My brother in christ, i just finished the first book and i have found myself unable to even download the second one (this one). This is the most horrible written piece of dare i call it literature i have ever laid my eyes upon. This author should not be allowed near a computer or a tree ever again for everyones sake. Protect your eyes kids and turn around from this series before its too late.

The writing in this was SO cringy, and generally poorly written. It had no plot, wattpad level smut, and took all my effort to get through.

“He might call me sunshine, but I crave his darkness”

I LOVE Maddie and Greyson so much! They are on my mind constantly, just as much as Frankie and Zara for sure. The tension and chemistry between these two is palpable even in Distance, but taken up to a whole new level from page one of this book. Maddie is the definition of a badass FMC who is not going to take shit from anyone, and I was definitely here for her spicy energy the whole book. And what pairs well with a fiery FMC? Of course, a troubled, badass MMC who has a soft spot only for her and will do anything for her.

The romance is intense and a little messy in the best way—full of banter, frustration, and undeniable pull. It doesn’t feel forced; instead, it’s the kind of slow-burn that sneaks up on you until, suddenly, you realize you’re completely hooked. And the twists? Just when I thought I had it figured out, Mason threw in a curveball that had me flipping pages at lightning speed.

Luna Masons Detonate is an absolute masterpiece! From the very first page, the story pulls you in with its intricate plot, vivid world-building, and deeply compelling characters. The author’s writing is both poetic and raw, balancing high-stakes tension with moments of profound emotion. Every twist and turn kept me on the edge of my seat, and the ending left me speechless. If you love books that challenge your expectations and leave a lasting impact, this is a must-read. I can’t recommend it enough!

This was on my TBR and a new version was offered as an ARC (2025)

After the build up in distance if the bickering between Maddie and Grayson, I just knew there would be chemistry! Even the 1st chapter teased in Distance had me eager to read this book.

Sadly it was more of the same. Almost zero plot and a whole lot of smut.

Maddie came off as dense with no depth to her personality, and Grayson, although his past explains his decision-making skills, the combination of the 2 gave off "over reacting".

I will not be reading the next one, and this series disappointed me. I wish it was more of a mafia romance.

I would add that if you need some smutty inspiration, read this with/to/or by your partner. Enjoy 😉

Detonate by Luna Mason ❤️‍🔥

♾️/5

𝙄’𝙢 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙨. 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙝𝙚𝙧.

what to expect:
😈 frenemies to lovers
🤭 lotssss of tension
🖤 mafia hitman MMC
🔥 feisty FMC
🥊 he’s obsessed with her

HOLY HELL! This book was incredible…i’m absolutely obsessed with Maddie and Grayson. From the moment I picked up this book I couldn’t put it down honestly just what I needed! From the moment I read the prologue I couldn’t wait to keep going and became quickly hooked.

The tension and banter between them gave me life. I loved everything about their relationship, the chemistry was off the charts 💥 The spice in this book 🥵 many scenes are now engraved in my brain 😮‍💨

“𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙚𝙨. 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙙 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚’𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙.” 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝙋𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙙𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨.

“𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙪𝙥.

I think I have a thing for Grayson’s because i’m obsessed with this man. Everything he did for Maddie just made me so in awe of his love for her. He would seriously do ANYTHING for her and it was very evident in this book.

Maddie our FMC is a feisty woman who quickly became one of my favourite characters ever. I loved everything about her and the way she stood up for herself and didn’t take shit from her mum anymore. 👏🏼 Love it how Grayson was so supportive no matter what.

I was NEVER bored reading this book. It kept me intrigued and on my toes the entire time. From the 70% mark holy heck it got intense!!! The little crumbs Luna did to set up the next book made me so excited, I immediately want to pick up the next book!

I LOVE Luna Mason and im so happy this series is finally getting the recognition it deserves! This is everything I could ever want in a mafia romance and more. Not only is there spice, but there's also plot and subplot, which i think is very important. The nickname Sunshine is my new favorite too!

ARC Review-

Luna Mason doesn't fail in my eyes.
Book 2 was good. There were some sections where I felt like the book felt a little draggy but overall the book was good!
As far as spice I'd give it a 2/5. The spice wasn't the same as book one but the scenes the bool had were amazing.
Overall a 4.25 stars. I enjoyed the book and I cannot wait for book 3!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington and Luna for allowing me the opportunity to review this book for the Kensington release of this series!

Overall the book is good, it’s high spice content. The plot was…. fine. I really liked the first book of the series but this one was just so much worse in multiple aspects. FMC had no personality whatsoever, her whole personality is just based on how much she wants to fall in love. There were multiple cringy moments and some parts felt too repetitive. I guess it just was a filler book for the third one.

Detonate by Luna Mason

“𝚂𝚑𝚎’𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐. 𝙼𝚢 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚎. 𝙸’𝚖 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚋 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚢𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙶𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚜. ”

4 stars

This book right here!! This is the first book by Luna Mason, Ive read and absolutely loved it!. If you love a Mafia romance, where the MMC who is a boxer and a hitman and a FMC who is in seek of her Prince Charming but little does she know she falls for someone who she wasn’t supposed to. The banter between the both is gold and do not get me started with their chemistry like OH MY GOD MAN!! I was rooting for them and their happy ending.

Also, thank you to @authorlunamason and @kensingtonbooks for this eARC. I enjoyed this book wayy too much!!

𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 ʙᴏᴏᴋ 𝟸 a stand alone story within the in the series. Grayson is a golden retriever with muscles and a dark side! I love this dark mafia romance series. It’s the perfect blend of spice, romance and mafia adventure. I personally liked Maddie (the FMC) more in this book than the FMC in book 1.
If you love mafia romance I would highly recommend. The series is fast paced, binge worthy, and addicting.
I have already recommended to several friends.
Thank you NetGalley, Luna Mason and Kensington Publishing for the ARC.
⠀

Loved this book. Luna Mason is amazing.

Grayson and Maddie were amazing.

The chemistry was on point, spice was amazing. I love the grand gestures he made. He was an iconic dark romance daddy and i am here for it.

In Grayson Ward's line of business there can be no complications, no relationships, no distractions and no real ties to anything. Then he meets a woman who changes everything, she storms into his world, turns it upside down and leaves him rethinking his rules. Maddie Peters is going to make him rethink his stance on love too...

Detonate is a dark and dirty little page-turner that will have you blushing throughout! These two want to deny the feelings brewing between them, but as much as they try to ignore them the stronger those feelings become. It's an intense little dance, that brings lots of emotion, banter and steam to the pages! Highly recommend!

I requested an advanced copy of this title from the publisher, via NetGalley request, and I am voluntarily leaving my honest and unbiased opinion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
sunshine x grumpy mafia “hitman” = good time

once he became obsessed with her, there was no going back. this is full of banter and fighting, but then turns to growth, and eventually a loving obsession.

I wasn't sure about this book because I know book one is focused more on boxing, but the summary really intrigued me. Boy am I glad that I picked up Luna's work with this book. It sucked me in and I was binging this as much as possible because I didn't want to stop reading. The tension between Maddie and Grayson was absolutely slow burn delicious. I enjoyed following their push and pull so much, but I also really appreciated that we got such a rich storyline and world-building with this, too. It wasn't just a story; but there was history both from Grayson and from Maddie. I think that Luna did this interconnected standalone brilliantly for those who want to start with this book rather than the first book - which has spoilers for that story.

Thank you to Kensington Books for this eARC of Luna's book. I will absolutely be purchasing a copy of this when it is released.

I haven’t read the first book yet but will be doing soon. This book was so good, I had to read it in one setting. I loved the fights in it, loved the characters and loved the storyline and how they came together to the end. 10/10 rating.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book. Detonate is the second book in the Beneath the Mask series. This book can be read as a stand alone and you will not be confused. This book tells the story of Maddie and Grayson. The story of these characters is great. Also this book is very spicy and the spice is well written. This is a dark mafia romance. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

Detonate by Luna Mason is an emotional rollercoaster and a must-read for fans of the enemies-to-lovers trope. Luna Mason expertly explores themes of trust, betrayal, and redemption, crafting an intense romance filled with palpable tension. Her captivating prose and engaging style bring the story to life, making the spicy scenes even more memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this reread, with the new cover adding an extra touch of excitement. If you love passionate, gripping love stories, Detonate won't disappoint.

Not sure how I feel about this book. I read the first one in this series and enjoyed it, but this one not so much. There was almost no plot, and a lot of spice. So if that is what you're into - this book is for you. Not so much my favorite thing though, but this is my opinion.

I had read the first book in the series and liked it so when this story came out I wanted to read it quickly. I love mafia romances and the angst, enemies to lovers element but absolutely loathe surprise pregnancies. Now while that isn't a total let down, I give books a chance, but this story was so closely written to this first that I was really shocked. So similar right down to the surprise pregnancy. Just was a little repetitive, however the story was really sweet. I do like this author but just wish the stories would be a bit more different.

Thanks to NetGalley and Luna Mason for allowing me to review this ARC!