The Fine Art of Deception: Undoing Time by Alyssa Richards

Soul mates. Seeing and talking to ghosts. Psychic powers that influence people. Yup, The Fine Art of Deception: Undoing Time by Alyssa Richards had everything this hopeless romantic, paranormal girl wanted. Even though I ran across a few minor issues, I was quite taken by this novel. It had my full attention from the first page!

ARichards-The-Fine-Art-of-Deception-Undoing-TimeArt appraiser Addeline Montgomery just wants a normal life. One where she can ignore the vicious ghosts who follow her. One where she’s free from her “gift” of touching an object and seeing the owner’s deepest secrets. And one where she can fall in love without having all of the above get in the way.

But when tall, dark, and dangerous gallery owner Blake Greenwood enters her life, normal is the last thing she’s feeling. The man has more secrets than the priceless art he sells, giving Addison’s quest for normal no chance. That, and he may just hold the key to uncovering the truth behind her father’s unexplained disappearance.

Despite her paranormal gifts warning her to stay away, she feels an inexplicable, captivating fascination for him, something that goes deeper than attraction. There’s something between them that’s older than time, and if she can learn to give him her trust, it may just save her life.

So the road bumps I mentioned above aren’t all that major actually. The main one is that the disappearance of Adeline’s father and grandfather is mentioned enough that I was expecting something to come of it, but nothing does. All we know is that they disappeared mysteriously, no other details are given. I have an assumption of what happened, but without any more details I can’t be certain. I’m hoping things get cleared up in later books, since this was an interesting trail that just goes no where. The other ‘issue’ is that the majority of the novel is written in first person view as Addie, then there are few chapters written in third person with it showcasing Blake or other characters involved in the storyline. It’s not confusing exactly, just different. It does set up scenes and add mystery/intrigue for sure, it’s just not the usual way of doing it. I’m not calling either of these complaints, just two odd things that stuck out for me. Other than this, the writing itself was mapped out nicely, and the plot lines were cleared up perfectly.

The history between Blake and Addie is pretty dang cool if I do say so. I won’t go into a lot of detail because it would absolutely kill the story. Oh as the history unraveled, it made me all warm and fuzzy. LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Also, I loved there isn’t any crazy drama between them. They aren’t extremely different personalities coming together like we usually see. Honestly, all the characters had their own voices, but none were over the top, drastic different that they distracted me from the rest of the story.

I also loved the psychic powers in The Fine Art of Deception: Undoing Time. Addie can sense others emotions and read objects and their history by touching them, as well as seeing and communicating with ghosts. She even runs into some that try to kill her! Her sister Alexa can push, as in she can push emotions into someone and make them do whatever she wants. She also has the ability to sense something has happened to someone she knows. I really enjoyed that they weren’t the only one’s with powers because it added more flair to the scenes, in my opinion. I also liked that these powers weren’t the only things happening in the world. There’s a thief in their midst, there’s missing people, on top of Addie dealing with people why try to use her powers against her. These elements intertwined and made the story line more realistic.

From the killer ghosts, to reliving the artist’s memory that etched into his painting, to the idea of true soul mates, there wasn’t anything about The Fine Art of Deception: Undoing Time plot line that didn’t make me giddy with excitement. I will be on the lookout for the next novel in this series for sure!

About Nikki R 120 Articles
SAHM of 2, happily married bookworm, blogger and aspiring author. If I could read/write all day, every day, I would. Luckily I have a very understanding, and patient, husband who lets me get away with it as much as possible. Now if only the kids would understand my obsession, and the house would clean itself, then I'd be all set.