Blog Tour: Born of Illusions

June 6, 2013 Uncategorized 0

Welcome to the next stop on the blog tour for Teri Brown’s Born of Illusion. I’m excited to share a guest post and giveaway with you today! Here’s more about the book:

Anna Van Housen has a secret. 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? 

From Teri Brown comes a world bursting with magic, with romance, and the temptations of Jazz Age New York—and the story of a girl about to become the mistress of her own destiny.

GOODREADS | AMAZON | BARNES  & NOBLE

Teri Brown is proud of her two children but coming in a close second is the fact that she parachuted
out of a plane and beat the original Legend of Zelda video game. 

She is a word scribbler, head banger, math hater, book reader, rule breaker, food fixer, novel writer, kitty keeper, and city slicker. Teri lives with her husband and way too many pets in Portland, Oregon.

WEBSITE | TWITTER |FACEBOOK | GOODREADS

Guest Post: The Ghost Club

The Society of Psychical Research figures prominently in Born of Illusion, even if Anna doesn’t actually attend a meeting, and even more prominently in Born of Deception. It’s based on the Ghost Club, a real life organization.  I love using real people, events and organizations in my novels, especially one as interesting as this one. 

The inclusion of this society came quite by accident. During the formulating stage of Born of Illusion, I was researching on Harry Houdini which led me to his onetime friend turned enemy, Sir Conan Doyle. When I learned that Sir Conan Doyle was a member of a group called the Ghost Club, an organization that studied psychic phenomena, I knew I had my hook. 

The original Ghost Club was founded in London as a paranormal research group in 1862.  One of the earliest members was Charles Dickens and he, along with other members of the club, performed several investigations into the claims of famous mediums. The club seems to have disbanded after Dickens’ death in the 1870’s but was resurrected in 1882. At the same time the Society for Psychical research was founded and the two organizations had a lot of overlapping members.  The Club archives reveal that the names of members – both living and dead – were solemnly recited each November 2 on The Feast of All Souls Day. 

The club is still going strong and is believed to be one of the oldest organizations of its kind. Though the inner workings of the Society of Psychical Research in Born of Illusion are much different than those of the real Ghost Club, I’d love to think that the original members would have enjoyed my book!

Giveaway:
To celebrate the launch of Born of Illusion, Teri is giving away 10 sets of Born of Illusion earth mineral eye shadow available for a limited time only from Glamour Doll Eyes. You, too, can get the glam look of the twenties!

Eye Shadow Giveaway (10 sets)


Teri will also be giving away not, one but THREE grand prizes that Cari Cucksey, (of HGTV’s Cash and Cari), picked out from her RePurpose shop especially for the BORN OF ILLUSION launch!

Grand Prize Giveaway – Vintage Spoon Bracelets

So don’t forget to enter for a chance to win these beautiful vintage spoon bracelets!

All giveaways are US and Canada only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:
Week One:
June 3rd – Tales of the Ravenous Reader – Guest Post
June 4th – Mostly YA Books Obsessed – Review
June 5th – Hobbitsies – Interview
June 6th – YA Bibliophile – Guest Post
June 7th – The Starry-Eyed Revue – Review

Week Two:
June 10th – Supernatural Snark – Interview
June 11th – Between the Pages – Review
June 12th – Icey Books – Guest Post
June 13th – Larissa & Friends’ Bookish Life – Guest Post
June 14th – The Irish Banana – Review

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