A review by tesaelin
The Masks and The Dancer by Bea Paige

4.0

Main Characters:
Christy -

Spoiler

Virgin who has spent most of her life hiding due to physical deformities such as a birthmark on her cheek and burn scars on her back. She dreams premonitions seeing both past and future. Strong-willed but lonely, she knows her future entails her being taken by the Masks but can't see much past that point.

Jakub -

Spoiler

Leader of the Masks and youngest of their group, Jakub is the official heir to his family line. He, along with the other 2 members, have been beaten and conditioned by his father to be ruthless and cruel. As children, the 3 of them decided the only way to become what his father demanded was to don masks and let their innocence go. He is obsessed with the ugly and different. Perfection having a repulsive effect on him due to his father's own obsession with it. He tends to go to the woods to regroup when he is losing control. Calls Christy "Nothing".

Konrad -

Spoiler

As close to the "jokester" trope that you can find in this dark book, Konrad hides his darker nature seeming to be the "nicest" of the 3. His kink is hurting and then healing. His favorite haunting spot is the dungeons where he enjoys breaking the numbers in. Calls Christy "Zero".

Leon -

Spoiler

Oldest of the 3, Leon is the most volatile. Leon craves pain and gets off on endurance. He is loyal to his brothers but tends to fly off the handle the most of the 3. He now acts as the enforcer when clients get out of line with the staff and numbers. Calls Christy "Nought".

Subpar Summary:

Spoiler

We pick up where we left off with Christy drugged and paralyzed at the mercy of the Masks. Just prior to her being attacked by the Baron, Thirteen intercedes the Masks during their discussion and gives them a letter from Christy's mother urging them to spare her and stop the cycle that has cursed their families. Thinking it is a trap, the guys are convinced a rival family that Christy shares blood with orchestrated the entire thing. They also suspect that Thirteen is not loyal to them and instead a pawn for their enemy, the Deana-dhe. Jakub, angry and spiraling as he is unable to deal with the emotions Christy has elucidated from him, charged Leon to kill Christy once and for all. The events match up with them killing the Baron and confronting Christy. Leon is torn between his conflicted feelings and the conditioning he has grown up with. Deciding to go against his orders and brothers, he defies them to defend her but is too late. During his dilemma he goes too far and ends up killing her. Hysterical and broken, he begs Thirteen and Five to try to bring her back. They succeed and he fights off his brothers to secure her in his suite where he can protect her from them. When Christy finally awakens, she is no longer the same and is filled with anger and vengeance to make the Masks suffer as they have done to her. Leon keeps trying to protect her (both from his brothers and himself) but she has closed off her heart to him and everyone else in her fury. Meanwhile, both Konrad and Jakub are falling apart unable to come to grips with their feelings and the juxtaposition between their compassion and cruelty. Konrad isolates himself in his dungeon on a drinking binge. Jakub turns to One to distract him from feeling through the pain she provides during their sessions in addition to lashes out at the other Numbers. When Christy gets another vision, showing that she will eventually poison and kill them all, she starts to have doubts. Leon's newfound loyalty is wearing down her walls and she continues to have visions of the past where she sees all 3 boys growing up through their abuse. She still thinks it's hopeless to fight her visions and fate any longer but can't help her growing emotions. Jakub, still spiraling, decides that he will trigger Leon as a means to return him to his old self and he forces him to take Christy's virginity at gunpoint. Initially, Leon slips and shows his demons but Christy is able to reach him and it proves to Jakub that Leon's love is real. Unable to process this revelation, he takes off into the woods again to self-punish himself inflicting more pain to try and escape his feelings. Konrad, in a drunken stupor is restrained, drugged, and raped by Twelve in her twisted, broken infatuation with him and he resorts to a catatonic state to escape the abuse. Knowing her fate for her actions, she hangs herself shortly after and Leon and Christy release him. They take him to a below-ground lake and are able to snap him back. Christy seduces him in his vulnerable state, still torn between hurting or helping him, but ends up falling for him. He finally acknowledges his feelings for her and joins Leon in protecting her. He also realizes, even without Christy spelling it out, that their lives as bad men could never end well. He promises her that he will be loyal for however much time they have together. Not long after, Christy has another vision; first of Jakub as a teen in the cabin his father's worst abuse occurred in followed by a cry for help from his current self. Alarmed and fearful he doesn't have long left, they search for the cabin and she brings him back from the brink showing compassion and love where he's never known it. When he awakens, he realizes that kindness is not the weakness his father had beaten into him to believe. He finally embraces his half-sister and makes amends with Christy solidifying their relationship. As the Ball comes closer, Christy feels torn by her vision and Thirteen approaches her and reveals that she owes a debt to the Deana-dhe. She exposes herself admitting that she was instructed to kill the Masks but was able to find a loophole after learning about Christy's vision where she killed them. Using her healing artistry, she crafted a poison that will give the illusion of it's victim's death. The eve before the event, Christy and the guys enjoy a dinner where they spill their secrets with each other and Jakub reveals his knowledge of her and Thirteen's plan. He explains that he trusts Christy and convinces the guys to go through with it. The next night, nerves are high and Christy ends up passing out during her performance when she is hit with more visions. The guys take her from the stage to a secluded area where they are attacked by Grim, Beast, and the Deana-dhe just as Christy's vision foretold. She bargains with them to allow her the killing blow and carves her name into their chests with the poisoned knife. Just as Leon is passing out, he notices One behind Christy but can do nothing to warn her. During her twisted rage, thinking that Christy has really killed Jakub, she stabs Christy but the Deana-dhe kill her in return. Christy survives and, with time, convinces her sister and Beast to keep her secret that the Masks still live and allow them to make peace. Cue the HEA...

Thoughts:
This book absolutely redeems it's predecessor. A lot of the cruelty from the first book is healed through their shared traumas. Each character is extremely broken and fighting their instincts to be better (or worse). There's a lot of pain but what separates this from the first book is that we see the vulnerability and are able to understand more with the perspectives. The MCs and the side characters (for the most part) were clearly written with love and conflict. All 3 guys' pain was palpable but it was really nailed in that they (especially Jakub) had never known any form of kindness. Was really glad to see the redemption and love that they all needed.

Overall: 4.4/5