Mary E. Pearson

As of March 2024, I’ve read “The Kiss of Deception” SIX TIMES in under 10 years. Not only has my love of the book grown, my respect for the writing has grown. And I was still buzzing when I finished the book last night–even though I knew everything that was going to happen!

Lia is the Princess of Morrighan and she’s unwilling to be forced into an arranged marriage. Lia and Pauline, her maid, run away to a small town to make a new life for themselves. Everything is seemingly idyllic. show more Except there are two newcomers in town who are not who they seem.

A unique part of this book is that there are 5 POVs between 3 characters. There’s Lia, the Prince who was part of the arranged marriage she ran away from, and the Assassin from a hostile kingdom who was ordered to kill her. The Prince and the Assassin also have POVs under their own names. We just don’t know which is the Prince and which is the Assassin! It is impossible to figure out who is who, and I switched my guess a dozen times when I first read it. You’d think that since I’ve read it so many times, this trick would get old. You would be wrong. It’s still so much fun to read and to catch the hints and the ways it plays off the reader's assumptions.

This was written during the height of YA love triangles, but I honestly don’t mind it. Lia, Kaden, and Rafe each have their own arcs in the series and are interesting to follow. Lia grows so much as a character over the course of this book, and her character journey throughout the series is so satisfying to watch. The political complexities of each of their situations are also very interesting… and we’re off to the next reason I love this series so much: world building.

The book is set in a world hundreds, if not thousands, of years after a practically world-ending devastation happened, and the ruins of the Ancients are scattered throughout the world. One aspect of the series that continues to bring me joy: we are the ancients! You can find plenty of easter eggs in the series referencing places and landmarks in our modern world. And take a look at that map! The world of the Remnant Chronicles being built upon the ruins of the Ancients enhances the themes in the series of the cyclical nature of history.

If you are a fan of grounded-fantasy with a side of romance, give this series a try. The first book is just the beginning of an epic fantasy series with great character development and world building. I’m never going to get over “The Remnant Chronicles.” show less

(4.5 Stars)
The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson is the first in a new series about a princess that has a lot to learn, an assassin who is rather conflicted, and a prince who is nothing that you’d expect. While that makes The Kiss of Deception sound like a typical YA fantasy, you would make a horrendous mistake to leave it at that. The world that The Kiss of Deception gives us glimpses of has the potential to be truly epic and could rival adult epic fantasy for its scope and depth. The show more plot and character dynamics could easily have fallen into tropes, but beautifully escaped being quite what you’d think. On top of all that the writing is addictive and you’ll easily sprint through this 500-page book and be begging for book two with the rest of us! Yes, all right, I really darn enjoyed this one!
Note: I received The Kiss of Deception from the publisher for an honest review. Some things may have changed in the final version.



The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (The Remnant Chronicles #1)
Published by Henry Holt and Co. on July 15th, 2014
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Length: 496 pages
How I got my copy: Publisher

In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.

On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love.

Strengths:
Lia is our mischievous heroine, but she is backed up by some excellent secondary characters and some refreshingly solid friendships and family relationships. I really enjoyed the dynamics and loyalty between Lia and her best friend Pauline, as well as Lia’s more complicated relationship with her mother. On top of that, Lia’s brothers are there for her when she needs them and one in particular rises above being a passing plot point to really reflect the depth of Lia’s character.
I cannot tell you enough how excited I am for the world of The Kiss of Deception. If you’ve read The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, you have a bit of an idea of how vast and intriguing the world in The Kiss of Deception is. We see a fair amount of the world directly from Lia’s perspective, but there are also some delectable hints of Ancient beings that left mysterious ruins behind and possibly had a past more distant and epic than anyone of Lia’s time can imagine.
While I have mixed feelings about the romance as you’ll see below, I have to admit that the romance has a twist that I definitely didn’t see coming and that I haven’t actually seen before. I applaud Pearson for being able to still surprise me with YA romance ;-).
I found the pacing of The Kiss of Deception to be spot on. Just as I was growing comfortable with where things were headed, something new cropped up to surprise, horrify, or reassure me. I read the bulk of The Kiss of Deception in an evening and probably could have finished it in a day if I hadn’t gotten distracted by food. Silly food and its distractive nature.
Lia grows a lot throughout The Kiss of Deception, but it felt completely organic. I never could point to a moment that felt forced just for the sake of growth. Instead, I stiffened my upper lip with Lia because she made the best choice among a list of bad options and changed due to those choices. Her inner monologues also reflected this growth well and I feel that I really know her as a person after going through this adventure with her.

Weaknesses:
I’ve seen a fair amount of discussion of the possibility of a love triangle in The Kiss of Deception and while I acknowledge that things aren’t a true love triangle ever, I can’t help but feel conflicted. As you can guess from the main characters being one girl and two boys (especially when the girl is a princess), there is attraction and confused feelings all over the place. I have hope that subsequent books will deviate away from this YA trope, but The Kiss of Deception got too close to a love triangle for my complete enjoyment.
There are chapters from the two boys’ perspectives and I honestly had trouble keeping them straight and remembering who had been in which scene with Lia. That is all I shall say on this point >.>.
The Kiss of Deception has a bit of a quirk to its writing in that there are paragraphs interspersed that summarize events instead of showing them play out. While it didn’t greatly decrease my enjoyment of The Kiss of Deception, I couldn’t help but notice them and wonder if I would have been more engrossed if they had been shown instead of told to me.

Summary:
The Kiss of Deception is poised to be the next great YA fantasy series that everyone is dying to read. The writing is delicious and addictive, the characters strong and lovable, the world deep and intriguing. While I’m worried about a love triangle brewing, I have hope that this series will turn that trope on its head just like all the others The Kiss of Deception manages to gracefully overturn. If you are looking for your next reading addiction, look no further than The Kiss of Deception. show less

Things I have learned from my recent YA reads: Reunions are dangerous. SO SO DANGEROUS.

Also I'll state this upfront - that whole love triangle thing? Resolved. Done. Lia chose and she doesn't waver. That doesn't mean she doesn't mislead, misdirect and lie through her teeth to survive, but her heart belongs to one person. And there's no way to go into this without spoiling that choice so read at your peril. I mean it. Seriously. LOTS OF SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK.

Lia chose Rafe, aka the show more Prince she was being forced to marry who she ran away from who pretended to be a farmer who thought shew as a barmaid. Maybe they would have come to this decision if she hadn't run away, or maybe its a matter of fate as she later contemplates (based on what Dahira said to her at the vagabond camp) that she had to run away in order to be where she needed to be. doesn't matter she chose him and though they both grow irritated because they have to act as if the other doesn't matter to them (their enemies are damned perceptive).

Kaden, having lived under the most magnificent Cloud of Denial this side of ANY fantasy or romance novel (seriously normally they leave this sort of denial to the female characters, not to the male), perceives things how he wants to see them. Maybe he truly did believe, in his heart of hearts, that if he brought Lia to Vendan land she'd be safe. Maybe he thought she really did feel betrayed by Rafe and she'd see that Kaden--despite being WORST then Rafe in a lot of ways that have nothing to do with him being the Assassin of Venda--could make her happy.

But you have to wonder about the guy when everyone under the bloody sun is like "Dude the Komizar does what he likes." and Kaden, for all his vaunted love for Lia and belief they were meant for each other and dreams of such, would (and did) say the same exact thing. Whether Lia was useful or not was not up to Kaden to decide, it was up to the Komizar and quite frankly Lia by herself wasn't terribly useful to him.

So the love triangle was done before the end of the first book and quite frankly whatever lingering affection Lia may have had for Kaden was turned to dust pretty quickly.

Lia, my friends, becomes a lady on a mission. The book is about 75% told from her point of view with two or three chapters dedicated to Pauline and the rest spread equally between Rafe and Kaden (there's over 60 chapters/400pages). Its interesting to watch some of the events the three witness together unfold across their perspectives. I'm thinking of the card game in particular, but there's a couple dinners that apply. All three are playing the other in some manner. Lia is playing Kaden to protect herself and to protect Rafe's real identity. Rafe is playing Kaden to protect his identity and Lia's real feelings. Kaden is playing Rafe to learn who he is and is unintentionally manipulating Lia in a game he isn't even controlling.

And in the center is the Komizar. The leader of the Vendan people by show of strength (which is pretty much how any position of power is attained in those misbegotten lands), Kaden and he have a strong bond that goes back over a decade. A man who is consumed with his quest for power, but is also determined to bring his people to glory.

I had some trouble with him, with pinning him exactly down. Part of it was that Kaden saw him with severely blinded eyes--or I shouldn't say that exactly. Kaden believed in him and trusted him because for a VERY long time the Komizar was the ONLY person who believed in Kaden or trusted him. If Lia had been the fluff-headed spoiled royal brat everyone expected. If she hadn't understood that words said and sacrifices made now were to bring her closer to that future she so desperately wanted...if she hadn't played Kaden the way she did...there wouldn't have ever been a question for him.

What made the Komizar dangerous wasn't his ability to weild a weapon or his willingness to sacrifice thousands in his quest. What made him dangerous was that he understood how to get loyalty. How to make others look at him and remember "He did THIS for me". He knew when to take an opportunity and run with it.

What made him was weak was not understanding how fickle humans are, even in their undying loyalty.

Oh this book. Guys I could go on and on about it. There was some discordent moments. Lia found out more in regards to some traitors in her father's court, and while I appreciated the updates on Pauline they were far less interesting to me then Lia/Rafe/Kaden's struggles. Also I would have liked to "see" from the Komizar's view. Its easy to make a man seem twenty steps ahead of everyone when you're only seeing the aftermath. Harder to justify it when you don't see how he knew.

Still the end was a WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU EVEN DOING TO ME RIGHT NOW ending, which while less people Lia loves die its no less heart breaking. I want to hope for the best. With my only other guidance in how Pearson may complete this series being the Jenna Fox Chronicles (which are, at best, bittersweet endings really) I AM VERY WORRIED FOR MY HEART. show less

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a meditation on bioethics wrapped in a young adult novel. Seventeen year old Jenna Fox wakes from what she is told was a year-long coma after a car accident, and finds that she can’t remember anything. Moved across the country to a strange new home, isolated and at odds with her family, Jenna has to discover what really happened to her and wrestle with the philosophical ramifications of the truth when she uncovers it. Author Mary Pearson gives Jenna an show more authentic voice and wrestles with difficult issues of science and ethics without preaching at the reader. This is an excellent choice for book clubs, as readers will not only be able to relate to Jenna as a teenage narrator but will also find much to discuss in terms of the broader questions raised by Jenna’s experiences. Highly recommended, appropriate for ages 12+. show less