Book Review of Masque
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About the Book
Title: Masque
Author: W.R.
Gingell
Genre: New Adult
Fantasy (Fairytale Retelling)
Beauty met
the Beast, and there was . . . bloody murder?
It’s the
Annual Ambassadorial Ball in Glause, and Lady Isabella Farrah, the daughter of
New Civet’s Ambassador, is feeling pleasantly scintillated.
In the library is Lord Pecus, a charming gentleman whose double
mask hides a beastly face, and who has decided that Isabella is the very person
to break the Pecus curse.
In the ball-room is young Lord Topher, who is rapidly falling in
love with an older woman.
And in the card-room, lying in a pool of his own blood, is the
body of one of Isabella’s oldest friends: Raoul, Civet’s Head Guardsman. The papers sewn into his sash seem to suggest
espionage gone wrong, but Isabella is not so certain.
Lord Pecus, as Commander of the Watch,
is of the opinion that Isabella should keep out of the investigation and out of
danger. Isabella is of the opinion that
it is her murder to investigate, and that what a certain Beast-Lord
doesn’t know won’t hurt him. . . .
Will Isabella find the murderer before Lord Pecus does, or will
she end her investigation as a bloody spatter on the parlour floor?
Author Bio
W.R Gingell is a Tasmanian author who enjoys reading, bacon, and
slouching in front of the fire to write. More titles in the Two Monarchies
Sequence will be upcoming, and readers are encouraged to visit wrgingell.com or
follow @WRGingell for the latest news and publication dates.
Other publications by W.R. Gingell include A Time-Traveller’s Best Friend: Volume One, and Ruth and the Ghost.
Links
Website: wrgingell.com
Twitter: @WRGingell
Giveaway
Win a paperback copy of “Masque”.
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Book Excerpts
“I think I would like to see your face,” he said thoughtfully. “Would
it stretch politeness too far to ask you to remove your mask?”
“After you, my lord.”
I thought he laughed at me, but again it was hard to tell. “I don’t
think I understand you, my lady.”
I looked at him steadily for a moment, my chin propped up in my palm.
“Forgive me if I seem rude, but I think you understand me very well.”
He sat forward again, leaning his forearms on his knees. His bulk was
so considerable that this maneuver put his face only inches from mine, and I
found his eyes uncomfortably piercing. “Very well, my lady. Remove your mask,
and I will remove mine.”
I was burning with curiosity that was tempered by a touch of
self-satisfaction that I was about to accomplish something that even Delysia
had not been able to accomplish, but I untied my mask with fingers that were
steady enough.
“Well, my lord?”
“Charming,” he said softly, deliberately misunderstanding. I found
myself blushing for the first time in many years. It was annoying to know that
he’d intended as much. “How old are you, Lady Farrah?”
“Very nearly thirty, my lord,” I told him composedly, ignoring the
rudeness of the question. “And a confirmed old maid, so you’ve no need to waste
your compliments on me.”
“What brings you to the Ambassadorial Ball?”
“The proposed militia merger, my lord; and I believe you’re stalling.”
He gave me a slow, considering smile, and I wondered if the face
beneath the mask was smiling also. “Is that so? Are you sure you want to see my
face?”
Courtesy compelled me to say, albeit with reluctance: “Not if you’re
unwilling, my lord.”
Lord Pecus sat silent for a moment as if in thought, his mask
unreadable.
“Hm. I don’t believe I am,” he said at last, as if he had surprised
himself. “Try not to scream, my lady.”
If he had said it with the slightest theatricality, I would have
laughed and gone back to the ballroom, content not to know what his face really
looked like. But he said it unemotionally, a plain warning; and I had to take
myself firmly to task for the quickly accelerating beat of my heart as he
removed the charms that kept his mask in place. I settled my chin a little more
firmly in my palm and waited, watching the process with some interest. I had
not much talent for magic, and my knowledge was almost as slight: my training
had mostly to do with international policy and diplomatic processes.
At last he seemed to be done. He raised both hands to remove the mask -
beautiful hands, strong and bare of rings - and it came away cleanly. For a
moment I thought he had yet another mask beneath: firelight played on tawny
brown hair - no, fur!- in a face that looked like the worst parts of wolf and
bear mixed. I blinked once, realising in that instant that it was his face, his
real face, and no mask. His mask must be magic indeed to have hidden
that snout under the pretence of a plain common-or-garden human nose.
“I see,” I said into the silent warmth of the room. I dropped my hand
back to the arm of the chair and let a small sigh escape. “That explains a good
deal.”
Review:
This
product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my
opinions or reviews.
Book Review of Upon
A. Time
Title: Upon A.
Time
Cinderella is one of my favorite fairy
tales but this retelling may just have topped it. This is a charming story behind the
Cinderella myth. It contains true love,
lost love, revenge, murder, and a strong woman who helps save her love and the
kingdom.
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