  | Kiss of deception (Remnant chronicles) Author: Pearson, Mary | |
| Price: $6.50 | ||
Summary:
On the morning of her wedding, Princess Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, 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. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets--even as she finds herself falling in love.
| Accelerated Reader Information: Interest Level: UG Reading Level: 5.50 Points: 17.0 Quiz: 167708 | Reading Counts Information: Interest Level: 9-12 Reading Level: 5.40 Points: 26.0 Quiz: 64943 | |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (06/01/14)
School Library Journal (07/01/14)
Booklist (+) (06/01/14)
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (00/07/14)
The Hornbook (00/09/14)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 06/01/2014 *Starred Review* She is a princess, and it is her duty to marry into an alliance. But 17-year-old Lia has her own opinion about that obligation, one that she puts into action when she escapes her wedding with her lady-in-waiting, Pauline. Determined, confident Lia thinks that she knows how to cover her tracks, and soon she and Pauline are working as barmaids in Pauline’s hometown. Now two new voices enter to help tell the story. One belongs to the prince whom Lia was supposed to marry. He is curious about his fled fiancée and angry that she thought of a way to get out of the marriage first. The other voice belongs to an assassin who is sent by the Komizar of Venda to make sure that Lia doesn’t change her mind and return to initiate an alliance that will harm their country. Pearson offers readers a wonderfully full-bodied story: harrowing, romantic, and full of myth and memory, fate and hope. She never compromises her characters—especially the multifaceted Lia—for plot; each element motivates the other. There is also a richness to the descriptions that makes readers feel that they can see and even smell the changing landscapes. This has the sweep of an epic tale, told with some twists; it’s a book that almost doesn’t need a sequel, but readers will be thrilled that it continues on. - Copyright 2014 Booklist.
Bulletin for the Center... - 07/01/2014 The marriage of Arabella (known as Lia), First Daughter of Morrighan, to the crown prince of Dalbreck is meant to establish a tentative alliance between the two kingdoms, but Lia has no interest in forgoing the possibility of a future loving relationship in favor of duty and tradition. On the day of her wedding, she escapes to a small seaside town where she disguises herself and soon settles contently into life as a maid at an inn. Her hope for true love seems to become a possibility when two newcomers catch her eye, but the two men, one the jilted prince and the other a paid assassin with an unknown patron, have their own reasons for tracking Lia down. Pearson balances the character-driven main text with excerpts and passages from the two kingdoms’ holy books and songs, making it clear that the events in Lia’s life correspond with fate. Lia herself is a likable heroine, and the selfishness in her act of leaving a kingdom in shambles for some future love is negated by her obvious naïveté about political strategies and romantic relationships. Most intriguing are the two love interests, though, partly because of the way Pearson structures their narrating chapters; while Lia knows the two men as Kaden and Rafe, readers only know their internal thoughts as The Prince or The Assassin, adding to the mystery and the romantic secrecy. An attack on Lia’s family reveals who’s who and ensures that Lia will make a return to Morrighan in a future installment. KQG - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
School Library Journal - 07/01/2014 Gr 9 Up—This genre-bending novel begins with 17-year-old Princess Lia, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan, about to undergo a ceremony of preparation for her wedding to the prince of Dalbreck, a man she has not yet met but already loathes. Rather than follow the demands of her father and the expectations of her mother, Lia and her maid, Pauline, slip away before the wedding can take place and travel to the coastal town of Terravin. Disguised as tavern maids, the teens manage to remain hidden until two strangers come to town; young men, each with their own agenda—one the prince Lia should have married, one an assassin bent on killing her. Pearson, author of the popular "Jenna Fox Chronicles" (Holt), has created the first in a marvelous new fantasy series that is sure to find an audience with devotees of Suzanne Collins's "The Hunger Games" and John Flanagan's "Ranger's Apprentice" books (Philomel). Romance, adventure, mysticism—this book has it all and it just may be the next YA blockbuster.—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.
