Review--Angel's Ink by Jocelynn Drake

Buyer beware . . .

Looking for a tattoo—and maybe a little something extra: a burst of good luck, a dollop of true love, or even a hex on an ex? Head to the quiet and mysterious Gage, the best skin artist in town. Using unique potions—a blend of extraordinary ingredients and special inks—to etch the right symbol, he can fulfill any heart's desire. But in a place like Low Town, where elves, faeries, trolls, werewolves, and vampires happily walk among humanity, everything has its price.

No one knows that better than Gage. Turning his back on his own kind, he left the magical Ivory Tower where cruel witches and warlocks rule, a decision that cost him the right to practice magic. And if he disobeys, his punishment—execution—will be swift.

Though he's tried to fly under the radar, Gage can't hide from powerful warlocks who want him dead—or the secrets of his own past. But with the help of his friends, Trixie, a gorgeous elf who hides her true identity, and a hulking troll named Bronx, Gage might just make it through this enchanted world alive.


Jocelynn Drake's Angel's Ink is far different from her Dark Days series, but it is still fantastically awesome!! In this world, people know about supernaturals, particularly the warlocks and witches that live in the Ivory Towers and rule with an iron fist. Gage is the exception to the rule, he defected from the Ivory Towers and was granted permission, it a close vote, to live outside the Ivory Towers as long as he never practiced magic again. With the exception of using it in self defense.

It's been a few years since then and Gage now runs Asylum, his own tattoo parlor shop with Trixie--an elf in hiding and Bronx--a troll. Gage bends the rules a bit in some of his tattoos and weaves a bit of magic into them. Giving the customer whatever it is they are wishing for, love, success, bravery, luck--although not recommended in this book!

The start of this novel is a young woman coming to Gage wanting a tattoo, she says she's dying of cancer and wants a set of angel wings because she doesn't believe she'll make it to heaven. Taking pity on her, Gage weaves in some magic to hopefully give her more than a few days to live, but mistakenly makes her immortal. And then that's when Death comes and he's really not happy about that. He gives Gage three days--the time when Tera, the young woman, is slated to die. If Gage cannot correct what he has done and make her mortal again, Gage's soul will be replacing Tera's.

But don't think that's Gage's only problems. Oh no. There's lots more! Trixie, his elf friend and a woman he's been falling in love with for some time now, is in trouble. Her past is coming back to haunt her in the form of elvin warriors set to bring her back home since she ran away. Gage must find a way to prevent this.

Gage's other problems come from a mafia type guy wanting Gage to work for him and he unwilling drags Bronx back into a life that he left. Then there's the fact that Gage's mentor from the Towers wants to kill him. For real this time and not just "I want to kill you!" Full-on active battles between the two.

Gideon, Gage's "parole officer", you could say, is charged with making sure Gage stays in line and doesn't use magic. But there's more to Gideon than meets the eye. I remember meeting him the Brox's novella and thought he was going to be a total ass, but he has his own agenda going on and ironically it involves Gage.

So that's the quick sum of the action, and there's was plenty of it! Gage is a pretty powerful warlock, even though he's not supposed to actively practice and he can hold his own in a fight. Gage goes to dangerous places and lengths to try to right the wrong he did with allowing a woman to cheat death. The places he goes are pretty terrifying too!

It was interesting being inside Gage's head, as the majority of the Dark Days books were told from a female pov, with the exception of one book. But I enjoyed being in Gage's pov, it was definitely interesting.

There's still a little bit of romance going on in this story as well. Gage and Trixie have something growing between them and there's mutual attraction on both sides. Yet, the relationship is slow growing, mostly because Trixie is keeping a secret. It gets revealed in the course of the book, but there's lots of other hazards in Gage's life and he cannot be sure a relationship with Trixie is wise, but for Gage, it's hard to resist Trixie.

The ending was equally incredible! Lots of new developments happened, shocking surprises were made and it was just wow! And of course there are still a few problems left unresolved for Gage to tackle later on.

This was an incredibly entertaining novel! The characters were absolutely awesome! The villains were villainous, the hero was heroic and totally badass! Other characters constantly surprised you that it just made for a well read book! This is definitely a series worth reading, especially if you're looking for something a little different to read. For me, reading from the male pov is slightly new. I've read novellas and a few other books here and there, but not many. But I can safely say that this is definitely a series I will be sticking with!


Overall rating 5/5 stars