Themes: YA fantasy, romance, spy
The synopsis
An obstinate girl who will not be married. A soldier desperate to prove himself. A kingdom on the brink of war.
With a sharp tongue and an unruly temper, Sage Fowler is not what they’d call a lady―which is perfectly fine with her. Deemed unfit for marriage, Sage is apprenticed to a matchmaker and tasked with wrangling other young ladies to be married off for political alliances. She spies on the girls―and on the soldiers escorting them.
As the girls’ military escort senses a political uprising, Sage is recruited by a handsome soldier to infiltrate the enemy ranks. The more she discovers as a spy, the less certain she becomes about whom to trust―and Sage becomes caught in a dangerous balancing act that will determine the fate of her kingdom.
The review
The Traitor’s Kiss is a story of love, friendship and treason. Our heroine, Sage, is the perfect girl to spy on others: assistant of a matchmaker, witty and clever enough to put together what she is observing. However, these talents are putting her in a lot of trouble when she has to spy on a traitor determined to see the kingdom’s fall.
I really enjoyed my reading, especially some characters such as Darnessa, because of her maturity and cleverness in handling Sage. Indeed, this one is quite mature for her age (16) but still has some childish whims when dealing with her uncle or the captain of the guards protecting her and her escort. Speaking of age, what is it with fantasy authors talking about weddings and marital relationships or abuses when their characters are 16?! Really, I reach a point where I am relieved when I am reading a YA book where the world is not considering marrying young girls to old men!
Apart from that, the worldbuilding was simple but still enough for you to imagine it and understand the plot. I also enjoyed seeing the evolution of Sage’s understanding of the world of matchmaking and her realisation that in fact these women have an enormous power and are doing their best to protect the girls under their care. Given the setting of the plot (young girls escorted by guards travelling towards the kingdom’s capital), it is understandable that the cast of characters is this big. However, a better work could have been done with it since I had to pause my reading several times to try to remember who was who.
In brief: The idea behind this book is intriguing and even if the plot was quite simple, the twists at the end made it interesting. I am intrigued to see how the story and the characters will evolve in the rest of the series since the plot started here is closed at the end of the book.
My rating: 4/5
A Book by the Fire 
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