Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Children's for letting me read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

Love Unmasked follows our main character Evie through a school trip to Venice! They are there to work on an architecture assignment as a final grade before they graduate high school. Evie also has a secret agenda to sneak out at night to attend a fan club for her favorite books that are based around Venice!

While sneaking out she runs into another masked fan of the fanbase and they instantly connect on their love of the books and the adventure they are sharing. They agree to take off their masks on the last night of the weekend to see who they are and if they can continue their relationship in the 'real world.'

Back in the real world, Evie is matched up with Gabriel on her project. He is a new transfer and a very closed off, untrusting individual that Evie is determined to make friends with. Soon Evie has to make the difficult decision of who she wants: Gabriel the rough and tumble bad boy or Angelo the stranger that she can tell her secrets to.

I think this is such a cute little romance! I enjoyed the characters and I think they are written well and written their age which I appreciate. I absolutely loved how Venice was described and it really made me want to go and see the sights too.

The complex relationship Evie has with her mom and the stress she is under to be 'perfect' is relatable and it's nice to see the author approach it from both angles that it is important to advocate for yourself but it is important to be respectful and honest to those in authority.

I think my favorite part was watching Evie and Gabriel's relationship grow from definitely not friends to growing comfortable and sharing parts of themselves they might not have been able to share before!

Overall I would definitely recommend this book to someone looking for a sweet little romance with a little bit of slow burn but not too much!

In this enchanting and mystery-filled romance, Love Unmasked sweeps readers into the atmospheric magic of Venice, where hidden passions, secret identities, and the thrill of first love converge beneath the city’s iconic masks. Combining the allure of adventure with the emotional depth of self-discovery, this story is perfect for fans of swoony YA romance and compelling mysteries.

Evie Whitmore is a relatable and engaging protagonist—a people pleaser longing to break free and embrace her true self. Her hidden love for Elven Realms, a book series that has shaped her dreams and identity, adds a rich layer to her character. The art and architecture trip to Venice becomes more than an educational excursion; it’s the catalyst for Evie’s greatest adventure yet.

The masked stranger, Angelo, is the perfect mix of intrigue and charm. Their shared quest to unravel the secrets of the underground Elven Realms fan club feels like a fairy tale come to life, set against the moody canals, crumbling palazzos, and moonlit alleyways of Venice. The labyrinth-like setting mirrors Evie’s emotional journey, as she navigates friendship, trust, and the pull of this enigmatic stranger.

Adding complexity is Gabriel Martinez, the loner with a reputation and Evie’s unlikely trip partner. Gabriel’s presence brings tension and questions: does Evie really know him? And how do the masks we wear—literal or otherwise—shape the way we see and are seen by others?

This book excels in its richly atmospheric setting and clever intertwining of mystery and romance. It’s a love letter to Venice and to the stories that shape our lives, reminding readers of the magic that happens when we dare to unmask our hearts. The slow-burn romance, sprinkled with clues and clandestine encounters, builds to a satisfying reveal that will leave readers swooning and turning the final page with a smile.

A perfect escape for YA readers who love secret identities, bookish quests, and enchanting destinations, this novel delivers a magical journey of love, identity, and the courage to embrace who you truly are. Fans of Stephanie Perkins and Jennifer E. Smith will find themselves lost in this Venetian masquerade.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for this arc.

I found this book entirely enjoyable.

The main plot point of Evie sneaking out to find the secret club was so fun, maybe because I also enjoy fantasy and cosplay, and I really liked that the we got to see things that happened inside of the club and not just the search for it.

I also enjoyed Evie’s story outside of the fantasy club. Her anxieties and personality were very realistic for someone her age, and I definitely found myself rooting for her to break some rules and slow down a little.

The romance side of the story was also very cute. I loved reading about them having fun and flirting; getting to see Venice together. They felt like complimentary personalities, once they broke down their walls enough to see each other as complex people.

Overall this was a great read, a cute story with a hopeful ending, and I would recommend/pick up more books from this author in the future.

Hmm. Well, this was a bit disappointing.  I love a cute mystery romance and I was waiting for this to be one. Evie sneaks out to an underground club that celebrates this particular fantasy book series. She ended up colliding with a stranger that also loved this fantasy series. Which by the way was thrown around like I’m supposed to know all the characters and plot lines. Super frustrating. Evie thought no one in her life would understand it so she kept this part of her life hidden. I never saw her being different when she was masked. I would have thought wearing a mask might help her be stronger,  more assertive,  and more bold.  It didn't.  I guessed the Angelo character from the beginning. The romance was okay and not so memorable. And honestly the story itself was a bit boring. Though I appreciated the setting of Venice, Italy. The ending was a bit anticlimactic. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

When Evie’s class goes to Venice, the city where her favorite fantasy book series is set in and a secret club based off the series is located, she knows she has to go. When she gets there, and meets another masked stranger, she isn’t sure if she had met him before or not. There’s no way, right?
I really enjoyed this book! This one’s for the fantasy and contemporary ya lovers for sure. I was especially happy that the book was friends to lovers more than enemies to lovers. I feel that the ‘they hate each other in real life but are falling in love under masks’ trope is so overused, so I loved seeing how the author adjusted the trope. I loved the sprinkles of Venice culture and the witty banter. The strong friendships and the fun inside jokes between them.
Thank you to NetGalley and Delacourte for an eARC of this book.

I rated this 3.5 stars rounded up!

This was such a wholesome, lighthearted read.

Evie is a rule-following, people-pleasing, straight-A student who wants to believe she has everything figured out. On a school trip to Venice, she is paired up with a grumpy boy who is handsome but annoying.

What nobody knows is that Evie has an obsession with a popular fantasy book series. A secret underground club in Venice that centers around said series calls Evie’s name. On the first night, she sneaks out, she runs into a stranger also dressed in cosplay attire, coincidentally heading to find the same underground club she is.

During the day, she tries to weasel her way into Gabe’s (aka grumpy boy) heart, while he resists but also tries to teach her to say no and stop her people-pleasing tendencies. But at night, her adventures with Angelo (aka mystery boy) seem to whisk her away into magical feelings too.

All in all, this book was an amazing read and of great quality for its genre (young adult romance). The setting brought me back to my own trip to Venice, and it was so nostalgic! I loved Evie’s character and related to her more than I care to admit.

I do think that the middle could have used a bit more to forward the plot. In my opinion, it slowed down a little too much, BUT the ending really came through!

Tropes:
-Grumpy x Sunshine
-Forced Proximity
-Love triangle…?
-Secret Identities


Thank you to the author and NetGalley for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a cute, sweet teen romance. The main character seemed stiff and I struggled to connect with her. But I'm a sucker for a grump, so I liked the MMC.

It was definitely predictable and I would have liked more explanation in certain scenes, rather than it suddenly being the end of a chapter and then a new day. I felt like there was a lot that was missed.

Overall, I liked it and I feel like the junior high students in my library will like it also.

Following Evie on secret journey through Venice was so fun and cute! If you're looking for a fun, quick, light hearted read this is it! I loved the banter between Gabriel and Evie and often kept forgetting how young they were!

It was exciting to be emerged in a world within the world seeing how passionate Evie was for the Elven Realms and it was fun cheering on a fellow book nerd.

Absolutely would recommend this to anyone!

This was such a sweet and enjoyable book! The grumpy/sunshine romance trope is one that you may enjoy. I thought it was great how Gabe and Evie fell in love in both worlds, it was an interesting element that I hadn't seen before!

so this was cute! my first dean book, but definitely not my last— this book was like teen catnip. i love when ya books are set outside of the states, and the cosplay aspects of this were SO FUN— we need more nerd girls & guys in ya!! so many kids love cons and cosplaying!! the romance was a little slow, but in a world of zooming ya books, i appreciated it. i thought both our leads were very well fleshed out & i enjoyed their relationship— unfortunately, since this is a ya, i can’t really talk to their chemistry or anything like that; they’re kiddos to me! having fun! a lil teen fling! but it was adorable, the plot was super fun & unique, and i think teens will love this.

I was an immediate fan of this book from the very beginning! I have never read this author work before and now I want to look into their previous works!

>What I Liked
I've dreamed of visiting Venice, so I enjoyed exploring it on page.

Dean did a great job rounding out the side characters of Evie's friend group. Even with their small amount of page time, they were distinct. Evie also had a very natural character voice.

>What I Struggled With
My suspension of disbelief was stretched by a few aspects in the novel. The fact that Evie didn't figure out who Angelo was from his voice and mannerisms after several nights seemed a little a little off. I also struggled to believe that Angelo didn't realize who Evie was. The scope of the secret club also seemed a little too large. It might have made more sense if Evie's school trip had coincided with a secret fan convention that was happening rather than a year-round thing,

It's not uncommon for characters to fall in love unrealistically fast, but Evie and Gabriel going from being essentially strangers to a couple in a few days seemed a little too quick.

>Overall
While predictable, Love Unmasked will likely delight readers looking for a lighthearted YA romance.

Cautions: eight kisses; moderate romance

This was such a cute, fun read! If you love the grumpy/sunshine romance trope, I can't recommend this enough. The supporting characters were fun and I loved the setting of Venice (it's on my short list of bucket list travel places). Seeing Evie try to figure out who Angelo is was fun, even though we, the reader, obviously know who it is. I do think Evie's family felt really flat -- which, we don't see much of them, so I get it, but I don't even think we learn her siblings names at all. That was really my only gripe. Otherwise, I thought this was an enjoyable read and a nice palate-cleanser after some of the heavier stuff I've read lately.
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Love Unmasked follows Evie, a popular go-getter high schooler, as she attends a school trip to Venice. They're there to study art and architecture, but Evie also has secret plans to hunt down a hidden fan club for her favorite fantasy book series. To make it more complicated, she meets another fan who could possible be from their school but doesn't know who they are because they're both wearing masks. Plus, Evie's nerdy interests are kept secret from her friends at school in order to maintain her image. But her secrets are in danger of coming out when she starts for falling for the new guy at school during the day and her masked friend at night.
This book was a fun adventure through Venice full of good food, friendship, and sights. Evie and Gabe are an opposites attract type of duo, and the author does a great job at highlighting how their differences bring out the best in each other. This book is perfect for fans of Love and Gelato and Twelfth Knight, with a really great focus on fandom community. I would definitely recommend to patrons at my library.

When reading the description of this book, it sounded totally up my alley! Plus, I’ve read and really liked previous books by this author. I loved that it was set in Venice—some place I hope to go to one day. While this specific title fell a little flatter for me than the author’s other books, it was still cute and I appreciate that it’s a safe read for even younger teens.

Love Unmasked is a cute YA romcom that takes place in Venice, Italy on a high school art and architecture trip. I loved this book, I was swooning so hard. The mystery behind the masked characters was amazing. I loved the way that Evie and Gabe fell for each other in both worlds. I would u liked to see more of their relationship bud a bit more at the end when they make up. It was a sweet happy ending but I think an epilogue would have been nice like a flash forward to prom, or the trips ending, or maybe even their last few days of the trip. But overall this book was so adorable and addictive to read.

I like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for allowing this one for reading.

Love Unmasked ticked all the boxes of a book that my teen self would have eaten up:
- booksmart (popular) girl with a secret book obsession that bled into cosplay
- broody guy who was pretty and teased with quips but was a loner
- mysterious guy who liked to cosplay, may be handsome (he wears a mask), but has a good voice and gets along with the main character
- foreign setting
- friends
- at home issues

In this story our female lead sneaks out of her hotel to head to a secret fanclub meet up in Venice made popular after her favorite book series. On the way, she runs into another cosplayer / fanboy who is wearing a mask, dressed as the male eye-candy of the books, and the two of them hit it off.

In the day time she is a people pleaser - booksmart, popular, and shy to admit she is a closet nerd. Her art class goes to Venice before she graduates. She goes not only for a grade, but because she heard of this fanclub / meet up somewhere in the city and she has to find it. The books mean a lot to her because it being a shared like between her and her now deceased father.

The guy she has been paired up with is a new kid who came at the beginning of senior year, whom she had the pleasure of taking on a tour of the school and hardly said anything to her. He also talked down to her, and chose to keep his distance. He is apparently taking her art class too and now they have to figure out a topic for their project.

Though I am past the age of this book, I think teens will enjoy it. The romance was slow between the mysterious man and the broody guy. At times it had me unsure who was the man behind the mask. But when I narrowed it down - quickly - it didn't matter because I was having too fun watching it play out between the two men who caught her attention.

Another reviewer brought up how odd the club was - had all these funds dumped into it, made it literally a Harry Potter-land building / world shoved into a four story flat. Apparently the author and the fandom threw money at this uninhabited building, cleaned it up, and use it as an official destination for those in the fandom. It's so popular people in the city play along with it by having symbols on shops / carts an if you ask a question you get a hint card that tells you how to find the spot.

It kind of made it cheesy for me because the fact at night our female lead and the mysterious guy were walking around in masked cosplays people would have to be catching on when groups of people start heading to on particular place. Why signs are appearing on shops and so on. Why the flat on 123 canal road (or whatever) got purchased and you hear partying in it late at night. A real stretch to me, honestly. I would have preferred it to be a place that changes monthly or whatever like secret cinema.

Another issue is that the whole project kind of fell by the wayside at times. Sure, they were working on it and doing things with it, but the farther the story / romance progressed we really never got a solid outcome at the end about their grades / the importance of this project.

Little things. Overall, I had fun! I'd recommend this to teen readers.

"Love Unmasked" is a sweet high school romance set against the backdrop of Venice. The story follows Evie, a straight-A student and rule-follower, on a class trip to Venice, which also happens to be the inspiration for the setting of her favorite fantasy series, Elven Realms. However, her excitement dims when she is paired with the moody Gabriel instead of her best friend. Despite her initial reluctance, Evie, ever the people-pleaser, agrees and is determined to pull him out of his shell.

Evie has another secret plan for the trip: to find a clandestine underground fandom event held every night. Only her best friend, who shares her room, knows about her love for the book series and her plan to sneak out and find it. During her nightly escapades, Evie meets Angelo, another student searching for the event. Their masks allow them to open up to each other in ways they can't with others, leading to a deep connection. Evie is torn between wanting to know Angelo's true identity and fearing the revelation.

The novel excels in its portrayal of the conversations between Evie and Gabriel, both masked and unmasked. The forced-proximity trope is well-executed, adding depth to their interactions. However, the story's believability falters when neither Evie nor Gabriel can recognize each other despite spending significant time together both day and night. This implausibility detracts from the overall enjoyment of the book.

Additionally, the nightly fandom event, complete with cosplay, LARPing, and food, seems unrealistic given the logistical and financial challenges such an event would entail. These elements, while imaginative, stretch the bounds of credibility.

Overall, "Love Unmasked" is an enjoyable read with charming moments and engaging dialogue. However, the implausible plot points and lack of deeper investment in the characters prevent it from being a standout. Fans of high school romance and fantasy will find it a pleasant, if not entirely convincing, escape.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc. I know the description states that Evie is on a school trip but I didn’t think high school and I couldn’t move past that. I do love a good YA book but this felt like it should be students in college and I struggled. The story was great and I loved Evies day vs night but I couldn’t move past the high school age.

I would like to begin with thanking NetGalley and Delacorte Romance of Random House Children's Books for the uncorrected ebook.

My opinion is highly biased because I love softcore romances and this one hit me hard. If you are a nerd who is the part of one or many fandoms, this is for you.

Hardworking and straight-A student Evie in Venice for a school trip in the senior year but her hidden goal is finding a secret fandom event of her favorite fantasy series. And as much as she hates rule-breaking, she goes for that midnight stroll to find and join the event by getting the clues in the morning. She meets Angelo, a nice guy from the same hotel, who's also looking for the event, under their own masks. So who is this Angelo and why is he so intriguing?

Then there is also Gabriel, the antisocial guy, who Evie got stuck working with in a project because he has no partner and she cannot say no to her favorite teacher. Unfortunately for her, he seems to hate her but she's determined to make a friend out of him. Is everything as it seems with Gabriel?

Tropes:
•forced proximity
•popular h x unpopular H
•people-pleasing MC
•secret events
•YA
•bonding over fandoms
•third act breakup (unofficial and not dragged on)
•character development on both sides