The Laughing Listener
September 2018
Format: Paperback

Rating: 5 Stars

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I have so many feelings?!?! My heart was not prepared for the ending of this book. After attempting to listen to the audiobook and completely failing, I was more than a little apprehensive about reading this. But my awesome book friends convinced me it was a good idea and I’M SO GLAD BECAUSE THIS WAS AMAZING???? I can’t even believe there was ever a time when I didn’t love this.



First of all, the format of this is CRAZY genius. The way Pearson spun the traditional love triangle and kept the identities of the guys a secret was such a great way to amp up the tension with minimal action. It gave Lia some time to really get to know Kaden and Rafe and develop feelings while STILL building the suspense. Plus, each chapter begins with a passage from “historical” songs and books that seems so random in the beginning, but come together in the end. It was so great. I literally could NOT put this book down and flew through it in two days.

“‘Some things last.’ I turned to face him. ‘Really? And just what would that be?’ ‘The things that matter.’”

I also really really REALLY loved Lia. Okay, I admit there were things about her in the beginning that grated on me, but all of that was wiped away at the end of the book. Her character arc is so awesome and she’s such a freaking bad ass by the end!! I can’t talk about most of the other characters without spilling spoilers, but I loved them. Even the characters I hated were amazingly rich and layered. Going into this, I expected a somewhat shallow story of a princess running away from home and caught in a woe-is-me-two-attractive-men-love-me love triangle. And even though it might have started that way, this novel turned into soooooooo much more! I was worried that learning the identity of the two male leads would deflate the excitement of the book, but that DEFINITELY didn’t happen!

“‘Trust your gifts, Arabella, whatever they may be. Sometimes a gift requires great sacrifice, but we can no more turn our backs on it than will our hearts not to beat.’”

And this is completely random, but I was also really impressed with the Venden language?? Look, I only know English and learned the bare minimum of Spanish to get through high school, so I’m no expert. But it seems like Pearson literally created her own language and I’m in awe!! That’s CRAZY.

FINAL WORD
This book was AMAZING!!! Don’t listen to the audiobook because the hard copy formatting is key for this novel, but definitely pick this up! It’s such an awesome story!!

#1 ↦ The Kiss of Deception ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#2 ↦ [b:The Heart of Betrayal|21569527|The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles, #2)|Mary E. Pearson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1414932049s/21569527.jpg|40901894] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#3 ↦ [b:The Beauty of Darkness|25944798|The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles, #3)|Mary E. Pearson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445626686s/25944798.jpg|45680041] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧