Title: The Kiss of Deception
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Publisher: Square Fish
Pub Date: July 8, 2014
Format: Paperback
Pages: 486
Source: Library
Genre(s): YA, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads || Buy on Amazon

---

Synopsis from Goodreads:

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

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.

---

My review:

“Maybe there were as many shades of love as there were blues of the sky.”

And maybe there were too many tropes. I should have known better. Going into any YA book–especially a fantasy novel–I expect there to be a ton of tropes used. The Kiss of Deception is no exception to that rule.

Female protagonist? Check.

Doesn’t know she has powers but actually has powers? Check.

Love triangle? Double check!

Insta-love? Check. Kind of.

So many tropes. And yet, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

It started off slow and I almost put it down, but I am so glad that I kept on reading. Ironically, I was more interested in the story once the potential love interests were introduced. Does that make me a hypocrite? I don’t know.

The worldbuilding needed work and there wasn’t much being developed in the political sense of things, so the romance was basically the driving force behind the plot. Lia’s character started to grow on me more towards the end of the book… as did her two suitors. But who is the prince and who is the assassin?

I was shook. Completely taken by surprise. How did I not see this coming? The writing was just that good. I love me some plot twists. This book is getting one star alone just for that plot twist.

Seriously. I avoided this book because I knew about the love triangle, and now I feel like the book wouldn’t have been as interesting without it! If you can handle all the tropes I listed earlier, then you should definitely read this book. It got progressively better (particularly in the second half) and ended on such a cliffhanger. I have to read the second book as soon as possible! I’m also hoping that we’ll see more development in the setting and political landscape, but who am I kidding? I want to see more of the guys.

Mary Pearson is a fantastic writer. I’m already a fan of her writing style, so I can’t wait to read more from her.

Who is who? Who will she choose? You’ll have to read this book to find out.