Audiobook Review – Beneath This Ink by Meghan March

Beneath This Ink by Meghan March

Narrated by Sebastian York and Andi Arndt

Contemporary Erotic Romance. Interrelated Standalone.

After reading and loving Meghan March’s Dirty Girl and Dirty Billionaire Series, I decided to listen to every one of her past books, and this is the second in the Beneath Series. While Beneath this Ink can absolutely stand alone, we meet Con and briefly Vanessa in the first book, Beneath this Mask.

Con (Constantine) is the tattooed, ex-military bad-boy owner of the tattoo shop, who grew up a foster child until a wonderful family took him in, but he was always “that foster kid”. He has lusted over the sweet, rich, society girl Vanessa since high school, and two years earlier they had a one-night-stand. His dream came true, but he was too drunk to remember anything about it, and Vanessa ran out right after. They have been avoiding each other since.

“We were like oil and water. Although that night, to be cliché, we’d been like fire and water.”

Vanessa helps run a charitable foundation and desperately needs a piece of land that Con owns. So she bites the bullet and goes to see him.

“When she looked up and smiled, I felt something weird in my chest. What exactly, I wasn’t sure. But that shit wasn’t normal.”

So he makes a deal with her…basically blackmails her to spend time with him. To give him 3 weeks.

“Sweetheart, if I can’t get you in my bed in three weeks, I don’t deserve to call myself a man. And when I get you there, it won’t have jack shit to do with that deed.”

She wants him too, but knows that with her job on the line, she can’t be seen with the resident bad-boy tattoo and strip club owner. She also didn’t understand the change in heart.

“You hated me.”
“I never hated you. Just didn’t want to want you so bad. And now I don’t care—because you’re mine.”

Their banter was fun! I love banter. And the chemistry was off the charts. And Con….yummy. He is so alpha and protective!

“Baby, you scared the hell out of me tonight. I could’ve lost you. Right now is not a good time to ask me to let you out of my sight. I can’t do it. I need you next to me so I know you’re safe.”

There was a whole mystery aspect to the story. Con has been looking for years for clues on who killed his adoptive parents, and the story played out in a very interesting way.

“He nipped at my ear. “Brace yourself on the wall. It’s gonna get a little rowdy in here.”

Likes:

Con was just as deliciously alpha as I expected, yet he had a heart of gold.
Fun banter.
Lots of mystery and intrigue.
The sex was hot!
The time frame ran partially concurrent to Beneath this Mask which was interesting.
The narration with my two favorite narrators was amazing, with Sebastian York putting a slight NOLA drawl into his parts.

Dislikes:

Unless I missed it, we never found out what upset her the first time that were together.
Vanessa took a little bit to warm up to, but I ended up loving her.

The Down & Dirty:

I’m not sure if I loved Beneath This Ink as much as I loved Beneath This Mask, but they were really close. I love a second chance romance, I love an alpha bad-boy with a heart of gold, and I love some mystery & intrigue. Add some totally sexy times, amazing narration and visits with previous characters and you have a recipe for success with me! Con treated Vanessa like a princess once they got together (maybe his dirty princess) even though he was her dirty secret at first. I jumped right into the third book, Beneath These Chains, as soon as I finished.

Rating: 4.25 stars, 4.25 Heat, 5 Narration