Book review: Masquerade by Nyrae Dawn

NOTE: I received this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

The first book I ever read by Nyrae Dawn was Facade. Yes, I know it's the second in the Games Series, but since it's just a companion novel, it didn't matter. I loved Facade. It was full of emotion, passion and I don't know.. tension? It was amazing and heart-breaking and breath-stopping.

So, why am I saying all that? Well, it's definitely not so I could fill up my word quota. I'm sharing it because I was expecting to get the same out of Masquerade. And when I didn't, I was disappointed. I thought I'd give it a 3.5 stars, just so I could round up to 4.

But guess what. I had an illumination moment yesterday. Convenient too, since this review was planned to be written today.

Truth is, Masquerade couldn't hold the emotion that Facade was overburdened with. Why? Because the characters in Masquerade weren't driven by emotion. They were driven by the desire to HIDE all things feeling-related. They wanted to run away from love, from relationships, and from all the complications that came with them. So, I guess what I'm saying is that the book fit the characters. It is what it is because Maddox and Bee are who they are. We can't have an emotional book when the characters don't want to deal with emotions.

Enough general talk.

Writing style:
Like usual, Nyrae Dawn has done a great job writing this book. Like I said above, the style she uses fits the characters, their state of mind and heart.

Story line:
Let me tell you that I was not all up with the no-strings-attached thing that Bee and Maddox had going on. I know it's how they operated at the time, but you can't really blame me for not liking it. I guess it just didn't quite work for me.

Themes:
- running from yourself
- hiding your true self from people
- fear that nobody will like you
- fear that you don't know who you are

Characters:

Maddox is the same overprotective brother he was in Facade. Whenever something was wrong with Laney he'd run to fix it. Except now Laney's got Adrian and Maddox isn't always needed. So he wonders what to do with himself. His dream is to be a tattoo artist, and with the new shop opening in the small town he lives in, he takes the chance. Only he's not given the chance.
In his relationship with Bee, if it can even be called that, Maddox tries to ignore his feelings. Her feelings. They wouldn't be important anyway, so he throws them somewhere in the back of his heart and pretends not to care.

Bee is too confused about who she is to be able to care about anyone else. Thoughts of her past and present consume her mind every minute of every day, except when she's drawing over someone's skin. And except when she's with Maddox. She understands that there's an undeniable pull between the two of them, but her secrets are too much and she has no desire to share them with anyone. She also has no desire to get attached to any man. She's afraid that somehow she'd lose herself in a relationship that she isn't ready for.

We seen Laney and Adrian too, but only for a little, and they're the same people they were in Facade, so I won't be saying anything about them. Besides, Masquerade was almost completely revolving around Bee and Maddox.

In conclusion, Nyrae Dawn has written another great book. It deals with a lot of tough questions and once again reminds us that life doesn't always begin as a fairy tale, but we can sure try to make it become one.

My rating: