Synopsis

When “crazy” runs in your family and your namesake is known for walking into a river with a pocket full of rocks, a girl kind of wants to avoid tempting fate at all costs. For Virginia Nichols, the only way to dodge that bullet is to be perfect at everything: school, student council, life. Too bad it’s all a lie, and underneath the perfection...Virginia is lost. 

Ryder Blackstock knows a thing or two about being born into fate. The talents passed down from his father aren't exactly normal; instead of learning how to throw a fastball, he was taught to hot-wire a car like a pro and pick any pocket in sight. He’s got criminal blood, just like his old man. And as soon as he turns eighteen, he’ll be living life on the run with his dad.

When Ryder and Virginia meet on the beach, it seems they couldn't be more different. Soon they discover they’re both trapped in their lives—Virginia denying her fate, Ryder embracing his. Like the rocks in Virginia Woolf’s pockets, the weight of their destinies will pull them under. But being together brings out pieces of themselves they didn't know existed—pieces that make them want to take fate into their own hands and rewrite their destinies...if it’s not too late.

Title: Masquerade (Games #3)

Author: Nyrae Dawn

Date of publication: 7 Jan 2014

Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult

Author's links:

Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

My rating: 4 stars

Goodreads Blurb

My Review

Nineteen-year-old Cheyenne tries to portray the perfect life to mask the memories of her past. Walking in on her boyfriend with another woman her freshman year in college threatens that picture of perfection. 

Twenty-one-year-old Colt never wanted college and never expected to amount to anything, but when his mom's dying wish is for him to get his degree, he has no choice but to pretend it's what he wants too. 

Cheyenne needs a fake boyfriend to get back at her ex and Colt needs cash to take care of his mom, so they strike a deal that helps them both. But what if Cheyenne’s past isn’t what she thought? Soon they’re trading one charade for another—losing themselves in each other to forget about their pain. The more they play their game, the more it becomes the only thing they have that feels real.

Both Cheyenne and Colt know life is never easy, but neither of them expect the tragedy that threatens to end their charade and rip them apart forever.

My Review

This is one of those popular stories of pretend-lover-to-real-ones but it was well done and I enjoyed reading it.

At the beginning it seemed like a typical  New Adult - college setting, a heroine proposes to a tattooed bad boy to pretend to be her boyfriend in order to make her ex jealous. It sounded rather naive and clichéd but the author took the story in a completely different direction.

Both, Chey and Colt have their personal dramas connected to their mothers to deal with but despite trying to keep it casual the pretend game they play gradually becomes the only real thing they feel. It is a very touching and emotional story of two young people opening up to and ultimately changing/saving each other. 

The story is told from alternating POVs and liked both the voices of Chey and Colt, though I think his was came as stronger, more distinctive. 

I was a bit annoyed with how long it took them to accept that what was happening between them was real and not just a game. I felt the author overdid their hesitancy to admit their true feelings and act on them. 

I liked the supporting characters a lot - Adrian (who is the hero in the next book in the series) was not described in detail but his presence added a lot to the story, Colt's mom also had a central role, as well as Chey's aunt and uncle. Her ex-boyfriend and his new girl were rather cliched, yet they fitted well in the overall plot.

Now, there a few things that didn't work for me in this book. 

First was Chey's background. She is Native-American and I was rather curious about that since I don't often come across ethnic characters in the novels I read. I was really disappointed that this element was not further developed by the author. It was just mentioned as an explanation for exotic beauty and was not further elaborated.

The other thing I was disappointed with was Colt's incident towards the end of the story. Its inclusion in the story was over the top for me, just adding unnecassary drama. It helped highlight Ardrian's character and put further emphasis on Chey's feelings for Colt but the book would have been less melodramatic without it.

Overall, I can recommend this book for all NA fans. It is a great start to a series and things only get better in its sequel, Facade, which tells Adrian's story (my review). The series will continue with a book about Madox whom we meet in Facade, which is to be released in January 2014.

This book is the sequel to Charade (which I also read and hopefully, will review it next week) and tells the story of Adrian, Colt's friend and Delaney who was connected to him through some very tragic events in their pasts.

I have to say that I liked this book more than the first one in the series. It was such a heart-breaking romantic story about overcoming tragedy and finding the strength to go on living and most importantly, to heal yourself and the others.

I liked Adrian a lot. He was a complex character who underwent real growth in the course of the story. I felt deeply for his suffering and self-imposed loneliness. Still, he was far too passive at the beginning and through most of the book and it took him a quite a while to realise that running away from the problems doesn't solve them, that trying to escape the pain doesn't magically make it go away.

On the other hand, I have some misgivings concerning the heroine, Delaney. She wanted to fix everything and everybody but went about it the wrong way. It was frustrating to wait past the middle of the book for her to come clean to Adrian and to herself.

The story itself was interesting and emotionally engaging. I liked that Colt and Chey appeared in the story, was well. Delaney's older brother, Maddox, was also an interesting character, and I am eagerly waiting for his story in the next instalment of the series - Masquerade which is due to be released on 7 Jan 2014.

Having listed all the positive features, there were also some things that I didn't like very much. Adrian's angst was too much at times. Somewhere around the middle of the book, the story lost some of its easy flow. It got stuck into neverending inner monologues of self-loathing and punishment for Adrian and self-doubt and insecurity for Delaney.

I also found rather annoying and out of place all the medical analogies used throughout the book in reference to relationship between Adrian and Delaney. They were supposed to be romantic but most definitely didn't feel this way to me. I think that someone who is supposed to be writer/poet (I did enjoy the short poems he wrote to Delaney) and has his way with words like Adrian, the author should have given him better lines to express his feelings for Delaney.

There was an interesting twist in the plot towards the end of the story that I didn't see coming and enjoyed a lot. It gave additional emotional impact to the whole plot. I liked the epilogue which completed the story in an optimistic light without being sugary sweet.