Thursday, January 21, 2016

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson [ARC REVIEW]

TITLE: The Kiss of Deception
(The Remnant Chronicles, #1)

AUTHOR: Mary E. Pearson
PUBLISHER: Macmillan, Henry Holt
PUB DATE: Jul 8 2014
A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

- Source: Goodreads

Rating:



Why had I not read this sooner? I'm just realizing now that I had such a great stash of ARCs in 2014 that I hadn't bothered to read until now! Bad Janus! Very, very bad!

"Sometimes a gift requires great sacrifice, but we can no more turn our backs on it than will our hearts not to beat."

I really appreciated how the author wove the story into something prolific. I loved the interchanging points-of-view, and how she mischievously made readers guess between who the Assassin and who the Prince were. Although it had a bit of given clues, there were ticks here and there that tricked you into thinking maybe you made a wrong guess.. And then back to right again.

Lia's character is a force to reckon with. Wow! She may have been a simple stubborn royal who refused to marry someone she doesn't love but grew to be an astonishing person by the end. Someone you can note to be a real change to a world of war and violence.


Rafe was no question the love interest of our female protagonist. While there is Kaden to spice things up, he doesn't stand a chance. Although Kaden's character was vital to the story, a romance isn't something I'd wish for him to have with Lia. I think it's obvious that I'm Team Rafe. Ha!

I would have loved it incredulously if the journey to Venda hadn't taken as long as it did. The pacing of the book was smooth flowing from the beginning up until a certain point but soon dragged on to a somewhat irksome and very slow pace. This wasn't exactly a fast paced book to start, but it had the right setting to ease you into the story. Alas, the feeling didn't last long. While I understand that there were significant moments within that journey that was necessary to weave the story, maybe they could've cut off a bit more? Then again, that's just me.

The Kiss of Deception might seem a bit of a hefty read at first glance, but I breezed through it. I may have had issues with the whole love at first sight propaganda going on, heck even Lia had her doubts about it but the author had a whiff of making it seem fitting for her characters. Bravo! This book was a pleasurable read all in all.



*Thank you, Macmillan and Netgalley for granting my request to view The Kiss of Deception