Review: THE KISS OF DECEPTION by Mary E. Pearson

Title: The Kiss of Deception
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Publication date: July 15, 2014
Publisher: Macmillan
Source: an e-galley provided by the publisher for an honest review

In this timeless new trilogy about love and sacrifice, a princess must find her place in a reborn world.

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.

While the characters are great and the plot picks up, the writing is what stands out. Pearson is a fabulous narrator, which I think is sometimes overlooked in fantasy. The plot is a necessity, but Pearson's writing stood out for me. Lia is the main narrator, but it does bounce to the "prince's" and assassin's" POVs occasionally in the beginning. After Lia and her maid Paulina escape Lia's future marriage, running away to a far-off inn, the assassin and prince follow. There, we don't know who is who and who Lia is exactly referring to. All of this could completely bomb if the writer doesn't pull off the writing. But Pearson basically flipped her hair like Beyonce and blew me away with her writing.

However, at first, I worried about everything. The inn setting felt a little too dragged out. I was too confused with the boys (which I see now is FULLY intentional). I was just feeling iffy about it all, and unfortunately that's a side effect of reading a hyped book. On the flip side, there's a reason it was hyped.

We hit the TWIST and basically...

 Then this definitely happened...

I'm still kicking myself over how gullible I was. You see, I had it all figured out. I guessed and felt right and then Pearson TRICKED me. She completely deceived me, when I thought the only deception going on was between Lia and the boys does this mean Pearson kissed me in an authorly way? So I believed her and BAM, knocked down.

After that, everything picked up and went full force. All these spoilery things that I can't mention, but I'm dying to, believe me. Political strife and personal anguish happens as well as longing and hatred. Once we got over one twist, trauma, or problem, we were almost instantly introduced to another, but in a good way. Unlike other authors who will blatantly place conflict in a plot to force it to be interesting, Pearson does it with ease, making it feel natural.

I had people warn me about the non-love triangle, but despite their warnings, I was still super nervous while reading. From the very beginning, I wondered how it would play out until Lia clearly wanted one guy more. Then the TWIST happened and it was essentially cemented. Then the fun begins and I had a nagging feeling that Lia would cave. It left off with her still only wanting one guy, but I can see a love triangle playing into the mix in the sequel. I really hope that won't happen, but I'll try to mentally prepare myself anyways.

If it does happen, I might even forgive it if I could just get my hands on the sequel now. I liked this book that much.

Verdict: A twisty fantasy with feels and encore-worthy author moves. Bravo, Pearson.

Review: SIX MONTHS LATER by Natalie D. Richards

Title: Six Months Later

Author: Natalie D. Richards

Publication date: October 1, 2013

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Source: an ARC provided by the author for an honest review

Chloe didn't think about it much when she nodded off in study hall on that sleepy summer day. But when she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can't remember the last six months of her life. Before, she'd been a mediocre student. Now, she's on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now he's her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now her best friend won't speak to her.

What happened to her? 

And why can't she remember?

Review: 

First line: I'm sitting next to the fire alarm, and my best friend is going down in flames. 

Apparently, I've been on a twisted book kick, gravitating more towards books that have a "figure me out" synopsis. I still started this one with trepidation, but there was no need, I didn't suddenly grow immune to twisting plots or mysteries. 

Imagine it's late May, junior year is ending, and you decide to take a quick nap in the library. What's the harm? Of course, you can see the harm when you wake up and it's snowing outside. Additionally, when you wake up, you suddenly realize that there's a lot that's happened in those six months. Oh, like, your best friend hates you, your parents think you're an amazing student, you're dating the guy you've had a crush on for forever, and you have this mysterious relationship with the "bad boy" in school. Bye, bye, sanity. 

The Good: 

• The writing. Natalie Richards does a great job of conveying Chloe's panic without being over the top or annoying. I didn't feel as if the plot started veering off to a subplot, like romance, but I felt like Richards made Chloe realistic with her reactions.
• The mystery. There were a few things I guessed at in the beginning, but for the majority of my questions, I was mainly left in the dark until the end. We're given a few answers to satisfy us, but enough mystery is left to keep us coming back for more. 
• The flashbacks. When they're not overdone, I personally love flashbacks. As she's regaining her memory, and spending more time with Adam, she has flashbacks, showing her a little peek into the forgotten six months. They didn't overwhelm the story nor were they useless, making it exciting when she had another flash. 
• Chloe. While I didn't fall in love with all the characters, I do have to give props to Chloe. She wasn't a whiny, annoying girl who makes your head throb, which can be the possibility in these kind of stories. She was resourceful and determined to uncover the truth, not being naive in who to trust as so many YA main characters typically do. I easily could imagine myself doing the same things to find out what happened to me in the last six months. 

The Meh: 

• The romance. Right off the bat, I had a bad feeling about Blake, a feeling I think everyone who has read this book had. However, while I wanted to like and cheer for Adam, I couldn't. He was okay and definitely the better choice between the two, but did I like him? No. Did I hate him? No. He was meh. Personally, their whole romance was meh. While I really can't say anything more about either "love" interest, I do have to give at least one point in favor for Adam being the "bad boy" because that alone gives the possibility of swooning. Note: Anyone else think of the "I'd like it if he could be wicked, but wouldn't" Anne Shirley quote? 
• Maggie. Another character I really wanted to like, but she fell too short for me to do so. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to explain why because that would involve me revealing spoilers. But I felt Maggie was unjustified in her actions and was too unforgiving considering the circumstances. 

Verdict: A suspenseful, keeps-you-guessing debut that didn't disappoint and it had a really amazing concept. 

Note: Blogger keeps messing up my fonts/spacing. Please excuse this. Does anyone know how to change the line spacing?