Review: Born of Deception by Teri Brown
Title: Born of Deception
Author: Teri Brown
Series: Born of Illusion #2
Rating: 3 Stars
336 pages
Published June 10th 2014 by Balzer + Bray
Review copy provided by publisher
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.
Budding illusionist Anna Van Housen is on top of the world: after scoring a spot on a prestigious European vaudeville tour, she has moved to London to chase her dream and to join an underground society for people like her with psychic abilities. Along with her handsome beau, Cole Archer, Anna is prepared to take the city by storm.
But when Anna arrives in London, she finds the group in turmoil. Sensitives are disappearing and, without a suspect, the group’s members are turning on one another. Could the kidnapper be someone within the society itself—or has the nefarious Dr. Boyle followed them to London?
As Cole and Anna begin to unravel the case and secrets about the society are revealed, they find themselves at odds, their plans for romance in London having vanished. Her life in danger and her relationship fizzling, can Anna find a way to track down the killer before he makes her his next victim—or will she have to pay the ultimate price for her powers?
- Review: Born of Illusion by Teri Brown (3 Stars)
- Review: Grim Shadows by Jenn Bennett (3 Stars)
- Review: Sleep No More by Aprilynne Pike (4 Stars)
- Review: Storm by Brigid Kemmerer (4 Stars)
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