Review: A Perfect Follow Up To An Impressive New Series! Full Of Action, Amazing Characters and Nail-Biting Suspense!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 26, 2014
*Written for Craves the Angst Book Reviews*4.5 Sensational, New World Stars!The Review:As most of my friends know, I'm a huge Janelle Stalder fan. I love her books. She writes such interesting, thrilling, explosive and fantastical stories filled with the absolute best characters. So when given the opportunity to read and review any of her work, I jump right on it.Masked will rank right up there with my all time favorites by her. I loved this read!Story/Character...This is book two in the New World series. In book one, Switch, we left off with Bridgette, Charlotte's sister, heading off into enemy territory, pretending to be her sister, also known as Weapon X, where she was told to infiltrate the New Word Order headquarters at her father's command. After having beat his youngest daughter, Charlotte within an inch of her life, The General, their father, saw an opportunity to hold Charlotte as leverage and use Bridgette as a tool to spy on his enemy, set to do damage and harm when the opportunity revealed itself.Bridgette's life could be in real danger if she's ever discovered and trying to fool the camp into believing she is her sister might be much harder than she anticipated, even hiding behind the dark mask her sister was made to wear. Add to her anxiety, is the very formidable and handsome Roman, who I have been dying to learn more about since book one. He seems to attract Bridgette in ways she never thought possible and her situation is tenuous at best.In the rogue camp, unknown to Bridgette, Charlotte has been rescued from her father's clutches by Pete and his band of rebels. Together, they formulate a plan to save Bridgette but needing help, they seek out another band of rebels in another district. Even with the extra manpower, things never seem to go according to plan, especially when they have the General out there with delusions of grandeur.But there are a lot of secrets and revelations and everyone has an agenda. Add to that, budding romances all over the place and you have one heck of a read! To top it all off, we see a much different side to Ludwig, the "enemy", who seems to have earned a reprieve in my eyes. I came to love his character.Thoughts...This book is filled to the brim with wonderful scenes between all the characters we grew to love in book one, Switch, and also introduced an array of new characters who were a thrill to get to know. I absolutely loved the introduction of another rogue group called the Archers. This group was wild, uninhibited and full of energy. There were love matches going on all over the place and a ton of twist and turns I truly wasn't expecting.We see a lot of the sexy Roman and his romance with Bridgette forms into a riveting, angst filled journey as these two embark on the forbidden. Pete and Charlotte are still my favorite so far but there's a lot of wonderful pairings to choose from in this book.And best of all, we finally get to know WHY Charlotte is special, along with some other exciting revelations that I won't mention because it would spoil if for you. Yes, I know, I'm a tease. But all the questions I had from book one, are answered in this one with new questions and adventures raised that are a fantastic lead in to the next book in the series, Tested, which I cannot wait for!The Wrap Up:This book is a perfect addition to a series I'm already in love with. The characters, the storylines, the plot.. all of it make for a fantastic read and I can't suggest it enough. And with a cliffy that will shock you and have you wide eyed, book three can't come fast enough!Note: A gifted copy was provided by author in exchange for an honest review.