Blog Tour: The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski

Welcome to the blog tour for The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski! Today, I'll be sharing one of my favorite literary kisses, as "The Winning Kiss". It was difficult to pick one! If you stick around, I'll be sharing a swoon from The Winner's Kiss itself, on Thursday!

Full blog tour schedule HERE!

The Winner's Curse | The Winner's Crime | The Winner's Kiss

Many of you who follow me regularly know that I post a swoon every Thursday, as part of my Swoon Thursday feature. (Like I said, I'll post one from The Winner's Kiss this Thursday! Non-spoiler-y, of course.) I have shared 158 swoons, and even still, I had a hard time choosing one for today! In the end, I chose one that I hadn't previously shared. It's from my all-time favorite book and it should come as a surprise to no one:

My "winning kiss", from Fire by Kristin Cashore!

Through an arrow loop in the wall she saw a familiar horse and rider tearing across the camp toward the healing rooms. Brigan pulled up at Nash's feet and dropped from the saddle. The two brothers threw their arms around each other and embraced hard.

Shortly thereafter he stepped into the healing rooms and leaned in the doorway, looking across at her quietly. Brocker's son with gentle gray eyes.

She abandoned all pretense of decorum and ran at him.

***

After some time, a cheeky fellow in a cot nearby said aloud that he was inclined to disbelieve the rumor that the lady monster was marrying the king.

"What tipped you off?" asked another fellow, one cot over.

Fire and Brigan didn't let go of each other, but Fire laughed. "You're thin," she said to him between kisses, "and your color is off. You're sick."

"It's just a bit of dirt," he said, kissing away tears on both of her cheeks.

- pages 439-440

A little bit more about this kiss...

What book is your favorite literary kiss in?

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Who is kissing?

Fire and Prince Brigan. At long last, Brigan returns!

Why is it your favorite?

I adore this kiss for many reasons. It's such an important kiss - Brigan and Fire have not seen each other for weeks, because Brigan is fighting in the war (he's the Commander), and Fire is still healing from an ordeal. She is helping with the war in her own way, by assisting in the healers' tents on the outskirts of battles. This kiss is life-changing, because it's not always guaranteed that Brigan will return from battle.

The kiss equally as important because it establishes, in public, Fire and Brigan's relationship. The cheeky fellow in the cot and the rest of kingdom thought that Fire would marry the King, Brigan's brother, because the King and the Lady Monster would be a power couple (obviously!). But now Fire and Brigan are officially a thing, in the kingdom's eyes.

And of course, we know that in court life, it's frowned upon to show public displays of affections, especially among unmarried folk (which both and Fire and Brigan are - unmarried), so it's so powerful that manners and rules are thrown out of the window, on both Fire and Brigan's part. Their reunion is so intense that neither of them cares what anyone will think!

Finally, I just love their relationship so much (the hate-to-love, the push-and-pull, the slow-burn boil), and this kiss is EVERYTHING.

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

Given that I've already read it... I know. ;) I'll play along though - I'd hope for some scorchers from our OTP, Arin and Kestrel. And as promised, I'll share one from the book on Thursday!


About The Winner's Kiss:

The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski
Book Three of the Winner's Trilogy
Publisher:  Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: March 29, 2016

Summary (from 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?

Author Website | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble


About the Author:

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. 

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Macmillan is the coolest, did you all know? Every blogger on this blog tour has the opportunity of choosing a friend who has not read The Winner's Trilogy, and Macmillan will send the friend a copy of The Winner's Curse.

I wasn't sure how to choose, so I asked IRL friends, Twitter friends, and others. I drew randomly, and the recipient will be Luke, an IRL friend! Enjoy. :)

Readers, what are some of your favorite literary swoons? Check out all the 158 ones I've posted in the past!

(Click on the button below!)