*ARC* Masquerade - Review

Masquerade (Games #3) 

By: Nyrae Dawn

Published: January 7, 2014 by Forever

200 pages

Source: Netgalley ARC given by publisher (Thanks!)

(Goodreads / Amazon)

Summary:

A biker. A tattoo artist. A love to last a lifetime.Maddox Cross has always had to be tough. When his father went to jail for murder, the teenager took care of his sister and mother. Now on his own and working security at a night club, Maddox wants to become a tattoo artist-a dream that comes closer to reality when he falls for the hottest, most tatted woman he's ever seen. She's wild and beautiful, and Maddox will do anything to be with her.

Bee Malone came to town to open up her new tattoo parlor, Masquerade. Since being kidnapped as a young girl, Bee has had trouble getting close to anyone. But when she meets Maddox, she sees that under his hard biker's body is the sensitive soul of an artist. What starts out as a sizzling one-night stand soon becomes so much more.

Bee wants Maddox to join her tattoo business, but letting him into her life means revealing all her most intimate secrets. And as the past begins to intertwine with her present, Bee fears their love may not be as permanent as their ink . . . 

MY REVIEW:
So book 3 in the Games series is told between alternating POV's of Maddox (the brother of Delaney from book 2) and Bee, a new girl who is the owner of a tattoo shop opening up in town.  The reader is already familiar with the struggles of Maddox seen from the glimpses given in book two, Facade. However we go deeper into why he feels so guilty now that we are reading straight from his mind. That guilt, however misplaced, has caused him to keep people at arms length. Relationships are not something he knows how to do, even with his own sister who he loves more than anyone else.

Maddox lost his dream of playing football and is now chasing after a new dream of becoming a tattoo artist but first he has to find someone willing to let him apprentice under them. Working a side job as security at a local club and bar, he meets this beautiful tattooed girl with whom he has a one night stand, only to realize too late that she is the key to his new dream.

Bee has her own demons, struggling with letting others love her and loving them in return since her kidnapping as a child. She grew up happy until she was found and brought back home 9 years later with no memory of her real parents. She has a bit of an identity crisis in that she can't be who her real parents want her to be, and she doesn't feel like she can be who her kidnappers raised because that was all a lie. So she sets out to be who she wants and feels good about.

Where books one and two of this series gripped at my heart and really touched me emotionally, this one just didn't. It was a good read. Sure you have the New Adult contemporary cliche of 2 damaged, emotionally bare people who find strength in one another, but it worked. The backgrounds of the characters aren't exact replicas of anything else I've read. It just didn't touch me as much as her first two books did.

*Warning: this book does have a lot of language and mature situations and as such is suitable for those over 18.

Favorite Quotes:
How can you love someone you want to change?

Loss is loss. It's not a contest about who's been hurt more. We all have our own battles to fight.

Final Rating - 3 stars.

This post is part of the ARC Thursday feature on Words Fueled by Love.