S08.47: Romance Tattoo

We’re talking tattoos and body art this week! You might not have a tattoo, but odds are you’ve read a few thousand of them, as romance novels love a main character with a message…right on their skin. We talk about some of our favorite tattoo romances, about what tattoos represent, why they’re so sexy, and why romance loves a tattoo artist. Every one of these books is a banger…enjoy filling your end of summer TBR with them.

Come talk about your favorite romances with tattoos or about romance in general over on our Patreon! You’ll get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord. Learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.

Our next read along, in two weeks, is Sarah’s A Rogue By Any Other Name, the first in her casino series. This is one we’ve gotten a bunch of requests for, and so, it will be our final read along of the season. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.

Books

• The Montgomery Ink series by Carrie Ann Ryan
• The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrigan Byrne
• To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt
• The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles
• Daring and the Duke by Sarah MacLean
• These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
• Merry Inkmas by Talia Hibbert
• Repeat by Kylie Scott
• Written on his Skin by Simone Stark
• Three Dirty Secrets by Nikki Sloane
• Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders
• Permanent Ink by Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn
• Sin & Ink by Naima Simone
• Reaper’s Legacy by Joanna Wylde
• Hard as it Gets by Laura Kaye

Notes

• Tattoos have a long history tangled up with colonization, which is why for a long time they were thought to be stigmatizing. They are definitely more mainstream now, which means tattoo culture is changing which has caused its own clashes, but they also aren’t thought of as class markers anymore.
• All about sextants.
• Merry Inkmas is actually Talia’s second book, her first was Bad for the Boss, which is no longer in print. Jen reviewed both of those for The Book Queen when they were released.
• Check out the secret tattoos collection on our website.

Sponsors

• Ellie Devine, author of The Survival Guide to Alexander McBryde, available in print or ebook, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
• E. Kennedy, author of Thornbird, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
• Harpercollins, publishers of Spellfire by Agatha WIllow, available in print or ebook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest

• For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/8/10/0847-romance-tattoo
• If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
• Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
• If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.