Review: Masquerade by Nyrae Dawn

Title: Masquerade (Games #3)
Author: Nyrae Dawn
Published: January 7th
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*An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review*

A biker. A tattoo artist. A love to last a lifetime.
Maddox Cross has always had to be tough. When his father went to jail for murder, the teenager took care of his sister and mother. Now on his own and working security at a night club, Maddox wants to become a tattoo artist-a dream that comes closer to reality when he falls for the hottest, most tatted woman he's ever seen. She's wild and beautiful, and Maddox will do anything to be with her.
Bee Malone came to town to open up her new tattoo parlor, Masquerade. Since being kidnapped as a young girl, Bee has had trouble getting close to anyone. But when she meets Maddox, she sees that under his hard biker's body is the sensitive soul of an artist. What starts out as a sizzling one-night stand soon becomes so much more.
Bee wants Maddox to join her tattoo business, but letting him into her life means revealing all her most intimate secrets. And as the past begins to intertwine with her present, Bee fears their love may not be as permanent as their ink.

I read Charade basically when it first came out. I remember raving about it, loving Colt and Cheyenne to pieces. Recommending it to everyone who took time to listen. Then came Adrian and Laney’s story. Façade was decent, but it missed that spark for me that I felt in Charade. Plus, the narratives were very similar to the first book. Then I read Masquerade. *sigh*

"Life is fucked up, it hurts, and it's not always pretty, but damned if it can't be beautiful too." 

Maddox was a character I very much liked in Façade and I was eagerly looking forward to his story, especially after having read the little teaser chapter at the end of Façade. I expected great things from him. I did get some of them, but mostly… it all fell flat in my eyes. Bee was seemingly a great addition to this cast of broken characters and I liked that she didn’t let anyone walk over her and the best thing about her? The tattoo shop, for sure. I’m pretty convinced that I won’t ever get a tattoo myself, but I love them on others. The first couple of chapters were great. They have a one night stand and expect not to see each other in the future. Well, Ms. Future here had other plans.

I usually love these kind of stories—broken hearts being mended, complete opposites (or, as it later turns out, not so very opposite after all) coming to care about one another and alllllll the physical attraction tension, of course. I found myself only caring about the latter, to be honest. Why? Well… it’s hard to explain. The make out sessions were hot, I’m not going to lie, but the parts where they took their time to heal from some pretty big wounds dragged so much that I really did not care. Plus, we have already seen almost the same story through Maddox’s sister Laney’s eyes. They went through the same thing in the past and now it’s Maddox’s turn to learn how to live with it. I, again, found myself not caring much.

Bee’s story was very different from what we have seen from the rest of the group. At first I thought it was rape or something, but once I realized it was not, her story really became interesting and it went down a route that we don’t see much of in New Adult literature. In any age group lit, for that matter. I appreciated that, but, again, found myself not caring much. It may as well have been the writing, because the narratives are so similar in every book in this series. They’re basically the same and that’s why I found myself wanting to skim the second half of the book, because I felt like I had already read this story.

There were some pretty quotes and thoughts in this book though and the example is in the quote above. If you’re a fan of Nyrae, I’m sure you’ll be pleased with it. If you like New Adult, angst, hot romances, lots of physical attraction and tension? Go and give this book a try. I don’t think that anything in this series lives up to the amazingness that was Charade, though. For me, this book fell flat and my high expectations weren’t fulfilled. For that, I feel sorry, but I’m not giving up on Nyrae’s books. Masquerade is the exception for me when it comes to her writing. 

Overall rating: 1.8 out of 5.0

Stars: ★★

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing, Forever Romance and Netgalley for providing a review copy. 

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