I started reading this one but didn't hold my interest. I though the concept was good but I wish I could have connected with the characters more.

These books are so interesting and unique that I never know where they will take me next. While you can probably start here, it's best to begin with the introduction to these races of supernaturals so you can get the full story.

Estelle is a very controlled vampire who has done just about everything in her power to avoid fully embracing her new role as a sort of vampire leader. Having stepped into this role after the predecessor's death, it makes for a difficult situation all around, made more so by her distracting attraction to Stephan.

Stephan is suffering from guilt over the loss of his friend and fighting the rising tide of voices he's inherited. He is also in denial about his draw to Estelle. His friend and leader, however, forces the issue by getting him to work in close quarters with her as a liason of sorts. When Estelle appears to be on the edge of running off, he runs right after her, determined to protect her in any way he can. These two are off-the-charts sizzling, but their trust leaves much to be desired. He's paranoid and she's less than confident in their budding relationship, but life and death situations have a way of putting everything in perspective. Another great story in this series wraps up nicely.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for ARC. This is an honest review.

Masked Longing is the third book of the Masked Arcana series. This one is about Estelle a vampire who was introduced in book 1 and expanded on in book 2. Estelle is high in the vampire hierarchy and now she is almost at the top. Of course she is in charge of the military right at a time where the war building is probably going to happen. Too bad Estelle doesn't want power. What she wants is Stephen ( also in book one and two). Stephen is a a masquerada and pretty high in the hierarchy as well. When the leaders decide to create liaison between vampires and masquerada these must work together but will they distracted be each other?

First off, I really like the world Ms. Delacroix created. This is not a typical shapeshifter story. She did an amazing job of creating a new world. I will say the more I read this series the more I enjoyed the books. I remember not quite embracing book one. Book two which I read just before book three was good. This book did a lot more to pull me in. I will say that there are some word choices that were a little weird. The best example was rapprochement. Not a word used very often that I actually went to verify it was what I thought it was. This book kept me guessing on who was the bad guy a little bit. On a side not, I really loved the conversation between Stephen and Caro about the cat. Was it necessary? No. Did it add to the story line? No. I just really enjoyed it though.
NetGalley: 4 Stars because I would recommend this book.
Goodreads: 3.5 stars I liked this book. I enjoyed it and read it really fast. I just didn't connect with any of the characters so I didn't really really like this book. Im going to round up to four for the awesome world.

I have loved the prior books in The Masked Arcana series because I thought the paranormal characters were very unusual. Plus the stories were great. This one was a bit different to the last two books. I sat a couple days trying to formulate what I wanted to say. First I love the concept of the Masquerada being able to instantly transform into however they want to be seen. It can be very beneficial depending on what your goal is. This book picks up from book two where it is revealed that an age-old Masquerada is wreaking havoc on the world, determined to expose all paranormal species to humans. All the races have come together to find this person and get them under control.

Stephen and Estelle are tasked with working together to unravel the mystery of the rogue Masquerada. But they are species that have never truly trusted each other. They are forced out of duty but conflicts are abound. Stephen seems to have feelings for Estelle, but he never lets her get close. Estelle seems drawn to Stephen too, but doesn't get the mixed signals he is sending her. Both strive to do their job, but it's getting increasingly harder, and lives are at stake.

Overall the story is interesting, but the romance side fell way short by comparison to the others in the series. Their relationship never felt like it clicked with me. Both seemed to have their own agenda anyway. I just never felt any draw to them making me want to root for them to be together. I think the character development wasn't what it needed to be. I was disappointed in that side of the book, but the mystery side was intriguing. Unraveling the clues was fun. A good book to the series, just wasn't my favorite!

This book was gifted to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve really enjoyed the previous two books in this series with their very unique paranormal characters. The focus here isn’t the usual Shifters, Fae or Vampires ( although admittedly they are a part of this world) but those known as Masquerada who can quite literally transform at will. For the select few this can be advantageous as they can become how they wish to be seen but there’s always the danger of losing ones true self . This book picks up following the realisation that an ancient Masquerada is loose in the world and determined to “out” those of the arcana world to humans meaning it’s imperative that the races unite to stop him.
Steven doesn’t truly trust the Vampires and yet it’s his duty to work with them. He might have conflicting feelings when it comes to Estelle but of one thing he’s certain and that is he doesn’t want her messing with his mind. Estelle finds herself thrust into a role she’s not sure she really wants and would love to confide in Steven but he just pushes her away. Allies seem difficult to trust as the plans of those known as the Dawning start becoming clearer and no matter what at some point hard choices have to be made but at what cost ?
I’ve held off writing this as if honest after the last book I’m disappointed. The relationship felt forced and really didn’t light my fire. Steven didn’t seem to be in love with Estelle and frankly Estelle just seemed to go her own way regardless. Once I got past the initial third of the book the story actually started to take off and I did enjoy trying to work out who to trust and who was a thoroughly bad egg but alas the romance and lack of character development just let it down. It lacked the passion and humour of Cormac the hero in Masked Desire although admittedly it does move the overall plot along.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair