoos so much that I even wrote 2 x books about tattoo artists (see below).
I’ve never met a Book List I didn’t like so of course I had to put together a list of My Favourite Fictional Tattoo Artists to celebrate National Tattoo Day.
I’m going to start with my own books: ‘Nobody’s Fantasy’ and ‘Happy When It Rains’ both of which feature badass tattoo artists (Zev and Emmy).
***UPDATED 18 JANUARY 2024***
(1) Zev Montgomery from Nobody’s Fantasy (Ohana Girls #1) (2020)
Series: ‘Nobody’s Fantasy’ (#1), Living My Best Life (#2), Los Angeles, I’m Yours (#3), ‘Happy When It Rains’ (#4) & Five Things (#5)
Tattoos can serve lots of different purposes and in ‘Nobody’s Fantasy,’ Lola uses them to reclaim ownership of her body after she was hit by a drunk driver and suffered career-ending leg injuries.
It’s a warm, sultry night in Miami and Lola Warner has her whole life ahead of her – she’s just graduated from college and is due to fly to London the next morning to take up one of the many offers she’s had to play football. But everything changes in an instant when a drunk-driver mounts the sidewalk and crashes into her, leaving her with career-ending injuries. Struggling to cope with losing everything she’s always dreamed of, her parents suggest she makes a fresh start in Hawaii where her younger brother is attending college.
Now known as ‘Jane’ (her middle name), she meets Zev, a handsome tattoo artist who understands what she’s going through. He introduces her to tattoos and piercings and slowly, ink by ink, she starts to reclaim her damaged body and build a new life for herself in Oahu.
But Jane and Zev are keeping secrets from each other and when the truth comes to light, it will break them apart just when they need each other the most.
(2) Emmy Montgomery from Happy When It Rains (Ohana Girls #4) (2021)
In ‘Happy When It Rains,’ tattoos are used to recreate the nipple and areola as part of the reconstruction process for patients who’ve had them removed after a mastectomy. You can find out more about the real-life procedure at Breast Cancer.org.
If I could turn back time…
There are three things that Hawaiian body artist Emmy Montgomery doesn’t do:
- She doesn’t cry… OK, except for that one time in a field of sunflowers;
- She doesn’t pierce the tongues of steroid junkies because they’re a lawsuit waiting to happen and;
- She definitely doesn’t think about Daniel Ford, the British exchange student who broke her teenage heart all those years ago. Definitely not.
When Emmy finds out that Disappearing Daniel is her bestie’s new law professor, she’s persuaded to swap the sunshine of Oahu for the dull, rainy skies of Manchester.
It turns out that the extra-long flight from Hawaii to England might be the least stressful part of her trip because although her initial plan is to confront Daniel, get the closure she so desperately needs and then let all the hurt and resentment she’s been carrying go Disney-style, things aren’t always that straightforward especially when she and Daniel are keeping some big secrets from each other.
(3) Jack Dunne from Last Call at the Local (Love, Lists & Fancy Ships #3) by Sarah Grunder Ruiz (2024)
Raine Hart is used to the challenges of living with ADHD. It’s why she ditched her life in Boston to busk around Europe as a traveling musician. No boss. No schedule. No one to disappoint but herself. But when a careless mistake in Ireland leaves her unable to perform, she sees no other option but to give up her nomadic life.
Since inheriting the Local, Jack Dunne has wanted to make the pub his own. But the baggage of running a family business and the intrusive thoughts that stem from his OCD make changing things a challenge.
Over a pint with handsome, tattooed Jack, Raine accidentally insults him and the pub. Instead of taking offense, Jack, impressed by her vision of what the pub could be, offers her a job bringing it to life.
But when Raine and Jack develop feelings for one another their opposite lifestyles won’t accommodate, it becomes clear the pub isn’t the only thing that needs reinventing. As the end of their business collaboration draws near, they’ll have to find a way past the limits they’ve placed on themselves or let go of a love that could last a lifetime.
(4) Joel Anderson from Tonic (aka Frisky Business) (Tonic #1) by Staci Hart (2016)
Joel Anderson doesn’t take anything seriously.
Not his relationships, which have been few and far between since his brutal divorce. Not the drama of working in a tattoo parlor, which seems to be around every corner. When things get him down, he smiles and cracks a joke. But he’s not the kind of man you cross, or you’ll find yourself at the wrong end of his fists.
Annika Belousov takes everything seriously.
Like her job as a reality television producer, given that she typically has something to prove. Or her love life, which is defined by a series of requirements — affluent, ambitious, accomplished, to name a few. Definitely her family, who worked their whole lives to afford her every opportunity, a sacrifice she doesn’t take lightly. When she’s tapped to produce a reality show at Joel’s shop, she doesn’t think twice, just goes in for the kill, as if there were any other way.
The second Annika walks into Joel’s shop, he makes it his mission to crack her open, but she’s not having it. He’s all wrong — too crass, too hairy, too un-serious. But it doesn’t take her long to find out there’s more to him than smirks and tattoos. And what she finds could put her career and his heart on the line.
Not that Joel cares. Because for the first time in a long time, he’s found his tonic.
(5) Penny from Bad Penny (aka Down and Flirty) (Tonic #2) by Staci Hart (2017)
She says she has a three date rule. She thinks she doesn’t do serious. She thinks she’s prepared for me.
And I’m about to prove her wrong.
Penny has no idea I’m the chubby, nerdy kid she went to high school with—I shed that baby fat on a surfboard after graduation, though I am still a massive nerd, spending the bulk of my time and energy coding my video game. The last thing I expect to find in New York is her.
The second I see her smile, I recognize her: the girl I’d crushed on since sophomore year. The girl who dated the biggest asshole in our school—the same guy who might have ruined her for me.
She can tell herself all day that she won’t fall for me, but she doesn’t stand a chance. Because I know exactly what I want, and it’s her. And I’ll do whatever it takes to have her.
But everyone has limits, and Penny will test mine. And the moment I have her heart in my hand is the moment I stand to lose her forever.
(6) Patrick ‘Tricky’ Evans from Last Call (Bad Habits #3) by Staci Hart (2016)
If you’ve read A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books – H, you’ll know that Staci Hart is one of my favourite authors and out of the 24 x books of hers I’ve read so far, ‘Last Call’ is my absolute favourite. Ugh, putting together this blog post definitely isn’t helping Me vs My TBR because all I want to do is go back and reread all my favourites.
Series: With a Twist (#1), Chaser (#2) & Happily Ever Habits (#3.5)
Once Rose Fisher makes a decision, that’s it. End of story.
Like when her ex, Patrick, dumped her out of the blue, then showed up with a super-hot, tatted up sex kitten on his arm. Then it was over for good. The end. Poof. Dead to her. Except he was everywhere — down the hall, at the bar with their friends, worming his way into her dreams.
But with their friends paired off, they’re left alone more and more. Rose is determined to keep him friend-zoned — doesn’t matter that he stares at her with a smoulder that drops all panties in a ten foot radius. She’s over him, and she’ll prove it by getting back into the dating game, Patrick be damned.
Patrick Evans is no stranger to consequences. When your mother walks out, your dad drifts away. When you leave home, you’re on your own. And when you run away from the girl you love, you lose her. He finally has an opportunity to rebuild the bridge he burned, and it’s not one he’ll take for granted. But he’ll have to fight for her, even if it hurts. Even if it means he’ll walk away broken-hearted. Because deep down, he knows that she’s it for him.
The trick will be to get her to admit she feels it too.
(7) Teo from Love & Ink by J.D. Hawkins (2018) (A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books – H)
The only thing more permanent than tattoos is love–and she’s inked all over my heart.
I’ve spent the last seven years screwing half the women in the northern hemisphere, but nobody comes close to the girl I left behind. In the meantime, I’ve built my reputation as a world-renowned tattoo artist with a six-month waitlist.
All of LA is begging me to put my mark on them.
The last thing I expect is for Ash Carter to walk into my shop and blow me off.
She doesn’t know I left her to protect her. That she was my entire world, and that was my only choice. That it was a mistake I’ve regretted every day for seven years.
Now she’s back, and she’s everything I remember–stubborn, feisty, sexy as hell. And I’ll do anything to make her mine again.
But how can I convince Ash to forgive and forget when I can’t even forgive myself?
(8) Miles ‘Ox’ Oxford from Ink (7th and Main #1) by Elizabeth Hunter (2017)
Elizabeth Hunter is another of my A-Z: My Favourite Authors & Books – H and it’s primarily because of ‘Ink.’ After ‘Happy When It Rains,’ I’m automatically predisposed to automatically adore FMCs called Emmy (regardless of spelling) and what could be better than a bookstore/tattoo parlour combo? Please tell me Metlin is a real place and I can visit?
It’s everything but business as usual.
Emmie Elliot hadn’t expected to come back to Metlin, California. She definitely didn’t expect to stay. She returned to her childhood home with a mission: Sell the building that housed her grandmother’s book store and move on with her life.
But life doesn’t always go according to plan.
To reopen her grandmother’s book shop, Emmie will need a hook. She’ll need a strategy. She’ll need an… Ox?
Miles Oxford doesn’t have much interest in quiet bookstore owners. He’s a tattoo artist without a space to work, and the last thing he wants is to get involved with anyone after his last disaster of a relationship. Work and pleasure don’t mix for Ox, but since he doesn’t have any interest in the cute girl with the bold business proposal, he should be safe from any awkward complications, right?
She sells ink. He tattoos it. Unusual? Yes. But a book shop/tattoo studio might be the ticket for both Emmie and Ox to find success on their own terms. As long as they keep their attention focused on business.
Just on business.
(9) Spider Villalobos from Sweet (7th and Main #4) by Elizabeth Hunter (2021)
He survived by always being in control.
She’s about to make him melt.
It’s 2004, and Daisy Rivera knows two things: she’s going to end up disappointing her parents’ fondest hopes and dreams in roughly six months, and somehow she’s going to figure out how to kiss the mysterious tattoo artist two shops down from her grandmother’s café that everyone calls Spider.
Spider Villalobos knows one thing: if he gives into temptation and makes a move on Daisy, his fresh start is over.
Their shops may be neighbours in Metlin, but their lives are worlds apart.
(10) Roxy Quinn from Strictly Professional by Kathryn Nolan (2018)
If you like your Fictional Tattoo Artists with a side order of kink, ‘Strictly Professional’ is the perfect book for you. Roxy & Edward also make guest appearances in Not the Marrying Kind, which features Roxy’s buttoned-up sister, Fiona and bad boy Max.
It was supposed to be a one-night stand. Lust was the only thing they had in common.
Roxy Quinn—tattooed goddess, daughter of punk rockers, and beautiful badass—thought she’d never see Edward Cavendish III again. The wealthy, British hotelier wandered into her dingy New York City tattoo parlour, a little drunk and a lot broken-hearted. And very, very charming.
After a night of panty-disintegrating passion, Roxy sends him on his way. She has zero time to pursue the suit-wearing sex god. Not when her business is failing. Not when her employees are counting on her.
After a lifetime trapped in his parents’ legacy, Edward’s rendezvous with the scowling vixen is a glimpse of glorious freedom. But it’s not freedom he needs now. What he needs is to find the right wife to fulfil the terms of his trust fund before he loses it all. Roxy, with her ripped stockings and delectable secret piercings, is definitely not that kind of wife.
But their paths cross again when Edward and Roxy are inconveniently paired up in a business school mentoring program. It has to be a strictly professional relationship. No kissing. No sex.
Definitely no dark alley trysts after dancing together all night. Oops…
(11) Jagger from Pierced Ink by Dani René (2017)
‘Pierced Ink’ is a micro-romance (designed to be read in 1-2 hours), it’s extra-spicy like ‘Strictly Professional’ and features an angsty, second-chance romance like ‘Love & Ink’.
If you’re in the mood for a short and extra-spicy novella then Pierced Ink is perfect for you.
Ava was the only woman to really get me. She broke down the walls I built up and burrowed herself beneath the surface. She became a part of me. There’s no other way to describe her, or us.
Everything about her drew me in. From her captivating smile to those nipple piercings she used to love me tugging on. Her body is pure perfection—smooth tanned skin covered in ink I gave her, and surface piercings on either hip I loved to tease with my tongue.
Two years ago, at the height of our love—the height of us—she woke up and packed her stuff into a single small suitcase.
The next moments passed by in a blur. And then she was gone. No explanation. Nothing but an empty room.
My world crashed around me and I let it. I let her walk out.
Two years without a word from her—until today. Ava’s back in my shop, on her knees, begging me to mark her once again.
(12) Ed Larsen from Repeat (Larsen Brothers #1) by Kylie Scott (2019)
Series: Pause (#2)
I haven’t got up to the letter S yet in my A-Z: Favourite Authors & Books but rest assured when I do, Kylie Scott will definitely be included. Thanks to my Mills & Boon addiction (#sorrynotsorry), I’m a sucker for the amnesia trope and ‘Repeat’ definitely didn’t disappoint. It was one of My Favourite Books of 2021. I was rooting for Clem and Ed from the very beginning. Despite their nasty break-up, it was obvious that they still loved each other and were destined to end up together. Ed was such a gentleman because even though he was scarred by their break-up, he was still stubbornly determined to do the right thing by Clem. Clem 2.0 was so different to the one Ed and his friends remembered from before she was attacked and lost her memory, I just knew there had to be something else going on.
When a vicious attack leaves 25-year-old Clementine Johns with no memory, she’s forced to start over. Now she has to figure out who she was and why she made the choices she did – which includes leaving the supposed love of her life, tattoo artist Ed Larsen, only a month before.
Ed can hardly believe it when his ex shows up at his tattoo parlour with no memory of their past, asking about the breakup that nearly destroyed him. The last thing he needs is more heartache, but he can’t seem to let her go again. Should they walk away for good, or does their love deserve a repeat performance?
(13) Cole Walker from Echoes of Scotland Street (On Dublin Street #5) by Samantha Young (2014)
Series: On Dublin Street (#1), Until Fountain Bridge (#1.5), Down London Road (#2), Before Jamaica Lane (#3), Castle Hill (#3.5), Fall from India Place (#4), Valentine (#5.5), Moonlight on Nightingale Way (#6), One Kings Way (#6.5) & Stars Over Castle Hill (#6.6).
I’m definitely a fan of series like this with interconnected characters and ‘On Dublin Street’ is one of My 5 Favourite Re-Reads.
Shannon MacLeod has always gone for the wrong type of man. After she drifted from one toxic relationship to the next, her last boyfriend gave her a wakeup call in the worst possible way. With her world shattered, she’s sworn off men—especially those of the bad-boy variety.
Cole Walker is exactly the sort that Shannon wants to avoid—gorgeous, tattooed, charming, and cocky. But his rough exterior hides a good man who’s ready to find “the one.” He’s determined to pull Shannon from her self-imposed solitude and win her heart.
As Shannon opens up in the face of Cole’s steady devotion, the passion between them ignites to blazing levels. But when Shannon’s past comes back to haunt her, her fears may destroy the trust Cole has built between them—and tear them apart for good…
(14) Dex Locke from Under Locke by Mariana Zapata (2014)
IMO you can never go wrong with a MZ book.
He was my boss, my brother’s friend, a Widower, an ex-felon, and a man I’d seen casually with a handful of women. But he was everything that gripped me, both the good and the bad. Worst case scenario if things turned awkward between us, I could go somewhere else. I’d gotten over epic heartbreak before, one more wouldn’t kill me.
After moving to Austin following six months of unemployment back home, Iris Taylor knows she should be glad to have landed a job so quickly… even if the business is owned by a member of the same motorcycle club her estranged father used to belong to. Except Dex Locke might just be the biggest jerk she’s ever met. He’s rude, impatient and doesn’t know how to tell time.
And the last thing they ever expected was each other.
But it was either the strip club or the tattoo shop.
… She should have chosen the strip club.
Louise Hall 
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