{Review Redux} THE KISS OF DECEPTION by Mary E. Pearson

Don't forget to also check out this fun interview I did with Mary E. Pearson!

O P E N I N G   H O O K:

    TODAY WAS THE DAY A THOUSAND dreams would die and a single dream would be born.
    The wind knew. It was the first of June, but cold gusts bit at the hilltop citadelle as fiercely as deepest winter, shaking the windows with curses and winding through drafty halls with warning whispers. There was no escaping what was to come.
    For good or bad, the hours were closing in. I closed my eyes against the thought, knowing that soon the day would cleave in two, forever creating the before and after of my life, and it would happen in one swift act that I could no more alter than the color of my eyes.
    I pushed away from the window, fogged with my own breath, and left the endless hills of Morrighan to their own worries. It was time for me to meet my day.

(Page 3, US ARC edition)

Read the entire first chapter online right now FOR FREE!

This review was first featured on A Backwards Story on June 30, 2014.
With VOW OF THIEVES, the second book in the companion series out today, I want to introduce new readers to this fantastic series!

“For good or bad, the hours were closing in. I closed my eyes against the thought, knowing that soon the day would cleave in two, forever creating the before and after of my life, and it would happen in one swift act that I could no more alter then the color of my eyes.” 

~THE KISS OF DECEPTION

With VOW OF THIEVES, the second book in the companion series to the initial debut trilogy set in the world of The Remnant Chronicles, out today, I thought I'd celebrate by re-reading the entire series this month. Yes, this is my third or fourth time reading THE KISS OF DECEPTION. Yes, it is still a book I love and adore. The world-building is spot-on and the book is incredibly hard to put down once you sink into it. Let's put it this way: When I first read this book, I spiraled into a reading slump and it took me nine books before I got out of it thanks to THE KISS OF DECEPTION.

It's very, very hard to discuss this book without spoilers. It's better for you to go into it as blind as possible. But basically, there is a princess named Lia, a First Daughter, who is betrothed to a prince she's never met. She doesn't want to marry him, even though it would bring their kingdoms together and make both less vulnerable.  She runs away, but the jilted prince goes after her. So does an assassin determined to prevent the two kingdoms from merging. Lia meets both on her travels, but thinks the two men are nothing more than a traveling tradesman and fisherman. She has no clue what danger she's in... or even who she's falling in love with...

I love the double-blind element that Pearson creates. We as readers know what Lia knows. There's so much mystery, intrigue, and, yes, deception at stake.  I was a fan of the world-building from the very beginning, when Lia has her wedding kavah painted onto her back. I wanted to know so much about Lia and her world. I was a big fan of the way the assassin and the prince challenged my brain, too. And as the series continues and the world opens up, there are so many more things to love, and even more elements to admire. There's even a fantastic prequel e-novella, MORRIGHAN, that is absolutely brilliant. It introduces how the world may have fallen and rebuilt to what it is today, and really changes the way you think about the series! During my re-read this month, I started with MORRIGHAN, and it really opened my eyes more as I perused the rest of the series. I highly recommend this as well! It won't spoil THE KISS OF DECEPTION, but will certainly enhance the world and the inserted passages of the past.

I know my lack of explanation and summary make this book sound like less than the amazing story it is, just because I can't really talk about all the things in this review.  Do yourself a favor and buy it blind...you won't regret it!

~*~

C O N T E N T R A T I N G S

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details

Romance: PG ( kissing )

Language: PG ( bitch, bastard. Innuendo such as "I'm not your whore" and skewering "their bloody jewels," etc.)
Violence: PG13+ ( Lia is attacked by a bounty hunter; she is also captured later on. There is also a scene with non-graphic battle description. Mention of severed parts and heads. A horse is injured and put down. )

Other:  --

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C O V E R   D E S I G N:

I really love it!

I love the starburst effect around the title creating a unified series image that will be easily identifiable.

The background is great to look at, too. Figures on the horizon, birds in the air,  a stormy sky...

I would pick this up blind at the bookstore to see what it was about! 

  ~*~

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title: THE KISS OF DECEPTION

Author: Mary E. Pearson

Release Date: July 8, 2014

Publisher: Henry Holt // Macmillan
Received: For Review

SUMMARY:

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.