Book Review - Masked Encounters

Happy Hump-day, good people of the blogosphere! Today I bring you yet another book review from the Indie Fever Reading Challenge 2014. I'm slowly but surely making my way through the list. If you'd like to join in the fun, click here, fill out the linky thing, and grab the badge from the sidebar. Indie Fever is all about reading and reviewing great Indie books.

My list for 2014 (in no particular order):

Rebecca Trogner The Last Keeper's Daughter Amazon Kindle $7.99
Scott Marlowe The Five Elements Amazon Kindle $2.99
L.K. Evans Keepers of Arden: The Brothers Volume 1 REVIEW HERE
Sarah Mäkelä The Witch Who Cried Wolf Amazon Kindle $0.99
Felicia Tatum Masked Encounters REVIEW BELOW
Peprah Boasiako The Hitman Amazon Kindle $0.9
David T Griffith The Bestiarum Vocabulum Amazon Kindle $3.99
C. S. Janey Surrender To You Amazon Kindle $2.51
Thaddeus White Sir Edric's Temple REVIEW HERE
Gloria Piper Finnegan's Quest Amazon Kindle $4.99
Elle Todd The Elect Amazon Kindle $2.99
Heather Topham Wood The Memory Witch Amazon Kindle $7.99
N. L. Greene Illusions Begin REVIEW HERE
J. A. Huss Tragic REVIEW HERE
Morgan Wylie Silent Orchids Amazon Kindle **FREE**
Laura Howard The Forgotten Ones Amazon Kindle $2.99
Pauline Creeden Sanctuary Amazon Kindle $0.99
Casey Bond Winter Shadows Amazon Kindle $7.99
Casey Bond Devil Creek REVIEW HERE
Skylar Hamilton Burris The Strange Marriage of Anne de Bourgh Amazon Kindle $2.99
Christina Marie Morales Ambience Amazon Kindle $0.99
Tamar Hela Feast Island Amazon Kindle $2.99
Molly Taggart Off Target Amazon Kindle $2.99
S. G. Daniels The Druid's Doorway Amazon Kindle $3.99
Misty Provencher The Fly House Amazon Kindle $0.99

Now, let's get into the book on the chopping block today!

Title: Masked Encounters (Intoxicating Passion #1)
Author: Felicia Tatum
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance
Length (print): 44 pages
Buy Link: Amazon Kindle $0.99

Synopsis: Korah Daniels has been through a lot in her nineteen years. Broken hearts, abusive relationships, and horrid dates have caused her to doubt love. When her friend talks her into attending the local frat house’s Halloween party, will she find the one person who can change her outlook on life?

Dane Davidson is the worst kind of playboy. The ultimate frat boy, drinking and ending up with a different girl every night. When his frat house throws a masked Halloween party, a certain angel catches his attention and may just turn his life upside down.

Masked Encounters is the first in a five part novelette series.


I think the cover fits the contents perfectly! It's enchanting and clandestine, like the characters. But let's move on to the really important stuff, shall we?

I snagged this book after I checked out a sample on Amazon. Felicia Tatum pitched the title to me during my 12 days of Christmas party and I really got into it. Needless to say, I picked up a copy pretty quickly when I hit the last page and was left screaming, "Noooo! Not yet!" I read it in an hour or so and will now give you my review.


From a Reader's Perspective:
I liked the main characters, Korah and Dane. It was obvious each had their fair share of pain the in past, and a novella was the perfect way to introduce the two. Masked Encounters is a quick read with a lot of action and college-age angst between the sexes. There are a couple of graphic scenes that bordered on erotica but they never played out "just because." It seems the main characters needed the interactions to happen and the reader needed to see/feel exactly what was going on during the act(s). That being said, there's plenty of good stuff for a series starter and the characters are well developed for this to be a novella. I'll be checking out the other books in the series because I want to find out what happens between these two.


From an Editor's Perspective:
There are a couple of tense hops in the beginning of the story that left me scratching my head until I worked through them. Other than those, the editing was pretty good. I did find a couple of minor errors. Here's a funny one: ...I shared with Leela and Windi, I slid my shoes off hoping they wouldn't hear me enter. Again, this is a pronoun mix-up. They is referring to shoes, not the roommates like it should be.


Rating:
+1 Star for giving me a fast, interesting read that left me wanting more
+1 Star for well developed characters despite the length of the book
+1 Star for making me actually care what happened to the characters
+1 Star for a great plot (so far)
+.25 Stars for not writing "those" scenes just because
-.75 Stars for the tense hops, making for a slow start
Overall, 4.25 stars! A highly recommended read if you want to lounge and indulge in something that will read fast and hold your attention.


I hope you all enjoyed that review! Next week, I'll be reviewing The Memory Witch by Heather Topham Wood. You don't wanna miss that one!


Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!


Jo