The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

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.

Basically, Princess Lia decides to bounce and work in a small village tavern rather than deal with traditional royal BS.

Three chapters in, and I was positive I would hate the book by the end. It had two fantasy elements that I loathe: a whiny royal and a love triangle. But I dropped $9.99 on this puppy, so I wasn’t giving up.

After the Assassin (Kaden) and the Prince She Was Supposed To Marry (Rafe) randomly meet in a forest after tracking Lia, they decide to become roomies within moments of meeting. Instabromance! They end up at her tavern, and immediately figure out her identity.

After a while, it was clear that it wasn’t an obnoxious love triangle. Mostly confused hormonal teenager emotions from a girl who was sheltered from the opposite sex for most of her life. Also, Lia wasn’t whiny at all—she just wanted to escape her royal life and didn’t take into account the consequences of that decision. She is seventeen, after all.

I loved the writing. Absolutely loved it. It flowed, the dialogue was great, was descriptive, and the worldbuilding was amazing. The creation of the kingdoms, wars, traditions, stories, songs…it was brilliant.

I loved the characters even more. I’m typically harsh on characters, but Pearson did a fabulous job at constructing them. The story is told from the points-of-view of Lia, Rafe, and Kaden. Most of the book is from Lia’s point-of-view, but the first-person point-of-view from Rafe and Kaden really gives you insight into their mysterious backgrounds. At this point, I should mention that no one knows who Rafe and Kaden really are, and Lia has no idea they know who she is.

This book was excellent, and I will definitely be recommending this to friends. I nearly cried when I saw the sequel isn’t due to be released until July. JULY. Do you know how far away that is? I have serious book grief right now and I regret reading it so darn fast 🙂 With no surprise, I rated this a 5/5 on Goodreads.