Goodreads summary:
"A gifted illusionist, Anna assists her mother, the renowned medium Marguerite Van Housen, in her stage show and séances, easily navigating the underground world of magicians, mediums, and mentalists in 1920’s New York. As the illegitimate daughter of Harry Houdini—or so Marguerite claims—sleight of hand illusions have never been a challenge for Anna. The real trick is keeping her own gifts secret from her opportunistic mother. Because while Marguerite’s own powers may be a sham, Anna possesses a true ability to sense people’s feelings and foretell the future.But as Anna’s powers intensify, she begins to experience frightening visions of her mother in peril, which leads her to explore the powers she’s tried so long to hide. And when a mysterious young man named Cole moves into the flat downstairs, introducing Anna to a secret society that studies people with gifts like hers, she is forced to confront her past and rethink everything she’s ever known. Is her mother truly in danger, or are Anna’s visions merely illusion? And could the great Houdini really be her father, or is it just another of Marguerite’s tricks?"
4 stars ☆☆☆☆
Young Adult
Fiction
I got this book because it was being compared to the book by Libba Bray called The Diviners(my favorite book) and I figured I would check it out. I flew through this book it was fast pace,fun, and entertaining. I did put a lot of expectations into this book but it was super super great like I was expecting.
I felt that the story was good but could of gone into my in-depth. Early on I did predict what would happen and who were the good and who would turn out to be bad. The story did drag on towards the beginning I felt some situations just kept being repeated a little bit and then the twist and climax occur so quickly and you discover what happened who did it and then its pretty much done. The flow and the smoothness of the story could have gone better.
What I enjoyed most was the magic and the powers of Anna. Anna had an exciting lifestyle but you can see how much she seeks normality. What I admired about Anna was how she kept her guard with her life if she wasn't sure she can trust someone and how she would analysis certain people and situations before acting upon them. I felt that she was very clever and talented which made me love and connect with her as a character. I also enjoyed Anna and her mothers story and relationship in a way that they both cared for there show and loved what they do but both had strong personalities off stage and seem to be very independent thinkers. I also liked how the magician Houdini is a little bit involved in the story even though I'm still not completely sure if he is the father of Anna.
The love triangle wasn't that rough to get through because of the prediction I made of what would happen at the end. I did enjoy Cole as a character and as Anna love interests but I feel that Teri Brown could of gone more in depth to Cole character because we mostly got facts about him and his past a little bit but I still feel that emotional connect towards the reader and Cole's character was missing.
Even though this book did not live up to my highest expectations I still very much enjoyed it, and the magic world it presented. I will hopefully pick up the sequel Born of Deception to see what other conflicts Anna will have to face.
Thanks for reading!♡
