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wordsofclover 's review for:

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
4.0

Princess Arabella has run away on the day of her wedding to someone she hasn’t even met. Determined to live a normal life, Arabella, who prefers to go by Lia, finds a sleepy fishing village to call home. Kaden and Rafe are after Lia - one of them is the prince she was meant to marry and one of them is the assassin sent to kill her but we don’t know who is who. However, things become complicated when Lia is more than either man expects.

This was a pretty good read and a n enjoyable one. It was a bit different to what I expected - whenever i had thought about this book in the past, I always imagined a girl lost in a woods with two guys chasing her - don’t ask me why. Though it’s not too far from the truth.

The world building for me was good, as well as character development and relationships. I liked Lia as a character, she was very much a strong female character who was able to push her boundaries and do what needs doing. She did make some stupid decisions sometimes but I could look past that for the most part.

I wouldn’t really classify this book as a love triangle as for me, it was definitely clear where Lia’s feelings lay - unless things take a turn in the next book, though I find it had to believe after everything that happened and all the things that guy and his band of men are responsible for (I think I would lose a lot of respect for her to be honest).

There was one thin I hated about this book and it was that the moment Rafe and Kaden walked int the door and met Lia for the first time, they both pretty much fell in love which, come on, no AND they both immediately acted like they had some say in how she lived her life just because they had romantic feelings towards her. Again no. It made me feel a bit icky and I just had a bit of a grudge against both guys because of that.