King of Wrath by Ana Huang Series: King of Sin #1
on April 25, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Asian American, Fiction / Romance / New Adult
Pages: 416
Goodreads
*A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
An arranged marriage billionaire romance standalone from New York Times bestselling author and BookTok sensation Ana Huang.
She was my North Star, the brightest jewel in my sky.
Ruthless. Meticulous. Arrogant.
Billionaire CEO Dante Russo thrives on control, both personally and professionally.
He 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. The wife he never wanted, and the weakness he never saw coming.
It doesn't matter how beautiful or charming she is. Dante will do everything in his power to destroy the blackmail 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 society.
Marrying a blue-blooded Russo means opening doors that would otherwise remain closed to her new-money parents.
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 possible outcome: falling in love with her future husband.
After reading the Twisted series by Ana Huang, I knew that I would pick up any book that she writes from here on out. She has a way of writing characters that I enjoy reading about with, what I find to be, interesting plots that make me root for the relationship. What better way than having a broody, grumpy hero in a dual POV to watch him fall head over heels for our main character – even if it all starts off rocky because he was blackmailed into marrying her to begin with.
TROPES
Billionaire, black mail, arranged marriage, grumpy/sunshine, dislike to love, alpha-hole.
CONTENT WARNINGS
Sexual content, violence, emotional abuse (on page), toxic relationship, blood, abandonment, classism, misogyny. These are the the ones that stood out to me, but there are certainly others that might stand out for you as you read.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME
Dante as a character worked for me. I love watching him go from this super grumpy man that is hell-bent on destroying Vivian’s family to caring outwardly for his wife. This is a theme I think that you’ll sense here, but the character growth for him. One of the things that I love about a dual POV (point of view), especially in romance, is that we get to see the internal conflict with a hero like Dante. There’s something so wonderful about being in his head and seeing him come to terms with his feelings for Vivian, while also navigating the external conflicts outside of their relationship (though they certainly influence the relationship).
I also really loved Vivian. Even more-so than Dante, Vivian grew as a person, which is what ultimately makes this relationship work for me. I loved seeing Vivian come into her own with her family and taking a stand for herself, despite the consequences that may come forward. Again, the mix of the internal and external conflicting and her navigation. Her reactions, as information was learned throughout the arc of the story, make complete sense to me and formed the story relationship in a way that I, ultimately, enjoyed.
The external conflict involving Vivian’s family created an interesting dynamic within the relationship. From the start we know that Vivian’s father blackmailed Dante into marrying her; though Vivian is kept in the dark. It brings us to the meshing of the external conflict and Dante’s own feelings and how interconnected everything becomes. One thing I found to be done well here was bringing these two conflicts together to impact the relationship in a way that made the ending, for me, satisfying.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME
While this doesn’t necessarily impact my enjoyment of the story, Ana loves a third act break up. I think every book of hers has one of these followed by a grand gesture that has you rooting for the couple. I don’t dock stars here because I still had a great time and loved the story, but it is something that sticks out to me and isn’t always necessary. In this case, the external conflict is certainly playing a role and aligns with the plot.
SPICE RATING
Personally, I think Ana knows how to write some sexy scenes in a multitude of ways that still feel fresh and not repetitive to me. Definitely a four here.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ultimately, I had such a good time with this book. I loved seeing cameo’s by characters from the Twisted series, and being introduced to the couple in the next book that has come to be expected in how the series is set up. Off to grab the next in the series!
