Masquerade

Title: Masquerade

Author: Cambria Hebert

Format: Ebook and paperback – Publication date: Dec 18

Publisher: OtherWorld Publications

 

One night while coming home from the library, Heven is viciously attacked and left for dead. Heven wakes up in the hospital with the left side of her face horribly scarred and no memories of the horrid event. She is even begins to wonder if she did it herself.

Like anyone who would have gone through such an atrocious ordeal, Heven becomes a recluse. Dressing in baggy clothes, using her hair to hide her face and doing anything to avoid bringing any attention to herself is how she now lives her life as opposed to her once outgoing and lifestyle Before.

Feeling alone and scared all the time, watching the shadows, Heven lives in a constant state of panic and fear. No one can comfort her or make her feel normal again, not even her best friends.

All that is about to change when a new hottie student named Sam arrives out of nowhere.

The attraction to him is immediate for her and she can't fathom why he seems to feel the same for her. Heven doesn't see her inner beauty as Sam does, or does he? Is Sam really JUST a new student? Or, is there another reason why he is there and trying desperately to win her affection.

And what REALLY happened that fateful night at the library?

One person knows the answers to all of her questions about that night, the question is, who is it and can she trust them?

Masquerade begins shrouded in mystery and quickly catapults to suspense. Just when one question is answered, another one is thrown at you and I love it! Cambria Hebert is a masterful storyteller in the way that she sets the scenes for the reader. With her descriptions of the characters, I can envision them clearly in my mind.

The way she wrote the story, what Heven has gone through and the emotions she experienced, I can feel the pain and sadness myself. And the fight scenes, those are EPIC! With so much detail, and yet, without going overboard, I can see it all so clearly and makes me not want to run into Hebert in a dark alley!

Masquerade is also told from several viewpoints of different characters to give you the inside look of each characters thought process. This technique is not easily done, however, Hebert writes it in such a way that it is easy for the reader to follow and gives you more insight to the characters, making it a much more entertaining and enjoyable read.

I love the fact that Cambria Hebert has given us a flawed heroine to read about. So many stories today give you a perfect beauty as the main character or a plain Jane with potential. Not Hebert—she gives you a heroine with a tragic injury, leaving the character full of self-doubt without sounding whiny.

You find yourself empathizing for Heven instead of secretly hating her. You are willing her to win and cheer when she finally accepts who she is. To be quite honest, I was about to give up on reading any and all YA paranormal books due to the fact that they all seem to be about the same thing with just a different title.

I am so glad that I gave this book a chance!

Cambria Hebert breathes new life into the genre, giving me hope for its future.

In short, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone looking for a fresh new take on YA or just looking to read an amazing book in general.

I eagerly await the next installment to see what the rest of Heven's journey holds and to also follow Hebert of her own amazing journey of what's sure to be the next "Big Thing!"

 

Review By: Jenn P.