Masquerade

by Cambria Hebert

[Angie]

Masquerade starts about ten months after Heven is attacked and left with a terribly scarred face and nerve damage. She doesn't remember anything about the accident, but she suffers nightmares about that night. She's also withdrawn from her friends, believing that she's too disfigured for them to want to hang out with. Then she meets Sam, who doesn't even seem to see her scars. Heven regains her confidence, stops hiding her face, goes to parties, and starts dating Sam. Things are looking good until Heven learns Sam's secret: he's not human.

Masquerade does follow the typical YA PNR format: girl meets mysterious boy, they're inexplicably drawn to each other, he's some kind of paranormal creature who was sent to protect her, they fall in love and have to save the world together, etc. But there's some new and interesting things here. For one, Sam is a creature that I've only encountered a couple of times before, but this is the first time it's actually been a character. There's also this National Treasure meets Twilight vibe going on near the end, so I was interested in seeing where that was going.

I enjoyed Masquerade. While it does read similarly to a lot of other books, there are some refreshing twists along the way. It's Heven's mom that shocked me the most. Let's just say, she's very religious and has her own ideas about what's happening to her daughter. And her solution is not exactly normal. The story does get a bit melodramatic at the end, but I still liked it.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.