The Traitor's Kiss by Erin Beaty

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

Review:

It took me a long time to get to this book. I believe it’s been out for years, and the whole series is complete. Sadly, I seem to only have this book and book 3, and now need to get my hands on book 2! I have to be in the right mindset to read a romance as of late. And I guess there’s something off-putting for me about a book covered in roses, and a giant sword? I was surprised to learn that this was more of a spy novel than a fantasy romance! Who’d of thought that a book that dealt so much in match-making would actually be about spying?

While I can see some people maybe not liking this, I loved it. I guess I’m more interested in spy stories now. My tastes have changed a bit over the years, or maybe I’m just tired of reading the same story over and over. But, I can see someone sitting down, thinking this is a romance, based off the misleading, rose covered cover, and maybe being disappointed. I found it hard to put down. I wanted to see would happen next, and I’m glad it finally called to me when it did.

There were a couple of major plot twists  that I guessed. But, not as early as I care to admit! I like that the book kept me on my toes a little. There was a lot of action going on between the match-making. Between the marriage  drama, there were royal wars being waged, and political maneuvers of betrayal. And I liked how the two stories counter-balanced each other. I could see this being a fun Netflix drama.

Women working as spies isn’t a novel concept, but it is one I love to read about. I have’t read too many YA fantasies that delve into this topic, and it reminded me quite a bit of Mary E. Pearson’s Dance of Thieves, which I loved, and now have an itch to go re-read. Maybe, I will this winter? All in all,  this was a fun spy/fantasy/romance with splashes of match making, elements of war, and plenty of suspense. I read it very quickly. This book got me out of a bit of a reading slump. I give it an 8/10.