Title: The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1)
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Publication Date: July 8th, 2014
Publisher: Henry Holt
Rating: 5 out of 5
Goodreads Blurb:
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.
I usually enjoy books told from different perspectives, and The Kiss of Deception was no exception- although I had a hard time figuring out which alias belonged to which character, I loooved the different POVs.
I really liked Princess Lia's character and her spirit but it was very similar to all the other YA heroines nowadays. Both Kaden and Rafe aka he assassin and the prince were interesting additions and I loved the prince but I felt like strangling the imbecilic assassin during the second half of the book. He needs to figure out his priorities.
Pauline, the best friend, was truly loyal and should have had a larger role in this book. SPOILERS. Walther, Lia's brother, was a supremely supportive and awesome brother and I felt really awful when he died.
The kingdoms- Vendan, Dalbreck and Morrighan- are already suffering from shaky relations with with each other and Lia's escape from her marriage to the Prince of Dalbreck sparks even more conflict. The savages (Vendans) believe that Lia was able to escape because of her strong powers as the First Daughter so they send the assassin to kill her. But predictably, nothing goes as planned (antithesis? :D) and both the prince and assassin fall in love with the princess.
To those who hate love triangles, it wasn't much of a triangle- it was pretty obvious the prince was the One. Regardless, I personally felt that this book didn't emphasize much on the romance but rather Lia's refusal to be "a soldier in her father's army" and her burning desire to decide her own destiny. But alas destiny is hard to control and an ancient prophecy threatens to take over Lia's life.
The book ended with a slight cliff hanger but throughout, it was peppered with questions that I can't wait to see answered in the next book, The Heart of Betrayal.
The book ended with a slight cliff hanger but throughout, it was peppered with questions that I can't wait to see answered in the next book, The Heart of Betrayal.
