Review: Masque of the Red Death By: Bethany Griffin

Title: Masque of the Red Death
Author: Bethany Griffin
Publisher: Harper 320 Pages, (April 24th, 2012)
From: the Publisher via Amazon Vine
Format: ARC
Add to: Goodreads

Synopsis: Everything is in ruins.

A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them.

So what does Araby Worth have to live for?

Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery make-up . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.

But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.

And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.

Review: 5 Stars - Masque of the Red Death By: Bethany Griffin was both dark and beautiful. Set in a devastating time and place, during a deadly plague, Griffin’s story, influenced by non other than Edgar Allan Poe was utter fantastic!

From beginning to end, I was mesmerized, lost in Griffin’s world… just as a great book should accomplish for its reader. It’s not often that I’ve been lucky enough to find a book that so utterly captivated me, but this one hands down did just that. I had no idea what to expect when I picked this one up, but I knew that many others had been raving about the title. I couldn’t have been more pleased that I listened to what my fellow readers and bloggers had to say when it comes to this new favorite title.

Araby is one of the lucky ones. She lives a privileged life in an otherwise crumbling, plague riddled world. What might be perfect on the outside, nice place to live, a best friend, fancy dresses and glittery make up and so much more… isn’t so perfect on the inside. She’s a girl mourning the death of her twin brother. Taken by the plague at such a young age, Araby feels she’s to blame for Finn’s death and sets out to live her life by certain rules. She doesn’t think its fair that she gets to experience many things in life that Finn never will.

With visions of the Debauchery Club whirling and twirling in my head, gowns cut short to reveal the unmarked skin proving you are plague free and the masks only the wealthy can afford to help keep the disease away, Griffin’s story is rich in colors in an otherwise colorless city.

All at the hands of a mad Prince, who is more than out of his mind Araby and Elliott, the Prince’s nephew make an unlikely pair while trying to sneak and scheme to work on many of their worlds issues and one is in finding a way to get the much needed masks into the hands of everyone and not just those who can afford it.

It’s a dangerous world that Griffin has created, with a hugely glamorous side in a damaged land and its people, the two work so well together it’s almost as if they have been woven from the same cloth. In my opinion it was hard for me to find much that I didn’t love about this book and its captivating characters.

Griffin found a way to hook me from the start and left me ready for more. With so much at stake and so much more to come Griffin has an amazing start to her series and I’m excited to see where she takes us next! Zeppelin ride anyone?

FTC Disclaimer: I did NOT pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this HONEST review.