Review: Masked Innocence (Innocence, # 2) by Alessandra Torre

The man was sinful. It wasn’t just the looks that made him dangerous, it was the cocky confidence that dominated every move, every touch. And the frustrating yet ecstatic fact about the whole package was that he could back it all up… 

Julia Campbell never knows what to expect with win-at-all-costs Brad De Luca. And she’s starting to like it that way. She gave up safe, conventional relationships when she let the elite divorce attorney seduce her into his world. Now that he’s determined to strip her naked of every inhibition, she’s in danger of falling too deep and too fast. 

But their affair begins to feel even more dangerous when a murder leaves a trail of suspicion that points straight to the mob…and Brad. Trusting a man with a bad reputation and a past full of secrets seems like a mistake. But when she’s forced to make a choice, the consequences will take her further than she could ever have imagined.

I fell for the feisty, smart-ass Julia that calls me on my shit. But I’m owned by the vixen that you become behind closed doors.

If you haven’t yet read Blindfolded Innocence, do not read my review. There’s no spoilers for this book, but there will be spoilers of book 1. You’ve been warned 😉

Masked Innocence starts immediately where Blindfolded Innocence ends. Julia and Brad are together, but keeping the relationship a secret. Brad has taken Julia completely out of her comfort zone in her sexuality, but she’s reveling in it. She’s finding out that she’s not quite the good girl she thought herself to be.

I should have felt like a slut, a dirty whore. But instead I felt liberated, aroused. It was an interesting discovery, to know that I liked being dirty. I wanted to be stared at, pointed to, to have men lining up to fuck me. Inside, I felt a release of some tie, some leash undone, and I knew my descent into sexual awareness was just now starting.

Good thing, Julia, since Brad’s kink is to swing.

While this book had a good share of it’s steamy moments, it was a much different feel in comparison to book one. With the murder of one the law firm’s partner, we get a sense of intrigue and suspense. Julia has the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and asking too many questions, and now her life hangs in the balance. Who is threatening her life? And just who is Brad De Luca?

The man I had turned to was the one I should have run from. I didn’t know what bothered me more, the new danger facing my body or the risk I had brought to my heart.

Brad is determined to protect Julia at all cost, even his own life. But that certainly doesn’t stop him from having her anywhere he can. There was kitchen sex, masked party menage sex, office sex…

Well you get the idea here…

Julia and Brad’s relationship continues to evolve into something deeper. Brad finds himself doing something that he never imagined himself doing; falling for her. And you know what they say? The bigger they are…

I did’t want a relationship! Didn’t want to (view spoiler)[fall in love (hide spoiler)] or be committed, or be required to share the intimate details of my life! But I’m here- with you, a curse of a woman who has taken all my fucking walls and shredded them like fucking tissue paper in your tiny little hands!

As much as I love Brad, I really love Julia’s sassy personality. I found her to be his perfect match. She really gave as good as she got

To the most wonderful woman I have ever met. May we spend the rest of our lives together.
“That’s your toast?”
“You don’t approve?”
As I’m sure you have figured out by now, I have a very healthy self-esteem, bordering on egotism.”
“Bordering on?”
“Shut up. Regardless, you have been with a disgusting amount of women, and will be with a hundred more before you die. For me to be the ‘most wonderful’ woman you have ever met, and you toasting to ‘spending the rest of your life’ with me rings a little…”
“Fake?”
“Bullshitty.”

The book leaves off in a HFN-ish type ending, but there is still danger looming in the future. I’m looking forward to the conclusion of Julia and Brad’s story and seeing what the future has in store for them.