Broken Illusions (Midnight Dragonfly Novels) [Paperback]

*Four and a half stars*

First a few words about the Midnight Dragonfly series in general:

In Trinity, Ellie James has created a female protagonist who is unlike most of the young adult paranormal / supernatural / dystopian protagonists written today. She is neither whiny nor self-absorbed. I found her to be a little soft and too faint-prone in the first novel but now that she has a grip on her ability and has come into her own, there's none of the typical "oh why is this happening to me" nonsense that can span multiple installments. I think it is also worth mentioning that between the first and second novels, I have read at least twenty other YA books from Armentrout, Bartol, Stiefvater and the like. Unlike those authors' series, where I had to go back and refresh my memory of who's who before diving into the next in a series, I remembered everyone in James' series. That speaks to how well she has created the characters and their world in New Orleans.

Now onto the book itself: the reader is thrown right back into Trinity's world just a few months following Shattered Dreams' conclusion. Like, literally, it just grips you from the first page and does not let up until the end. More visions, more cryptic dreams and messages plague her as we follow her along in her journey to make sense of it all. I hate spoilers so I won't spill any here, but I can say that I honestly didn't see the ending coming. At all. The ending itself should earn it five stars. What stops me from giving the entire book five stars is the relationship between her and Chase, her husky footballer boyfriend. The relationship lost its appeal for me (and that gives nothing away, as the author describes the same in the synopsis). Honestly I wanted it to end at the beginning but then, I was rooting for the other boy as soon as he stepped onto the pages of SD. A couple of new characters were throw-aways who really didn't move the plot forward but their presence didn't affect my overall feelings about the book. The book's pace clips along nicely and kept me turning and turning to see what happens next. I read it in one sitting.

Ellie James has done herself proud with Broken Illusions. I can't wait for the next installment to see how Trinity moves forward from the shattered dream that came at the end.

Broken Illusions is the second book in the Midnight Dragonfly Series. This book picks up just a few months after "Shattered Dreams (book 1) leaves off. Once again Ellie James grips your imagination with her descriptions of New Orleans. We follow Trinity Monsour as she learns more about herself and her psychic visions. Trinity's story is written in such a way as to make the reader feel what she feels, see what she sees. Broken Dreams is a roller-coaster of emotion.

Love the Midnight Dragonfly series. Broken Illusions (2nd book) evolves from Shattered Dreams (1st book) but could be read on its own. I love that the book's story has an ending but leaves you wanting more about the characters. Will be waiting earnestly for the next chapter in December.