The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski (Website, Twitter, Goodreads)Also by this author: The Winner's Crime
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) on March 29th 2016
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 496
Format: eARC
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?
Jaime’s Thoughts
I can’t possibly write a review for this book. Nothing I say will match up to the spectacular finale of this story. Nothing.
I was devastated at the end of The Winners Crime. DEVASTATED. Like so upset that Liza and I considered forming a support group. So to say that this was one of my most anticipated releases of 2016 would be a horrible understatement.
Rutkoski has created an amazing world with amazing characters and as much as I sped through the story I dreaded turning the last page for the simple fact that I knew that it would be done and over with and while I wanted to know the outcome… a part of me doesn’t want to let go of this incredible journey.
Reasons why you should read this series:
The characters – Yes to Arin and Kestrel… I’ve flailed about them before, but another standout in this book was Roshar. I adored every single thing about him and loved his parts of this story.
The romance – You all know I love my ships and Arin & Kestrel forever no matter what. That’s all I was saying at the end of book 2. I mean he braided her stinking hair in book 1 – how is this not a thing that all guys do for their ladies!! These two have mountains to climb relationship wise and let’s just say my heart flails were off the chart.
The action – This installment is non-stop action from the first to the last page and you will not be disappointed. I swear that I was so stinking nervous while reading The Winner’s Kiss I could barely stand it.
It was everything I had hoped for and more.
That’s it… I’m not telling you one bit more about this. If you haven’t started this series, what the heck are you waiting for? This definitely has a permanent place on my all-time favorites shelf and I can’t stress how much you’re going to love it.
I can’t wait for more from Marie Rutkoski!
Thank you so much to the publisher for an advanced copy to flail over while I wait for my pre-order to arrive.
Erin’s Thoughts
If you have read The Winner’s Curse you know all about the pain in my heart when I turned the last paged of that book. You also now know why I NEEDED to have The Winner’s Kiss in my hands. I feel like I have been waiting to get my hands on this for what feels like forever and trust me…I broke all my reading rules and dropped everything to dive into this one. If you haven’t started this series yet, you need to fix this problem. I am serious – you don’t know what you are missing and I will do this review spoiler free to make sure I don’t give anything away. Please note, I know I will probably not do this book any justice because of my fangirling and the limited things I can say. I hope everyone is ok with that.
Rutkoski absolutely made this book into everything I was hoping for. There’s non-stop action, danger, sadness, and of course, SWOONY stuff. I have loved both Kestrel and Arin since book one and what happens with these two through the course of the entire series will have you happy, sad, and angry…trust me when I say that you will continue to run through all of these emotions when you read this book too.
As usual, the world that Rutkoski has created in this book is wonderfully developed and I found myself unable to put the book down. Outside of Arin and Kestrel, there are a number of secondary characters that help to make the story even better. Don’t get me wrong…I could read all about Arin and Kestrel all day but Roshar and Sarsine had such a large impact on the story and I loved how they helped things progress. We also get to find out how things end up for the Emperor and Kestrel’s father which I found satisfying.
I can’t really say much more. If you take away one thing from my rambling, please let it be that this book was everything I was hoping for and while I am sad to say goodbye to these characters, Marie Rutkoski is forever on my favorites list and I will be looking for more from her in the future.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy!
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