Review: The Winner's Curse

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction, Dystopia
Title: The Winner's Curse
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: March 2014
Read: 4 / 5 stars

This book made me frustrated as hell, no, make it more than hell. It made me blush and swoon with a simple act. Good lord, he was just braiding her hair and there I was hugging my phone to no end. It made me crazily mad and I just wanted to scream, "can't you all just freaking get along?" There goes Kestrel being manipulative a diplomat which is really cool of her. As some would say, she is the shit. It made me want to read endlessly, ah, the writing is just so beautiful! Pure beauty of prose. Did I mention that it made me frustrated? Damn it! I'd like to tell everyone to suck it up!!!!!!!! Did I mention that the Arin, my future husband, is effortlessly lovable. There's just something in his rebel ways, broody moods and his mysterious motifs. His connection to Kestrel is undeniable and neither of them could resist it. THEN it just falls down. All of it. But I loved that part wherein their roles were switched. This taught Kerstel to fight, fight, and fight.

The cover and the synopsis lost me. I thought this was a The Selection-ish book, boy, I was wrong! I thank the god of the books for letting me find this book on goodreads. I thank the god of amazeballs for dropping a goop on Ms. Marie. I thank the god of sleep for overcoming me just a minute from now as I finish my review. And I swear to all of Arin's gods that if I don't my advance copy next year, I will go ninja on all of you.

Perfect for fans of Peterfreund's For Darkness Shows The Stars. It is a low-simmering historical YA that will keep you on your toes.