Illusion

Martina Boone

Oct 2016 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Barrie must rescue her beloved and her family from evil spirits in this stunning conclusion to the Heirs of Watson Island trilogy.

Caged by secrets all around her and haunted by mistakes that have estranged her from Eight Beaufort, Barrie Watson is desperate to break the curse that puts her family in danger—without breaking the beautiful magic that protects Watson’s Landing. To do that, she must heal the rifts that have split the families of the island apart for three hundred years, unravel the mystery of the Fire Carrier and the spirits he guards, and take control of forces so deadly and awe-inspiring they threaten to overwhelm her.

With the spirits that cursed Watson Island centuries ago awake and more dangerous than ever, she finds an unlikely ally in the haunting and enigmatic Obadiah, whose motivations and power she still can’t read—or trust. His help comes at a price, however, plunging Barrie into a deadly maze of magic and wonder, mystery and intrigue that leads through history to places she never imagined she could go.

Ratings and reviews

After the ending of Persuasion, Barrie’s and Eight’s relationship is on the rocks, because the latter felt she made decisions for him without consulting him, and for the first half of the book, their romantic development is about them working towards mending that rift, while the major arc of the storyline is about breaking the Colesworth curse. When Obadiah suggests a way that would break the magic of Watson and Beaufort heirs as well, Barrie has to decide how much she can trust him with the magic that binds her to protect it. Also, a lot of the first half is about bringing everyone in the know about it – Mary and her family, Pru, Seven, and Kate, as well as Berg, and Cassie’s family, and work together while also keeping things secret from the watchful eyes of the other archeologists and the sheriff’s team posted for security. What I did not like with this book is that for a finale, it took way too long to come to a point where they are moving forward. Two-thirds of the book just drags along while Barrie and Obadiah try to appease the spirits, and fail. Then its back to research and bringing someone else in – and it all feels pointless when the thing that breaks the curse is something that happens incidentally and Barrie learns from it to apply to the situation. The rest felt like filler material, even if going into the history of the land served to achieve the goal of depicting how facts and folklore mingle. It is dry, and even the romance feels stale by the end. Somewhere around the last quarter of the book, I was just skimming because it wasn’t getting this over with. There wasn’t a building up, wasn’t the excitement that a finale usually creates. All I can say that is it ends well enough?

About the author

Martina Boone was born in Prague and spoke several languages before learning English. She fell in love with words and never stopped delighting in them. She’s the author of the Heirs of Watson Island series, and the founder of both AdventuresinYAPublishing.com, a Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers site, and YASeriesInsiders.com, a Tumblr site devoted to news, giveaways, and insider secrets of much-loved and up-and-coming YA series.

From her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband, children, and Auggie the wonder dog, she enjoys writing contemporary fantasy set in the kinds of magical places she’d love to visit. When she isn’t writing, she’s addicted to travel, horses, skiing, chocolate flavored tea, and anything with Nutella on it.