Tattoos on Men--Love them? Hate them? Indifferent?

Tattoos on Men--Love Them, Hate Them, Indifferent?

Tattoos are very popular now, with men and women, young and old. How do you feel about tattoos on men? On anyone, for that matter?

Several years ago I decided I wanted a small, classy tattoo on my ankle. Many of my female co-workers had them. When I announced this to my family, my father-in-law blew a gasket. I was shocked at how angry and appalled he was for a woman to get a tattoo. He was close to ninety then, a generation to whom tattoos were reserved for sailors and lowlifes.

I certainly wouldn’t let my father-in-law’s attitude stop me. To see if I’d like having a tattoo, I got a temporary one on my ankle and wore it for about a week. I hated it, absolutely hated having that “thing” on my ankle. My feelings surprised me. Needless to say, I didn’t get my tattoo.

I like most tats on others, but tasteful ones, strategically placed. I don’t like seeing them all over a person’s body. Lady Gaga has several tats, but the one that gives me pause is on the underside of her upper arm. Does she have any idea what that tat will look like when she’s older and has upper arm flab that flaps in the breeze? We all get that upper arm flab. Tattoos should be placed on those body parts that don’t turn to fat, like ankles or maybe forearms.

A well-placed and creative tattoo on a man can be very sexy. You’ll see from these pictures here just how sexy. I like giving tattoos to my romance heroes, but only if the tats have meaning for them. In my short story from Boroughs Publishing Group, Love Potion, my hero Jonathan has a tattoo of a snake on his arm. That snake is to remind him to be careful who he trusts because of two people who betrayed him in the past.

In my novel, A Groom for Christmas, Jake has a tattoo of a falcon on his arm. In high school his nickname was The Falcon. He has the tat to remind him of how shabbily the close-minded townsfolk treated his family. He’s back to exact his revenge, only things don’t go as he planned.

I intend to have other heroes with tattoos. It can give a story another dimension if the tattoo has meaning.

How about you? In general, how do you feel about men having tattoos? Do you like romance heroes with tattoos? 

Blurb, A Groom for Christmas

Finalist-2013 Snow Globes Award Contest

2014 Readers' Choice Nominee, Best Couple, Love Romances Cafe

Family pressures might just make her do something crazy...

This sensuous romance is like a Hallmark Christmas movie with some intense love scenes.
This title is also available in the Wedding Dreams Boxed Set.

 When a young woman hires her hometown's former bad boy to be her
pretend fiancé for the holidays, she finds she can't wrap up her feelings as
easily as a Christmas gift.

New York jewelry designer Graceann Palmer has two days to find a fiancé to bring home to Pennsylvania for the holidays so her matchmaking mama will quit fixing her up with jerks. The Falcon, a motorcycle-riding, leather-clad former high school crush, helped her out once before. Maybe he'll do it again.

Jake Falco, man of many mysteries, is back in town on a mission--one the people of Spirit Lake most likely won't appreciate. When Graceann presents him with her crazy scheme, it gives him something he's always wanted--a chance to get to know Graceann. It also gives him the perfect opportunity to add fuel to his project of revenge.

But as Jake and Graceann grow closer, their engagement-of-convenience begins to feel like the real deal--until Jake's secrets are revealed.

Can a relationship that began with lies and secrets bloom like a rare Christmas rose into happily-ever-after?

Blurb: Love Potion

For uptight veterinarian Nicole Caruso, a fortuneteller's prediction, a vial of gold liquid, a handsome man with secrets and some very strange happenings prove there's no escaping the magic of love.