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I’m quite picky when it comes to contemporary romances. The story has to contain something very special in order to catch my attention, and the loads of internet buzz surrounding the release of Kennedy Ryan’s latest novel, The Kingmaker, counts as special in my book. So with great anticipation, I dove into this politically-charged, sexy romance, and I was immediately captivated.
Before I get into the meat of my review, I want to make it clear that The Kingmaker ends on a huge cliffhanger. Fortunately, the sequel was released in mid-November, so readers aren’t required to suffer through a long wait. Even so, cliffhangers aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, so exercise your own judgement before deciding to buy this first installment.
Lennix Hunter is a woman with her feet firmly planted in two worlds. The daughter of a Native American woman and a white man, she’s no stranger to what it means to be part of a marginalized group of people. Even the privilege that comes from being half white isn’t enough to shield her from the more painful side of life. When Lennix was thirteen, her mother disappeared without a trace, and her case has never been solved. The authorities showed no interest in discovering what really happened, and Lennix has been forced to grow up in the shadow of this unspeakable loss. As a result, she clung to her Native American heritage, wanting nothing more than to make a noticeable difference in the lives of a people the government turned its back on years ago.
Maxim Cade was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he’s never felt truly comfortable in the high-powered business world inhabited by his father and brother. In fact, it’s long been Maxim’s dream to strike out on his own, even though his father threatens to disown him for it. And when the energy company owned by the Cade family lobbies to install a pipeline right in the middle of a Native American burial ground, Maxim knows the time to cut ties with his family has come.
When Maxim and Lennix meet at a rally protesting the installation of the pipeline, sparks immediately fly between them, but Lennix is only seventeen, and Maxim is sure she’ll hold his connection with the Cade family against him. So, he gives her a fake name, and they enjoy some stimulating conversation once they’re hauled off to jail for participating in the protest. Of course, Maxim’s father bails him out almost immediately, and he and Lennix don’t see each other again for four long years.
When Lennix is twenty-one, she accompanies her two best friends on a trip abroad for spring break, and she’s delighted to realize fate has placed her in the same city with the man she knows as Maxim Kingsman. The two begin spending time together, and it’s immediately clear there’s a deep attraction between them. Maxim feels guilty for keeping his true identity a secret from Lennix, but he’s afraid she’ll turn her back on him forever if she discovers who he really is. Of course, his secret is revealed near the end of Lennix’s spring break, and she vows never to forgive him for deceiving her in such a terrible way.
I’m usually not a fan of stories where one character out-and-out lies to another, but Kennedy Ryan managed to make it work for me here. I didn’t agree with Maxim’s choice to lie to Lennix, but I was also able to understand his reasons for doing so, and as time passes and both he and Lennix become successful adults, I found myself really wanting them to work things out. Since this is a romance novel, I don’t consider it too much of a spoiler to tell you they eventually begin to work through their differences, but their road to happiness is a long and arduous one. Ms. Ryan puts them both through the emotional wringer, causing me to feel tons of complicated emotions right along with them.
The chemistry between the leads is fantastic. Their every interaction is permeated with a subtle tension, the kind that seems to sizzle as you read. Even though they go long stretches without contact, neither is able to stop thinking about the other, and I found myself eagerly anticipating their eventual reunion.
I’ll admit to being a bit distressed by the way this first installment ends, but The Rebel King, book two in this series, is on my iPad waiting for me. You have no idea how badly I want to push every other book to the side in order to dive back into the story of Maxim and Lennix. Everything about this emotional rollercoaster of a book has me on tenterhooks to see how things will eventually be resolved for these two incredible characters.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
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Grade: A
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 25/11/19
Publication Date: 10/2019
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I'm Shannon from Michigan. I've been an avid reader all my life. I adore romance, psychological fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and the occasional memoir. I share my home with my life partner, two dogs, and a very feisty feline.
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Finished the entire trilogy last week (based on AAR readers choosing Queen Move as THE BEST romance in 2021) and have to say I really liked all three books. Agree with @Rosie below that immediately reading The Rebel King helped with that.
Yes, I’d prefer MCs a little more grounded in the real world (yet another fabulously wealthy family – I guess that is the American version of the nobility). But at least Ryan writes adults I can relate to; and by that I mean people who handle their issues like you’d hope all adults would (they talk to each other, they mean what they say, they may not always agree but they respect one another’s opinions and decisions, etc.).
Also, FWIW, I didn’t find the “social messaging” to be so overwhelming as some commenters below suggest. Yes, a pipeline protest to kick things off is pretty “in your face” and climate change is definitely an issue throughout The Kingmaker and The Rebel King. But it wasn’t any more “out there” than having an MC billionaire. In fact, based on a link in a recent Agora post, I also just finished Things You Save in a Fire, a book categorized as women’s fiction and graded to be a DIK by Dabney and Kristen, another AAR reviewer, in August 2019 – about the same time this review was posted. I enjoyed Things You Save as well but I compare these two authors’ work (Katherine Center in that one title and Kennedy Ryan in this trilogy) to be about equal in the way they used “social issues” to drive their plots.
Great review! I keep hearing so many good things about Kennedy Ryan and need to read one of her books in 2020!
I enjoyed this one, but I enjoyed it even more after reading the second book of the duet, “The Rebel King.”
This book and its companion are the least formulaic books I have read in a while (I’ve read some reviews saying this one is riddled with clichés, but you have to read both to get the whole story). The books are multifaceted and contain so many unexpected twists and turns. I feel like it is hard to give examples of this without getting into major spoilers. Just know that this first book is the proverbial tip of the ice burg. I’m glad I read it with “The Rebel King” in hand so I could begin reading it right away!
I enjoy diversity in romance, so I was pleased to read a book in which the heroine is Native American. I was especially pleased that Ms. Ryan didn’t seem to draw on stereotypes when writing her (I’ve read a number of books where Native American characters are described in stereotypical ways).
There definitely are social and political messages weaved into this story. However, these aren’t just thrown in randomly. It might seem like this at first because you see an oil pipeline protest right at the start of the book. The more you get into the story, though, the more you see that these social and political things are integral to who the characters are and to their development throughout the books.
Ooh, this is exciting! I’ll be reading it later!
I couldn’t finish this one – I thought the political/social messaging overwhelmed the insta-lust romance from the start…but I do want to get back to it. I’m happy to see your high grade; maybe I’ll give this one another try over the holiday break. I usually love Ms. Ryan’s writing.
I read the sample and it had that vibe to me. I’m just not here, these days, for romance that hectors me. I get enough of that from the myriad news sources I read each day.
Same here. I gave up at the point where the racist, sexist, environment-destroying villain sent Dobermans against the protestors.
I empathize with authors who are concerned about our world and who want to use their prose to improve and/or challenge it. That said, I’ve never been drawn to onenote villains or to simplifications of complicated stories. When I feel hectored in fiction it’s almost always due to a combination of those characters.
I’m finally reading the most recent Charlotte Holmes novel by the spectacular Sherry Thomas. It should be textbook reading for authors who want to address modern social concerns in all kinds of genres.
Yeah, I don’t like getting hit over the head with messages either when I’m reading. Weaving socio-political concerns into fiction can be a tough challenge for an author. I think it helps to remember that the point of fiction is to tell a story with well-rounded characters first. Conveying a viewpoint is another facet of “show don’t tell.” Also, a story can just be a story without the need to insert an agenda. I realize there are some who say *every* work of art has some kind of agenda, but sometimes that agenda is just to entertain readers- and that’s okay too.
As for one-note villains, it depends what kind of mood I’m in. To take a couple of examples from movies, one of the cops in “First Blood” tortures Rambo at the police station and later tries to kill him just because… reasons. More specifically, he’s just a generic, sadistic bad guy. And yet, when you go into a film like “First Blood,” you have an expectation there are going to be clear good guys and bad guys without a ton of complexity- and that’s okay. Because it’s fun to watch.
On the other hand, a favorite movie of mine, “Dog Day Afternoon,” has two of the most complex villains I’ve ever seen in cinema. And this film’s main strength besides the extraordinary acting, writing, and directing, was the decision everyone made to simply *show* the two bank robbers/hostage takers in action without adding commentary or judgment. Kind of like the bank tellers who get held hostage in the story, the moviegoer sort of develops Stockholm syndrome along with them. And it’s fascinating. Even more fascinating, given the one robber’s motive, is how easy it would have been to turn the story into a farce, melodrama, or clichéd mess. Make no mistake, “Dog Day Afternoon” tackles a ton of social issues from the Vietnam War to police brutality to bisexuality and so forth, but the issues never take over the story. They are integrated into the narrative seamlessly without the slightest whiff of peachiness. So if you haven’t seen the film, I strongly recommend it as an example of a perfect movie.
I realize AAR is a book site, but I couldn’t resist comparing and contrasting villains from cinema. (The tangents I get on sometimes…)
It [The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas] should be textbook reading for authors who want to address modern social concerns in all kinds of genres.
This.