Review: The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1) by Mary E. Pearson

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Received: bought
Publication Date: July 8th 2014
Publisher: Henry Holt
Genres & Themes: YA, Fantasy, Romance, Magic, Mythology, Friendship.

 BLURB:

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.

REVIEW:

What a beautiful and captivating story.

I’ve always had a soft spot for princess stories, true, but this one is like no other. Our lovely main character, Lia, wants free will…to fall in love with someone she actually knows and cares about. She is tired of always having her life decided, as princesses’ usually are, and the one thing she wants most, love, is up to her to find not for her father to plan.

For her to feel trapped no more, she escapes from her arranged marriage with someone who didn’t even take the time to see her before the event.

Now I’m not saying what she did isn’t reckless, since it is a kingdom and family she leaves behind, but I can certainly imagine how awful it must have been for her to grow up with an authoritarian parent and feel the need for freedom. Needless to say, I connected with Lia and felt quite invested in her story.

We have four different points of views in this story, but three are most present; Lia’s, The Assassin’s and The Prince’s. I couldn’t say which I preferred for they all fitted very well with the story and every character had something to say or makes us see, realize.

As for the love-triangle, I didn’t find it too heavy. In fact, the romance part of this story was present but not too much, which made me enjoy the story even more than I thought I would, surprisingly. I would love for her to end up with The Prince…but I could also see her spend her life with The Assassin. She could adapt to both ways of living, that’s for sure.

Many different characters are presented in this first book in a new series and they were all interesting. The only thing that I may have changed (or add in the sequels) is for them to be more present and described. Lia encountered some great people that I would hate for her to not meet again.

Another thing that I loved was the setting. It’s not every day that we can read about a princess seeking shelter in a completely unexpected place, where no one would think of looking for her.

The writing was spectacular. It was so impressive and I completely fell in love with it. Every sentence or even description was flawless, in my opinion. What is strange is that, even though this story contains almost 500 pages, it felt much shorter. The pages flew by at a pretty fast speed. I was captivated the whole time and I wish for you to be as well, if you consider giving this book a chance.

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