Masquerade is the debuting Young adult novel by the lovely Cambria Hebert. Masquerade is about Heven a teenage girl was who attacked and is physically scared causing her to internally withdraw from the world, and who she was. She hides in her sweatshirt and uses her hair as a curtain with her only two friends being Kimber and Cole. Who even then she suspects there are problems. With junior year of high school Heven is still so uncomfortable in her skin and her world continues to spin in circles. A new guy, Sam, with darkness from within waltzs into Heven's life starting a whirlwind romance. Sam is a guy with a heart of gold though, what could go wrong with a guy who hates tomatoes? All the while Heven is having nightmares of the event that left her with the scars, and there is something lerking in the shadows to finish the job that the it started. Masquerade is a paranormal romance novel that is about darkness that is waiting tear apart all the good in the world, journey of finding out who you are, and the power of love. Pick up a copy of Masquerade to find out what people are hiding in the masquerade of life. ( )

3.5 out of 5 stars: I have become leery of self-published novels. Many are so poorly written that I cannot read beyond the first chapter or two. I know there are some respectable self-published novels out there, some like Reflection by Jessica Roberts or The Scarlet Dagger by Krystle Jones, I would even recommend to you but I have found these to be few and far between. Masquerade falls into the category of being “recommendable”.

I won a digital copy of Masquerade through a giveaway on Cambria Hebert’s website. Honestly, I probably would not have read it otherwise. I really dislike the cover and would never have picked up the book to read because of the cover. You know the saying, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”? Well, it’s very true in this case.

The paranormal genre seems to be dominating the young adult market. Masquerade is a different kind of paranormal. It was refreshing to read something a little different. I really liked that Cambria was able to create some mystery and mild suspense around her paranormal creatures and storyline. I was a little bothered with the utter dependence that 16 year old Heven seemed have on her boyfriend and the stalkerish nature of Sam but was happy to see Heven gradually gain a backbone by the end of the story.

Cambria Hebert had me wanting to read ahead to find out what exactly happened to Heven and what roll Sam actually played in her injury/attack. I enjoyed the storyline enough to make me want to read on in the series.

My recommendation for this novel would be similar to my thoughts on Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series…I wouldn’t want young teens to read this book and think that this obsessive sort of ”love” is ideal. But, for everyone else, if you want an interesting, easy to read paranormal novel, then you might like to give Masquerade a try. ( )

Interesting start to a good storyline. Heven and Sam were destined to be together and they both manipulated others to get what they wanted. But Sam had a secret and Heven had scars. Could they actually make the right choices and trust each other to make a connection. Sam was sworn to protect Heven and do that is just what he did, even when it cost him his life. But his love knew no bounds for Heven and they had each other, come hell or heaven, or anything else in between. ( )

Masquerade by Cambria Hebert

Masquerade is a YA Paranormal novel full of mystery, suspense and romance; it is what I would call a page turner as I found I couldn’t put the book down. This novel is written extremely well I loved how the author wrote the different points of views so we had a better understand of each character. Cambria words flowed so well you got caught up in the story like you were a part of it. I really enjoyed her writing style and will read anything she has written. Every story needs a little romance and Cambria writing made us fall in love with Sam and Heven.

Masquerade is about a young woman named Heven, one night on her way home she is attacked and left with a horrible scar on her left side of her face. She has no memory of what happened or who could of did this to her. She even began to wonder if she somehow did this to herself. Heven has withdrawn from her life hiding herself just as much as she hides the left side of her face. She wears baggy clothes, hooded sweatshirts, hoping never to draw attention to herself. Heven still lives in fear always looking in the shadows to see if anyone is there. Things are about to change for Heven when she sees the new boy walk in to her class. Here we meet Sam, her attraction to him is immediate and you can tell he feels the same. Heven doesn’t understand how he can look at her but Sam see’s past the scars and sees her inner beauty or so we think. As we get to know Sam better we see how loyal he is and he will do anything to protect Heven. But there are secrets and we know something else is going on and you begin to wonder who Sam is, and should Heven trust him to keep her safe?

This is a great novel, twist, turns some fantastic fight scenes you absolutely fall in love with Heven and Sam. There is so much more to this story all I can say is you have to read Masquerade. I cannot say enough about Cambria Herbert writing besides it is fantastic and I will buy anything she writes.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the paranormal genre.


Before by Cambria Herbert

I was given this short prequel and will say again that it is well written it made you want to start Masquerade as soon as you hit the last page. It was nice to get a glimpse of Heven’s life before Masquerade and finding out a bit about more about Sam. Fantastic read.


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Let me start out by saying that I don't normally read YA books. But, as I was gifted this book, I felt compelled to read this. And, I'm glad that I did. I'm now hooked on this series! It actually didn't strike me as a completely juvenile story. The author is well written. I appreciate the alternating points of view. The characters are so well developed. Each emotion is conveyed to the reader in a way that makes you feel what they are going through.

Heven used to be popular, beautiful and happy. An accident she can't remember leaves her disfigured and depressive. Until she meets Sam. He seems to be able to remind her of how beautiful she still is. Only, things turn upside down in Hevens' life. Though happy in her life with Sam now, he's brought danger to her. Now, he needs to protect her.

Honestly, whether teen, young adult, or grown, I think if you're into paranormal type love stories, you'll enjoy this book! ( )