Quick review for a quick read. My first experience with a Meghan March book was an overall decent read - albeit with common problems and cliches found in New Adult titles. It held my attention from beginning to end from the strength of the writing and seeing what would happen to the characters.

Charlie (Charlotte) is a woman on the run after her father was involved in a high-profile money scheme that left her family heavily ostracized - socially and running afoul of the law. Charlie goes on the run, changes her name, and makes her living as a tattoo receptionist in New Orleans. She's in an open romantic relationship with her employer, scrapes by with her income, and tries to keep her head away from the spotlight as much as possible. But meeting a high-profile man whom she falls for makes her question the life of lies she leads and what she's willing to put at risk.

Simon is a veteran with deeply rooted scars returning home to carry on the family dynasty, potentially eyeing a run for public office. He meets Charlie over a series of encounters where the two have undeniable emotional and sexual chemistry with each other. Gradually he opens up to her, but he can't understand her secrecy and inability to open up to him. They endure various hurdles throughout the course of their relationship, some of which I thought were really palpable - in particular Simon's struggles with PTSD and Charlie's feelings of insecurity and being forced to grow up from the social bubble she grew up in.

While "Beneath This Mask" carries a number of weights for the characters, there were many conflicts I could tell were constructed to force the characters into a tight spot, which didn't feel organic or handled well when taking the narrative as a collective whole. It's not that these conflicts weren't realistic or things that could potentially happen to the pair, but how they were arranged specifically felt like a beat-by-beat sequence where the wedges were coordinated to drive the characters apart. This definitely felt like a standard New Adult romance title which carries some of the same problematic cliches and tropes that plague this subsection of fiction. It's a shame because March actually does a fair job with giving an eye to her characters and spending intimate time with developing how they shoulder the weight of their problems - the writing of this particular work is strong for what it works with. I could definitely feel for both Charlie and Simon in moments for their family situations and past traumas, but the depth of these characters felt shortchanged by the coordinated conflicts, character assumptions for conflict, and other tropes. Not to mention...

"Ba-da-da-da, I'm an insta-love machine, and I won't work for nobody but yoooou..." is definitely a thing here. Ugh. (I haven't pulled that reference out in a while, but seriously, instalove doesn't help these characters stand out as much as they could be.)

I can name specific trigger warnings for this book in relation to scenes of physical and sexual assault and a very (read: VERY) graphic animal injury scene.

Overall, it was okay for the experience and genre with writing that was better than standard New Adult. I probably could've potentially continued with this series just to see where it went and if it managed to transcend its cliches and undertreatment of characterization, but I think I'm fine with letting this series and author's work go.

Overall score: 2.5/5 stars.

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley from the publisher.