Review: Better than Book 1 of the Scandals & Secrets series, but Still VERY Poor editing.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2012
Masquerade Secrets picks up about 3 months after Scandal of Love ends.  Although it is helpful, you don't need to read Book 1 to understand or enjoy Book 2.  Lady Sera and her Earl are off on the Continent enjoying their honeymoon, and Lady Sera's best friend, Aubrey, is left to handle the social whirl alone.  Bradford, the Duke of Wathersby, has been hiding himself in the country since the unsuccessful abduction of Lady Sera.  Upon his return to society, Aubrey makes an effort to be nice to him because the Duke was always genuinely nice to Aubrey when he was courting Lady Sera.Then, a masquerade ball is held, and Aubrey shows up in this magical gold dress that has all the men fighting over her.  Of course, there is instant attraction between the Duke and Aubrey, and so he wins her first dance.  He takes a long time to speak, and when he does, she realizes who he is, and then will not tell him who she is.  He is smitten and declares himself to her, but she doesn't believe that he would still want her if he knew who she was.  She pulls a Cinderella, and runs away at the first opportunity.Lady Victoria's brother throws a 2-week house party, and after a really long time, he figures out that Aubrey is the masquerade woman.  There is a happily ever after for these two, but I won't spoil the story by telling you how it happens.This follow up to Scandal of Love is definitely an improvement in the depth of the characters and the believability of their interactions and reactions to what life throws their way.  We even get to understand Lady Victoria some more.  (It wouldn't suprise me if Book 3 deals with her story.)  Given the leading characters' history, their suddenly discovered attraction is more understandable.  The foundation has been there since before the time covered by Book 1 - the characters have been acquainted for years.  Also, the drama created by Aubrey's nemesis is much more dramatic and unsettling than in Book 1.  Such a challenge could easily happen in this day and age, and so it is not a leap that the characters would struggle as they do.However, the editing in this book was also poor.  Words are clearly misused - e.g., when a business matter suddenly arises, sometimes you are unavoidably detained, NOT: "the business matter could not be detained."  If you say, "Nothing can come between us" it means there is nothing separating the two people, but it was used here to mean that "nothing can come of us" or "nothing can happen between us."  Misuse/mix-up of adjectives and adverbs was also a problem.I would give this book a PG-13 rating because the characters' thoughts about each other are set forth in greater detail, which makes part of the book more suggestive.  I still don't remember any curse words.