Review: The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

The Remnant Chronicles #1

Publisher: Henry Holt

Publication Date: July 8, 2014

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: Purchase

Pages: 492

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Summary (from Goodreads):

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.

Ugh. Words fail me. This book was so so so so good! So I hope that this review turns out somewhat coherently so that you can understand my feels.

Lia is the princess and First Daughter of Morrighan. She is about to marry the prince of Dalbreck to secure and alliance between their two kingdoms. But Lia has other plans for her future and she takes off with her best friend Pauline right before the wedding. They go to the little village of Terravin to try and set up new lives for themselves. Things are going well for them when two handsome young men show up in the tavern they're working in. One being the prince Lia was meant to marry and the other being the assassin that was sent to kill her. So her budding relationships with them certainly make things interesting!

Where do I even start??

THAT PLOT TWIST MAN! I was positive I must have read something wrong. So I went back and flipped through the pages and it turns out that Mary Pearson totally got me. It completely floored me that I had everything wrong. But it was so awesome!

I really enjoyed the world that was created in this book! I loved getting all the history of the kingdoms and getting so much information on the religion of the kingdoms. It made everything feel so much more real to me. I liked seeing the differences between the Morrighese and the Vendans.

I liked Lia a lot. It seems like I spend a lot of time after reading books gushing about how much I love the main character. I'm just so easy to please and Lia pleases me a lot. She is smart. She is patient and fairly good at biding her time. She is stubborn. She is compassionate even for those who don't show her any compassion. She is loyal. She doesn't want to be a princess in an arranged marriage, but she eventually chooses her kingdom over herself. She is kinda mouthy, but uses that mouthiness for general good. She is just awesome.

Kaden and Rafe (the assassin and the prince) were pretty great too. This book has the feel and the makings of a love triangle, but I didn't feel like there was one. For which I am very grateful! I really liked Rafe. A lot more than I liked Kaden. Kaden just kept getting in the way of my Lia/Rafe time. Unacceptable. Both of them have feelings for Lia. For one of them, the feelings are unrequited. They both do everything they can to help Lia. While I can see where Rafe's help is infinitely more brave, I can see where Kaden is doing what he can to be helpful while also not getting himself into too much of a pickle.

I really enjoyed the romance in this book. It was kinda hot/cold at the beginning, but it was so sweet and turned out in a way that has deeply pleased me so far.

I usually am not such a fan of books told in too many points of view. But I liked this one with Lia's, Rafe's, and Kaden's points of view. I don't think this book would make quite the same impact without all the different points of view. But I didn't really see the purpose of the one random chapter in Pauline's point of view???

I am really wanting to know more about this mysterious gift that Lia has and that her mother has apparently tried so hard to hide from her! And I also want to know more about Lia's weird encounters with tigers. Maybe she's the tiger whisperer? I want to know more about the other kingdoms as well!

I really truly loved this book! I can't think of a single thing that I disliked about this book. This series will EASILY make my top five favorites. These is a sweet romance, lies, deception, betrayal, and ploT TWISTS!!! This book was so amazing, if you haven't read it, I don't know what you're waiting for, get on that immediately! I am personally very glad that I waited til I got The Heart of Betrayal to read this.