{Review} Behind the Mask by Linda Joyce

Item: Behind the Mask
Rating: 3
Author: Kassiah

May 26, 2016 Blog Tour, Reviews Leave a comment

Some of us are from Louisiana and all of us love Mardi Gras, so we jumped at the chance to join the blog tour for Behind the Mask by Linda Joyce. We’ll be sharing our thoughts on this contemporary romance with you, but first, here’s the 411 on the book:

About Behind the Mask

Behind the Mask by Linda Joyce
Published by Self-Published on May 17, 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Second Chance Romance, Small Town Romance
Character(s): Businessmen/Lawyers/Entrepreneurs
Pages: 130
Goodreads Buy the Book

Former model Chalise Boudreau returns to Louisiana after ten years and faces an uncertain future. Watching her budget, she’s living with her mother and plans to open a luxury salon, but she fears the community sees her homecoming as a failing, and she knows any malicious gossip will jeopardize her success.

Once bad-boy, now entrepreneur Chaz Riboucheaux is home and trying to rebuild his old reputation. He believes one of his companies, the Magnolia May, a pirate ship, can make Ascension a tourist destination, but the mayor refuses to grant him a lease at the city’s dock.

Chalise and Chaz come face to face at a Twelfth Night party. Years ago, he stood her up and left her brokenhearted. Now her brain is at war with her heart, but her body has a mind of its own. As Chaz leads her across the dance floor, he knows when the music stops it won’t be the end of their waltz. He has questions only she can answer, and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.

About Linda Joyce

Author Linda Joyce Linda Joyce is an award-winning and Amazon best selling author who writes about assertive females and the men who can’t resist them in her Fleur de Lis series and Fleur de Lis Brides series. Linda’s a big fan of jazz and blues. She attributes her love of those musical genres to her southern roots, which run deep in Louisiana. If you walk-through several New Orleans cemeteries you’ll find many of her people buried there. She penned her first manuscript while living in Japan, the country where her mother was born and raised. Now she lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and four-legged boys—Beau, Jack, and Renior—who think she’s their pet.

Find Linda Here: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Our Thoughts

Kassiah: Since I live in Louisiana and love Mardi Gras, I was excited to read this book when we were invited to participate in the tour. I also really love second chance romances, so I thought it would be total win for me.

Chalise is back home after being away for ten years when she runs into her old love Chaz at a Mardi Gras Ball. There’s some back and forth and some tension where the pair realize they both still feel that pull toward each other. Will they give in or was what Chaz did to Chalise too much for her to get over?

If you’ve never been to Louisiana, you might really enjoy this book. The Mardi Gras ambiance was captured, along with the feeling of community that is so popular and important here. There was some Louisiana-speak that was authentic (and some that wasn’t) and you’ll feel as if you were transported to South Louisiana while reading.

This is a double-edged sword, though, because native Louisianians will probably not appreciate some of it. One thing that really bothered me about this book was the way the names were spelled. I’m sure there are all kinds of ways to spell Boudreau and Riboucheaux, but I literally was taken out of the story every time I saw them spelled this way. It’s Boudreaux and Robicheaux (or I guess Robicheau is fine, too, but not really). It’s a picky thing, but I just can’t get over it. Also, the way some things worked just weren’t realistic. If you’ve got a vision of what you think Mardi Gras (and Louisiana culture, in general) is like, you’ll probably like this. If you live here already, not so much.

As for the characters, it won’t surprise you that Chalise annoyed me and I liked Chaz 🙂 The chemistry between them was okay, and I wanted them to work it out. I wanted more from them throughout the story and felt they could have been better-developed. That’s really how I felt about the whole story. The pacing and storyline were fine and this was a fast read–I just needed more.