ARC Review: These Ruthless Deeds (These Vicious Masks #2) by Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas
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Series: These Vicious Masks #2
Author: Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas
Published March 14th 2017 by Swoon Reads
Goodreads Synopsis
England, 1883. Still recovering from a devastating loss, Evelyn is determined to use her powers to save other gifted people from those who would harm them. But when her rescue of a young telekinetic girl goes terribly wrong, Evelyn finds herself indebted to a secret society devoted to recruiting and protecting people like Evelyn and her friends.
As she follows the Society’s orders, healing the sick and embarking on perilous recruitment missions, Evelyn sees her problems disappear. Her reputation is repaired, her friends are provided for, and her parents are newly wealthy. She reunites with the dashing Mr. Kent and recovers the reclusive Mr. Braddock (who has much less to brood over now that the Society can help him to control his dangerous power). But Evelyn can’t help fearing the Society is more sinister than it appears...
Goodreads
Review
See my review of book 1, These Vicious Masks.
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
These Vicious Masks was one of my favourite debuts from 2016, and I was overjoyed when I both won a copy of the sequel, and was approved for an advance copy via NetGalley. In These Ruthless Deeds, Evelyn is coming to terms with the death of her sister Rose, and also her new tangled powers of healing people. She has joined forces with The Society, a group of other gifted people, and she now has people to turn to when she is struggling with her abilities. Her old friends Mr Kent and Mr Braddock are still around, and she's instrumental in finding, and helping, other people just like her. However, she's also struggling to balance her life in The Society, and life in Society, for the Season, when she starts to consider that just what she's doing, might not be the best thing for everyone, and she might be being used to helps others gain.
I love anything to do with the Regency era, and adding fantasy elements to that time is always a good thing. This book was so well researched, and well written, that it felt as if it was reality, and I was more watching a film, than reading a book. Evelyn is such a good narrator, and her growth as a person, growing into her abilities, is awe inspiring. Understandable, she's apprehensive around The Society, but she does warm to them, and begins to develop friendships, and a kind of new family, with them. Her own family isn't the best, especially as her mother is pushing her into an engagement and marriage with the most boring person ever, just because he's titled, and his mother is influential in the Ton, and her father has nothing about him, other than gambling away their fortune and reputation.
The plot is ridiculously good. It's fast paced, and exciting, and there was never a moment that I felt like something was unnecessary or boring. Everything was just right, and I'm beside myself with excitement for the next book in the series, because with each one, the story is getting better and better.
There's romance in this book - obviously, when it's published by Swoon Reads - and I much prefer Mr Kent to Mr Braddock, but that's not to say that I don't like Braddock, just that Kent has something more about him. These two characters, and the other characters were all interesting, even the ones that you hate, or grow to dislike throughout the course of the book. I think all lovers of historical YA or fantasy need to have this series on their radar, and I look forward to the next instalment because I love Evelyn and this series so much!
Dates Read:
March 5-11, 2017Rating
5 Stars
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