Book: The Heart Of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

Published July 2015 by Henry Holt & Company|473 pages

Where I Got It: I own the hardcover

Series: Remnant Chronicles #2

Genre: YA Fantasy

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save Lia’s life, her 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 savages. Now that she lives among 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.

I loved The Heart Of Betrayal!  It doesn’t happen often where I love the 2nd book in a series more, but that was definitely the case for this series!

We get multiple narrators, with Lia, Rafe and Kaden all narrating the book, with the odd chapter narrated by Pauline.  It worked really well, and it added a lot to the story, because they’re all going through different things in Venda, and you get to see all of the different things going on.

The romance is really complicated- there’s Rafe and Kaden, of course, and a new “love interest” is thrown into the mix, which I didn’t expect at all, but makes things interesting, especially with everything that happens with him.  There are some twists and turns in the romance department, and I’m still not sure where the romance is headed.  Normally, it’s predictable who our heroine ends up with, but not with this book, in my opinion.  It could be anyone, and I like that while she favors one, she also hasn’t completely made up her mind about who she wants.

I was not expecting the book to end the way it did, and it makes me want to read book 3 right now.  At least I won’t have to wait long until the next book comes out, but as that’s a few months away…it feels too far away!  I just don’t know how Pearson is going to resolve things, and with this book being so good, I’m hoping the next book is going to be even better.

I don’t even know what to think about Lia’s family.  I have the feeling that there’s a lot going on with them that we’re not seeing, and I hope that we get more of that in the next book.  And there’s something up with Lia’s gift- it does seem like she has premonitions, so I’m hoping we get more about her gift in the next book.

I really like Lia, and she’s such an awesome character.  She’s very strong-willed, but she’s also very caring, and I love that she’s the same Lia we saw in The Kiss Of Deception.  I really felt for Kaden, and I liked that we learned more about him.  And Rafe…honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about him.

I really liked Venda, and everything we learned about them.  To me, it was the most interesting of the 3 kingdoms we see in the book.  I feel like we know more about them than we do the other kingdoms, but I’m also fuzzy on the details from the first book, so maybe it’s because I don’t remember anything about the other kingdoms.  But Venda really is an interesting place, and I really liked seeing it.  I really felt like we were there, and she shows so well what it’s like in this country.

I also love all of the stories and songs we see from different books.  It was one of my favorite things about the first book, and it’s one of my favorite things about this book.  It’s interesting to see a peek into the past, and how it relates to the present, and if it’s meant to be a parallel between the two.

And the cover is beautiful!  I’m glad I have this series in print so I can just look at the pretty cover!

5 stars.  I love everything about this book, and even though the magic and how it works is pretty fuzzy, I don’t even care because this book was even better than the first one!