The Kiss of Deception:

WARNING: Spoilers.

This month all the novels that I've read have been fantasy, and wanting to keep to this genre I decided to read Mary E Pearson's "The Kiss of Deception". This novel has been on my TBR pile for a while now and I thought it was appropriate to finally get round to reading it. It follows the story of a princess who flees on her wedding day because she doesn't agree with arranged marriages - particularly ones that further political alliances. She starts her new life in a distant village as a waitress with her friend Pauline. However, what she doesn't know is that an assassin sent to kill her and the jilted prince come looking for her. As the title states, there is a lot of deception masked in this novel and throughout the course of it more truths are revealed. What was unusual about this novel was that Pearson decided to keep the identity of the assassin and prince a secret until around half way through the novel; the only thing that is divulged is their names - Rafe and Kaden. This aspect of the novel was particularly interesting as it left the readers in suspense and constantly assuming who was who.

However, this was probably the only great thing about this book - the rest was vague and, to be honest, quite boring. I didn't connect with any of the characters, especially Lia - who was the main protagonist. I have to admit, being a princess and managing to run away (unnoticed) on her wedding day was very well done, but other than that she was rather annoying. As for the two male characters, I found their struggle for Lia's attention very boring and childish. If I had to chose my favourite out of them, it would most probably be Rafe - however, from the get go of this novel I had my heart set on Rafe being the assassin. When I found out he wasn't who I thought he was, I got so confused. I think it would have been better for me to have gone into this book not reading any reviews and spoilers as it didn't help my case at all. So my advice to anyone who hasn't read this book would be to go into it not knowing anything.

In terms of Kaden, I found him to be a very interesting character, who could have been explored further but was instead left neglected. As the assassin, he must have a very fascinating back story and for it to be left untouched was a little disappointing. My interest for him peaked when he was revealed as the assassin, especially when Lia found the scars that covered his back - but instead of Pearson exploring how the got them and why, she just brushed it off. Granted she might go into depth on them in her next book, but I feel this extra information about him would have helped me connect to his character more. I just want to know more about him.

Apart from not connecting with any of the characters, I have to admit that I did like the world that Pearson thought up. I loved how she described the settings - they we very easy to visual and were always depicted beautifully. The map located at the start of the novel helped a lot. I liked the variation of the different places, but again, Pearson didn't explore their heritage, or culture, or anything really. I feel like this book lacked a lot of detail, which could have made it better.

Overall, I would probably give this book 3 out of 5 stars. It wasn't the best book I've read, nor was it the greatest start to a fantasy series. For it to be a great fantasy series, it needs to be gripping, detailed and everything within it portrayed wonderfully - but this book lacked in certain areas. However, I will admit that there were some elements I did enjoy but not enough that I want to pick the next book up. Who knows, I might do. I might not. We'll see.