The Kiss of Deception

by Mary E. Pearson

The rebellious princess runs away from an arranged marriage because she wants to experience normal life. That cliche was enough of a deterrent that The Kiss of Deception was on my shelf for a year before I tried reading it. But honestly, it was actually pretty entertaining.

Together with her handmaiden, Princess Lia of Morrighan runs away on her wedding day and settles down to work in a bar in a small village. She's followed by two men: Prince Rafe of Dalbreck, who she left at the altar; and Kaden, an assassin from Venda sent to stop the alliance between the cities of Morrighan and Dalbreck. Rafe and Kaden end up befriending Lia and, well, a love triangle happens. If you loathe love triangles, run away now!  

The chapters rotate between each character's point-of-view (POV). To make things more mysterious, "The Prince's" and "The Assassin's" POVs are featured, in addition to Rafe's and Kaden's (although it's a no brainer as to who's who). It was a really quick read for me as both the writing and the plot weren't that complex. If you're able to make it through the first book, where Lia spends the majority of her time as a bar maid, the second book is where the actual adventure begins.

The Kiss of Deception and The Heart of Betrayal are available as eBooks on Overdrive.

Book of the Month: April - This Shattered World

by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

The first book of this series, These Broken Stars, grabbed my attention because the cover looked amazing! But This Shattered World is more of a companion novel than a sequel because we follow two new characters on the war-torn planet of Avon. 

Captain Jubilee "Lee" Chase is a badass. She's good at what she does - being a soldier, being a leader, crushing the rebels - and she knows it. But when she meets the charming rebel Flynn Cormac, she's literally knocked off her feet as he captures her and brings her back to the rebel base. 

Decades ago, the rebels were given empty promises of a better life by the terraforming corporation, Terra Dynamics. Flynn's sister, Orla, led a notorious attack which she paid for with her life. And now with Flynn as the leader of the rebellion, his people expect him to be like his sister. Instead, Flynn struggles to convince his people that communication, not war, is the key to progress. He meets resistance with every choice he makes, like capturing instead of shooting Avon's most famous soldier, Lee. 

Their unlikely alliance begins when Flynn decides to help Lee out of the rebel base as the rebels prepare to execute her. Together they unveil the truth behind Avon's history and why the planet has stayed unchanged and swamp-like for the past two decades. 

I loved These Broken Stars. So I was disappointed that Tarver and Lilac weren't the mains in the second book and it actually took me awhile to get into This Shattered World because the two books are so different. This book has much more world and culture building which the first one lacked as it was so focused on the characters. It's also much faster-paced, with the only "breaks" being the flashbacks in between the chapters. That said, once you get going, it's a hard book to put down.     

One of the things that makes this book so awesome is that the romance doesn't take over the story. In fact, it takes a backseat to the plot because they're not supposed to be together. Soldiers and rebels shoot each other on sight. To be allies and in love? Well, let's just say that Kaufman and Spooner did a phenomenal job developing their characters. Never did I question these characters' thoughts and actions (and I do a lot of questioning and eyebrow-raising when it comes to romance-heavy YA novels) and it was fascinating to see them learn, grow, and work through their thoughts and feelings. 

The writing is beautiful (there's so much life injected into these characters through the chosen points-of-view and style of writing). The cover is beautiful. This entire world Kaufman and Spooner created is beautiful. And the fact that the characters from the first book actually make a significant appearance in this one? Beautiful. I don't have any bad things to say about this trilogy and I cannot wait to read the third book!

The first and third books in the Starbound series are These Broken Stars and Their Fractured Light. You may also enjoy Avalon, For Darkness Shows the Stars, Illuminae, and Starflight.

A Thousand Pieces of You

by Claudia Gray  

Marguerite Caine is an artist in a family of scientists. Her parents are physicists that invented a device to travel to parallel-universes that they call the Firebird. When Marguerite’s father is murdered, all fingers point to one of his assistants: the quiet and awkward Paul, who immediately jumps into another universe to avoid being caught. And the chase is on. Marguerite, along with her parents’ other assistant, Theo, follow Paul to the different universes. With each jump Marguerite learns more about the two guys, and the truth about her father’s death.

Why yes, this book caught my eye because of the cover, but the plot was what sucked me in. Alternate universes are always fun to read about, and Gray did an amazing job building each world Marguerite landed in. One of the places Marguerite visited was Tsarist Russia (as shown on the cover, so it’s not a spoiler!) which was beautifully depicted by Gray. Unfortunately, that part was also a fault in the story -- it was oddly long and slow compared to the other universes Marguerite goes to. That’s because the adventure gets overshadowed by romance at times, but what’s a YA novel without a complicated love triangle, right?

Overall, it was a really fun book to read. I can’t wait to read the second book in the series, Ten Thousand Skies Above You.