Spicy Archives - The Litertarian

King of Wrath by Ana Huang is a possessive, spicy, filthy rich, romance with a tint of darkness that keeps tension wound tight all the way through. I’m not sure if this qualifies as a dark romance, but it feels like it should.

One night at family dinner, Vivian Lau’s parents surprise her with an arranged marriage. While she’d known since she was a teenager to expect it, she was taken by surprise. Not only the deal itself, but the identity of her husband-to-be: Dante Russo, the most eligible billionaire bachelor in New York. Dante was forced into the match, but as soon as he is able to, he plans to end the engagement and go on his merry way, married to his job, exactly the way he likes it. Vivan thinks he’s an ass, but is willing to give him a chance – she is determined to marry him no matter what to please her family. Dante closes himself off emotionally because he knows it’s not forever and doesn’t want to be cruel. But while they keep up the appearance of a happy engagement for high-class society, lines begin to blur.

The romance between Vivian and Dante is hot and cold. Vulnerability is not a language either of them speak. It creates a lot of tension and causes the moments they do fall together all the more intense for it. Vivian is a very strong woman who relies on no one. Though she’s an heiress, she works as an event planner and takes her work very seriously. I enjoyed her personality, but more importantly, I think she is a good match for a man like Dante, who never hears the word no from anyone else.

Dante is slow to let go of his original goals and assumptions. He is a very driven man -incredibly focused – and executes on his objectives to accomplish his goals. When he makes a decision, it’s because he’s considered all the facts and he doesn’t go back to wonder if it was the right one. His engagement with Vivian seems to be the first time he has to reevaluate his original stance, and he struggles with it for a long time.

I picked this book up for the cover. I was expecting it to be some kind of romantasy (right? Look at it!). And, I guess if you consider the billionaire nature of the characters and the high-class world they live in, you might as well consider that shit fantasy. LOL. But it’s not, really. My expectations were subverted a little bit there, however, I’m glad I read it. It’s about as far on the dark romance scale as I think I’m comfortable going, but I was impressed with how well the characters were matched up, and I was really sucked into a lot of the drama. Once I started reading, I thought it might be far sexier than it ended up being. There’s about as much sex as any other spicy book out there anymore.

If you’re looking to spice up your romance reading away from bubble-gum romantic comedies to something more serious and dramatic, this might be a good tangent to explore. It’s also the start of a series, which is a plus in our binge culture (though I’m not sure yet if I’ll personally be continuing the series). If you like a possessive, decisive, rich, all around alpha male lead, you’ll want to pick this one up for sure.

Details

Title:: King of Wrath (Kings of Sin #1)
Author:: Ana Huang
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Bloom Books
Length:: 407 pages
Audio Length:: 12h 5m
Audiobook Narrator:: Jacob Morgan & Emily Woo Zeller
Audiobook Publisher:: Boba Press
Published:: October 18th, 2022
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Spice Level:: 4 (open door, explicit language)

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I sank into this book like a hot knife through butter. I savored the rich descriptions and sentences dripping with longing and heat. This is Carley Fortune’s third book and she’s made it abundantly clear she is a great writer. She knows how to set a tone. Her stories have this dark cloud over them, looming as a melancholic backdrop, not so subtly shouting how miserable the characters have made themselves with past choices. In theory, I love that. But for some reason with her books, it ends up leaving a sour taste in my mouth (though this one is not nearly as sour as Every Summer After, I must say. Girly MC really blew it in that one). But man, the writing. It’s undeniable. Take the first line for example::

I cupped my hands over my eyes so I could gulp down the view.

This Summer Will Be Different Carley Fortune Book Cover

Lucy and Bridget are the best of friends. They met as adults in Toronto, and quickly grew to be inseparable. On their first planned girls trip to Prince Edward Island, where Bridget is from and where her family still lives, Bridget is unexpectedly delayed, leaving Lucy alone for her first night on the island. She meets someone shucking oysters at dinner she has an instant firecracker connection with, and they share a night of passion together most only dream of.

In the morning, Lucy realizes…he’s Bridget’s brother — the one she made Lucy promise to stay away from after his heart was recently put through the grinder by a local.

Let the lies begin.

Instead of fessing up to what had happened on accident (I don’t think I can say innocently after a night like that!), both Felix and Lucy lie their faces off to both Bridget and themselves. There is a connection there that’s undeniable, and trying to pretend there isn’t never seems to work.

Flash forward several years, and we are days away from Bridget’s wedding when she calls Lucy, desperate to get her to drop everything and spend a few days on PEI. She won’t say what’s wrong, but it is out of character for her friend to make an ask like this. So she goes, despite her epic current workload, and the fact that Felix will be there too.

He held my gaze for less than a second. I saw him, and he saw me, and in that blink of time, something passed between us.

The prologue of this book is delicious: rich, satisfying, steamy, and leaves you craving more. Then the story begins, and falls a little flat for me. The longing continues to be just as magnetic and scorching, but…I mean…there’s just a lot of it. Most of the first half of the book feels quite repetitive to be honest. Lucy wants Felix but refuses to give in (again) to the temptation, and Bridget constantly refuses to bring up why she drug Lucy out to PEI, at, like, the worst possible time. Like, girl, just spill the deets, quit being so unreasonable here! It feels like scene after scene of Lucy and Felix trying to tip toe around Bridget, setting up about a billion little moments of L&F being alone together…which, come on. I get that making the same mistakes over and over is kind of the theme of this book (hello title), I just feel like it could have been a little cleaner.

After all that, when things finally start to progress, it does pick up. Turns out Bridget has a good reason to have this emergency pal pow-wow, and Lucy finally starts to make some progress in righting the things that aren’t working in her life. In the end, I did enjoy the book, it just seemed to take far too long to get to the point, you know?

For me, the part that shined was the physical tug between Lucy & Felix. Every sentence was dripping with magnetism. Very visceral, almost abstract descriptions. You could feel the tension. I think Fortune probably knew that, which is why there’s so much. But when you convey things that well, you don’t need as many words. Turns out too much of a good thing is still too much.

My favorite detail in the book were the seed packet/book exchanges between Lucy & Felix. What a simple and ‘innocent’ little routine that was just drenched in their true feelings. Loved it. And my least favorite thing? Can I say Lucy’s personality? Lol. She was so stubborn about things that felt inevitable. Open your eyes, girl, or stop being so miserable with your choices! Luckily she stopped getting in her own way…eventually.

I wasn’t lying when I said I savored this book. Even the paperback edition I pre-ordered is lovely. Lovely cover and smooth beautiful pages. I found myself flipping through it again and again just for the page feel. Where my other book nerds at? You know what I mean!

It wasn’t my favorite read of the summer, but it is certainly worth picking up! Carley Fortune is an auto-buy author for me. You can trust that the prose will wax poetic, even if the greater story might be a little flawed. Obviously I have mixed feelings, but I can’t bring myself to dole out less than four stars.

If you’ve read it, let’s talk in the comments. I want to know all your pros/cons on this one!

Details

Title:: This Summer Will Be Different
Author:: Carley Fortune
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 320 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 31m
Audiobook Narrator:: AJ Bridel & Carley Fortune
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: May 7th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars