Imperfect Illusions
Grade : A

I can’t remember how I stumbled across Vanora Lawless’ Imperfect Illusions, but I’m very glad I did! I was gripped from start to finish by this historical adventure/fantasy romance set amid the horrors of World War One; the stakes are high, the historical and fantasy aspects of the story are really well done, and the romance is nicely developed in an unusual way.

Chicago, 1917. Elliot Stone returns to his comfortable family home one winter morning to find an unexpected guest awaiting him. Suspicion turns to horror when the gentleman – who introduces himself as Major Allen - blackmails him into enlisting in one of the new secret magical units being created by the government to fight in the war in Europe. Elliot’s family has worked hard to keep the magic that flows through their bloodline a secret – but obviously not hard enough, if they’ve come to the attention of the military. Major Allen is distinctly unpleasant and clearly knows Elliot’s other big secret (that he enjoys the company of men as well as women) – and he knows Elliot’s skill is to be able induce euphoria or horror in someone merely by touching them. When Elliot continues to voice his opposition to the Major’s scheme, Allen plays his trump card - not only will he make sure that Elliot’s… proclivities are made public, but he’ll also look to the other members of Elliot’s family with a view of making use of them, instead. Knowing at least one of his siblings has magical abilities, Elliot has to admit defeat.

Warren – Sully – Sullivan works as a private investigator and is the sole support for his cousin, sixteen year old Anne, whose parents died when the ship on which they had travelled to Chicago sank in the harbour. He, too, is forced into enlisting; the government knows all about his talent for creating illusions in the minds of others – and also somehow found men he’d had back-alley encounters with and exhorted confessions out of them. He can’t afford to create any scandal for Anne or his friend who runs the agency – especially because both of them are skilled, and he can’t risk the government’s attention turning to them.

Elliot and Sully are from opposite ends of the social spectrum and by rights, their paths shouldn’t cross. Yet on the night before they’re both due to ship out to begin their training, they decide a last night on the town – with a few drinks, and maybe some convivial company – is in order. Using his illusion skills, Sully disguises his shabby clothes and heads to a fancy lounge-bar, where he notices the blond man with the pretty face straight away – and wants him. A few subtle glances later, and the man casually makes his way over to Sully; the zing of attraction that’s been thrumming through him since he laid eyes on the other man flares into red hot lust, and his other (secret) magical skill – the ability to sense others’ emotions – can feel the man’s reciprocal attraction and excitement. His last night as a free man looks to be shaping up to be a good one.

After a bout of fantastic sex, neither man feels like simply getting up to leave, and they fall into conversation, talking a little about themselves and their magic, and realising that they’re both been forced to enlist – and that they’ll be shipping out to the same place for training before being sent to France. They agree it will be far too dangerous for them to see each other again, given their difference in rank; Elliot will be an officer and assigned to one of the elite special operations units working behind the front lines while Sully will be posted to the front somewhere, working with regular troops while concealing his abilities as far as possible, unless he has to use them to fight skilled German soldiers. So this single night is all they can have.

As the weeks pass, Elliot and his small team of skilled officers form themselves into a cohesive unit and are about to undertake their first mission. Reports have come in telling of mortally wounded German soldiers rising up and continuing to fight, indicating that there could be a German necromancer at work, and Elliot and his unit are tasked with finding out more. Meanwhile, Sully is serving at the front and is running himself ragged using his concealment magic on the battlefield in a hundred different ways, making sure the enemy doesn’t see approaching soldiers, hiding medics and stretcher-bearers as they venture out to help the wounded and so on. Far worse is the overwhelming fear and despair radiating off everyone around him; it’s so bad as to be almost completely debilitating and with the horrors of the death and destruction all around him regularly invading his dreams, Sully is almost dead on his feet from exhaustion.

Like Sully, Elliot has kept one of his talents a secret – in his case, it’s the ability to enter the dreams of others, although he has a very strict policy about not interfering with the dreams of anyone who has not consented to it. But when, one night, he awakens in one of Sully’s dreams to see him in the middle of a battlefield, surrounded by rivers of gore and blood, cradling a corpse in his arms – Elliot’s corpse – Elliot can’t bear to leave Sully in such anguish, and acts to reshape his dream. Elliot knows that the Sully of the dream isn’t the same man as when he’s awake - when he’s dreaming his inhibitions are lowered and his defences are down - and that he’s unlikely to remember the dream in the morning. This is why Elliot has rules - but, as he explains to dreamSully, he couldn’t walk away when he could do something to help. Sully begs him to return whenever his nightmares take hold, and Elliot, even though he knows it’s a truly terrible idea and will likely end in disaster, can’t find it within him to say no.

Imperfect Illusions is a unique story in which the author skilfully grafts the fantasy elements on to a world that is very familiar, and they do a terrific job of evoking the gloom, darkness and uncertainty felt by those in the thick of the fighting, the fear and inevitability of loss and the ultimate futility of it all. The storyline is high-stakes and full of mounting tension as we head towards an exciting, nail-biting finale, and the author strikes a good balance between the plot and the romance, which is intense, complicated and heartfelt. Even though the relationship between Elliot and Sully is formed in an unusual way, their deep emotional connection is no less vivid and real, and I loved reading the ‘getting-to-know-you’ phase of their relationship – which is made all the more poignant because we know what’s likely to happen next.

Elliot and Sully are likeable characters who are both doing the best they can in extraordinary circumstances, forced to fight a war they don’t want to fight and to use the skills they’ve so far been careful to conceal. I liked the way the author presents Elliot’s dilemma over whether he should continue to enter Sully’s dreams or not; on the one hand, doing so helps Sully to rest and means he’s more able to protect himself from all the negative emotions of war he’s continually bombarded with (and in less danger of making mistakes and getting himself killed), but on the other, it’s intrusive and unfair, especially as Elliot remembers everything while Sully remembers almost nothing. It’s an interesting dichotomy, and it’s easy to understand why, when Sully learns the truth, he’s angry and upset and doesn’t want to listen to Elliot’s explanations.

Imperfect Illusions is an incredibly accomplished début novel. The author’s research has clearly been extensive, there’s a well-drawn cast of secondary characters, and the slow-burn romance is extremely well done. I have some very tiny niggles – one being that the finale ends a little abruptly – but there was nothing that took me out of the story or made the reading experience less enjoyable. Imperfect Illusions is a compelling read, and I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the second book in the series, Twisted Tome, in a few weeks.

Reviewed by Caz Owens
Grade : A

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : September 14, 2023

Publication Date: 10/2022

Recent Comments …

Caz Owens

I’m a musician, teacher and mother of two gorgeous young women who are without doubt, my finest achievement :)I’ve gravitated away from my first love – historical romance – over the last few years and now read mostly m/m romances in a variety of sub-genres. I’ve found many fantastic new authors to enjoy courtesy of audiobooks - I probably listen to as many books as I read these days – mostly through glomming favourite narrators and following them into different genres.And when I find books I LOVE, I want to shout about them from the (metaphorical) rooftops to help other readers and listeners to discover them, too.
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