The Winner's Kiss Blog Tour Stop: The BEST Lierary Kiss

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Title: The Winner's Kiss
Author: Marie Rutkoski
Pub Date: March 29th, 2016

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?

At first, I found it very difficult to answer this question. After all, there are so many literary kisses, amirite? So to find one that stands out above the rest, I had to do my own series of tests and trials. These were the qualifications I set to determine the best kiss:

- A couple that was incredibly slow burn where we, as readers, were like: JUST KISS ALREADY
- Descriptions of the kiss had to make me feel some type of way.
- "Fireworks" [whether for the characters or for me - either way.]
- A cocky character - okay this one isn't necessarily fair but my hardcore ships all involve a cocky character of some kind because those are my favorite. #Sorrynotsorry.
- Chaotic circumstances. I have to explain this one. I love when a kiss is in the sunset after a long day and the scenery is perfect but I am a creature of terrible circumstances. I'm the same person who thought TLC stood for "terrible life choices." True story. Back to the explanation: if the characters choose literally THE WORST MOMENT to have their special kiss, I'm all for it. I think it's hilarious. Unless it's done badly; then it truly is the worst and kills all the romance.

And taking all that into account, here is who I've chosen...

CRESS AND THORNE

I started thinking of a lot of different literary ships. My first was probably Kaz and Inej but considering they haven't kissed, it really doesn't work. Plus, their future could go many ways so there's no telling how that would end. However, Cress and Thorne are my favorite ship from the Lunar Chronicles. Mostly because they embody this:

I'm sure many Lunartics would agree that Cress and Thorne are a little like Rapunzel and Flynn but still uniquely themselves. Cress and Thorne do kiss at the end of Cress but I didn't really feel like it was enough. I waited and waited for Winter and once it came, I realized that all that waiting was worth it. As you may know, Winter's climax is pretty intense and to add my shippy flails to the mix during that time was HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE but it just made everything seem more desperate in the process. Not to mention that PAGES before the kiss actually happened, Cress and Thorne were sort of in a tense moment because Thorne kissed another girl and proclaimed his love to her. What a jerk. And then you realize he kissed her because he thought she was Cress. Then he becomes your cinnamon roll all over again. .

Sorry, if this makes no sense - I'm writing this post while staring at the gif above and it's making me feel a type of way. Excuse the short post, I'm about to go read Winter again just for that kiss. If it helps, it's page 601 - go read it again and drown in the feels. Or there's this:
"Cress." He said her name like a vow.

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Marie Rutkoski is the author of the YA novel The Shadow Society and the children's fantasy series The Kronos Chronicles, including The Cabinet of Wonders, The Celestial Globe and The Jewel of the Kalderash. Her next project is a YA trilogy that begins with The Winner's Curse, which is scheduled to be published in March 2014.

Marie grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), as the oldest of four children. She holds a BA from the University of Iowa and a PhD from Harvard University. Marie is currently a professor at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance Drama, children's literature and fiction writing. She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.

This is an amazing thing that Macmillan is doing but I am able to choose a friend to send The Winner's Curse to! I debated whether it be a blogger or an online friend and even asked twitter but in the end, I'm going to have to go with one of my closest friends, Abeer, whom I affectionately call "Abear." Sometimes, in the middle of the hallway, I'll loudly declare: "Have no fear, Abeer is here!"

Abeer is one of my best reader friends. I lend her my books but jeez, I never get them back. Yo, Abeer, you still have my copy of Dumplin'!! I hope you love this fantastic series as much as I do. <3
 

Time to share: what is YOUR favorite literary kiss and why?