These Ruthless Deeds (These Vicious Masks, #2)

by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas

Everyone’s favorite sarcastic Victorian healer is back in the sequel to These Vicious Masks, and this time she’s struggling with both a sinister secret society and an increasingly tangled love life...

England, 1883. Recovering from a devastating loss, Evelyn has become determined to use her powers to save other gifted people from those who would study and oppress them. But when her rescue of a young telekinetic girl goes terribly wrong, Evelyn finds herself involved with a secret society devoted to recruiting and protecting people like Evelyn and her friends.

Like magic, Evelyn’s problems start to disappear. Her reputation is repaired, her friends are provided for, and her parents are thrilled at all her new suitors. She’s even been reunited with the dashing Mr. Kent and the reclusive Mr. Braddock (who is much less brooding now that the society is helping him to control his dangerous power). Yet, somehow Evelyn can’t help fearing that there is something sinister going on…

• ISBN10: 1250127955
• ISBN13: 9781250127952
• Publish Date: 14 March 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

"Not at all, I don't trust anyone"
"But I do trust everyone's self-interest. I can easily see how a society and its members being rewarded for performing miracles can lead to a pleasant and long-lasting cycle."


MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Honestly if you like Historical fiction and fantasy please pick up this series you will not be disappointed. It has strong female characters, super abilities, and good friendships with multiple people.

This book starts off a few months after THESE VICIOUS MASKS ends. Meaning that we get to see everyone starting to not grieve as much and move on as best as they can from what happened in the first book.

Obviously this means that we have a lot of the same characters, but we also get a whole new group of characters that have special abilities as well. The characters get brought together by a Society of Abberation. Which is a society that is supposed to protect and help them improve their abilities for the greater good.
This seems like a great idea.. but we all know how this is going to end don't we... Things start going a little to well for Evelyn and the rest of the group. Then on a mission things start to go a little wrong and Evelyn starts to question if what they are doing is right or wrong.

"I just don't believe I can do the right thing if this is what happens."

When they start to realize things aren't quite as good as they thought. They all have to make tough decisions and decided to protect family or the rest of the world. It's a decision that is hard for everyone and until we would be placed in this type of situation we can't say what we would choose for sure.

The society turns out to be like so many other ones sadly, and while it was expected it was still heartbreaking. Seeing the characters I had grown to love faced with such hard choices was difficult. This became a story of right and wrong and how far will someone go to protect the ones they love even if it means hurting others.
It was done in such a way by the authors that you felt like you were the ones having to make the decisions with the characters and thousands of peoples lives really were in your hands.



Overall I really loved this book! This had no second book syndrome in my opinion, it was just as good if not better in some areas than the first one. I did struggle with a few of the characters which is why it wasn't a five star read sadly, but I don't think they will be in the next book!
The romance between Mr.Kent and Evelyn and Evelyn and Sebastian is still present, but I do feel like a decision was made in this one. Which was nice, but also sad because I do like her with each of them. They each bring out different qualities in her that help her deal with what is going on.
At times in this book I did find myself getting more annoyed with Sebastian at times, because of how him and Evelyn were dealing with things.
As for the female friendships they were present, but I felt like they were more on the back burner and the focus was far more on Mr. Kent and some other new characters and trying to stop what was happening.
I did like the small little bit of bonding we saw between Evelyn and Miss Chen and I really want to see more of that in the future, because the two of them together would make an awesome team in my opinion.

Can't wait for the final book in this trilogy, but I will also be sad when our time in this world is over.


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[Sam@WLABB]

This story starts with a daring rescue and had my blood pumping from the very beginning. We had a learned a that the Society of Aberrations existed in the last book, and here we are immersed into their world, as Evelyn tries to deduce if they are good or bad.

This book was not a typical second book (I am assuming from that ending this will be a trilogy). Many times you read a series and the second books drag, because its real purpose is to link book 1 and book 3. Absolutely, without a doubt, not the case with These Ruthless Deeds. This book brought me deeper into the magical world, and had several extremely surprising plot twists that have me wanting more....now.

There was a lot of action in the beginning of the book, and the authors bring us right into one of the major plot lines and some excellent new characters. However, something was missing, and that something was Braddock. I really missed Sebastian, and reiterated the sentiment expressed by Evelyn:

TO SEBASTIAN BRADDOCK: COME BACK, YOU BROODING FOOL.

Many people complained that book 1 did not have much of a swoon factor. Well, let me tell you why. It's because it was all saved up for this book. There is lots of swoony talk and lots of kissing! Upon Braddock's return, the love triangle really ramps up. It was quite fun when the three were together, and the men were obviously competing for Evelyn's affections. Kent's rake factor was turned all the way to its maximum setting. He was dropping fun and flirty lines left and right.

"Any time is the time to flirt with you," he murmured. A slow smile.

"Before I met you, I went to brothels, gambling halls, scandalous music halls, all sorts of indecent places."
"And let me guess, ever since you met me, you've changed?"
He shook his head. "No, I just want to do these indecent things with you."

The jokes about Braddock and his moods also continued:

If you don't wish me to think of you as some kind of tragic Gothic figure, you really must stop acting like one.

I shook my head slightly and he seemed to brood harder, if such a thing were possible.

Comparing this to book 1 I would say it was just more. There was more action, more details regarding the society and it's "members", more romance, more surprises, and definitely more heartbreak. I thought I was heartbroken at the end of the last book, but this ending is devastating.

Overall: An engaging tale of magic, mystery, and mayhem, which is fraught with romance, humor, and camaraderie. That story and that ending left me yearning for the next book.

**I would like to thank NetGalley and Swoon Reads for the advanced copy of this book

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