Cover Up by L.A. Witt

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Title: Cover Up
Author: L.A. Witt
Series: Skin Deep Inc. #3
Published by: Swerve
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Format: eARC
Pages: 251
Genres: Military Romance, LGBT, Erotic Romance, Contemporary, Romance
Source: NetGalley
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Finishing the Series Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 Netgalley and Edelweiss Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

After ten years of blissful marriage, Navy Pilot Nate Chandler is divorcing his cheating husband. Single for the first time in years, Nate is numb to all emotion and kisses any chance of another relationship goodbye.

Not only is Nate struggling to get through this divorce, but his body is branded with a permanent reminder of his failed marriage: a matching tattoo with his ex. Searching for a place to cover up his old tattoo, Nate finds himself at the Skin Deep, Inc., where he meets the young and charming cover-up tattoo apprentice, Lucas Brandt.

From just flirty glances to steamy hot encounters, Nate and Lucas dive headfirst into a fling of hookups. But worried that he’ll forever be Nate’s “cover up” rebound relationship, Lucas fears that their love won’t be anything more than just skin deep. What was once just a casual attraction, Lucas now hopes to turn into a real relationship. But will he be able to convince the still tender-hearted Nate to fall in love again?

My Review:

I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

3.5 stars — So I just went back and reread my reviews for the first two books, and apparently I feel consistently about the books in this series.  There is a lot I LOVE, but I tend to have the same complaints.  I always end the book not entirely sure how I feel about it…which would suggest a lower rating, but then I think of these awesome parts and I second guess.  *sigh*

Let’s get the annoying stuff out of the way first.  These books are *definitely* erotic romance.  Not erotica, because those suggest not much outside the sex.  But definitely leaning towards the more erotic, because there is a LOT of sex.  I mean, a LOT A LOT.  And I’m not saying that the scenes aren’t steamy and delicious, but after awhile I was like “okay, I get it, they’re super compatible in bed and insatiable”.  So if that’s your jam, dive on in!!  If you like more balance, well you’ve been warned.

The other thing I noticed very heavily is that it feels very repetitive.  I know I was reading an ARC copy, so some of the literal repetitive parts are probably cleaned up.  But honestly, I felt like Nate kept thinking the same things over and over again, and while I get at times he was reinforcing his points of views to himself, it just got kind of…boring?  Not sure if that’s quite the right word, but I’d end up thinking “hasn’t he thought this like 5 times already?”  Basically, I feel like this book could have been edited down, and I would have enjoyed the pacing more.

I feel like Lucas’s story was the one that got a bit shortchanged in this one.  He was kind of a unique hero — very comfortable in his bisexuality, very comfortable in his sexuality period.  Pretty mature for someone so young, partially due to some young mistakes, but still…you could see his growth.  I *really* wanted more of his tattoo stuff.  I mean, we got a bit, but I just find that stuff fascinating, and given how much stress he was under with his confidence shot, I just wanted more there.

Nate’s story felt a bit more like the focal point, and I’m not sure how I feel about how it all wrapped up.  His issues take up SO MUCH of this book, and he ignored the help people were trying to give him, and then his turnaround ended up being pretty fast.  I kind of wanted him to have a conversation with Jon at the end there, I think Jon deserved that.

Obviously their steamy chemistry was through the roof.  But if that had been all there was, I wouldn’t have been as interested.  They were actually kind of adorable together…both treading so carefully knowing that they had obviously gone beyond a rebound/fling, but neither wanting to put words to it.  It got frustrating, because I wanted more positive change, maybe something more gradual, but I can’t deny that I loved watching the two of them together.  They made me happy smile.

All in all I enjoyed this series, but I’m thinking that Ms. Witt’s stories might be just a wee bit too sex heavy for this girl.  I don’t need a thousand steamy scenes (even if they’re great)…I’m okay with just a couple really pivotal ones.