{Blog Tour} The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson: Guest Post + Giveaway

You guys! I've toured a lot of books in my day, but never have I helped promote one that I believed in like this. I have the UTMOST pleasure in bringing you a guest post from Mary E. Pearson as part of The Kiss of Deception Blog Tour today. I am utterly in awe of this book, and even now, I'm contemplating a re-read because of the level of awesome this story brings to the table. I love fantasy. I love romance. I love magic. And this story brings it all. I've said as much in my previous posts about the book, but just in case you don't believe me, Mary herself is stopping by, and I asked her to tell you about the men of The Kiss of Deception. But before we get into that -- though I know you can barely contain your anticipation -- here's a little about the book, in case you've been living under a rock for the past few months:

Title: The Kiss of Deception
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Series: The Remnant Chronicles, book #1
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

In this timeless new trilogy about love and sacrifice, a princess must find her place in a reborn world.

In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.

On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful 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.

You can sample the story here:  read an excerpt.

The Men of The Kiss of Deception

“The one she supposed to be a fisherman because of his dark hair streaked with the sun and scratched hands had a more calculating air about him than the fishermen I had seen in town.”

“The blond fellow was . . . as sober-faced as his friend in my estimation, with a brooding quality that clouded the air about him. There was far more on his mind that just a cool cider.”

Well, let’s see, we have Kaden and Rafe, and the prince and the assassin. That looks like four men and in some ways it is, but in fact we are only talking about two characters. For a good chunk of the book we don’t know who is who and so there’s only so much I can say because I don’t want to spoil it for future readers, but I will say I fell in love with both of them as I wrote the story.

I didn’t expect to, but my heart went out to the assassin as I learned more of his backstory, and the prince’s backstory also touched me in unexpected ways. He wasn’t as privileged as one might think. I suppose the point was, we all have certain expectations of what people are like, including Lia, our heroine, based on titles and all kinds of surfacy things.

So before I revealed their identities, I wanted Lia to get to know both men first without titles like assassin and prince getting in the way. She meets them with their borrowed identities, a trader of pelts, and a farmer. I let their relationships develop, and once it was revealed to her who was who, I wanted the reader to experience exactly what Lia did.

Also, by withholding their identities from her, both Kaden and Rafe got to step outside of themselves. For a short period of time, they got to be someone else, which was just as important for them as Princess Lia becoming a tavern maid.

Thanks so much for hosting me and for kicking off the tour, Jen!

About the author:

Mary E. Pearson is the award-winning author of The Jenna Fox Chronicles, The Miles Between, A Room on Lorelei, and Scribbler of Dreams. She writes full-time from her home office in California where she lives with her husband and two golden retrievers.

Find Mary:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Facebook

Wow, wow, wow! I don't think I could have talked about the men of The Kiss of Deception without some spoilers, so I'm quite impressed with how adequately the author did so. I actually love the fact that as readers, we pretty much meet these fellows as Lia does, even though we're privy to more information than she is. It's remarkable how everything comes full circle, and I never suspected it was anything other than how I believed it to be. I bow down to the author's cunning and manipulation. It's extraordinary! Thank you again, Mary, for stopping by and spilling a little about your newest book, which honestly, is on its way to becoming my favorite of the year. I was completely infatuated...spellbound if you will...by this book, and I can't wait for the next installment in THE REMNANT CHRONICLES.

And to celebrate the book's release, the awesome folks at Henry Holt & Co./Macmillan have offered up a gorgeous hardcover for one lucky winner in the US/Canada:

finished copy of The Kiss of Deception

Rules:

• This giveaway is US/Canada only. The publisher will be providing the prize for this giveaway.
• One entry per household. 
• Entries will be verified. Any entry found to be falsified will result in disqualification of all entries for that participant. 
• Winner will be notified via email. Winner will then have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected. Please check your SPAM folder!!! 
• We are not responsible for lost packages. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I feel so privileged to have been invited to help kick off this tour, and I implore you to check out the rest of the stops:

The Kiss of Deception Blog Tour Schedule

Monday July 7

Icey Books (Review)

The Starry-Eyed Revue (Guest Post)

Tuesday July 8

Adventures of a Book Junkie (Review)

Cuddlebuggery (Guest Post)

Wednesday July 9

FicFare (Review)

Two Chicks on Books (Guest Post)

Thursday July 10

Winterhaven Books (Review)

Tales of a Ravenous Reader (Guest Post)

Friday July 11

MundieMoms (Review)

Alice Marvels (Guest Post)

Monday July 14

YA Bibliophile (Review)

Bewitched Bookworms (Guest Post)

Tuesday July 15

That Artsy Reader Girl (Review)

Jenna Does Books (Guest Post)

Wednesday July 16

ExLibris (Review)

My Friends are Fiction (Guest Post)

Thursday July 17

Birth of a New Witch (Review)

Good Books and Good Wine (Guest Post)

Friday July 18

Google Hangout with Mary Pearson hosted by Belle of the Literati (More info to come)

Thanks for stopping by & happy reading!

Labels: blog tour, favorites, guest post, high fantasy, macmillan, mary e. pearson, must-read, the remnant chronicles