The Kiss Of Deception by Mary E. Pearson | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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 the first book in Mary E. Pearson's Remnant Chronicles.

How was I living my life without ever reading Mary E. Pearson? The Kiss Of Deception, first in the new The Remnants Chronicles series, was my introduction to Mary E. Pearson and y’all, it was one hell of an introduction. You know how you can read a book summary and quickly surmise if it is a you book or not? For me, I could do that with The Kiss Of Deception. It is 100% beyond a doubt an April book. There are all the things I love — magic, disguises, royals, fighting, “road trips,” and world building. I literally wanted to hug this book and then wanted to start pestering Mary E. Pearson and Macmillan for book two because I am in desperate need for information on what happens next.

Strap on your seatbelts, because this plot description for The Kiss Of Deception is totally going to be next level intense and I think you’ll need to sit down to handle all of the awesome I am about to throw your way. Okay, so there’s this princess named Lia, well one of her names is Jezelia, but we’re all going to call her Lia. Anyways, she’s the First Daughter in Morrighan. This means she’s supposed to have a gift. Yet, it hasn’t manifested. She’s also incredibly important to Morrighan’s strategy. Her dad is the King and he’s kind of cold toward her. Also, his advisors are the worst. Anyways, Lia is about to be married against her will. It’s not that she’s opposed to marriage, it’s that she is opposed to marrying some guy that she’s never met. So, on her wedding day, she runs away to the sea with her best friend and lady in waiting, Pauline and works as a barmaid with Pauline. FYI, Pauline has secrets of her own (man problems oh yeah). Right. So. These two men, totally unconnected to each other, follow Lia to the town by the sea. One is an assassin and one is a prince. You totally don’t know which is which until near the end, or maybe you do if you are smarter than me. Anyways, Lia falls head over heels for one and it’s so romantic and swoonworthy. BUT THEN, there’s like this big scene with tears and sadness and strife and the whole entire game changes. And I can’t tell you more except that holy hell I need book two like last week. ALSO! Meanwhile, there are some pretty serious military things going on as well.

So, the main character of The Kiss Of Deception can be my BFF. I genuinely liked her character and her MOXIE. Listen up, this girl looks at her fate and her destiny and she’s all, fuck that, and decides to run away and leave it all behind. Instead of acting all prissy when she ends up having to work really hard to get by, she puts her all into her new job. She’s got work ethic and I admire that. I love that Lia wants to be the captain of her fate. I love that she sends a note to her betrothed saying that she wants to check out his hot bod before marrying him, because why buy the car without test driving it? Seriously, the girl has got brass ones and I love her. Also? She’s very kind and good with people, you’ll see that as you read certain scenes. I loved that she was studious as well. She’s very into languages and it’s awesome to see that her brains actually help her out in tough spots and it’s not like she saves herself by wielding a sword at all comers. I liked her brains over brawn. Lia is totally a bad ass, you guys and I think when you meet her, you’ll love her. Speaking of meeting people in conjunction with Lia, she has a bevy of brothers and Lia’s relationship with them is a treasure. It adds a special something and a special element to this book.

Now, I totally mentioned there’s a whole lot of swooning and love involved with Mary E. Pearson’s latest book right? There’s two guys who are potential love interests for Lia. One is named Rafe and the other is named Kaden. One has been sent to kill Lia. The other was jilted at the altar by Lia. There are chapters that take place from the assassin’s point of view and chapter’s from the prince’s point of view. However, you don’t really find out which one is which until the big turning point in the book. Maybe I am dense, but I was totally shocked at which character was Rafe and which character was Kaden. BECAUSE before you can find out which is which, the chapter point of views are titled by name and it’s really hard, at least for people like me to know who was who. Anyways, enough of that. I will say that the one Lia chose was the one I was shipping her with. They have an antagonistic relationship and I love that. They’re kind of perfect for each other. You’ll see it when you read it and I am hoping you’ll be on my side with this one.

Mary E. Pearson’s world in The Remnant Chronicles is richly imagined. There’s the land that Lia comes from, Morrighan which keeps on expanding. Morrighan has a rich tradition involving First Daughters and we get to learn more and more about the customs and folklore as we read. Then there’s Venda which is this land that’s populated by what Lia views as barbarians, when really they aren’t barbaric it’s just her impression. Although, they don’t like her and there’s this guy in charge called the Komizar. Then there’s her betrothed’s nation which is called Dalbreck and again, Lia has no idea what her future husband looks like, but she’s nervous and the whole point of the marriage is to ally the two nations against Venda. So yeah, there’s magic too and when we start the book, Lia is getting these markings on her back in preparation for the wedding, but they play a super huge role. OH AND THERE’S EVEN MORE CULTURES TOO. Basically, this is such a rich and interesting world and like lest you get lost in the details, there’s character development and action, and superb writing. I gobbled up The Kiss Of Deception in pretty much one day and it’s one of my favorites of the year, absolutely no doubt in my mind about that.

I’m thinking that if you like Poison Study and Throne Of Glass, you’ll love The Kiss Of Deception by Mary E. Pearson.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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