I'd lost interest in this one considering I'm not the biggest fan of the original tale? So, I decided not to finish this one.

Someone has replaced Guinevere in King Arthur's court. What is her motive? Is she a friend to Arthur or a means for Merlin to get revenge. I am looking forward to finding out more about this world.

Absolutely loved this book and the twist on the Arthurian legend. Need to get the sequel. I loved the cover to this book and the characters. As soon as I was finished reading I checked to see if there was going to be a sequel and was so happy to learn there was.

I'm already a Kiersten White fan, so I was excited to read The Guinevere Deception! I was vaguely familiar with the legend of King Arthur, so I went in not too knowledgeable. (I'll admit some familiarity came from one of the Shrek movies, lol). I wasn't the biggest fan of Guinevere as a character. I just felt she could have been a bit stronger and more independent, but give me more of Lancelot!

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love King Arthur and Camelot stories so this was definitely one book that I wanted to read so much! This was a very interesting interpretation of the story and I enjoyed it greatly.

4 stars out of 5 stars. I enjoyed this retelling of the King Arthur/Camelot myths. It was well done and I connected with the main character. I will be checking out the next novel in the series.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles.
I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

The Guinevere Deception
4 stars

This is an Arthur mythology retelling that is Guinevere. I am familiar with the mythology but this book does have a few twist to make it stand out. While I did enjoy this it’s more of a slow burn with the last third if the book being way more exciting. I love that this book is very much a female power centered book. It’s not just Guinevere, it’s the ladies she is
Surrounded by plus a surprise lady. I’m not going to spoil it but there are a lot of bad ass females in his one! I wish there was more about Arthur and Guinevere’s relationship but I’m guessing you will have to wait for the next book.

As someone who is not super familiar with the Arthur legend besides what is known in pop culture, I’m not sure how this would be received by fans of the legend. This retelling is a mix of nature magic, elemental beings, and some gender-swapping and other twists on the original characters. This did read a little younger than I was expecting as Guinevere is 16 and acts like it with her naivety. She seems to not follow threads that will probably be obvious to most readers. There is a love triangle (this is the Arthur legend after all) but I didn’t feel particularly drawn to the romance in this either. There are some questions not answered in this book but I don’t know if I’ll be intrigued enough to continue when the next installment in the series comes around

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!