All of the emotions! // The Winner’s Kiss Review

The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski (Book 3 in the Winner’s Trilogy)

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Publication Date: March 29th, 2016

Page Number: 496

Format Read: E-book (Live-brary)

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Goodreads Synopsis:

War has begun. Arin is in the thick of it, with the East as his ally and the empire as his enemy. He’s finally managed to dismiss the memory of Kestrel, even if he can’t quite forget her. Kestrel turned into someone he could no longer recognize: someone who cared more for the empire than for the lives of innocent people-and certainly more than she cared for him. At least, that’s what he thinks.

But far north lies a work camp where Kestrel is a prisoner. Can she manage to escape before she loses herself? As the war intensifies, both Kestrel and Arin discover unexpected roles in battle, terrible secrets, and a fragile hope. The world is changing. The East is pitted against the West, and Kestrel and Arin are caught between. In a game like this, can anybody really win?

My Thoughts:

Honestly, I already knew this book was going to break my heart since the cliffhanger from the last one.

This book opened up right where we left off and the emotions and the feels were real.

I loved how the end was, kind of bittersweet, but enough closure. I could actually go for a little sequel novella ya know?

I also really loved Kestrel’s friendship and trust with Arin’s cousin, and the fact that Kestrel said the same thing to her when she met her again made me smile.

Spoiler Section:

Honestly, I didn’t expect the Kestrel rescue part to be so easy. Arin literally just took a chapter to break in and get her out. But I don’t think it was such a bad thing because we got other stuff to be angsty about.

Like Kestrel’s flipping memory! The moment Arin rescued her and she couldn’t remember him I was like done.

I remember reading this during biology because we had a sub that day, and I was dying of feels and of course I need to rant so I tried ranting to my friends at my lab table but they were kind of annoyed at me haha, so I just texted my bf using a lot of exclamation points.

I think I did actually cry, maybe not fully tears, but there were definitely tears in my eyes. I was just an emotional wreck.

Oh! Also, at the end when Arin was let out of the deal because of the pet tiger Arin, that was great!

Verdict:

For sure my favorite book of this year so far. Marie Rutkoski just continued to amaze me!

My Rating:

5 out of 5 stars!

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Have you read this book!? What are your thoughts!? Did you enjoy this book as much as I did!?