Kiss of Deception

Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson - 3.5 STARS

Synopsis- 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 assasin 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.

* Received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review 

Overall: Adventure 
Characters: Lia, Rafe and Kaden
Page Turner: Towards the end yes
Series Cont.? Yes
Recommend if You Like…Graceling?
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy 
Sex Scenes: No 

Overall- 
This book was quite different from what I typically read. I am not one for the high fantasy/historical fiction type books (if you check my goodreads page you'll see I tend to dislike these book when I do read them), BUT, this book surprised me. The first 40-50% I was not truly committed. I was just reading to figure out which guy was the assassin and which guy was the prince. The author's writing didn't quite divulge this information until later (see note below). But I gotta say, wow. Im pretty impressed. I can't say I loved this book, but I enjoyed it. I think the beginning was much too slow for my liking and that the first half really could have gone by much more quickly. In fact, my guess is that book 1 and 2 could probably be merged into one if the author removed some of what I considered unnecessary. 

Regardless of that, I absolutely positively LOVED the characters in this book. Lia is not just an interesting character, she is feisty, with a fiery personality, independent and determined with a wild side. I also enjoyed Rafe and Kaden, as much as I hated being in suspense as she fell in love with one of them, I also found that this really worked well for the book in the end. We find out about halfway through who is who and the reveal to the reader is intriguing. 

I am so impressed with the author's writing style and ability. It is not simply the two guys, and multiple POV's that she had to juggle but the technique used. The writing didn't feel stiff or forced, or even awkward (unlike Aire, which was VERY hard for me to read). Instead this novel flowed very well. The pacing, as mentioned, feels a little off, mainly its too slow, until around the 50% mark when things really pick up. Thats really where the adventure starts. 

Lia's adventure is what really kept me intrigued, and glued to my kindle. Here is where the world building really begins as the world around Lia changes and reveals al new terrors. I enjoyed this aspect of the book a lot, constantly wondering if her feelings were going to evolve or change, but pleasantly surprised. She continued to be strong willed and feisty with her companions. 

I was also pleasantly surprised with the "magic" that she "may or may not" have. This aspect of the book was not discussed much at all in the beginning of the book, but as it continues on, the idea of "magic" is discussed more and more. I was little confused at certain parts and hope that explanations are provided more thoroughly in the next book. But overall, this plot twists with the Scholar, the stolen texts and her mother really added value to what could have been an otherwise okay book. 

I am looking forward to book 2 and where it will go. The ending here is a cliff hanger though, so I am disappointed in that!

NOTE--
The changing POV's was sometimes very confusing and annoying. I REALLY did not like that I was CONSTANTLY guessing who was who. I was frustrated and annoyed until it was revealed. Admittedly, in the end….this confusion worked to the readers advantage. I was truly impressed with the authors ability to write the POV in such a way as to confuse the reader yet make it so obvious at the same time.