Kiersten White continues to stand as one of my all time favorite authors - and this addition to her oeuvre is no exception.  The writing, characters and plot kept me engaged and wanting more.

I really enjoyed the twist this puts on the Arthurian legend!  Despite knowing the legend fairly well, this retelling is packed full of new developments and several surprising twists on the original story!

First and foremost, I quite love the dynamic between Guinevere and Arthur in this and Guinevere’s purpose for marrying him. It removes her from the ‘frivolous damsel’ or ‘opportunistic viper’ narrative and places her squarely into a character with agency past her use as a wife.

If you’re familiar with the numerous tragedies that befall the characters of the Arthurian legend, you find shades of them in this story, but I truly can’t think of one that plays out the same way it does in the original tale – past Arthur taking Guinevere as his bride.

My biggest caveat is that there was a certain level of confusion, especially in the beginning as to exactly why Guinevere is marrying Arthur and who she is. At times I felt as though it was something I was simply supposed to be aware of already, but that only lead to more confusion at times. I think it would have been helpful to see Arthur and Guinevere interact more and put more discussion into what is going on.

That said, White does a fantastic job of giving these characters new life and it’s clear she had her sights on gender equality, as well as LGBTQIA+ representation. 

This book is a steady climb to the climax, with little hints and bits of information strewn about for the reader to follow and stay engaged with. This is a delightful retelling and breathes new life into the story, I am greatly looking forward to the next book!

Loved the book and loved the premise and how well It lent that layer of believability to how the Arthurian legend could bar have come to be. This is a must have for my students who love fantasy and the entire series will be on our shelves.

I absolutely loved And I Darken and expected to enjoy The Guinevere Deception just as much. The plot and reimagining of King Arthur is a good idea, but the execution left much to be desired. I did not get passed the first quarter of the book before DNFing.

I thought I would be giving this five stars but upon reading it, I realized it wasn’t what I assumed it would be. Disappointed, as I loved Kierstin’s series and the main character Lada. While I really enjoyed the nature magic and other magical elements, I just found the story lackluster because as a reader you’re kept in the dark for quite a long time. And I just didn’t care about any character in this at all. I won’t be continuing the series.

My teenage daughter enjoyed reading this book. She liked most of the characters. She found the plot confusing at the beginning of the story. She thought the love triangle was weird and she was happy when one of the characters involved got killed off.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was my first introduction to Kiersten White. I was drawn in by the description and the fact that this retelling takes place in the magical world of Camelot. “Guinevere” was brought to Camelot to wed King Arthur and protect the king. This book got off to a pretty slow start and there were some pacing issues. However, I got much more into the series toward the end and would definitely give the next book a shot. I would say this book was a 3 star read in the first half and 4 stars in the second. I really love the character of Guinevere and look forward to seeing her growth in the upcoming novels. Lancelot was a great character with an interesting twist. Arthur was a little shallow and I would like to see more from him in the next books. The Guinevere Deception will definitely appeal to fans of Kiersten White and Athurian legends.

I've always been huge fan of Arthurian Legend. However I've never been a fan of how the majority of the retellings show Guinevere. That's why I enjoyed this one, because this is the first one in which she's not viewed as the villain. I love that we get to see a Guinevere that is a strong woman in her own right. And an Arthur that's in the background. .

Thank you for allowing me early access to this ARC. Kiersten is one of my all time favorite authors and I was really excited to dive into this new world! This review if of my own thoughts and opinions within are expressed from my own outlook on this book. 

My first thoughts of this book was WHAT? YES! First Kiersten slayed the YA genre with the And I Darken trilogy centered around Dracula and his offspring, now we are taking on King Arthur's realm?!!!!? Alas I have struggled to finish this book for a very longggggg time. There was too much lag in the storyline. and I never connected with the characters, I can see where it is going, I can see the thought process but I cannot make myself stay the course and get there. I DNF-ed the book for now. 

Best of wishes to Kiersten and all her fandom.

What if Queen Guinevere was not just King Arthur's bride? What if she was really a woodland witch, a changeling, tasked with secretly protecting Arthur from dark magic attacks? But there are secrets even she doesn't know about yet... I love new takes on the Arthurian Saga, and especially versions that give more power to the female characters in the story. So I figured I'd really like this one, and I was right! Terrific writing and a clever twist on classic characters; I especially loved how White reimagined Lancelot. Can't wait to read the sequel!

Exciting, original retelling of King Arthur and his knights. I was invested in the characters from the beginning amd didn't see the twist at the end. 4 star read! Excited for the sequel!

I was a little disappointed with The Guinevere Deception after loving the And I Darken trilogy so much. I don't think there's a huge difference in anything with these two series, but I think I've read enough YA fantasy to know where these retellings are going now.

Guinevere is a likable-enough protagonist with a secret past that even she can't remember, which I think is always fun to read about, but it was kind of obvious why she couldn't remember her childhood. There's only one character that's mentioned to be around Guinevere during that time, so who else could it have been that took her memories? Again, I thought the main character was pretty cool, but I'm also comparing her to Lada in And I Darken and I just... they can't really compare in my head. I loved Brangien, Arthur was kind of bland, Mordred was unlikable even before we found out he was evil, and I don't think anyone else was that relevant.

I actually appreciated that the story was a little slow because the characters had a chance to come to life on the pages. I really enjoy the writing style in the book, too - I just wish we had some really awesome and memorable characters here.

I liked The Guinevere Deception enough to start the next book, and I'll probably read the third book after that because why not. This wasn't a bad YA fantasy, but it's not amazing, either.

I love the new tale that Kiersten create for King Arthur since this is one of my favorite old time tales. I will always love how fun the characters in these book where made to be. I love how strong Guin appear to be in order to best be herself. I love the way this world was written too. I honestly want more of this world and Kiersten writing always

Sadly, I do not think Kiersten White is the author for me. I really like Arthurian legends/retellings but this one was lacking in plot and action.

An absolutely stellar read with a rich, well built cast, an incredible main character, and a fascinating world. Cannot wait to dig into book two!

My friend read this book, and unfortunately I no longer want to read it. I just don't think it's a book I need to spend time on anymore, and I don't think my review would be positive. Additionally, Arthuriana just isn't really my thing.

Ooooo. King Arthur and Camelot from a whole new perspective. I especially liked the gender-bent Lancelot and all the secrets around Guinevere's past. I can't wait for the next one.

Kiersten White is a magical goddess who writes stories that I would battle an army to obtain. That is all.

I received an e-arc of this through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very interesting and unique take on a King Arthur retelling. I loved how each character kept me guessing on their motives and if they were really good people or if they were manipulating things that we weren't aware of as the reader. There were also quite a few events and plot lines that happened that I would have never predicted and was pleasantly surprised as I was reading. 

While I did enjoy the book, at times I found my mind wandering and not staying fully invested in the book and the characters. The beginning felt a bit slow and it took awhile before things really began to pull me into the story. Once I became invested in the characters and the story line it really took off and it seemed like a lot happened towards the end of the book. I think if more exciting events happened earlier in the book it would have been easier to keep my attention but it really felt like nothing was happening for the first half plus of the book other than telling us about her new life as Arthur's wife and the new expectations put on her. 

Overall, I did find myself really enjoying the book and being intrigued by the ending enough to consider picking up the next book in the series. The second half of the book did make up for the slowness of the first half but it also didn't completely blow me away. If you enjoy books with a slower build up and a fair amount of action towards the end, and you enjoy King Arthur retellings then you may enjoy this book.

i really loved the way Ms. White was able to take the Arthurian legend and make something new out of it. The characters were great and I really enjoyed reading this.