The Winner's Crime

Up until about 70% of the book, I thought I would only give it 3 stars. The plot moves at a super slow pace and tends to drag on, with Kestrel and Arin walking around in circles over and over again. Misunderstandings come one after another. Just when they finally sort out an issue between them, something else would happen and make things worse. This continues up until the end, where Kestrel hits the point of desperation due to yet another misunderstanding... and as Arin starts working towards a better option for his people, everything quickly falls apart for her.Including her friendship with Jess and Ronan, which I adored so much in the first book. What happened to them was just awful.God, what did Ronan do to deserve THAT. I just... WHY. I can't help but feel a bit bitter towards Kestrel, because regardless of her intentions, it was her who drove him and Jess to reach this point. Now I can only hope that Verex's fate won't be as terrible, since he seems genuinely nice towards Kestrel despite how he might feel about their marriage plan.Hopefully both Kestrel and Arin will show some growth in the last book. There's only so much misunderstanding and indecision I can take, and this one nearly burned out all of my tolerance. Still, it was an engaging read and I'm looking forward to read [b:The Winner's Kiss 20443235 The Winner's Kiss (The Winner's Trilogy, #3) Marie Rutkoski https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1431357125s/20443235.jpg 31175868] next year!