Poison's Kiss

Marinda has kissed dozens of boys and every one of them has died. It is a miserable life, but she was created for it: as a visha kanya, a poison maiden, her lips are the weapon the Raja uses to remove his enemies.

The targets have always been strangers, men she was told were threats to the kingdom. Then she is handed the name of Deven — a boy she knows far too well to accept that he needs to die. The order forces her to look properly at her handler, her orders and the little brother whose safety keeps her obedient.

Breeana Shields's debut, first of a duology drawn from Indian folklore, is a fast, romantic YA fantasy about an assassin discovering the size of the lie she has been living inside.