BLOG TOUR: The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

Welcome, to my stop on The Winner's Kiss blog tour!

If you have not read this series yet, do yourself a favor and start it TODAY.

Seriously, high fantasy is not usually my jam, but I have SO MUCH love for these books, it's characters and their author.

Thank you to Gina, Mary, and Brittany at Macmillan for allowing me the pleasure of being part of this tour.

Thank you to Ksenia who handed me an ARC of the first book a few years ago and told me to read it. I'm glad I listened.

The Winner's Kiss (The Winner's Curse #3)

by Marie Rutkoski

On Sale March 29th, 2016

Amazon | B&N | Goodreads 

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?

Review of The Winner's Curse
Review of The Winner's Crime

What book is your favorite literary kiss in?

 

I am a big fan of kissing, having to choose only ONE was difficult. But I chose ALIENATED by Melissa Landers.

Who is kissing? 
Aleyx and Cara.

Why is it your favorite?
It's one of my favorites because it's not the typical kiss. Aleyx is an alien exhange student living in Cara's house on Earth. He and Cara are in constant competition with each other, and she is desperate to beat him at something. They get into a lively discussion about how their kind shows affection.

"You've never kissed a girl?"

He shrugged. "That's not how we show affection."

"Really?"

"Truly."

"Too bad," she said over the top of her mug. "You don't know what you're missing."

"Not much, I imagine. I researched it, and it sounds bizarre to me."

Cara smiled to herself. "Not if you're doing it right. Nothing's hotter than a good kiss."

"Nothing except sh'ellam. It always leads to more."

"So does an amazing kiss." The challenge in her eyes prompted him to say something he probably shouldn't. "Care to put it to a test?"

What follows had me laughing and doing this...

Bonus Question: What kiss do you hope will occur in Marie Rutkoski's The Winner's Kiss?

 One like this.

And this. 

Before Reading: I'm going to need Arin and Kestrel kissing. Each other. A lot. Forever.

After Reading: NOT ENOUGH STARS IN THE UNIVERSE! LOVELOVELOVELOVE! This was beyond anything I could have imagined or asked for, for this book and these characters. Seriously. It was perfection. PERFECTION. Read it.

Dear Marie Rutkoski,

Thank you.

Thank you for this world and these characters and this story.

Thank you for showing that a girl's intelligence, tenacity, determination and cunning is every bit as appealing, sexy, desirable, important and necessary as her outward appearance or physical strength.

Thank you for Arin. A boy who started out with a vendetta and ended up vested.

Seriously, thank you. Arin has moved to the top of my YA Book Boy Shelf. Because swooning is a real thing.

Have I said thank you for Arin yet? I don't won't to forget to do that.

Thank you for Roshar. He is the Be Fri to Arin's Est End and I want to keep him. And his little tiger too.

Thank you for the love, friendship, forgiveness, romance, and redemption woven throughout this series.

Thank you for all of the things I can't say right now--because spoilers--but that I fully intend to tackle hug you for the next time I see you. Don't be scared, I'll be gentle. I promise.

Thank you for your prose which is so gorgeous, it makes anything I've ever written look like I have been finger painting with poop. (This is a compliment, I swear!)

Lastly, in case you didn't know, the god of cupcakes loves you!

~ Jen

Marie Rutkoski is the author of The Kronos Chronicles, including The Cabinet of Wonders and The Celestial Globe. The Cabinet of Wonders, her debut novel, was named an Indie Next Kids’ List Great Read and a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, among other honors. Rutkoski grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), as the oldest of four children. She attended the University of Iowa, where she took Writers’ Workshop classes and studied with Pulitzer Prize-winner James Alan McPherson. After graduating, she lived in Moscow and Prague. Upon receiving her Ph.D. from Harvard University, she held dual appointments as a lecturer there in both English and American Literature and Language, and History and Literature. Rutkoski is currently a professor at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance Drama, children’s literature and creative writing. She lives in New York City with her husband and cat.  

* Blog Tour Bonus *

The generous ladies at Macmillan have offered up a copy of The Winner's Curse as a way to introduce people to this wonderful series. So, I took to Twitter and asked who of my friends had not started this amazing trilogy yet and the first to respond was...

Natalie Blitt!