Review: A perfect follow-up to Switch!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 8, 2014
Masked is an exciting second book in the New World series. After reading (and loving) Switch, I couldn't wait to find out what happened next!Masked starts off right where Switch left off - with Bridgette posing as Charlotte (and as Weapon X). She is tasked with planting a bomb in the New World headquarters, otherwise her father has threatened to harm Charlotte (more than he already has). Impersonating Charlotte (even while masked) is difficult enough, but she also finds herself having to fight her attraction to Roman, the New World's second in command.Meanwhile Charlotte, Pete and the rest of the rebels are trying to find a way to rescue Bridgette before she's discovered - or before her father gets to her.The negatives:Somewhat unbelievable.I had a hard time believing that Bridgette was able to fool everyone into thinking she was Charlotte for so long. First of all, it's not as if she'd been around Charlotte for the past five years to really get that good of a handle on her personality, so I found it hard to believe that she mimicked her even as well as she did. Plus, both Roman and Ludwig noticed some sudden changes in Charlotte, but they weren't suspicious at all. I kept waiting for one of them (especially Roman) to figure it out! I definitely had to suspend disbelief on this aspect of the book.Insta-lust?I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that these books feature insta-love, but it's definitely insta-lust that moves pretty quickly toward love. The first book focused on Charlotte and Pete, but Roman and Bridgette actually met in that book and were instantly attracted to each other. Then, in this book, Roman and Bridgette's relationship moved forward and a new couple is introduced - Tyler and Missy, who are also immediately attracted to each other. This time seemed even less believable to me, since they had almost no contact before the attraction developed and since Missy didn't trust men due to a past traumatic experience - I couldn't see any reason why she would feel so drawn to Tyler after just seeing him from across a room (and luckily he was drawn to her too). That doesn't mean I'm not interested in seeing Tyler and Missy's story in the next book - I'm actually really looking forward to it - I just wish the pattern of the "instant connection" could be toned down a bit.What I LOVED:Roman and Bridgette.Since this book centered around the romance between Roman and Bridgette, it's a good thing that they were AMAZING together. I loved that Roman was totally struggling with his feelings because he thought he was lusting after Charlotte. And then, of course, Bridgette was pretty insecure about any feelings that she thought Roman might have for her because she figured those feelings were really directed towardCharlotte. The sexual tension between these two was pretty much off the charts, and the more I got to know Roman, the more I loved him. Once I got past the instant attraction thing, this was pretty much a recipe for an awesome romance!Likable villains.I LOVE the villains in this series! It's actually kind of hard to say who the real villains are. At the beginning of the series, the leaders of the New World Order (Roman and Ludwig) are presented as "bad guys," but by the end of book one, you're already figuring out that it's not that simple. Well, this book definitely blurred those lines either further - Roman comes out looking like a hero and Bridgette even finds herself liking Ludwig. By the end of the book, I actually felt kind of sorry for him. This book makes it clear that Ludwig's intentions are usually good, even when his methods aren't. Does that make him a good guy? Well, no not exactly, but he's not an evil mastermind either. So, is Charlotte and Bridgett's dad the true villain then? Well, for now it definitely looks like it, but I'm not jumping to conclusions - with this series, there may not be any true good or bad guys - and if there are, we might be confused about who they are right up until the very end!New rebels.There are some new players introduced in this book - the rebels from the "other" side of town. They turn out to be a bunch of tough, colorful women and I loved them! They're real characters - each and every one of them!I highly recommend this series to fans of NA and dystopian. This book ended on a definite cliffhanger, and I can't wait to find out what Stalder has in store for us next! 4/5 Stars***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***