Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz
So much incest. An unprecedented amount.
A lot more plot this go round, and some plot twists that should have been… better done? I don’t want to criticize it too harshly because they were interesting, they were compelling, they did make me want to keep reading, but in some way they just kind of fell flat because of how they were written.
Regardless, I had more fun reading this book than the first. I still feel like there’s too much set dressing compared to actual world building, but it wasn’t as aggravating in this one and was more toned down.
The characters actually had some life in this one, too.
Schuyler is still a bit too naive and short sighted for my liking, but she is a 15 year old girl, so that’s not a mark against her and is actually a positive. You’re supposed to be annoying and dumb at 15. She’s obviously coming out of her shell and figuring herself out, who she wants to be, the kind of mark she wants to make on the world.
I’m not fond of the Oliver/Schuyler story line so much anymore. It feels like that sweet boy is absolutely going to get his heart obliterated. Figuratively curb stomped. I don’t want to see it, but I get the feeling I will.
I still have no clue what’s going on with Bliss. That makes her the most interesting by default. Every time I feel like I’m getting some semblance of a read on where she might be going plot wise, something changes and I’m wrong. (Fantastic, love to see it.)
Mimi is still insufferable and I’m ready for her character arc. Right now I just wish Schuyler had let her die. She’s, what, a million years old? And she’s acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum. All that nonsense over a damn boy. Her twin brother no less. Ludicrous. And also yuck as fuck.
Jack still bores the life out of me. Again, he’s not even confusing enough to be compelling. His motivations are one dimensional and he’s too flip floppy to hold my interest. At this point, even if Oliver weren’t a full throttle king of men, I’d be team Oliver just because of how much I don’t care about Jack. I don’t even hate him. He’d have to be interesting for me to hate him. I just don’t care about him.