Ashalyn Reviews the Tattoo Series

Tattoo Series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)

Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Let’s talk about Tattoo first:   2 out of 5 monkeys


I went in with so-so hopes and I am still debating if I was correct or if it was more disappointing.  Although am leaning toward the latter.   The series is about Bailey Morgan a normal girl with 3 best friends who are at the mall one day shopping and a lady at a kiosk sells them several accessories including 4 temporary  tattoos (that give them each an ability for three days).   Delia (the popular fashionable one) gets the ability to change items to whatever she wants, Zo (the tomboy) to see the future, Annabelle (the ability to read minds) and Bailey (the girl next door) to cause people and things to catch on fire.  It was fun at first but that quickly changes into them needing to fight an evil fairy.  Plus the fact Bailey keeps hearing things in her head warning her to pretty much be careful and save the world.    

As I read the story I could not believe how cliché and predictable it was.  There were a few different factors that I did enjoy such as how they combined use of several different mythologies (Greek, Roman, etc).  It was different to see gods that were usually in all accounts I have previously read as men were women (Poseidon for example).  Plus the extra one or two surprises.  Although that was far from enough but did compel me to give this above 2 stars.  It might be better for a younger reader but at least for me, I feel I might be too old for it (I am in my twenties).  So predictable and not fast paced I would say it could be better but still might be fun for some just not for me.




Fate by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

(This can be read as a stand-alone as well although this will give away a little bit about the conclusion of Tattoo)

Onto Fate… 2 ½ out of 5 monkeys

Most of you are most likely wondering why I choose to read Fate after a not so great experience with Tattoo.  There are 3 reasons, one I am glutton for punishment and two I heard it was better and that people enjoyed it and not Tattoo, three for some reason I regardless of my thoughts if I can finish the first book I usually try to finish the next.  I will though admit it was a tiny bit better then the first but not great or honestly really good.

This begins several years later from the end of Tattoo right before graduation.  Bailey has been dealing with managing both being the third Fate and a high school student about ready to graduate (depression seeping in as she thinks about all her friends leaving).    Delia has an idea about how geeks are good for dating  (untapped market) and then a “geek” shows up named Alec who is perfect for Bailey.  She about ready to graduate gets swooped away by her Sidhe parents to the land of the gods.  There she meets James another “perfect “ guy quickly causing her to get stuck in a triangle of interest.  She finds out she needs to choose the Seelie (Zeus) or Unseelie (Hades) court very soon (they do not include Poseidon in the mix because she travels between realms).  Now she is going crazy not wanting to leave the human realm and not really liking either of the courts.  


Again I might be too old for this one I just could not get into the characters and the ending was ridiculously silly and in most cases super predictable again.  You find out Alec and James are (GASP!!!) the same person.  I figured that out right after you met James and she spoke with Alec. Although I can say it was a little cute and a different route that the author takes (which is a major plus).  What a better triangle when it is the same person. What makes the ending so predictable was her joining Poseidon aka Morgan and stupid was the blood bond she makes with her friends by cutting her hand (only part that I truly did not expect).   I can applaud Barnes’s originality with the blending of mythologies and love triangle but that is about it.   

An Ashalyn Review