Born of Deception (Born of Illusion, #2)

by Teri Brown

Perfect for fans of Libba Bray and Anna Godbersen, this thrilling historical suspense novel—and sequel to Born of Illusion—tells the story of a teen illusionist who must harness her special powers and navigate the underworld of magic before her murderous enemies catch up with her.

After scoring a spot on a European vaudeville tour, Anna Van Housen is moving to London to chase her dream and to join an underground society for people like her with psychic abilities. But when Anna arrives, she finds the group in turmoil—one of its members has been kidnapped, and members of the society are starting to turn on one another. Her life in danger and her relationship with her boyfriend, Cole, fizzling, can Anna track down the kidnapper before he makes her his next victim—or will she be forced to pay the ultimate price for her powers?

Lovers of historical fiction and stories filled with romance and intrigue will fall for Born of Deception and its world of magic set in Jazz Age London.

• ISBN10: 0062187570
• ISBN13: 9780062187574
• Publish Date: 10 June 2014
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[celinenyx]

Born of Deception follows Born of Illusion, a dazzling book with a weak plot. Born of Deception for me feels stronger in the plot department, but it is a rather weird "second book".

Anna is going to London, where her boyfriend Cole lives. Here she'll join a travelling show, and maybe find out more about the Society that helps Sensitives like her. Things don't work out in London like she was expecting - Cole seems preoccupied, and the Society is having issues.

What surprised me most about this book, is that it immediately introduces a new love triangle, before we even get the time to get used to Cole and Anna together. To be honest this felt a bit odd - and kind of a betrayal. You're asking us to root for a couple that just got together, and now there is a new guy again vying for her attention? This and several other causes put a huge strain on Anna and Cole's relationship, and they spend most of the book fighting, bickering, or angsting. At a certain point I just wanted Anna to break up with him. What's the sense of being with someone that only causes you heartache?

There are several plot lines running through Born of Deception; we have Anna's career as a magician, the troubles within the Society, her push and pull with Cole, her attraction to the other guy in the love triangle, the question what she wants to do with the rest of her life, her relationship with her mother, her estranged father... The driving force behind the story, the missing persons of the Society, often takes a back seat over the other themes. Still, if you're looking for a solid mystery, Teri Brown is probably not her best bet. I knew who was responsible for the missing people at around 30%, and it turned out exactly like I was expecting it to. However, she does write books that are extremely easy to read, and the setting and other themes made up for the lack of mystery.

Born of Deception ends with many questions unanswered (though none of them related to the mystery). There is only a vague idea of what Anna will do next, and I wonder whether there will be a third book in the series. Born of Deception didn't suffer from second book syndrome, but neither did it fully come to its own right.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Full of enchanting magical allure and suspense, Born of Deception will pull you back into the roaring twenty's and thrust you full throttle into a world full of mystery and danger. Beautifully written as its predecessor, Born of Illusion, this novel will not disappoint fans of this series in the least. This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year and I was seriously not disappointed. It's hauntingly beautiful, full of mystique and wonder, and the characters are just as likeable as they were in the previous book. Despite a couple of minor issues with this book, I really enjoyed reading it a great deal and found it hard to put it down when all I really wanted to do was just keep reading it. The thrills and air of mystery surrounding the story was one of the main reason's that I found myself so hooked and invested in it.

It was wonderful to see Anna and Cole back again, to see how they well they were developed and how their story was going to play out even further. Anna is such an amazing character that I really enjoy, although in this book I was a bit frustrated with her ability to make dumb choices. Not to mention, I wasn't really a fan of the love triangle that was introduced either. I think that Billy would have been a character that I could have possibly liked a little better, if he wasn't there so much as to serve as a road block in Cole and Anna's relationship. It would have been nicer to see him either developed more and given more of a story or a challenge to overcome or to have seen more of Cole's personality developed.

That being said, it didn't stop me from really getting into the book and being drawn back into such a wonderfully written and beguiling world of intrigue and suspense. Teri Brown has definitely cornered the YA market on that and she is an author that is definitely on my auto-buy radar for sure. It felt so good to be able to dive back into the adventure, excitement, and enchanting elements of the roaring twenty's that Teri Brown is so good at writing. Intense and full of powerful allure, Born of Deception will pull you into an amazing story of romance, magic, and adventure. It's a fast paced ball of awesome that never stops!

Beautifully compelling, I would recommend picking this next installment to the Born of Illusion series up and giving it a go. It's perfect for those who like a little mystery and intrigue with their magic. Plus, the feel and the atmosphere of this book is just absolutely gorgeous and compelling. It's definitely well worth the read.