The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson Review

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
(The Remnant Chronicles, #1)
Release Date: July 8, 2014
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 489 pages
Rating:

In this timeless new trilogy about love and sacrifice, a princess must find her place in a reborn world.

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, how I love thee. Seriously. I am so in love with this book. SO IN LOVE. You guys, I haven't loved a book this much since probably Crown of Midnight and I'm not even kidding you. I want to go outside and SCREAM because it's all bottled up inside right now and I don't know what do with all these emotions. I really don't know what to do. Plus, it's one in the morning, so if I went outside to scream, someone would probably call the cops. Not a good idea so I may go find a pillow or something so smother my screams because I just need to let this all GO!

I don't think I could possibly wait another year for the next book. I truly don't know how I'm going to survive. Clearly, I don't have a choice in the matter but this is one that will be sticking with me for a long time to come. Not only because of the romance (SWOON) but because of the characters, the story, the world, the journey, the . . . well, everything. There is NOTHING about this book I don't like. Except. I got angry. Really angry. But that was at myself. I bet you'll be feeling the same thing.

This book starts off with Lia refuses to being forced to marry a Prince of another Kingdom just for politics and because she is the First Daughter. She wants to marry for love, as I'm sure every person wishes to. She's fearful she'd be marrying some fat, old ogre and can't even see the man she's marrying beforehand. I can understand that fear, I'd want to runaway, too. But on a serious note, she's not really running away because of his appearance (or possibly, lack thereof). So already, from the get go, I love her. She's a woman who refuses to be like the rest of them and wants to be the person she is. She knows what she wants and to hell with anyone who tries to stop her.

When she skips out on her wedding there are two guys who go after her. One, being the Prince, because he's pissed she had the guts to ditch the wedding. Not because he wanted to marry but because he didn't have the chance to run himself. And two, being an assassin hired to kill her. Clearly, we know things are about to get real interesting up in this book.

I'm usually not taken by surprise in books. I usually have an understanding of things while some things tend to slip by me. However, I bow down to you, Mary E. Pearson, because you, my friend, completely pulled the rug from underneath me and then threw it in my face. That's right, you threw it in my face when you were done. I was so angry at myself. SO ANGRY. I'm not even kidding you. I felt like a fool. But I later found out that I was not alone in feeling like a fool so some of my anger left. Some but not all. I'm still angry at myself. And I feel betrayed. Or shall I dare say it . . . I felt deceived. The deception was brilliant. But now I can only wonder, how can she blow me away with the next book. In my mind, there is no way she can manage to pull that same rug out from under me again, could she? I will be on guard . . .

There is not a moment in this book that I'm not flipping through page after page only to look at my clock realizing the sun is about to start rising. Toward the end, I slowed down because I was so in love with everything about this book, I couldn't possibly have it end on me. What was I going to do once it ended? How was I going to choose a book to follow THAT?! It's just not even possible. But I needed to know what happened. I NEEDED to know. I'm happy I did because I couldn't keep the big grin off my face. It's still there, in fact. It will be there for quite sometime.

Read. This. Book. Fantasy lovers, if you pass on this book, for shame. You don't even realize what you're missing. Not a fantasy lover? Who cares, this book will make you one.

Thank you so much to Macmillan for allowing me the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review (I'm hugging you next time I see you).