Review: The Heart Of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

My Rating: 5 Stars
Date Read: July 2015



Publication Date:  July 7, 2015
Hardcover, 470 pages



Summary from Goodreads:

Intrigue abounds in this hotly anticipated sequel to The Kiss of Deception!

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save her life, Lia's erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen.

Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: there's Rafe, who lied to Lia, but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be barbarians. Now that she lives amongst them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country... and her own destiny



My Review:

Oh my...I don't know how much more of this my heart can take...

This book kind of sort of reminded me of The Host. Where the pretty captive is in this hostile environment, but manages to integrate herself into the lives of her captors and winning their hearts.

Most people underestimated Lia, which was a huge mistake on their part. They thought she was a spoiled princess, and since she also happened to be a prisoner, they treated her poorly. She didn't let it get to her though, and she played it to her advantage, and took every chance she could to show them just how wrong they were. {Like when she played that card game and won...} It was pretty fantastic, although sometimes she did these things without fully thinking of the consequences of her actions.

When she was thinking things through, she was kind of... Scary? No, that's really not the right word, but whatever. She was very calculating, and very good at using just the right words to get people to believe her.

I had this love/hate relationship with Kaden, and I still don't know how I fell about him.

The Komizar... Oh wow, that was complicated. He was a bad guy, I get that. But then he had his moments... Very small, and very few and far between. But I couldn't help but like him just an eensy weensy bit.... Ugh.

And now for the part that killed me:

*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ SPOILERS!!*


Lia and Rafe spent all this time planning and scheming, trying to get out of Venda, and they even had help from the inside and the outside... Lia KILLED the Komizar for crying out loud {which means she's the new one} but they're out, and headed back home... which is a very bad idea. Lia is considered a traitor to her kingdom and is wanted dead. She really can't even trust that her closest friends and her brothers won't betray her... They'd be better off staying in Venda where at least they know who they can and can't trust.

And then it ended in a cliffhanger, and the third book in the series has this extremely vague "2016" release date, and I don't think I can survive that long...