Permanent Ink gets it right in so many ways:

- Delicious age gap (Jericho is nearly two decades older, not to mention wiser, than Poe.)

- Mild DADDY KINK (Both Poe and Jericho get off on Jericho calling the shots and Poe saying please.)

- Slow burn (Jericho is hell bent on not sleeping with a kid 17 years his junior who also happens to be his apprentice and best friend's son, but Poe is persistent.)

- POE, who acts like an entitled brat initially, really grows and matures as a person.

- JERICHO is absolutely amazing from page 1: in control but not controlling, kind, smart, willing to give people a chance, and sexy as sin. Jericho is the ultimate book boyfriend!

- Complex secondary characters: Landon (Poe's dad), Callum (Jericho's friend), and Blue (Poe's friend). I'm furious with Blue. I wouldn't have been nearly as forgiving as Jericho, although I suspect Blue will redeem himself.

- ART: for the people, by the people. Art doesn't have to hang on a wall in a frame. Tattoos are art, and so is graffiti (although I absolutely see both sides of this debate).

- strong HFN (Poe's raven is transformed from something weak and formless into a true thing of beauty that rises above the ashes.)

- Jericho's friendship with Landon; Landon is an amazing father, and a pretty fucking great human being. I REALLY want his story!

So why not 5 stars?

I needed more relationship development outside Jericho's tattoo shop. We get very few on-page moments with the MCs just chilling, cuddling, talking. They have hot sex, and they do bond, but the emotional connection wasn't quite strong enough.

Also, I did not appreciate the paddle scene being off page and mentioned in passing. *insert frowny face here*

But these are fairly minor complaints. Bring on more Art & Soul!

Loved this one, read it in one sitting. Looking forward to book two.! :)

I loved this and then...

Ms. Gale and Ms. Vaughn do an excellent job setting up this May/December love story. I liked both principals and their backstories, I liked the setting and the secondary characters, and I especially enjoyed the build-up to the inevitable sexy times between Jericho and his young apprentice Poe. All good. But then they finally give into their lustful & wicked attraction to each other and the story just stalls out. That super hot first full length sex scene is so hot & dirty and then...well, we don't get enough of this physical relationship. Correction: we don't get enough of this relationship - aside from workplace snapshots - at all.

I'm not big on the Daddy kink, but it certainly doesn't bother me enough to lower my rating of the book - no, what bothers me is that the authors have all this build-up and then once our principals are together, the primary relationship - THE LOVE STORY - is sidelined for an actual Daddy story line & Poe's friend Blue. Both of those narratives are mildly interesting, but they're the secondary plots and they simply overwhelm the central conflict - the relationship between Poe and Jericho and the issues they have between them.

Though I liked both principals, I struggle a bit to see them together long-term. Poe is really just discovering himself & even though they have great chemistry, sex - though wonderful - does not a relationship make. I like that Jericho sees something in him that other's haven't - and they do have similar career aspirations, they're both artists...I don't know. I just wasn't feeling how this was all going to evolve in the long run. Poe still lives in his dads basement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rent free.

The Blue storyline...well, I'm assuming he's the focus of the next book of this series (I think this is a planned series) and that's why he gets so much attention in this novel. Otherwise, he's a dick and a user and I did not dig him - at all.

I thought Poe was Jericho's 'pay it forward' person? Then Blue was. Who's next? Callem? (joke - he already seems to have his shit together).

2.5 stars.

Not my kind of story and I kept wanting to put it down.
Very disappointed, and sad to give it a low rating.