Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Pages: 352pgs
The Story
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?
The Review
A big thanks to the publisher on Edelweiss for accepting my request in reading this book early!
A big thanks to the publisher on Edelweiss for accepting my request in reading this book early!
I LOVED this book. There I said it! It's the kind of book that's very different compared to most YA books but I enjoyed every moment of it.
While the writing style was very much loved by me not to mention the whole Houdini side of things in the storyline (I just LOVE Houdini by the way as I'm a big fan of him!), but I found Anna was the true shining star in this book. She was strong, independent, game for pretty much anything thrown at her, caring, witty, loved her family to bits and was quite daring if I do say so myself. I just loved her character and I found her to be a perfect protagonist for the backdrop of this book's setting. So even when the book took some time getting into, but I think Anna was what pulled me through in the end and if you end up reading this book you'll see why I loved her so much because she's awesome in many ways.
Overall, BORN OF ILLUSION was delightful for me and since I was really looking forward to reading this one, I'm so glad I ended up loving too! Full of magic, mystery, drama and featuring a time period that is to die for (honestly who doesn't love the 1920's time period?) I think a lot of readers are going to love this one and this boy named Cole . . . he was pretty cute too! All in all, you'll be in for a real treat!
The Rating
4 1/2 / 5 stars