The Kiss of Deception (Remnant Chronicles, #1)

by Mary E Pearson

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 neighbouring 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, 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. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets - even as she finds herself falling in love.

• ISBN10: 1250063159
• ISBN13: 9781250063151
• Publish Date: 2 June 2015 (first published 8 July 2014)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Square Fish
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

[natpatreads]

I definitely wasn't sure about this book when I started. It definitely is a YA trope book - nothing necessarily ground breaking or profound...but ultimately, [a:Mary E. Pearson|123463|Mary E. Pearson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1528497378p2/123463.jpg] won me in.

This book starts with Lia -- a princess who is in an arranged marriage with the prince of a country -- who runs away to a village hoping to start anew.

My favourite part of this book was being unaware of who was the prince and who was the assassin. It left me guessing for a good chunk of the book, and I was totally wrong!! I appreciated the character growth of the princess and the other main characters throughout this novel. She definitely was annoying and somewhat unlikable at the beginning, but I grew to appreciate her more as the story advanced.

I am rather nervous about the next two books in the series as my favourite plot point has already been resolved in this novel, but I will most likely finish them because I am interested in how it ends.

I definitely wouldn't qualify this as "high fantasy", but it is a decent entry into the YA fantasy world.

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: —> 3.5 Stars

I feel like this could be a promising series, and I did enjoy the book... just... For a nearly 500 page novel, not too much actually HAPPENED?

I am not scrambling to buy the next book in the series this very instant, but I also know that I will definitely picking up the second volume in the future!

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I will not by any means say this is a masterpiece of a book. I see flaws in the love story, in the … likelihood of situations I guess? But I also really, really liked it because it had a lot of things that I feel like I don’t see very often, particularly in YA Fantasy.

First of all, we have a protagonist who is very unsure of herself. Listen guys, I’m all for fierce, confident heroines. I love me a strong female protagonist. But after a while, it gets old, you know? Lia constantly struggles with her decisions and worries that she has done the wrong thing. I am so much like that myself, and it was just really nice to see a fictional character who struggled in grey areas.

And, generally? I liked Lia. She had a great range of emotions, a lot of really genuine reactions and felt real. I’m here for her journey.

In fact, there were a lot of almost-tropes in The Kiss of Deception that had been altered just enough to make me smile. Some of them are a bit spoilery, but in vague terms, there was a bit by the end where a character did something I didn’t expect, and it set up something really fun for the next book, and honestly… I’m just really pleased about it. Tropes are fine, but they’re even stronger when they’re used to trick the reader into a sense of false security. The Kiss of Deception is really good at that.

Now, where this book was just exhausting… the love triangle. The love triangle was so eyeball-worthy. It was cheesy, with virtually no basis for romantic attraction between the characters. I think this could have been a well-done romantic storyline without the triangle aspect… but there you have it. And I do believe love triangles can be done well and when they are they are a great too to build reader interaction about the story… but yeah. Not here. Being perfectly honest, I mentally edited out a lot of the love story because it felt so irrelevant to Lia’s story in this book, and it annoyed me. I’m sure it will be important later, but for now, I’m much more interested in Lia learning about her gift and her ascension into taking her royal place.

The love story isn’t a deal breaker, because it felt minor enough in The Kiss of Deception. And I liked the twist with it at the end, I thought that was fun. Also, for the record, I am Team Raif.

Generally, though, I really liked this book and am excited to continue on with the series! There were a lot of familiar aspects so it wasn’t the most original story, but there were enough tweaks and twists to make it fun. Add to how much I enjoyed reading this book, there’s the fact that I really, genuinely liked Jezelia. So if you’re looking for a fun fantasy with a sappy love triangle and a character with a great, steady growth arc? Definitely check this one out!

[Vicki]

4.5 stars

SO good! I didn't who was who or who to root for. Kept changing my mind and switching sides! Even when the reveal happened I still found myself not sure. Beautiful world, wonderful complex characters. Loved them all. I tore through this book and can't wait to read the next one.

[Stephanie]

Snoozefest. There was one twist, but it happened in the middle of the book, and then the book didn't end. It would. never. end.

[anne]

Really enjoyed this. Liked the structure and mystery of who's who

[ellieroth]

3.5

Original de: El Blog del Gato - El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Leer The Kiss of Deception me hizo pensar mucho en Wonder Woman, aunque son abismalmente diferente en lo que se refiere a argumentos, sus protagonistas me recalcan que no tienes que ser una sangre fría femme fatale para ser una heroína, aunque a nuestra Princesa Arabella todavía le falta un enorme camino que recorrer (dos libros más hehe), tiene un buen inicio y la verdad, como dije, me he sorprendido realmente interesándome por la protagonista, por todas las reseñas que había leído, pensé que solo terminaría interesándome en los chicos sexys, solo que al final, para mí ellos pasaron a un segundo plano.

The Kiss of Deception va bien, a dónde todavía no sé, pero va bien.



Twitter • Tumblr • Tvtime • Goodreads • Instagram • Blog

[wyvernfriend]

It took a while to get going and then it got very interesting.  Princess Lia is running away from her destiny, to marry the prince of another country and to become a pawn in the politics of this post-apocalyptic world.  She thinks she has run away without being caught but she's been found by an assassin and the prince she should marry.
 
Complicated and interesting once it got going. 

[Cocktails and Books]

I'm glad I discovered this series now, a few months away from the last book coming out. This is YA fantasy at its best!

[cornerfolds]

I have owned The Kiss of Deception since last May. That's almost nine months that I could have already known this wonderful story. I could have known these wonderful characters and their wonderful world, but I didn't because I picked this one up, read a couple chapters, and put it back down. (This is the curse of being a mood reader.) Eventually, though, I did pick it up and I am SO glad I did!

Princess Lia (or just Lia) has been trapped by her parents in an arranged marriage with the prince of a neighboring kingdom. She isn't at all interested in this arrangement, so she takes things much further than other royals before her by running away from it all and starting a new life with her friend in another town. While I think Lia's decision to run away from her kingdom and start a new life may have (possibly) been the slightest bit impulsive, I did really love her as a character. I enjoyed watching her learn to navigate her new life as a commoner working as a tavern maid as opposed to her previous lavish existence. I found her to be sympathetic, even though she was coming from a position that most people couldn't identify with, and I loved the relationship between Lia and Pauline. My only real problem with Lia is that she continues to be an impulsive character (sometimes irrationally so) right up until the end.

There are two possible love interests in this story - one is an assassin and one is a prince. Both these men are fully aware of Lia's true identity, but deception abounds and she has no idea who they are. While she is creating her new life, the assassin and the prince are both have very conflicting feelings about Lia. This is a love triangle that works within the story. Both these characters are so very different that it's really easy to see how Lia could fall for each of them. Kaden and Rafe are both such excellent characters in their own ways. Personally, I loved both of them! I was really glad that the love triangle was not there throughout the entire book, though. Although her girlfriends are pushing her in both directions, Lia does eventually make up her mind (I haven't made my mind up yet, though).

The world of The Remnant Chronicles is spectacular!! I loved every single place they visited whether or not Lia was happy about her location. Not only has Mary E. Pearson created incredible landscapes, she's created unique mythology and even wildlife to accompany each place. I was so thankful for the map on the inside cover and found myself constantly referring to it. I felt like I could picture each place on the map that was described and that is really one of the most important things to me when I read fantasy!

And then there's the story itself. This one is so good! Unfortunately, I ruined what I suppose was going to be the big twist by snooping around the internet, but that didn't mess up the experience at all for me. Even though I knew what Lia didn't, I still found myself being shocked for her each time something new was revealed. There is so much unique mythology in The Kiss of Deception and little bits of it are sprinkled at the beginning of each chapter. It really makes this world feel genuine. But the very best part about this book was that it made me FEEL! There is a particular scene near the end that basically ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it and that truly doesn't happen much.

The Kiss of Deception is a truly fantastic book! The only issue I had with it was the beginning being a little slow for me. Once events really got moving, though, I really enjoyed it! The writing was immersive and I really even loved the multiple perspectives of the book, which I usually cannot get into. I definitely recommend this to fantasy fans and I cannot WAIT to read book two!

Actual rating: 4.5 stars