King of Wrath by Ana Huang
Series: Kings of Sin #1
Published by Piaktus on 13 December 2022
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 398
Format: eBook
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She’s the wife he never wanted…and the weakness he never saw coming.
Ruthless. Meticulous. Arrogant.
Dante Russo thrives on control, both personally and professionally. The billionaire CEO never planned to marry— until the threat of blackmail forces him into an engagement with a woman he barely knows.
Vivian Lau, jewelry heiress and daughter of his newest enemy. It doesn’t matter how beautiful or charming she is. He'll do everything in his power to destroy the evidence and their betrothal. There’s only one problem: now that he has her...he can't bring himself to let her go.Elegant. Ambitious. Well-mannered.
Vivian Lau is the perfect daughter and her family’s ticket into the highest echelons of high society. Marrying a blue-blooded Russo means opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to her new-money family. While the rude, elusive Dante isn't her idea of a dream partner, she agrees to their arranged marriage out of duty. Craving his touch was never part of the plan. Neither was the worst thing she could possibly do: fall in love with her future husband.
“I’m the only one who gets to see you like this.”
His voice turned harsh.
“You…are…my…wife.”King of Wrath by Ana Huang
Scroll to the end for a 5-point tl;dr review summary
POV– Dual, First Person – Vivian (FMC) & Dante (MMC)
Ending – Happily Ever After (HEA)
My introduction to Ana Huang was Twisted Games and Twisted Love (both of which I adored) so, I was excited to for this new release. She writes excellently broody men, lung-crushing tension, and balances the plot-to-spice ratio quite well. King of Wrath has been plastered all over social media since it’s release so, combined with my expectations based on her previous works, the bar was set high for King of Wrath before I even started.
Similar to Ana’s Twisted books, King of Wrath is a standalone within an interconnected series. I don’t think you’ll need to necessarily read them in order to enjoy the stories but some authors recommend it so be sure to check Ana’s website/socials for her reading order suggestions.
Pace
At 398 pages, King of Wrath isn’t a short book and, in my opinion, a tad bit long for a contemporary romance. I think the dual POV (big fan!) added to the bulk but, on the other hand, it really helps to round out the plot and characters. It was moderately paced but I found it lulled around the 60% mark; it wasn’t a huge lull, but just enough for the book to feel long(-ish). Still, It didn’t take much to pick it back up and finish – only took me just under two days to read.
Characters
Vivan (FMC) and Dante (MMC) are a classic contemporary romance couple. Vivan Lau, a cheery, beautiful woman from a rich family (but who is successful in her own right) is forced/guilt-tripped into blindly following her family’s orders; in this case, it’s entering into an arranged marriage with mega-billionaire. Vivan’s character development was slow for me, with the majority of her growth occurring in the last third to quarter of the book. A lot of her beliefs and behaviours were reasoned/justified as ‘cultural’, being from Chinese decent. As someone who is not overly familiar with the nuances of this culture and their familial expectations, I wish this explanation was emphasised earlier in the book. I found myself thinking that some of the reasoning for things like being forced to break-up with her college boyfriend or when Viv guilt-trips herself into following her parents orders as ‘re-payment’ for her childhood to be a bit cliched (maybe even outdated?). I think if there was more emphasis on the strict cultural expectations from the onset, it would have given more weight to those issues/conflicts.
Dante is the archetypal broody, billionaire CEO; all work and no play, at least until Vivan comes around. A hard nut on the outside, but a traumatised child deep inside. His evolution from devious businessman to gooey, romantic is so satisfying and heartwarming. And, his possessiveness translates into electric chemistry with Viv.
And God, I want to punish you for driving me so damn crazy.
Every. Single. Day.King of Wrath by Ana Huang
Tropes
-
Arranged Marriage -
Forced Proximity -
Dark Secrets -
One Bed -
Alpha Male -
Billionaire/High-Society -
Other Man/Woman/Love Interest Drama
Is King of Wrath spicy?
King of Wrath is almost a slow-burn with the spice taking a while to make an appearance but, once it does… oh boy! The explicit scenes are well written and there’s a decent amount of steamy tension that builds up to the real deal. Ana Huang balanced the romance and plot well but I wish there would have just been a bit more. For me, there a bit too much will they, won’t they.
My Thoughts
Honestly, I think if I was new to Ana Huang, I would have rated King of Wrath higher because it’s just too hard not to compare this story to the Twisted books which are so freaking good. That being said, it was still a good, satisfying read that I would definitely recommend it to contemporary romance readers. Dante and Vivan were a solid couple and their romance will definitely satisfy readers who like a bit of spicy spice. It’s a solid start to Ana’s new series and I still plan on reading the next book. My favourite book of her Twisted series was book two, Twisted Games, so hopefully it will be the same for the Kings of Sin series.
tl;dr review summary in 5 points
-
Dark, Broody, Swoon-worthy, Billionarie MMC -
Arranged Marriage -
Excellent Forced Proximity -
Lots of tension with moderate spice -
Happily Ever After ending
