Book Review – ‘Unmasking Love’ by Erin Marie Bassett

Synopsis

Can two people with guarded hearts find their way to each other—and something real?

NHL backup goalie Aiden Youngren is used to being the reliable second-stringer, bouncing from team to team. Joining the D.C. Renegades is just another stop on the line. He’s not getting attached—why bother when he’ll be gone in a few months?

Luxury real estate agent Harper Daniels is equally focused on her career. After a string of short-lived relationships, she continues dating but goes in with the end already in mind, and never allows a man to interfere with her work. So when team captain Felix Fornier refers her to Aiden, she’s determined to close the deal—even if her new client isn’t ready to commit.

A chance encounter changes everything. After Aiden witnesses Harper’s messy breakup, their worlds collide in unexpected ways. What starts as a tentative friendship blossoms into something deeper, but their personal histories, fears, and uncertain futures threaten to pull them apart.

Within these pages we’ll learn if Aiden can find the courage to open his heart and if Harper will realize she’s enough just as she is. 

Warning: this book contains interpretations of hockey locker room antics and was written by a person who has never played a game of ice hockey in her life. In an effort to respect all readers the author had a men’s league hockey player beta read certain scenes and he told his wife she was definitely writing fiction.

But seriously this book contains on and off page infidelity (not by our main characters or any of the good guys), off page cardiac arrest, and open-door intimacy.

My Thoughts

I was excited to pick up ‘Unmasking Love’ by Erin Marie Bassett.  This book sounded like there was a lot of heart and character development throughout the story.  At first I was really enjoying the story and learning about Harper and Aiden.  But then once I stopped enjoying it I found other things that were not enjoyable and just ended up skipping over.

At the start of ‘Unmasking Love’ you really get to know the background to Aiden and Harper.  This is actually really great information to have as the past has really affected both of them in how they manage and deal with life and situations they are put in.  But Harper doesn’t seem to learn or move on so well from her issues and they happen over and over again. Towards halfway and three quarters of the way through the book I felt like I was just on a hamster wheel and reading the same thing over.

The other thing I felt was a bit too much was the spice scenes.  I am all for spice in a book but I like it when the spice is meant to help improve the story and move it along.  I felt like these were not in there to do that and there were a lot of them. I felt like well over half the book was just spice and when I got over half way through the book I actually just ended up passing over the scenes because I was like oh great here we go again.

As much as I wanted to like ‘Unmasking Love’ it just ended up being an okay book for me.  The book is getting 2 stars and on the Spice Level it’s a Burning Heart since over half of the book had spice scenes.

Now remember what I thought of the book might not be the same as what you all would think when reading the book.  I am here to just say what I thought. If you are wanting to give ‘Unmasking Love’ a try it is part of Kindle Unlimited so if you are a member that means the book is included in your membership.

**I would like to thank Bookish Bubbly PR for the ARC Copy of this book. Getting the ARC Copy did not influence my thoughts on the book as they are all my own**