Title: The Kiss of Deception

Author: Mary E. Pearson

Release Date: July 8th 2014

Publisher: Square Fish

Age Range/ Genre: Young Adult

Number of Pages: 489

ISBN: 9781250063151

Rating:✭✭✭✭✭

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.

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RATING: 5 Stars

MY THOUGHTS:

Fantastic. I absolutely loved The Kiss of Deception! As an avid reader of fantasy, romance, and action, this book was wonderful. I may be slightly overexcited about the book, but the story line caught me from the beginning. Before I read it I had heard a lot of good things about the story plot and world building, and I have to agree, you should read this book!

The Kiss of Deception is the first book from The Remnant Chronicles and focuses on 3 main characters, Lia, a prince and an assassin. The book is mainly focused on Lia’s POV, however there is also the POV’s from both the prince and the assassin. Lia is Princess Arabella Celestine Idris Jezelia, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan, she is very headstrong and at the beginning of the novel runs away from her home to escape her arranged marriage.

First off the writing in the book is incredibly clever. I don’t want to give too much away, but through most of the novel you are not sure which boy is the assassin and which is the prince. It is difficult to describe unless you have read the book, but I hope that makes sense. Lia meets both boys and we know one is called Rafe and the other is called Kaden, however it remains a mystery which of them is the assassin and which is the prince. This is difficult to pull off but I though that Mary E. Pearson did this brilliantly. As the story moved on I made a guess on which boy was which, but I won’t tell you any spoilers 😉
Additionally, unless you had guessed from the beginning of the book, during the end there is a massive plot twist. While I was not completely surprised, I was still shocked.

The characters in The Kiss of Deception were all well developed. I really liked Lia’s character, as she was strong and often sarcastic and funny throughout the novel. Even when she is put into difficult situations she pulls through. Overall I thought she was a brilliant character. Similarly I enjoyed both Rafe and Kaden’s characters. Both characters were mysterious, and we only get to know them towards the end of the book. Out of the two I am not sure I have a favourite. I tended to swing between both of them, however after finishing the novel I am team Rafe 🙂
Another character in the book was Pauline. She has a vastly different personality from Lia, however she was also an enjoyable character. The friendship between both of the girls was funny, and heartwarming.

As I am sure you have deduced, there is somewhat a love triangle in The Kiss of Deception. The romance is more between Lia and Rafe, however there is competition between both Rafe and Kaden. The romance between Rafe and Lia slowly progresses and is incredibly sweet. While I would say the romance is a main contributor to the story, it is not the only drive and so, in my opinion, did not take over the story, even though it is a main drive.

The world building throughout the book was vivid, and descriptive. I love the world which Lia lives in. The map at the beginning of the book was a nice guide on how the world is set out. The world was fantastical and richly described.

Overall I loved The Kiss of Deception, and so rate it 5/5 stars. The story was captivating, describing a world full of magic, with romance, betrayal, and mystery woven in. If you enjoy fantasy, romance and magic I would defiantly read this book!

Favourite Quote:
It can take years to mold a dream. It takes only a fraction of a second for it to be shattered”
page 279 (Paperback Edition)

Books in The Remnant Chronicles:

1. The Kiss of Deception (Released July 8th 2014)
2. The Heart of Betrayal (Hardback Released July 7th 2015)
3. The Beauty of Darkness (Expected to be released during 2016)

I will be ordering the next book and can’t wait for the finial book in the series! 😀

Happy Reading xxx