The Kiss of Deception: Book 1

Princess Arabella Celestine Idris Jezelia, Lia, is to be married to the Prince of Dalbreck today. She has never met the man as the marriage is a political alliance of their two nations. The Princess just wants to be free and she and her maid, Pauline, are going to make that possible. They decided the night before that they are going to run away to a small town that Pauline grew up in and live the rest of their lives out there as regular people. Pauline has some connections still living there and hopefully they will be able to hide from assassins from Venda, the knights of Dalbreck, and her own knights in Morrighan.

I had originally read this book like four years ago and completely forgotten about it until recently. This is such an interesting book. Most of the time the books that I read when I was that young were interesting then, but bore me now. This book has surprisingly good writing and the characters are quite interesting. I really enjoyed rereading this book and getting to know the characters again after so long.

The world in this story felt real. Each kingdom has their own history, gods, languages, and rituals. They have their own cultures and way of life. Lia is such a determined character. No matter what happens, she refuses to give up. She also has a talent for languages and putting pieces together. Rafe is purposeful. He is young and untried, but willing to learn and fight for what is right. Kaden is distant and resolved. He does not change his mind easily and is quite cautious. Pauline is kind and sweet. Berdi cares so much. Gwyneth is scary and understanding. Eben is so cute. Walther is tenacious and so sweet. The relationships are really well written and the story knows how to keep you enthralled. This story is definitely one of my favorites.

If you like this book, the next book in the series is The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson. Other books like this one are: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi because both main characters have similar wants, The Selection series by Kiera Cass because both series have political turmoil, and Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian because both characters desire to be free.