Earlier this month I got sucked into the Clipped Wings series by Helena Hunting. After I finished the second book in the duology, I wanted more and thankfully Hunting provided that in the form of numerous novellas. Because there are a lot of them and they’re all pretty short, I’m going to do one round up review of all them. So settle in for a trip into this world of tattoos and romance.
Cupcakes and Ink
In this novella, we meet the duology’s main characters, Hayden and Tenley, prior to the start of Clipped Wings. Told in both of their POVs, this novella simply shows where their infatuation with each other began. Personally, I could’ve done without reading this one. It didn’t really add anything to the story for me. That’s not to say it was bad; I just didn’t see the purpose of this story.
Stars: 2/5
Between the Cracks
This novella is told in the POV of Chris, one of Hayden’s friends and coworkers. Similar to Hayden, Chris has a troubled past. However, now that he’s been able to capture the eye of Sarah, the woman he’s been infatuated with for a while now, he’s trying to make his relationship with her work.
Between the Cracks take place right after (spoiler!) Tenley leaves Hayden at the end of Clipped Wings. Hayden decides to try to bring her back, but ends up in some trouble, which is where Chris steps in. After their journey, Chris returns home to Sarah and there’s a little smut to make this story worthwhile.
Stars: 4/5
Cracks in the Armor
At first this short story really bugged me because it ends with no answers. Told in Chris and Sarah’s POV, this novella takes place after the end of Inked Armor, and Chris and Sarah’s relationship is still rocky… and it’s not fixed by the end of the novella. Hence, my problem with this novella. However, it turns out there’s a reason for that.
These two actually got their own book (Fractures in Ink), which I now own and plan on reading ASAP. Besides the annoying end, I really liked this story, hence why I bought the book. I need more of these characters in my life!
Stars: 3/5
Get Inked
I wasn’t sure I’d like this novella because it’s a crossover with Hunting’s other series, Pucked. However, I actually ended up really enjoying. Even though I was unfamiliar with a lot of the characters because I haven’t read the other series, Hunting was still able to quickly pull me into their stories without making me feel like I was playing catch up. Because this novella involves a lot of characters there are also a lot of different POVs, and at points I sometimes felt the characters were too similar.
However, Hunting played into that a little, especially by having her two female leads (Tenley and Lily) joke about how their boyfriends (Hayden and Randy) were so similar, mainly in appearance. Besides that, this novel had a decent amount of smut, which is always fun, and I was intrigued enough by the Pucked characters to consider giving the series a read.
Lastly, it’s worth noting this novella also takes place after Inked Armor.
Stars: 5/5
Borrow or Buy: Overall, I would buy all these mainly because most of them were free or 99 cents, and I think they’re all worth at least that much.
Zakiya N. Jamal 