Beckett King hasn't gotten along with his dad since his mother passed away as a young boy. They made it work as adults the best they could. When his father died in a car accident presumably drunk something seemed off. Samara Mallick works for a rival company owned by the his aunt who had a grudge against Beckett's dad since a falling out with her families years ago. The two clash over contracts they both go after but although they should be enemies theirs some series sizzle between them. As that attraction grows there are threats against Beckett that seem to be escalating. While Beckett and Samara draw closer Samara has to wrestle with her past demons and growing feelings for Beckett. Honestly i likes this well enough but it didn't really click for me. I couldn't get into it until the very end and i like the Frank and Journey angle more than Samara and Beckett. Frank and Journey are the next book. I can't really pinpoint what the problem was. Frank and Journey and Anderson all secondary characters are what interested me most and make me want to try the next book. We'll see.



Find out more about Katee Roberts and this series here www.kateerobert.com

Katee Robert amazes me with her versatility when it comes to writing unique and intriguing books in varying genres. The Last King is the first book in her new The Kings Series. This book is full of aggression and animalistic heat.

Beckett had me almost from the very first chapter but I fell hard for him. He has a depth that a lot of people don't see. His aunt will really push buttons for any reader. It is no wonder he has his own problems.

Samara was a bit different. I didn't connect with her the way I did with Beckett. She has strong principles, views and is highly driven but she doesn't see truth when it is standing in front of her. I can't say I really liked her by the end but I liked her better.

This book was hard to put down once I started. Katee Robert's writing style and her vivid scenes kept me immersed in the story. This is not an easy book to set aside. Once you start you want to know what will happen next with the information you have. I can't wait to get into the next book. I definitely recommend this book!

Nikki's Review:

Wowza! This book started off with a bang! I've never read anything by this author before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was reading for about 5 minutes before the hero and heroine were tearing up the sheets. It was crazy hot!

While there is definite chemistry between Beckett and Samara, I found myself quickly getting bored with the back forth. Samara was constantly telling him to piss off, and then climbing his junk in the next breath. It drove me batty. I like a little hard to get, but I didn't find it genuine in this book.

Beckett sits at the helm of his fathers company. He inherited it after his fathers death. Samara works as the second in command for the rival company, run by his bitter aunt. I can understand Samara being a little standoffish. She values her job and she's worked hard to get to where she is. This provides a lot of conflict between the hero and heroine.

One of the things I appreciated, was the authors ability to make me like Samara. I didn't care much for her at the beginning. She does a lot of growing throughout the book. She becomes warmer as falls in love with Beckett. I found myself relaxing more into the story as this unfolded.

Beckett is just plain ol' yummy! He's a bit of a no nonsense badass. That's one of my favourite types of characters in a romance novel.

There's a suspense aspect to this book. It was enjoyable, but a little predictable. I liked that it didn't take over the romantic side of the book.

Overall, The Last King was a good book. There's a few secondary characters that have been set up for their own stories. I'll definitely be on the look out for them!

Rating: 3.5 Stars (B)

As expected, Katee Robert’s wrote a story that captivated and entertained me.  Beckett and Samara were great and  I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

Beckett and Samara are fire!!! They're so hot and passionate! I started reading this book yesterday at work and spent a bit squirming in my seat it was so hot!

And Beckett! You want to hug him while you want to get sassy with him like Samara does. Samara and Beckett make great enemies, which makes them better lovers. They both feel passionately about each other - hate or love - and it just bleeds through the pages.

And like any good Katee Robert story, there's murder and intrigue and suspense so that you don't know who is on whose side.

I can't wait for Journey and Frank's story! I know that one is going to be epic!

4 Wine Glass #Review of The Last King by Katee Robert


Katee Robert transports readers to the heart of Texas where big oil rules, and the King's sit the thrown, but someone else wants that thrown for their own and they aren't afraid to kill to get it...

Beckett King always knew that Morningstar Enterprises would be his one day, he just didn't know that day would be so soon. When Morningstar employees start disappearing, his family home is willed away, and a fire leads to arson Beckett begins to suspect that maybe it isn't all coincidence... and maybe his father's death wasn't just an accident. Could his estranged aunt be behind it all? Beckett needs someone on the inside, and he isn't against seducing his way in. Especially if it means another night with Samara Mallick. Samara is a loyal employee of Kingdom Corp though and knows from experience how it ends when women like her fall for powerful men like Beckett. Unfortunately, that knowledge does nothings for the visceral attraction pulling her to him like a magnet. When danger mounts and loyalties are tested, can Samara overcome her parents past? And can Beckett unveil his father's murderer before they claim another King?

Katee Robert never fails to deliver a edgy, sexy story that pulls me in from the onset. The Last King starts out with a bang; an illicit night between two business rivals, Beckett and Samara. Right away you can see the spark between these two. Their banter is hot and sassy, I loved that Samara gave as good as she got. These two are a well-matched pair and I couldn't help but root for them from the beginning. Despite his family being a powerhouse in Texas and beyond, Beckett's character is down-to-earth and arrogantly charming. I really enjoyed getting to know this couple through the pages.

Samara is reluctant to put her career at stake for a relationship with Beckett though, and her mother's own past heartache adds an additional roadblock. Samara has everything to loose while Beckett risks nothing if they fail. I commiserated with Samara's dilemma in taking things further with Beckett. But when the danger surrounding Beckett gets a little too real, Samara can't help but stick as close as she can to him. The Last King has a perfect mix of romance, drama, and intrigue. While I suspected the culprit right away, all of the little intricate details gone into these deadly schemes was intense.

The Last King was a fast-paced, pulse-pounding read loaded with red-hot romance and sizzling tension. I loved every moment of the explosive plot. My only complaint at the end was that after all of Samara's mother's fear and warnings about Kingdom Corp and the King's, I would have really liked to see a meeting between her and Beckett, as well as her reaction to everything. Would she approve of him? Would she give Samara her blessing? These are questions I found myself asking after finishing that last page. I am looking forward to more from the King family though, and Frank and Journey's story next. Frank is an intriguing man and I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve for Journey King!

Katee Robert is one of my favorite authors. And it saddens me to say that The last king wasn't one of her best works. It wasn't as good as the other books she has gotten me used to. It felt a little too rushed and not as well constructed as the other books. I didn't feel the rush I should have felt when the bad guy went down. I am excited about the upcoming books in the series though. The two people of the couple from the next book are already known to the reader and I want to read their story. They seemed interested.

The transition from enemies to lovers was smooth and I found myself rooting for them. I liked that the author didn't waste too much time on drama and instead had Samara and Beckett work together instead of fighting each other. Samara was a great heroine and I approved most of her actions. She is a good person and her gut was telling her to do the right thing. I wanted to see her stand up to her boss who wasn't respecting her and was acting like she was just the person who brings the coffees. Beckett is also a good hero, but Samara stole the spotlight.

I might have thought that this book wasn't as good as some others by this author, but I would still recommend it.

Balance of power is a big concept in Katee Robert's THE LAST KING, where we’re introduced to a legacy oil tycoon’s family battling internally for all the power.

The King family’s got money out the wazoo, but the problem with that is when one of them dies, the rest battle it out like contenders in a WWE Smackdown. There’s something to be said for earning a working wage and living a meager lifestyle. Beckett King is the third generation to run Morningstar Enterprise, which was started by his grandfather and then run by his father, Nathanial … until Nathanial died in a car accident. Now, Beckett’s Aunt Lydia is swooping in for her piece of the family fortune and holdings — items she always felt were owed to her when Nathaniel was handed the kingdom instead of her. The kernel of hatred planted by her father has been festering for nearly three decades, and she intends to get what’s hers, nephew or not.

Samara Mallick works for Lydia--the competition---and is a force to contend with in her own right. Only, regardless of how successful, driven or loyal she is to Kingdom Corp, Lydia will never promote Samara above a certain level because those C-levels are occupied by Lydia’s own children.

Samara and Beckett know each other because they’re constantly going head-to-head, battling over oil territory leases across the globe. And whereas Beckett was born into his legacy, Samara has fought for hers. Their Type-A personalities are strong driving forces in their lives, so it’s no surprise attraction burns fiercely between the two adversaries.

Samara’s mother had been destined for corporate success when she was younger. She’d come from India to attend business school on a scholarship, but then met Devansh Patel, a rich and charming son of a congressman. Theirs was a love affair of the ages, until she’d gotten pregnant and lost it all. The boy, the scholarship and the college opportunity. Beckett’s legacy was that of kings, both in name and in practice, but Samara’s was one of sacrificing romantic relationships for success and self-sustainability. Her mother’s plight has colored Samara’s choices and goals her whole life.

But one night in Norway, Beckett and Samara decide to give in to the powerful attraction they shared. They were halfway around the world, after all. Their vow to get it out of their system worked, for about six months. And then Beckett was called home from Hong Kong with news his father had died … driving drunk, no less, a man who never drove himself anywhere. Once the shock wears off and Beckett steps into his CEO role, details become more circumspect. The parameters of the will have changed. Someone is gunning for Beckett, and several attempts on his life occur. And it’s all too familiar to be a stranger.

Lydia is all too happy to use Samara as a pawn in her power struggle, but Beckett refuses to allow her to be caught in the middle. Only, Samara is battling her own inner struggle, unwilling to follow her heart and believe Beck because of the situation her mother found herself in. But Beckett is not her father, and she is not her mother.

Samara has lived her life in her mother’s, and her father’s, shadow and a leap of faith is almost more than she can do. If she leaps and Beck isn’t there to catch her, she stands to lose everything: her job, her reputation and her heart. What she doesn’t realize, because she’s so clouded by the fate of her mother, is that Beck, too, loses everything if she isn’t by his side.

We are not our mothers or our fathers, and the people we love aren’t their mothers or their fathers. It’s both exhilarating and terrifying to forge our own paths … to take a leap of faith in ourselves and to fail or succeed on our own merit. Being brave isn’t always whether or not you’d charge in and save the day … sometimes being brave is knowing the challenges and barriers faced by those who came before us, and then taking a chance on possibility and choosing to move forward. There’s more to this story than just falling in love. And there’s just enough suspense to make your heart pound beyond the romance. As usual, Robert balances the elements of romance and suspense and just … falling in love … expertly.

*Originally published with USA Today's Happy Ever After: https://happyeverafter.usatoday.com/2018/04/12/dolly-r-sickles-recommended-romantic-suspense-the-last-king-katee-robert/.

Boy am I glad that Katee Robert's writing a new series with feuding families because I'm still in a book hangover from the O'Malley series completing and I need more.

The Last King is the first book and a great start to the series. It's fast-paced, and I finished it all in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. I love the introduction to the Kings. I was expecting a feud between the Kings and another prominent family; turns out it was an internal thing between Beckett King, who recently inherited his family company upon his father's death, and Lydia King, his father's estranged sister and Beckett's aunt. It was full of OTT family drama and my dramatic ass loved it so much.

Beckett King is my type of hero. He's confident and cocky, and on paper he seems like a ruthless man who will bulldoze over anything to get what he wants. But as the story went, we got to see a softer side of him, especially when it came to Samara. I love Samara Mallick so much, she's my queen. She's so fierce and smart, and I cheered every time she knocked Beckett down a few pegs. I love her devotion to her mother and her friendship with Journey, Lydia's daughter.

I love the hate-you-but-I-want-you thing going on between Beckett and Samara. I love seeing them go head to head with each other in business (Samara was Lydia's right-hand woman) and outside of it. The attraction between them was electric; Katee writes great chemistry between her characters. While I love Beckett and Samara together, I'm not that deeply invested in them, and I'm sure it will change with rereads just like it did for me with Teague and Callie (from The Marriage Contract).

Overall, it was an entertaining read and I recommend it to anyone who wants a little drama with their romance. I really wish we didn't have to wait so long for the second book. I love Journey a lot already, and I'm really curious about the whole vibe between her and Frank. Also, I'm praying hard for an Anderson King book, he's a scene stealer.

The Last King was not all that I thought it would be. Based off of the synopsis I thought I was getting a romance between to rivals/enemies, and while that is true, there’s so much more to it than that. Right from the start these two heat up the pages. So much so that I kind of felt disconnected from it all. Like, maybe this was a spin-off and these two have history I should know about. However, the beginning acts as more of a prelude to the series itself, which is when pieces started to fall in place for me.

I really like that even though this is a romance, there was a lot of suspense and mystery involved. Someone is gunning for Beckett, and it became crystal clear that they wanted him out of the picture for good in order to get their hands on his company. All fingers point to his estranged aunt who was shunned by her family when she was younger, but is it really her or is someone else looking to take over the family business? Poor Beckett just lost his father, and is now, all of a sudden, dodging attacks left and right. I was always wondering when the next shoe was going to drop.

The relationship between these two characters was explosive. There was clearly a lot of chemistry there, but they worked for opposing companies. Beckett ran the family business, and Samara worked for his estranged aunt. So, it was understandable that Samara fought the attraction and relationship, because she wasn’t willing to put her career at stake over a guy. However, I loved that Beckett was persistent and that they were able to find a balance in the end because these two were adorable together.

There are also some secondary characters that pop up that you don’t really know too much about, but you know they are going to get their own story. One of which is this shady dude who has eyes everywhere. Like, the moment Beckett calls him up with a favor, he already knows the ins and outs of the situation and “has a guy on it”. You just know that his story is going to be a good one, and I’m so excited that his is the next book in the series!

The Last King is a great start to a fun new series. I’m not sure if all of them will have suspense in them, but I really like the way the author has set the board. It will be interesting to see all the characters she brings in, and what their stories are.

❝Mixing business with pleasure is a bad idea.❞

Truer words have never been spoken. But it can be sinfully delish as well.
Where that I might be true things have been set in motion that will save them if they stick together.

The Characters.

Beckett King is the last King on his father’s side after a terrible accident it is time for the will to be read. Nathanial King was loathed by everyone but he was the only family Beckett had left and now he is alone. Coming from one of the biggest oil magnate’s Morningstar Enterprises his now his. His rival? His Kingdom Corp, Aunt Lydia is one of the coldest subzero ladies out there.

Beckett King is lush. I rarely fall in love with a fictional character but he was snagged by his gruffness, his rough edges, his confidence yet also his ability to feel vulnerable. He is a total alpha male but he leans on Samara which I haven’t seen a long time in a book. He has integrity and plays by a different set of rules.

Samara Mallick has worked hard to be the second in command for Kingdom Corp. She has sacrificed to be where she is today. Her rival has always been Beckett King though.

Samara Mallick is a strong heroine, she is ballbuster and doesn’t put up with peoples bullshit mostly Beckett’s though. She is kind and although she doesn’t want to get involved in the end she can’t but not get involved. She was closer to turning into her father than she knew. But her sense of justice and moral kept her on the right path.

The Chemistry.

They should be off limits to one another but the tension has been rising with them for years.
I liked the rivalry they had with one another more than I thought I would. It added depth to them as characters especially when they were trying to adjust to be more than what happened in Norway.
The chemistry is in the small things that they share, their childhoods, secrets they can tell no one else. But not only that their sexual chemistry was off the charts but they also had emotional chemistry that grew more and more throughout the book.

The Writing & Plot.

The writing is solid it flows well and the pace of the book is never boring moment. I enjoyed every moment of it.

There is some fantastic family history created here. It is dark, it is borderline sick and it comes across as normal within the King family. They have their pride which can also be their downfall.

It was all cutthroat but that is what made it fun for me. The games they played the manoeuvring an intricate chess game hoping that Beckett & Samara would come out on top.

The Verdict.

Thirty years of spite makes for one hell of a story. I didn’t think I’d like it but I love being proved wrong. The Last King has everything I love in a book suspense, angst, romance all in a neat package with all loose ends tied up that I cannot see one thing didn’t work in this book.

New relationships will be created in the King family from now. Journey King and Frank Evans are up next. On a side note here who calls their daughter bloody Journey I mean WTH were they thinking?

Ms. Robert hit a winner with this one in my opinion.

Last but not least - No other woman drama there was just no time.

Received in exchange for a honest review.
I started reading Katee Robert with her O’Malley series and fell in love with her storytelling. Here she is starting a new series and I was intrigued to see how it would be.
Beckett I really like. He was kind and caring and nothing like his father or aunt. His dad and aunt have some very bad blood between them that began with their dad and it just escalated. I think it escalated more on his aunt’s behalf than Beckett’s dads. She really harbors some serious hate for him and his dad. Beckett’s aunt you dislike instantly and also are wary of. You know she is up to something and are really brought into the story to see what she will do next and how Beckett will deal and handle it as he finds out and reveals the truth.
Samara took me a bit to get warmed up to. She treated Beckett really badly. She was wary of him because of his aunt. She thought he was arrogant and self centered. She didn’t really get to know him in the beginning. She also harbored some issues to him due to her mom’s past mistakes. Once you got to know her you see she is very loyal and kind. Just takes a bit.
When Beckett’ s dad dies, he starts to wonder what is going on. His dad doesn’t do what he did to cause his death not only that suddenly people were leaving the company and things were happening around him and to him. he tries to get Samara to see this and help but at first she is resistant. She thinks he is being arrogant. Suddenly though Samara is seeing things where she works that confuses her and she turns to Beckett. This leads to a dangerous road for her and Beckett but also to her discovering the man Beckett is. He is one that loves deeply and to him he isn’t about just wining a contract but a man who feels and is kind and caring. She sees how he feels about the house he grew up with and his cousins he never met but would love to get to know. She sees that the next generation in this family is stuck in the middle and that there is more to things than meets the eye. They are brought into a dangerous path that leads to many secrets and reveals that knock the socks off. We also see Beckett and Samara act on the sizzling chemistry between them and fall in love.
the story is well written and fascinating. Katee Robert twists a intriguing tale of danger, love and a family that the next generation gets to heal the mistakes of their parents and find a way to know one another.

I have to say that I very much enjoyed this book. I liked the chemistry between Beckett and Samara .



This is an intense, hot. dramatic and suspenseful book that will keep you entertained.



I give this 4 out of 5.

The Last King
The Kings series book # 1
Release Date: April 3, 2018
Review copy provided by the publisher

Wowza! This book started off with a bang! I've never read anything by this author before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was reading for about 5 minutes before the hero and heroine were tearing up the sheets. It was crazy hot!

While there is definite chemistry between Beckett and Samara, I found myself quickly getting bored with the back forth. Samara was constantly telling him to piss off, and then climbing his junk in the next breath. It drove me batty. I like a little hard to get, but I didn't find it genuine in this book.

Beckett sits at the helm of his fathers company. He inherited it after his fathers death. Samara works as the second in command for the rival company, run by his bitter aunt. I can understand Samara being a little standoffish. She values her job and she's worked hard to get to where she is. This provides a lot of conflict between the hero and heroine.

One of the things I appreciated, was the authors ability to make me like Samara. I didn't care much for her at the beginning. She does a lot of growing throughout the book. She becomes warmer as falls in love with Beckett. I found myself relaxing more into the story as this unfolded.

Beckett is just plain ol' yummy! He's a bit of a no nonsense badass. That's one of my favourite types of characters in a romance novel.

There's a suspense aspect to this book. It was enjoyable, but a little predictable. I liked that it didn't take over the romantic side of the book.

Overall, The Last King was a good book. There's a few secondary characters that have been set up for the own stories. I'll definitely be on the look out for them!

3 1/2 stars, a definite round up to 4.

The Last King, a romantic-erotic-suspense utilizing the enemies to lovers trope, is the first novel in Katee Robert's The Kings series.

Right up front I'm going to tell you that I really disliked the opening scene of The Last King. With little fanfare, Beckett King walks into a bar in Norway where he's just beaten his rival, Samara (yes, the same name as the little girl from The Ring, and yes, I had an immediate "eek" thought!) Mallick for a contract and then they proceed to have "hate-sex."

I stopped reading, and later that evening I watched an episode of Jessica Jones in which something similar almost happens between Jessica and Oscar. (The following is not verbatim because my memory just ain't that good.) He stops her and says: "30 minutes ago you hated me." Jessica says, "30 minutes ago you were trying to have me evicted." He says: "This is not normal."  And that's how I felt about the opening scene of The Last King. 

In the first few chapters, I have to admit that Becket was the only reason why I kept reading. He's a decent sort. A man who lost his beloved mother too early and whose father became closed-off and mean. Becket decided to take the other path. And I think nice guys are sexy as hell. 

Samara, however, takes awhile to warm up to. It also seems as if it takes awhile for her loyalty to catch up to her knowledge. Despite being obviously different from her mother (who made some bad decisions), she tends to approach relationship situations as if she were her mother.

The suspense story is excellent, however. After the death of Becket's father, someone is trying to take down the family business and perhaps even Becket and then Samara by extension. This is definite page-turning stuff.

There were several explicit sex scenes, two of which seemed replicated with just a change in locale. When I find myself skimming sex scenes, I think we are definitely in the less is more situation. Or maybe it's because when you take away the opportunity for anticipation or swoon it becomes shrug-worthy. Sex without sexy. Bang the gong, get it on.

Roundup: Excellent suspense story, excellent Becket, excellent writing, initially unlikable Samara, lots-o-sex. 

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katee Robert delivers exceptional romance every single time! I loved Samara and Beckett's story. Filled with explosive chemistry and smartly written dialogue, this story was one that I didn't want to put down. Both Beckett and Samara were really well written, and I felt like the progression of their relationship was perfect. The tension between the two of them was really well done, and I liked the dynamic between them as rivals as much as I liked their interactions in the bedroom. The storyline flowed really well and the romance, family issues, and emotional elements were all really well balanced. I am so thrilled that this series will continue, and am so excited to read Frank and Journey's story!

If you like contemporary romance you do not want to miss out on The Last King!

Beckett and Samara are perfect for each other. Beckett is alpha male without being an alpha-hole, he’s sexy, caring, fierce and a dirty, dirty talker. Did I say Beckett is a dirty talker? Samara is a strong heroine, a successful business woman, a dirty talker and a woman who is just as confident in the bedroom as the hero. I absolutely love Beckett and Samara! Samara is one of the best heroine’s I’ve read.

The Last King is an exceptionally well paced romance full of passion, intrigue, drama and a page turning plot that kept me reading into the very early hours of the morning.

I cannot wait for the next book in the series, lucky for me Ms. Robert has a back list that I can explore while I wait.

Morningstar Enterprises and Kingdom Corp, have been rival for decades. What is worse is that the owners of both companies are siblings. This is sibling rivalry at its worst. And Beckett King is soon going to discover how deep the hate between his father and his aunt goes.

Samara Mallick is the right hand to his aunt Lydia King, The underlying chemistry between them is too explosive to ignore. But when Beckett's father mysteriously dies in a car accident and Lydia King starts moving into Morningstar territory, suspicions raise alarms with first Beckett and Samara. As she is forced to work closely with him while her boss takes over her supposed inheritance, she sees a side to Beckett that she never expected. And though she carries her own emotional baggage and is determined to never tie herself to anyone, Beckett is able to pull down the walls she's built up around herself and break through her resolve.

This book has a shocking climax that will have you gasping at what single-minded revenge will drive you to do. Looking forward to the next book.

So this is my first time reading a book by Katee Roberts, and I have to say I was not disappointed. The story of Samara and Beckett is a cute little love story with some steamy scenes thrown in between betrayal and suspense. Beckett King and Samara Mallick are rivals, they are always going against each other in the business world, but after a steamy night in Norway the lines are getting a bit muddled. Samara and Beckett have a hate to love relationship that works. Especially when Beckett’s world starts to crumble with the death of his father, and what happens after the will is read, and how much Samara is there for him.

I really liked the attraction that you could see between Samara and Beckett and the way they came together. While I did not like Beckett’s aunts fascination with Samara and Beckett growing closer it made it easier later in the book for you to see the changes between them. Another thing I really liked in this story was that it was not instant love. While you could seem them both falling for each other, it took a natural course, and despite everything standing in their way, they ended up in a good place.

The “suspsense” part of the book, the who is after Beckett aspect was kind of predictable as the story went on, but the outcome was great. The introduction of Beckett’s estranged family members was also a good part of the story, though I would have loved to see a little more interaction between him and his cousins.

All in all a good read.