Review: The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

WARNING: If you’ve not yet read The Winner’s Curse or The Winner’s Crime please proceed with caution. I’ve tried to make this a spoiler free as possible for those who haven’t but I make no promises. If you’ve read both of those then you have nothing to worry about. 🙂

Title: The Winner’s Kiss

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 484

Rating:

 

Synopsis(source):

“Some kisses come at a price.

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it with untrustworthy new allies and the empire as his enemy. Though he has convinced himself that he no longer loves Kestrel, Arin hasn’t forgotten her, or how she became exactly the kind of person he has always despised. She cared more for the empire than she did for the lives of innocent people—and certainly more than she did for him.

At least, that’s what he thinks.

In the frozen north, Kestrel is a prisoner in a brutal work camp. As she searches desperately for a way to escape, she wishes Arin could know what she sacrificed for him. She wishes she could make the empire pay for what they’ve done to her.

But no one gets what they want just by wishing.

As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover that the world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and they are caught in between. With so much to lose, can anybody really win?”

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Teaser Tuesday #2

For some reason my brain thought today was Monday instead of Tuesday. I guess it’s just one of those weeks! So far I’ve been keeping up with my May TBR nicely as I’m now reading The Winner’s Kiss; which I hope to finish before next Tuesday. I’m really enjoying this series and don’t want to say too much since I’m on the final book but I highly recommend them to anyone who hasn’t yet had the chance to pick them up. 🙂

The Winner’s Curse Review

The Winner’s Crime Review

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB from Books And A Beat!

Teaser~

“I don’t know how to say what’s wrong. I don’t know anything.”

“I’m your friend. That much, you can know for certain.”

-Page 199, hardcover, The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

I may have spoiled some things for myself by doing this. Oops. That’s what happens when you have no spoiler impulse control and you open up a book to a random page and see something that catches your eye. I don’t think it was anything too important though!

What are you guys currently reading?

Post a little teaser in the comments if you’re able to/want to. 🙂

-Melissa

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Review: The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

WARNING: If you’ve not read The Winner’s Curse proceed with caution. I’ve tried to write this a spoiler free as possible for those who haven’t read the first book. If you’ve read The Winner’s Curse proceed ahead worry free because I promise I won’t have spoiled anything.

Title: The Winner’s Crime

Author: Marie Rutkoski

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 402

Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5

Synopsis(source):

“The engagement of Lady Kestrel to Valoria’s crown prince means one celebration after another. But to Kestrel it means living in a cage of her own making. As the wedding approaches, she aches to tell Arin the truth about her engagement… if she could only trust him. Yet can she even trust herself? For—unknown to Arin—Kestrel is becoming a skilled practitioner of deceit: an anonymous spy passing information to Herran, and close to uncovering a shocking secret.

As Arin enlists dangerous allies in the struggle to keep his country’s freedom, he can’t fight the suspicion that Kestrel knows more than she shows. In the end, it might not be a dagger in the dark that cuts him open, but the truth. And when that happens, Kestrel and Arin learn just how much their crimes will cost them.”

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Teaser Tuesday #1

Starting off my blog goals with this! I’ve seen two others doing Teaser Tuesday and I decided I wanted to join in because I love the idea. Although I’ve only just started reading The Winner’s Crime, so here’s to hoping I don’t spoil anything for myself! Thus far this series is becoming one of my favorites. It’s full of strong characters, a unique world, and suspense. It gives me Game of Thrones vibes and also makes me think of vikings. I really love books with an older feel like that. I highly recommend The Winner’s Curse(review|goodreads) if you’ve not read it and especially if you love the soilders, empire, battles, swords, horses type of fantasy sprinkled with a tad bit of romance.

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB from Books And A Beat!

Teaser~

“She could have asked why he had summoned her to dinner, and where the prince might be, but Kestrel had seen how the emperor loved to shape silence into a tool that pried open the anxieties of others. She let the silence grow until it was of her making as well as his, and only when the third course arrived did she speak.”

-Page 6, hardcover, The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

I opened it into the beginning of the book as to not spoil myself or others. Probably the least spoilery quote for anyone who hasn’t read The Winner’s Cruse too.

What are you guys currently reading? 🙂

-Melissa

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Review: The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

Title: The Winner’s Curse

Author:Marie Rutkoski

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Genre: Fantasy, YA

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 355

Rating: ★★★★★ 5/5

Synopsis(source):

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction.

Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.

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