Review: Inked Armor by Helena Hunting

Title: Inked Armor
Author: Helena Hunting
Series: Clipped Wings book 2
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Published March 4th 2014
Genres: NA, Contemporary
Format Read: eARC, NetGalley

Description from Goodreads

In this follow-up to Clipped Wings, the emotional love story continues between Hayden and Tenley; two young people who desperately want to love and be loved but are afraid to completely let go of their pasts.

In the wake of losing Tenley Page, tattooist Hayden Stryker's tumultuous past is haunting him. Plagued by nightmares about the murder of his parents, Hayden reaches out again to Tenley. Having run from the man she doesn't believe she deserves, Tenley finally lays her guilt to rest. Despite their intense physical attraction, Hayden and Tenley struggle to repair their fragile emotional connection. As Hayden gets closer to the truth, he must find a way to reconcile his guilt over his parents' death in order to keep the woman who finally cracked his armor, and found her way into his heart.

My Review

The ending of Clipped Wings was heartbreaking, so I had to pick up Inked Armor almost immediately, to know what happened next. I felt so bad for Hayden, Tenley left him without any explaination, and didn't even say goodbye! Needless to say that he didn't take it well.

The book started with Tenley still in Arden Hills, taking care of Connor's estate while Hayden was falling apart, thinking that she would never come back to Chicago. I was really impatient for Tenley to figure things out, so that she could go back to Hayden, and I think that if she'd known that he was ruining himself, she wouldn't have stayed away for so long. When Tenley finally decided to return to Chicago, things didn't go as she expected. There was no happy reunion and everything started badly, and I feared that it would take Hayden and Tenley forever to work out their already-fragile relationship. 

In Inked Armor both characters were more confused than ever. Hayden was on the edge most of the time, and just snapped at everyone. Tenley was still dealing with her past, and occasionally had mood swings. But thankfully, even with all the complications in their life, the two characters were more open with each other, and really tried to work things out.

Unlike Clipped Wings, Inked Armor didn't focus much on the tattoos. There was a mystery aspect in the story, though, which I really liked; it kept me intrigued and eager to continue reading. After I finished Clipped Wings, I felt that some things were left hanging, for instance, there were unresolved issues between Cross and Hayden. So, I expected to see more of Cross in Inked Armor, and I also suspected him to play the part of the villain who would, somehow, separate Hayden and Tenley from each other. But surprisingly, it didn't turned out as I expected, things were more complicated than I thought, and I'm glad that the story wasn't that predictable.

Overall, I have to say that I enjoyed this book more than Clipped Wings. Tenley and Hayden were more open to each other, and I liked how their characters grew as they finally learned to cope with their past. 

I don't know if this is the last book in the series, I think that there's a possibility for the story to go on. And if there will be a third book I will defintely read it!