Thinly Veiled by Eliza Modiste

Escape. It was always a word that daunted me, but I supposed that was because it’s more of a relative term than anything.

I’ve been reading so much fantasy lately that it was nice to switch it up a bit with a modern day romance! I flew through it, too. A lovely read for a sunny day!

Thinly Veiled follows Claire and Zoey when they leave their hometown for a fresh start in Salem, Virginia. The lucky ladies manage to find jobs almost immediately and quickly fall in with the locals: Luke, the barman and Liam, the neighbour. And then James later on, Luke’s brother.

From the get go, it’s clear that Claire wants to forget her past with her ex, Colton, and the secrets she’s keeping about her family situation, and the things she had to do to get out. So she is firmly in the past? What’s that? mode upon arrival in Salem and no matter how many questions Luke asks as they get to know each other, she remains pretty tight lipped. And Zoey, as her best friend, is only too happy to help her do so. (Random aside: It’s actually funny, now that I think about upon finishing the book, how that’s the first thing Claire notes about Liam – not talking about his past – yet she does the same thing! And then tells Zoey that it’s why she has some doubts about him. And whilst she doesn’t trust him, in retrospect he totally had the the right to feel the same way.)

I must say, I really like how the relationships developed between the four (later five). I do think Luke was a little too harsh on Liam, though. Like, from the way he was acting, I totally thought Liam was going to end up being WAY WORSE, but he ended up being one of my favourite characters and he really did nothing wrong. Like, not once. (Liam and Zoey were darn right heroes, honestly.) It honestly took me by surprise when he ended up being so cool? Luke’s reaction to Liam’s mere presence at the start made it seem like he was going to be a nightmare, lmao. So, that definitely took me by surprise. Diversionary tactics!

I really liked James when he came along, too. He was a fun character and I wanted to see more of him and Luke, and him and Zoey. (James and Zoey follow up book, yes yes?)

Claire and Luke’s relationship was very cute from the onset. Their chemistry was great and their romance was very believable. I really liked where the story ended up, too. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say that I liked how everyone was just really determined to have everyone else’s back and actually listened to each other.

Definitely gonna keep an eye out for more books from Modiste!

Thank you to the author for sending me a paperback edition to review!