When an ancient grimoire infused with catastrophic magic comes into play, they've got to do everything in their power to keep it from landing in enemy hands. Unfortunately, that means working closely with a man who once shattered Elliot's heart. Someone he would have done anything for.
As insecurity, jealousy, and fear threaten the fledgling relationship between Elliot and Sully, will the darkness closing in around them bring them closer or tear them apart forever?
Comment: Closer to the end of last year, I've managed to read Imperfect Illusions by this author, the first story in what I believe will be a trilogy. This second book has been released since that time as well, but only now did I manage to get to it.
After the events in the first book, where magic exists in the world and was used to help somehow with the WWI, protagonists Sully and Elliott are waiting for new orders, as well as the rest of their team. When news arrive, it's not something Elliott is happy with, because a new officer is arriving with two members left from his own team, after the others were killed n action. This new officer, having less members with him will answer to Elliot, but what distresses him is that the man is Everett Astor, the boy and then man who broke his heart and who deceived him. Elliott will try his best to be professional and he warns the others Everett might not behave as properly, but these worries have to be put aside for the missions they need to accomplish. However, there are rumors the enemy is planning something even more nefarious... will the team be able to stop them in time?
Some real life situations caused me to not dedicate as much uninterrupted time to reading this book as I would normally do. This means - and I've noticed this in the last years - my focus isn't as strong and I get easily distracted, not appreciation the stories as, perhaps, they deserve. Nevertheless, this story is clearly a transition one, where the characters go through situations to take them from what happened when we met them to the conclusion of the overall arc. The classic "second volume".
Regardless of that, I would say the story itself wasn't as easy to dismiss as one would think because a few things happened that helped the notion the plot was moving forward. I think the presence of Elliott's former love was a little too convenient, obviously to advance Elliott's development in relation to his own self and to his relationship with Sully, but while I liked this didn't end up being the drama I expected, it was also a little convenient for another reason too, and in a way I felt this made the story feel a bit weaker. I cannot say how it would improve, perhaps if the antagonism Everett personified could come in the appearance of someone else...
The plot is still aimed at the war situations and what each side is doing. I will admit that certain situations about this subject, such as the maneuvers they plan and execute in whatever mission they have to do passes me by sometimes. Not that this isn't interesting or detailed by the author to give it purpose or authenticity, but it's really descriptions of things I fail to imagine well. I'm more eager to read about the characters thoughts and intentions.
I liked that Eliiot's team is feeling as good as they can, despite the problems they faced and still have to deal with, but then, besides the unwelcomed Everett, they also see the arrival of Lillian, someone Sully knows from his life before the war. Her role is going to be key in this book, not only because of what her skill allows her to do in terms of plot (and helping to discover who might be a traitor) but mainly because of what it means for the team, when they discover a very important fact they had been unaware of before. I think this segment of the plot was quite impressive.
The romance between Sully and Elliott is going well and I'm happy that the presence of Everett didn't end up being as disturbing to them as it might have been implied in the scene where Everett and his two team members meet the others. Of course I liked it that they were happy and wanted to be together, and to be honest, apart from that, nothing much happens here. They love each other, they still think about the future when the war ends... although there are also cute scenes between them to make everything easier in terms of mood, and also when they interact with their team members.
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