I listened to The Kiss of Deception on audiobook and I think – looking back – I would have liked to have read the physical copy of the book. The audiobook was good, and the narrator did a fantastic job in making the novel come to life, but there’s just something about reading it in its physical form that would have made me enjoy it even more.

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.
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.

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.

The Kiss of Deception wasn’t brilliant. It wasn’t bad, it just good. The writing style was okay, the characters were well executed and had very in-depth personalities which I loved, and then the storyline had some brilliant moments, but then there were some moments where I was just like ‘ok…? so…?’ There was also a slight pacing issue with the book. It just got to a certain point where I was bored of the mystery surrounding the two male characters and the love triangle sometimes got a little bit tedious. The moment where we find out who the assassin is and who the Prince is, comes – I think – a little too late in the book. If it was a little bit earlier on, then I would have definitely given this a higher rating, but because it dragged, I’m going to have to put this book in the 3.5 category (rounded down to 3).

“It can take years to mold a dream. It takes only a fraction of a second for it to be shattered.”

― Mary E. Pearson, The Kiss of Deception

However, moaning aside, the ending of the book was very very good and I was desperate to find out what happened next, but I realised I couldn’t afford the next audiobook *surprise, surprise*, so it’s been about 4 months and I’m yet to read the sequel… STILL. AND THEN THERE’S A THIRD BOOK! So really… I need to hurry up and get my act together and just buy all three books so I can marathon read them.

Also on the positive side, I loved the character of Lia! She went through such massive character development. I know she was a rebellious Princess at the start of the book, but she has so much growth and grows into this strong young woman, but one who is not cold-as-ice. She still lets love into her heart and it was so refreshing to see a YA heroine who is strong, independent, but doesn’t think that love is pointless *blah blah blah*

Overall, this was a good book. Like I said before, it wasn’t absolutely brilliant and a book that I can’t live without, but it captured enough of my attention and my heart for me to be bothered to carry on with the series. I’m very intrigued as to what happens with Lia, Kaden and Rafe as I love all three of the characters and can’t wait to learn more about them.