Born of Illusion Review

Title: Born of Illusion
Author: Teri Brown
Release Date: June 11th 2013
Publisher: Balzer and Bray
Source: ARC for Review
Rating: 3

Anna Van Housen is thirteen the first time she breaks her mother out of jail. By sixteen she’s street smart and savvy, assisting her mother, the renowned medium Marguerite Van Housen, in her stage show and séances, and easily navigating the underground world of magicians, mediums and mentalists in 1920’s New York City. Handcuffs and sleight of hand illusions have never been much of a challenge for Anna. The real trick is keeping her true gifts secret from her opportunistic mother, who will stop at nothing to gain her ambition of becoming the most famous medium who ever lived. But when a strange, serious young man moves into the flat downstairs, introducing her to a secret society that studies people with gifts like hers, he threatens to reveal the secrets Anna has fought so hard to keep, forcing her to face the truth about her past. Could the stories her mother has told her really be true? Could she really be the illegitimate daughter of the greatest magician of all?

Review:

 

When I discovered that Born of Illusion took place in the roaring 20's I was immediately intrigued. The 1920's is one of my most favourite eras in history. Unfortunately Born of Illusion didn't end up being as amazing as I had hoped, it was still enjoyable though.

 

Overall Born of Illusion had a great concept surrounding a main character, Anna, who is said to be the bastard daughter of Houdini, who herself practises in magic. In her case it's not all trickery, Anna does have some surprising magical powers that she can't explain. I felt like Born of Illusion ended up being your typical physic power paranormal YA novel with the exception of taking place in the 1920's. In sort it lacked creativity a bit.

That being said I did very much enjoy Teri Brown's writing, it was very well done with just the write amount of detail. I loved Anna as a main character, she's a very physically and mentally strong female character who get into weird situations caused by her occupation and mother. There is a bit of a love triangle, usually I don't enjoy love triangles very much but this one was great since you have no clue who she will pick up until the very end. Both guys are very hot as well which helps.

Born of Illusion is a setting dependent novel this gives the illusion (see what I did there) of being in the 1920's emphasised through the speech. Although it didn't live up to my expectations I would still recommend it if your looking for a historical paranormal novel.

Gilt Review

Title: Gilt
Author: Katherine Longshore
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Release Date: May 15th 2012
Source: ARC for Review (Thanks Penguin Canada)
Buy: Amazon / Book Depository

Summary:



In the court of King Henry VIII, nothing is free--
and love comes at the highest price of all.
When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head

Review:

I'm not a huge fan of historical fiction, and I wasn't really expecting to like Gilt. Turns out I ended up loving Gilt quite a lot. I have never read a book that takes place so far back in the past, the 1500's, learning about life in the court of Henry the eighth is much more interesting than it sounds.

The drama that took place about 5000 thousand years ago is much more scandalous than it is in our time and age. Gossip, forbidden relationships, and executions are just a few of the everyday things that Kitty and Cat have to deal with on a daily basis. The way that Katherine Longshore writes in this book in the dialogue and the plot really gives the feeling of being in the 1500's. I love it!

Kitty and Cat are both alright characters, they each have qualities that I like and dislike. Kitty is unlike most girls her own age who spend their times hooking up with boys, which I admired in her. But she follows in Cat's shadows too much, and we don't get to see who she really is until late in the book. Cat is reckless and will pretty much do anything she desires, and she does so when she becomes Queen. I amdire her detication to get what she wants even though she can be really mean at times. This book is a very character driven book.

Throughout the book I was enthralled by how people lived back then and all the restrictions they had. The thing that had me with my jaw open was how they executed people, it was very gruesome. It was awesome! I was also amazed by what little things would get a person killed, you have to watch your every move beacuse one wrong step could get you killed.

The last couple of chapters up until the conclusion left me desperately wanting more. I'm looking forward to see what happens later in the series with all new characters and all new drama. If you're like me and don't tend to like books in this genre I would suggest giving this book a shot, it's really good. Love and betrayal have never appealed to me more.