The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

The Kiss of Deception (THE COVER!! <3 So pretty. I want her flower crown)
by
Mary E. Pearson
—Series: #1
—Page Count: 492
—My Rating: ★★★
—Current Average Rating on Goodreads: 4.03
—Recommendation Checklist: Fantasy, Strong heroines, kind of instalove, slowish pacing
—Fans of: Throne of Glass ? (ToG is awesome :P One of my- and Belle's- favvvs)
—Genres: (High?) Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, Magic, YA

Synopsis:
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.

Today was the day a thousand dreams would die and a single dream would be born. 

- Princess With a Hecka Long Name AKA Lia, Kiss of Deception, pg. 1

So sad to say that it didn't really live up to my expectations. The book started out great, but then sloped slightly downhill onwards? 

I liked Lia enough. She's tough, independent, and isn't going to back down for anyone anytime soon! Who doesn't like a strong heroine :) 

The love interests, sad to say, were kiiind of....... stupid. *well that escalated quickly* xD

One assassin, and one prince. We don't know who is who until like 60% through, and though that might have been creative, it didn't work for me since I guessed wrong and that ruined both the characters for the rest of the book. -.- Like, I've never read anything that did this before, so all throughout the book, I thought I missed something in the description and went with stereotypes to determine their identities. Mistaaaakeeee much? I'll have to reread it with the right set of mind.

And, the way these two guys met each other was ehhhh, and too much of a coincidence. So Lia fled the castle and is now working at a bar, right? (*points up to synopsis*)

So before going in the bar, the prince (assassin?) sees the assassin (prince? ..you could tell how confused I was) near a water fountain. He goes like "Hey, travelling alone draws more attention, no? There's another lonely looking gentleman! Imma go and get him a drink so I can blend in. They have nooo idea who the other person is. And they both promptly fall in love with the princess after she serves them drinks. 

Me: Well that was fast.. she sure draws men easily 0.o

They both want to be near her (For their personal purposes) so they become bestie roomies! They never do anything and never leave! They always help out at the inn and never run out of money! And they both like Lia! Well that's not weird at aaalllll *nods slowly* She should be more watchful.. like they could be creeps! But she also fell in love quite quick *cries with frustration* 

The one thing I liked though was that Lia isn't like a lot of heroines; she doesn't "love both of them and can't choose which one she likes better (because men are totally like sweets you select in a store *rolls eyes*)." She only likes one dude, and thinks the other one is just "a really nice person." 

With the exception that she flirts with the other guy sometimes to gain attention of the person she likes ... Meh. At least it isn't a triangle. I've been avoiding those kind of books.

Throughout this whole thing, a very bored Cassie is sitting there half asleep like WHY ISN'T THE ASSASSIN ASSASSINATING?! Honestly. If the assassin (whichever one that was) fell for her within a minute, where's the action gonna beeee? :((

Conclusion: The action did not come until 70%. (and STILL the assassin did not do anything; that came from the barbarians and other assassins.)

So what was happening during those 350 (i'm a math GENIUS. BOW DOWN TO ME) pages? 

Ask someone else *facepalm* I have no clue.

I did know that the setting did not change at all, and that there was this scene thing about a scroll... I think that was quite important...  and... um.. oh yeah Lia's poor brother visited her and delivered some news ( :( ). Nothing particularly much. I think the book could have been cut down in volume a lot. 

I mean okay, I may be exaggerating a bit (it wasn't that slow, but for ME personally it felt like forever), but I expected awesome fight scenes and ogres (on second thought; nah) or something! Not my faultt.....I just expected different things to happen.

I liked the magical element the author put in the story though! It reminded me of ToG a lot. Even if a bit confusing, i'm definitely going to pick up the sequel to see what happens on that note. 

Conclusion:

An okay fantasy book, lopsided polygon romance, weird love interests with an identity crisis, and slow progress in storyline. Overhyped. Sorry :P 

Thanks Rachel for recommending this to mee! (you should have seen her gushing about this xD Literally like:

Omg Cass! This is awesome! 100 pages left! *disappears off camera for an hour*

*resurfaces* Omg Cass I finished the book! Read it! Read it! *beam*)  

You can read her lovely contrasting review: Here: and decide if you want to read it yourself. 

Choose wisely, my minions. *fades into shadows*

—MissOddball™ Over and Out.