Super cute, I loved Evies growth through the story. I didn’t love that she snuck out at night in a foreign city, but the fantasy series was a cute touch.

Welcome to Venice, where the canals are romantic, the palazzos are crumbling just right, and apparently everyone has time for midnight cosplay and secret book clubs like it’s no big deal.

Love Unmasked is a clean YA romance that tries to blend mystery, fantasy fandom, and romance under one very decorative Venetian mask. And honestly? It kind of works… if you suspend disbelief, like, a lot. Like “my masked crush is definitely not the brooding guy I spend 8 hours a day with” levels of disbelief.

Evie, our resident art nerd and secret fantasy fangirl, is in Venice on a school trip. (Yes, I too was robbed of this experience—thanks, public education.) She sneaks off at night to find a mythical fan club, because obviously that’s what you do in a foreign country where you barely speak the language. Enter Angelo: mysterious, masked, and just so conveniently into the exact same niche fandom as her. Totally normal, nothing suspicious here.

What follows is a Scooby-Doo-meets-Taylor-Swift-song mashup of cryptic clues, romantic tension, and the world’s least secure masquerade identity. Spoiler alert: If you’ve ever read a YA book before, you already know who Angelo is. Shocking twist? Not so much. But the journey there is cute, awkward, and sprinkled with just enough dramatic inner monologue to remind you these are teenagers with big feelings and zero chill.

But it’s sweet. Like, marshmallow dipped in powdered sugar kind of sweet. Maybe too sweet, if you’re the type who enjoys a little emotional chaos in your romantic subplots.

A cute, clean, trope-filled romp through Venice that’s as dramatic as a gelato stain on a white blouse. Not groundbreaking, but if you’re in the mood for fluff and fantasy fandoms, you’ll enjoy the ride.

Final verdict? A cute, clean, Venice-set romp that delivers Hallmark-level charm with a dash of cosplay. Just don’t expect any real surprises once the mask comes off.

I appreciate Becky Dean and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Love Unmasked.

I love the idea that Love Unmasked is a YA book that is appropriate for my middle school students. Despite the age difference, I related to Evie on a couple levels. First of all, I began this book after I passed through TSA. Also, I could see connections in our personality and our "ready to help" make up. I felt a little lost with the fanfiction and details about Evie's favorite series. I wish that part of the book was at the front of the story as an introduction. After I got pass that fact and settled into the storyline, I enjoyed the story. At first, with much experience of Romance fiction, Evie's mystery guy seemed a little predictable. Again, I pushed that aside and dove into the story. I loved how Evie and Gabriel found some common ground and their undefined banter. I like the love triangle that wasn't totally a triangle. I like how she started s friendship with his sister through the phone, I enjoyed the humor. I like that they talked about and resolved their misunderstandings. Overall, it was a lighthearted romance with a beautiful city and great adventures as a backdrop.

💛💜 Love Unmasked Review 💜💛

Thank you so much to Becky Dean and Delacorte Romance for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Live Unmasked is a standalone YA romance novel. High school student Evie is traveling to Venice on a class trip to Venice. She’s excited to see the sights and secretly find inspiration for her favorite fantasy books. When she’s paired with the quiet loner Gabriel, will her whole trip be ruined before it’s even started??

This was a cute read. I enjoyed Evie and her growth in this book. Her feelings were relatable for young adults preparing to graduate. Gabriel was a fun character and I enjoyed the contrast of his personality with Evie. This book took place over a quick trip overseas, so the romance felt a little insta-love to me, but that’s a “me” issue and not a book issue

Overall this was a cute four star read. I liked the characters, the story and the Italian setting of this book. This book had some potential triggers, so please check if you’re sensitive. This book did have a romantic subplot, but YA levels of on page spice, so overall one flame for spice

If you’re a fan of forced proximity, opposites attract, and Italian culture, then absolutely pick this one up.

This was very lighthearted and cutesy, but something felt off the entire time. The best way I can explain it, is that it felt like reading fanfiction without having any knowledge of the original source. It would have been good fanfiction too, it was sweet and the romance was really cute, it just felt underdeveloped. There was also a lot of showing rather than telling, like the author was scared we wouldn’t get the point of the story so she had to spell it out for us directly. The character development didn’t feel natural either. The author definitely has potential, it’s just clear this isn’t her best work.

📖 Title: Love Unmasked-a standalone

✍🏾 Author: Becky Dean-I read [book: Hearts Overboard|199463714] and gave it 4⭐

📅Publication date: 7-15-25| Read 7-14-25

📃 Format: e-Book 400 pgs.

Genre:
*YA
*Mystery
*Contemporary Romance

Tropes:
*grumpy/sunshine
*good girl/bad boy
*travel abroad
*cosplay-Elven Realms fantasy book series
*coming of age
*secret identity/hidden truth
*slow burn
*forced proximity
*female/male friendships

👆🏾POV: 1st person single

⚠️TW: death of a parent-h, bullying

🌎 Setting: Venice, Italy

Summary: Evie is a massive fan of the fantasy series Elven Realms (ER). She jumps at the chance to visit Venice which is where the books are set. She plans to sneak out and find the underground fan club dressed in a costume and mask. The only problem is she's agreed to have Gabriel as her partner in her art and architecture class while in Venice. He is a brooding, bad boy, loner that could upset her plans. She meets a stranger named "Angelo" in a mask with a love for ER at her night escapades and Gabe during day tours. Who's who?

👩🏾 Heroine: Evie Whitmore-18, a people pleaser, over achiever

👨🏾 Hero: Gabriel "Gabe" Martinez-18, a loner, sarcastic

🎭 Other Characters:

* "Angelo"-masked stranger who loves ER too
* Natasha, Bryce, Tanaka Dai-Evie's friend group
* Mr. Owens-Evie's art teacher
*Evie's Mom-doesn't understand her obsession w/ ER. It was her and her father's "thing."

🤔 My Thoughts: The backdrop of Venice is always beautiful and cozy to read about and envy. I connected with both Evie and Gabe because I had a few interests that no one around me had. For example, I was a book lover, but my family and friends had (and still have) no desire to join me in my love of all things bookish. Evie and Gabe's relationship was very PG and cute for their ages.

Rating: 4/5 ✨
Spice level 1/5 🌶️ kissing only

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Children's| Delacorte Romance, and Becky Dean for this ARC! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions are my own.

I enjoyed reading this book, and I loved that it was set in Venice! I liked the theme of masks and hiding who you are, and I related to Evie in how she was stressed and tired of doing all the things.

I didn’t really like how Evie was sneaking out and lying to people, but I understood how that was necessary for the plot, and I liked her character growth. The ending was a good one, and I liked how it worked out with all of Evie’s friends!

I appreciated how this is a sweet and clean romance. I love YA romances, but I feel like it’s hard to find clean ones with good stories, so I’m always happy to pick up a book by Becky Dean!

Content:
Clean romance
No swearing
TW: grief from the loss of a parent

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was an overall okay. Like the beginning was a little boring. It took me a while to get into it. After I got a good chunk of it done it did get better. I just wish the beginning was a bit more interesting is all. Loved the ending and happy for the character development that did come out of all of this.

Becky Dean has been on my “must read” list since the first time I read one of her books. (Reviewed here: https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2024/07/different-takes-on-coming-of-age.html.) This book just supports that assessment.

Once again, Dean gives us a story of a high-achieving girl on the brink of adulthood. Evie’s dealing with stress, parental expectations, sibling examples, and the death of her father. She’s worked hard to present a certain image at school: always helpful, always reliable, always well-behaved. But secretly, she geeks out over a series of fantasy novels that she enjoyed with her father before his death. So when she gets the chance to visit Venice—where there’s a secret fanclub for the books—on a school trip, she plans a minor rebellion.

Her daytime plans get abruptly changed, when she’s assigned to partner with standoffish Gabe. In contrast, the first night she sneaks out to find the club, she meets a boy who’s also masked, with the same purpose in mind, and the two bond quickly over their shared fandom. Evie finds freedom in being masked; she can be her true self with no repercussions. So she continues, gradually trying to forge a friendship with Gabe by day, while hanging out with “Angelo” all night.

With help from her best friend, who is in on her secret, Evie tries to figure which of the students on the trip might be Angelo. But she’s also developing feelings for Gabe, who turns out to be sensitive, funny, and even wise. He helps her to stand up for herself.

I loved their explorations of Venice, a city that I spend half a day in a few years ago. They visited two of my favorite places as well! So it was easy for me to visualize the setting as I read. Even without having visited there, I think Dean’s descriptions were thorough and engaging.

The running “what are you thinking” game between Evie and her friend group was a lot of fun. The minor characters here were well-done. The dialogue rang true.

It takes a lot to get five stars from me. Basically, it has to be a book I not only enjoyed but will read again. This book checks those boxes.

Possible Objectionable Material:
Past death of a parent. Sneaking around. Mention of bullying. Kissing.

Who Might Like This Book:
People interested in art, Venice, and coming of age.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2025/07/becky-dean-does-it-again.html

#LoveUnmaked #NetGalley #BeckyDean #YALit #BookReview #DelacortePress

💋Review: Love Unmasked

🍹Rate: 5 Stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎉Praise: This was an adorable read! Evie and Gabriel are definitely characters that were well written and very well entertaining! We have our adorable overachiever named Evie who has a personality to others on the outside but is a whole other person on the inside! I like how the author described her emotions and gave you glimpses of who she wants to be and who she is to others! Gabriel is a total grump and I love him! She gets to know another masked gentleman too! I I'm Italian and my ancestors are from Venice! I felt like this was a book I can immediately dive into! Between her heart picking who she wants to be and secret meetings this was a story I cherished!

💎Extra: Love it!!!

Thank you Delacorte Press and Random House Children’s for the advanced copy of this book and thank you to @prhaudio for the #gifted audiobook. All opinions are my own.

Favorite Quote: “I fell for someone who is from another world but who feels more like home than any place possibly could.”

Evie is on a school trip to Venice, the inspiration behind her hidden obsession, Elven Realms, a series of novels set in its beautiful city, when she hears rumors of an underground fan club and she sneaks out (in her cutest Elven Realms inspired costume, mask included) to see if she can discover where the club meets. Along the way she stumbles, literally, into someone else dressed in Elven Realms garb and strikes up a friendship. Together they search for clues and share their love of the series but the more time she spends with “Angelo” the more Evie begins to wonder if the masked stranger is really a such stranger after all?

I had such a fun time reading and listening to Love Unmasked! I love a well written YA and this one more than fits that bill. The tension and banter between Evie and Gabriel is so great and the setting is fantastic. I really enjoyed exploring with Evie and her classmates during the day and then getting to tag along as Evie snuck out to celebrate her favorite fandom at night. I thought that the whole story came together beautifully and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a tried and true YA.

This book is just the sweetest! It’s my first by Becky Dean but it won’t be my last! I’ve already been eyeing her hit from last year called, Heart’s Overboard!

Read if you like:
✩ YA
✩ Grumpy x Sunshine
✩ Hidden Identity
✩ No Spice
✩ Travel Romance
✩ Celebration of Fandoms

Audio Notes: Elena Rey did such a great job narrating this story! She had me hooked right from the start! I would definitely recommend the audio of this one!

It wouldn’t be summer without a fantastic Becky Dean release 😊

I loved this addition to her completed works and was left feeling so happy during and after my read!

What I liked about the book:
I love the grumpy x sunshine trope and that’s exactly what we got in Evie and Gabe! Evie was a people-pleasing, rule following (for the most part…), popular girl/teachers’ pet, while Gabe was a misunderstood, grumpy loner who was assigned to the teacher’s pet.

I loved watching these two banter, especially once they found out more about each other and started to grow a friendship. Their chemistry was so good that I yearned for the next conversation when they were apart. We learned so much about them and I feel that they were able to give each other perspectives they hadn’t considered before, which lead to character growth for both of them. While Gabe learned that he could open up to people, Evie learned that it was alright to put herself first.

In typical Becky Dean fashion, this book was super swoony!! Not only did we have the sarcastic bad boy fall for the goodie two shoes, but we had the goodie two shoes who could take everything he dished and serve it back! The romantic tension was phenomenal, as always!

I loved following these two around Venice during the day, journeying with them through all the historical points of interest and learning some facts I didn’t know. I also loved following Evie and “Angelo” as they explored more hidden parts of the city to live out their “nerd fantasies” associated with a popular fantasy series. Dean truly captured what it feels like to travel and feel like the world is your oyster as a teen stepping away from home for the first time.

Speaking of the fantasy series, Becky Dean always brings the nerd culture references to her books, but she truly outdid herself this time by creating a whole separate world within the world: the Elven Realms universe (side note: that’s totally inspired by LOTR right???). I loved the experiences the group put together for the fans of the series, watching Evie connect with others about her secret obsession, and the overall “I’m sneaking out after hours, but it’s to LARP” rebellion.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's | Delacorte Romance, and Becky Dean for the opportunity to read this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed above are honest and my own.

4.25 STARS!

4⭐️
Thoughts: clichéd romance story but cool plot regardless! Although she has a very different personality than mine, I connected with the main character a lot in this book as she has the same hobbies as me (reading and drawing). I loved the fmc’s friend group, they had such a cute dynamic especially with their “what are you thinking?” game that resulted in so many funny moments in the book, it makes me want to play it irl with my friends. I love how the author brought the fictional book series, “Elven Realms” that we saw mentioned in Love & Other Great Expectations to life in this book. It was really fun to hear about this whole other book series within Love Unmasked including characters, settings, and costumes; the author even included a short guide to the Elven Realms at the end of the book. I appreciated the cosplay and secret club elements, they were so fun to read about! I loved how she set the scene for Venice, learning about the setting has been my favorite part of each of the four books that Becky Dean has published, It’s clear that she does an impressive amount of research for her books. One thing I didn’t like/thought was weird was how Evie, the fmc, hides her love of books, it just seems like an odd thing to be embarrassed about imo as reading is an incredibly common hobby.

Genre: romance
POV: first person, past tense
Trope: grumpy x sunshine, rivals to lovers

Age rating: 12+
Violence: none
Romance: a few non-semi descriptive kisses, hand holding
Drinking/drugs/smoking: none
Language: none

Trigger warnings:
- death of parent

Publish date: 15-July-2025
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for providing an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Popular girl and extreme overachiever Evie Whitmore has a secret: she’s a nerd. A big one. A huge fan of the book series the Elven Realms, she hasn’t shared her love for it with anyone since her dad, who read the series with her, died. Based on the canals of Venice, it turns out there’s a secret club for fans to visit based on it there, and funnily enough, Evie’s class is going on a trip.

So she has to form a master plan: sneak out to the club at night, tour the city by day, and yet there’s one small snag- her project partner for the trip is the extremely rude, antisocial Gabriel Martinez. But as the two get to know each other by day, and Evie begins to form a friendship with another masked fan during the night, her worlds begin to collide.

Can she reveal herself to the mysterious boy known as Angelo? Or will she be forced to remain a nerd in secret forever?

Love Unmasked was a fantastic love letter to fan culture. No matter if it’s a book series, a tv show, or a movie, fans will always find a way to get together and celebrate what they have in common. I loved the setting in Venice, seeing the city through the lense of a fan as the books she loved came to life! Gabriel and Evie are the definition of “girl who yaps, boy who listens,” and I am here for this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Underlined for the e-arc in exchange for my review! Love Unmasked releases on July 15th!

It was a light fun book that takes place in Venice, Italy. I enjoyed this book, but probably wouldn’t reread this book. I would recommend this though.

This is an ARC from NetGalley. A YA romance set in Italy with opposites attract troupe. I enjoyed the interactions between the main characters and how the location was worked into the story. The ending felt a bit lackluster, and felt like a missed opportunity. #netgalley #loveunmasked #ya #romance #italy

Delightful, inspiring, comedic, and romantic. The awesome FMC is discovering herself and what she wants in life while also making a new friend in a beautiful city.
This is a great read for anyone who loves exploring a new city, dismantling first impressions, or tackling your fears and learning to be proudly your whole self.

The Lizzie McGuire movie vibes with a little hidden identity, masks, and obsession with the Elven Realm books.

Evie is on a trip with classmates to Venice where she’s heard about secret gatherings for people who are in love with the Elven Realm books. These books have a special meaning because it’s something she and her dad bonded over before he passed. However, she’s afraid of being viewed as a ‘nerd’ and keeps her obsession a secret.

She sneaks out several times to find and go to these gatherings and ends up bumping into a guy around her age that’s equally in love with the series. She has a suspicion on who the masked guy could be. This story was super cute and fun to read!

Thanks Random House Children's | Delacorte Romance and NetGalley for the ARC!

This - this is a YA romance done right. It was so powerful. I really enjoy that despite this being a lighter YA romance vibe read, it has excellent reminders like following your heart, enjoying your hobbies for YOURSELF, and setting boundaries.

Fasten your seatbelt, and prepare to be transported to Venice, by day the beautiful city, and by night a secret place where book fans gather in masks and costumes. Evie is a the perfect student, but she has a secret. Gabriel is nothing but secrets with a chip on his shoulder. When the two of them are assigned to be partners, it feels impossible at first. Slowly, the ice begins to thaw between them. What about Angelo, the mystery guy? Be prepared to be swept off to Venice and entangled in a sweet romance.