“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” – James Arthur Baldwin
Oscar Wilde once said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” Well, Jayden Walker and Graham “Gristle” Thistle may not live in the literal gutter, but they’re barely one small step up from there, living in a place they’ve dubbed “the hovel”, dreaming of the day they’ll book the Tory Street Theater where they’ll direct and perform one of Jay’s plays. It’s a reach-for-the-stars dream that seems as if it might never be fulfilled, but that doesn’t keep Jay from trying, nor does it keep him from hiding his continued failures from Gristle to save his brother from the disappointment of knowing that dream might never become a reality.
(Un)masked is a story of mixed mythologies and a play-within-a-play that follows the same thematic elements as Anyta Sunday’s wonderful (In)visible, in which a centuries old curse obscures its bearer from being seen as he truly is. It’s a story that might just make you believe we each have a soul mate whom no one else can see for who he truly is because no one else can see that person with his whole heart.
This is the sentimental and dramatic story of Lethe Cross, the young man who is carrying the curse that masks his true identity and causes others to see him, for better or for worse, as the person they most want to see. It’s an affliction that’s been passed down from his many times great grandmother and a misery he’s determined will die with him. This is a story of love and loss and sacrifice, the story of a determination that propels a man to do what he must, in order to remain set on his convictions and to stay the course regardless of the costly forfeit he must make.
It was fortune that brought Jay and Lethe together; it was magic that made Jay see Lethe for who he really is. It was love that helped them endure and persevere to their happy ending, and it was faith that made their dreams come true.
(Un)masked is a heart-tugger of a romantic story that maybe didn’t resonate quite as deeply with me as (In)visible, in a book-to-book comparison, but (In)visible did set the bar fairly high, so even not quite meeting that standard still left room for a pretty enjoyable read in (Un)masked.
Buy (Un)masked HERE.