Thursday, September 11, 2014

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
Published by Macmillan
Available Now
Reviewed by YA Sisterhood's Mom
The Sister's Say:  Wonderful and Exciting

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.

Two young men—the Assassin and the Prince. Both are chasing Lia—the prince because she injured his pride by fleeing their arranged marriage and the assassin to make sure she doesn’t return. When Lia meets them in her new life, she is attracted to both. Of course, the exciting part is that she knows who neither is. The excitement is doubled when neither man can follow through with their vengeance against Lia, but instead finds himself falling in love.

What a wonderful search for what love is! I was a little leery of the comments I had read about the love triangle, but I think these readers totally missed the truth of the relationships in this book.  It is so much more than a love triangle, but more about the friendship of those who loved and were tossed aside and those who have never loved at all. The enlightenment is that love isn’t always perfect, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real love.

Pearson describes this journey to discovery with beautiful language, and she has created a blend of the past and future into a fantasy world made up of three powerful nations: Venda, Dalbreck, and Morrighan. Among these nations she draws together a native of each, who share a cultural hatred of each other, yet they are drawn together as friends. The war between attraction and hatred makes for a wonderful page turner.

Amid these colorful characters and fantastic plot, Pearson shares some poignant truths about life: “It can take years to mold a dream.  It takes only a fraction of a second for it to be shattered.”
I am also stealing her beautiful bedtime prayer (altered it just a bit): “May God grant you a still heart, heavy eyes, and angels guarding your door.”

And if you aren’t hooked with all these things, the beautiful ending will blow you away. I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but let me just say that I know the most perfect words to melt a woman’s heart are “In the farthest corner…I will find you.” (Swallow, swallow, tear, tear, heart thump)


Now I am sitting here waiting for the next book of their journey, and when it makes its way to the shelves, wherever it is…in the farthest corner…I will find it!