The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson Review

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. (Description from book cover)

I wouldn't say it's my favourite book ever, but I still loved it! This book did take a while to get into the story, but still, the pages flew by without me really noticing, and before I knew it, I'd reached 90 pages when I was supposed to be doing something else (probably uni readings).

I have heard others commenting that nothing really happens in this book, but I think that's really up to the reader to decide. It does put people off reading a book, and to say it about this book, is really unfortunate, because this book is really enjoyable as a whole. It's an easy read, which makes the story fly by anyway.

Lia fits in with my favourite type of book heroine. She's courageous and independent, headstrong and knows exactly what she wants. She's not a fantastic fighter - she's the First Daughter of Morrighan - and has lived a sheltered life until her wedding day. She was not allowed to learn how to fight. She does have some knife throwing skills, which helps her out of a tight situation, but she only ever has one knife on her at any time, which means if she misses, she's in trouble.

Kaden and Rafe are the two guys that turn up in the village where Lia has settled. Kaden is a little worse for wear, but is the more talkative of the two and quite friendly. Rafe, on the other hand, is quiet and doesn't really want to volunteer anything about himself, which makes him rather mysterious. It usually takes a while for me to pick my favourite guy in a book with a love triangle, but I chose quickly this time.

I was thrown by the plot twist! Yes, I probably should have seen that coming - I usually do - but this time, oh my damn! Sneaky, sneaky author! Well done.

Some of the events in this book are quite heartbreaking, so be prepared for a few tears, but for the rest, kick back and enjoy. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, The Heart of Betrayal, which is out this July. But for now, I give The Kiss of Deception a rating of 5/5.