diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/hateoas/mediatype/hal/Jackson2HalModule.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/hateoas/mediatype/hal/Jackson2HalModule.java
index c44af44b..39cd4348 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/hateoas/mediatype/hal/Jackson2HalModule.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/hateoas/mediatype/hal/Jackson2HalModule.java
@@ -600,8 +600,6 @@ public class Jackson2HalModule extends SimpleModule {
 		public List<Link> deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOException {
 
 			List<Link> result = new ArrayList<>();
-			String relation;
-			Link link;
 
 			// links is an object, so we parse till we find its end.
 			while (!JsonToken.END_OBJECT.equals(jp.nextToken())) {
@@ -611,18 +609,14 @@ public class Jackson2HalModule extends SimpleModule {
 				}
 
 				// save the relation in case the link does not contain it
-				relation = jp.getText();
+				String relation = jp.getText();
 
 				if (JsonToken.START_ARRAY.equals(jp.nextToken())) {
 					while (!JsonToken.END_ARRAY.equals(jp.nextToken())) {
-						link = jp.readValueAs(Link.class);
-						result.add(Link.of(link.getHref(), relation).withHreflang(link.getHreflang()).withTitle(link.getTitle())
-								.withType(link.getType()).withDeprecation(link.getDeprecation()));
+						result.add(jp.readValueAs(Link.class).withRel(relation));
 					}
 				} else {
-					link = jp.readValueAs(Link.class);
-					result.add(Link.of(link.getHref(), relation).withHreflang(link.getHreflang()).withTitle(link.getTitle())
-							.withType(link.getType()).withDeprecation(link.getDeprecation()));
+					result.add(jp.readValueAs(Link.class).withRel(relation));
 				}
 			}
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/hateoas/mediatype/hal/LinkMixin.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/hateoas/mediatype/hal/LinkMixin.java
index 26d2845a..d898238c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/hateoas/mediatype/hal/LinkMixin.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/hateoas/mediatype/hal/LinkMixin.java
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@ package org.springframework.hateoas.mediatype.hal;
 import org.springframework.hateoas.Link;
 import org.springframework.hateoas.mediatype.hal.Jackson2HalModule.TrueOnlyBooleanSerializer;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonIgnoreProperties;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonInclude;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonInclude.Include;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.annotation.JsonSerialize;
 
 /**
@@ -35,6 +37,11 @@ public abstract class LinkMixin extends Link {
 
 	private static final long serialVersionUID = 4720588561299667409L;
 
+	@JsonCreator
+	public static Link of(@JsonProperty("href") String href) {
+		return Link.of(href);
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * (non-Javadoc)
 	 * @see org.springframework.hateoas.Link#getHreflang()