The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson Pages: 496
Published by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), Macmillan on July 8, 2014
Series: The Remnant Chronicles #1
Genres: Fantasy, Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance, Young Adult
Source: Paperback ARC from Publisher
In this timeless new trilogy about love and sacrifice, a princess must find her place in a reborn world.
In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.
On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.
The Kiss of Deception is high fantasy at its’ finest! Oh, how I loved it so. This book is almost 500 pages and I could not put it down. I finished it in one night. It was that good. I was that person that brought my book everywhere with me. I read at the gym, I read while people were talking around me, I became a hermit just so I could keep reading. You get the picture.
Mary E. Pearson did a fantastic job. I loved how she set up the chapters. This is what we know when we start the story. A princess runs away right before her arranged marriage. There is an assassin sent out to kill her, and the prince sets off to find her as well. The chapters are are told from different points of view titled Lia (the princess), the assassin and the prince. When Princess Lia gets to a town far enough away she acts as a barmaid, when two different guys come into town- Kaden and Rafe. Now we add chapters from each of their point of view to throw into the mix. We know that they are the assassin and the prince, but the kicker is that we don’t know which is which. I loved how Mary E. Pearson did that. I had my guesses, but we don’t find out who is who until pretty close to the end of the book. It was a brilliant writing style!
Each of the characters had such distinct personalities. It was easy to see why both guys were fond of Lia. She is strong, independent, spunky and a free thinker. I admired her bravery. Kaden and Rafe were each good in their own way. I am not going to go too much into them because the mystery surrounding their identities makes reading the book so much fun.
The action and adventure that you love from High Fantasy is very abundant in The Kiss of Deception. I enjoyed their adventures and learning about the history of the empires in their world through the prayers and songs. The world building was rich and detailed. This is a series that I know I will be continuing. It goes down in my book as one of the greats in young adult high fantasy. Fans of Maria V. Snyder and of fantasy in general cannot miss The Remnant Chronicles. The Kiss of Deception is easily one of the best books that I have read in 2014.
The Kiss of Deception comes out on July 8th- so pre-order it, camp out at your bookstore, whatever it takes to get your hands on it.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Librarian Lavender
This book sounds great and I love the cover!
Michelle @ Book Briefs
This one is so great! I really enjoyed it!
Sara
I absolutely must read this book! Every time I turn around I am hearing amazing things! Looks like you loved it too! Thanks for sharing!
Michelle @ Book Briefs
This one was great Sara! I would read it for sure!
kindlemom1
Yay! So glad you loved this one too! Loved your review!!
Michelle @ Book Briefs
It was just awesome, wasn’t it? I loved how Mary told the story!
Missie
Eek – I have been so interested in this one, I am so glad you loved it!
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
Michelle @ Book Briefs
You can’t miss this one! It is sooo good!!!!!!
Emma
Wow, this book seems amazing. Definitely have to try it out. Thanks for the recommendation!
Linda Townsend
I loved this book! I can’t wait for the sequel either… counting the days…
Christina C.
I’ve heard so many positive things about Kiss of Deception, so I don’t know why I haven’t gotten around to read it, since I’ve had it on a shelf for I don’t how long now. And you’ve finish reading in one night, so it has to be good! Haha. I really need to open the beauty up and read, soon. 😀 Great review.
Penny Olson
After reading your review, I sooo want to read Kiss of Deception.