Showing results for "Illusion" in Literature & Fiction

The Verran Isles is a dark romantasy series packed with jaw-dropping twists, Fae and Gods, a badass main character and your brand new shadow-wielding book boyfriend. Perfect for fans of Raven Kennedy, Jennifer Armentrout and Sarah J Maas. 'An incredibly impressive debut . . . brutally violent...

At a time of extraordinary change, two women must harness their talents to take control of their own destiny . . . Bristol, 1896. Used to scraping a living as the young assistant to an ageing con artist, Cecily Marsden's life is turned upside down when her master suddenly dies. Believing herself...

Delaney Westcott is a beautiful career woman in a man's world. Owner and chief asset of a personal security business -- where she guards the rich and famous from the unwanted attention of friends and enemies -- she can take care of herself. Except for the one time she didn't: when she fell...

A hybrid born of an Angel-Fallen union, Riley Shepard is an anomaly coveted by both sides of an ancient war. But he doesn’t want to fight their war; he has his own battles to face. As his family fractures, bonds are tested, and forbidden feelings threaten to tear his heart into bloody thirds. When the next attack comes, is he strong enough to separate truth from lies, allies from enemies, reality from fantasy? How can Riley know what’s true, when he doesn’t even know what’s real? Life isn’t simple, love is complicated, and reality is terrifyingly blurry.

The Palace of Illusions brings readers to a Paris breathless with excitement at the dawn of the twentieth century, where for a select few there is a second, secret Paris where the magic of the City of Light is very real in this enchanting and atmospheric fantasy from the author of The Fairy...

As the royal physician of a tiny, windswept island, eighteen-year-old Isabel spends her days trying to keep the queen from dying and the mad king from streaking naked down the halls. But when her best friend is found murdered on the beaches, her world is ripped apart. Desperate for answers, she discovers a stash of letters that reveal a terrifying truth: the neighboring kingdom of Volgaard possesses a kingdom-shattering weapon and is poised to conquer everything in its path.

Earth, like the rest of the Known Worlds, has fallen to the Shing. Scattered here and there, small groups of humans live in a state of semi-barbarism. They have lost the skills, science and knowledge that had been Earth's in the golden age of the League of Worlds, and whenever a colony of humans tries to rekindle the embers of a half-forgotten technology, the Shing, with their strange, mindlying power, crush them out. There is one man who can stand against the malign Shing, but he is an alien with amber eyes and must first prove to paranoid humanity that he is not a creature of the Shing.

Cora is about to discover who she truly is. It’s the summer of 1913, and Cora Kensington’s life on the family farm has taken a dark turn. Not only are the crops failing, but someone dear to Cora is failing as well. One fateful afternoon, a stranger comes to call, and Cora discovers a terrible secret about her past… a secret that will radically change her future. Cora is invited to take the “Grand Tour” of Europe, a trip intended to finish a person’s education and solidify an understanding of refinement and ancient culture.

Inspiré à Balzac par son expérience dans l'imprimerie, Illusions perdues raconte l'échec de Lucien de Rubempré, jeune provincial épris de gloire littéraire. En contrepoint au parcours malheureux de ce "grand homme de province", alternativement héros et antihéros plein de faiblesses, l'histoire évoque les modèles de vertu que sont la famille de Lucien et le "Cénacle", cercle intellectuel de "vrais grands hommes".

Dans le champ où il vient d’atterrir pour offrir des baptêmes de l’air à trois dollars les dix minutes, Richard aperçoit un autre zinc tout semblable au sien. Adossé à sa carlingue, un personnage sympathique et mystérieux cherche à fuir le rôle de maître à penser à qui les foules demandent toujours plus. Il lui apprendra que chaque être humain peut se libérer des barrières qu’il a lui-même construites comme autant d’illusions sur sa propre existence. Il lui suffit pour cela de suivre une idée simple...

Eve St. Clair desperately needs help sorting reality from her fearful imaginings when ghostly voices seem to haunt the Victorian house in Sunderland, England, that she inherited from her uncle. Online research leads to a group that claims to offer just the aid she’s seeking. But can Ransom King’s handpicked team of investigators truly banish Eve’s night terrors?

A sinister illusionist wants Alice... and he won't take no for an answer. As eager as Alice was to start her new job, she got far more than she bargained for when entering employment at Strande Estate. Inexplicable noises. Haunting legends. A sexy-as-they-come amateur magician. And an enticingly wicked ghost. Alice didn't believe in anything paranormal when she arrived, but each day that passes leaves her questioning things she never thought she would like whether or not her gorgeous boss was as magically gifted in the bedroom as he was at illusions.

Brought to you by Penguin THE SECOND BOOK IN THE BESTSELLING EVE OF MAN TRILOGY BY TOM AND GIOVANNA FLETCHER Eve is the last girl on earth. For the last sixteen years, Eve has been a prisoner. Guarded by the Mothers. Trapped by her fate. Watched by the world. Until she took her chance, and...

Nick Hayes’ genius is in wringing out the universe’s secrets. It’s a talent that’s allowed him to carve paths through time. But the worst part is that he knows how his story will end. He’s seen it with his own eyes. And every year that passes, every breakthrough he makes, brings him a step closer. Mia’s accident is waiting for them both in 2011. If it happens then he’s out of choices.

Dane and Mandy, a popular magic act for 40 years, are tragically separated by a car wreck that claims Mandy’s life—or so everyone thinks. Even as Dane mourns and tries to rebuild his life without her, Mandy, supposedly dead, awakes in the present as the19-year-old she was in 1970.

Ghostly images appear and float across the stage, objects levitate into the air, and a beautiful assistant disappears inside a glass box, then reappears inside a second glass box. All while the audience at the Crystal Palace, including amateur investigator Mikaela Forsythe, watch the performance. Is it real? Then, an evening with her friend, Theodora Templeton, attending the one-night performance by master illusionist Jean Luc Betard, takes a ghastly turn and plunges Mikaela headlong into murder when the illusionist's young assistant is found dead at the end of his newest stunt.

Heather Mills has had a run of bad luck. After an obsessed stalker forces her to move East, her new apartment catches fire and she loses everything. She accepts a charitable offer that allows her to live in the basement of an old house awaiting renovation while she gets back on her feet. But what she finds in the dark cellar challenges the fabric of reality. A lost invention with the potential to elevate her from the slums—to re-decide her many poor life choices in the blink of an eye. Because her life couldn’t possibly get worse, could it?

A hidden enemy. A bitter price for victory. My name is Nadia. I'm a Marshal of the High Queen of the Elves, and I've lived through some terrifying things. Including the Mage Fall. And now, to my enormous annoyance, they're making a movie about it. The High Queen wants it to happen, so it's going to happen. Except someone has been sabotaging the production, and the sabotage has escalated to murder. A new enemy is in the shadows, and if I don't solve the murder, a lot of bad things are going to happen...

June 1940. As World War Two rages, Daphne Devine remains in London, performing each night as assistant to stage magician Jonty Trevelyan, aka the Grand Mystique. Then the secret service call. For, aware of Hitler's belief in the occult, the war office has set up a hidden cohort to exploit this quirk in the enemy's chain of command. Daphne and Jonty find themselves far from the glitz and glamour of the theatre, deep inside the lower levels of Wormwood Scrubs prison. Here, they join secret ranks of occultists, surrealists, and other eccentrics co-opted to the war effort.

The daughter of a world-renowned magician, Roxy Nouvelle has inherited her father’s talents - and his penchant for jewel thievery. Into this colorful world comes Luke Callahan, an escape artist who captures her heart - and keeps secrets that could shatter all her illusions...