I love a good marriage of convenience and this one hit the mark for me. Dante and Vivianne might not have liked each other at first but the chemistry as the book went on definitely got steamy! I’m excited for the other books in this series.

I was waiting on the edge of my seat for this book, I loved every book by this author and this book is no different. The characters sucked me in so quick I couldn’t put it down.

King of Wrath is a fun read. There’s some angst and tension, nothing earth shattering but I enjoyed the read. It was an easy, light read in my opinion

These books are such a guilty pleasure for me! I loved reading all the twists and turns that happen in Ana's latest, and seeing Dante fall for feisty Vivian!

I may be biased, fresh off of a terribly boring and cluttered book and with incredibly low expectations thanks to Twisted Love (I gave it a general 2 stars), but I didn't hate King of Wrath.

The criticisms I've seen are absolutely warranted! Dante and Vivian are not really given much personality besides being into each other, the plot is flimsy, and there was nothing particularly special about it. There were a LOT of similes in this book, and some of them were weird and jarring ("my chest crushed like ice beneath a speeding truck??"). Some scenes left me wanting (the jewelry store robbery could have been so much more entertaining), but there was never a point where I thought "this is ridiculous, i want this book to be over" like I did during Twisted Love.

Otherwise, I feel like Ana Huang's writing has improved so much. The prose (though it was a bit purple sometimes), the dialogue, the banter. Miles better than Twisted Love, imo. It /is/ derivative of other similar romances, but if you need a predictable, entertaining love story that won't make you think too hard, King of Wrath is your spot. That's what I needed, and Miss Huang didn't disappoint.

Dante Russo is a ruthless and controlling billionaire CEO. He does what he wants, when he wants, with who he wants. Until he finds himself being blackmailed into an arranged marriage. Vivian is the good daughter, she works hard to please her family. She agrees to this arranged marriage because she has to, it’s her duty to her family. Dante is working to find a way out of this arrangement, until one day he realizes that he might not want out..

The Twisted series by this author is one of my absolute favorites, like for real. I was so excited to get this one and it did not disappoint. We met Dante and Vivian in the Twisted series, now we finally get their story. I love a fake dating trope and MAN this one was good. Ana Huang can really write a good romance that also has an interesting plot (and she has mastered the billionaire trope). I loved their banter and how Dante slowly but surely falls head over heels with Vivian. Ana Huang is the master of a “touch her and you die” moment. She’s also the queen of a “take no shit” FMC (who remembers Twisted Hate?) I will read anything she writes, hands down. No question.

There is something about Ana Huang's books that I desperately want to love but I never quite get there.

The writing was good and the characters were decent but the plot line was just so basic that I was bored through most of this. From the very first chapter of this book you know exactly how it's going to play out. No surprises, no interesting twists and turns; just a very basic, straightforward and predictable plot line. I've said this before but I am a firm believer that you absolutely can have a 5 star romance with a pretty non-existent plot line but it has to be packed full of chemistry and small moments between the couple that show them falling for each other. This was pretty lacking in that department. Dante was constantly away on business trips and we time jumped a lot and to me it felt like one second they were moving in together unwillingly and the next second they were having a "is this real" conversation. I just felt like I missed all of the build up to their relationship. For me the highlight of the whole book was him grovelling at the end because we finally actually got to see them interacting romantically outside of the bedroom. Speaking of which, I found the smut in this kind of tame for Ana Huang but maybe that's just me?

I also (for whatever reason) was under the impression that this was a mafia romance? It's definitely not. It's just two high society rich people. I've never been a fan of high society anything so it's not super surprising that this really didn't pique my interest. The blurb gives the impression that Dante is this super dangerous guy (maybe why I thought this was mafia?) but we really didn't see any of that in here. I did like Vivian for the most part though.

Honestly, can't say I'm particularly interested in any future books in this series but this was okay.

This is my first Ana Huang and will not be my last! I devoured this book.

Dante and his possessiveness 🥵

I really enjoyed the development of both MCs throughout the book. The third act break up was typical but not drawn out like in so many books and I didn't mind it.

Definitely recommend checking this book out if you like:
- Arranged marriages
- Grumpy x sunshine
- Forced proximity

Thanks to NetGalley & Sourcebooks Bloom Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

Arranged marriage
Forced proximity
Sunshine x grumpy.
The spice was amazing! I enjoyed it so much and highly recommend.

I was in the mood for a moody, broody and strong male lead. Really enjoyed the unexpected love story between these two very different main characters.

I loved this book. These characters were so sweet to read about. I hate the basic third act breakup but that is typical and the author wrote it with class. I loved the high society vibes to this. It gave insight into a life that most people don't see and seemed to be pretty accurate. I think the arranged marriage trope was done well and the dislike they showed towards each other was real. I wish that they would have been honest with each other from the start but I know that is not the point of this novel. I am looking forward to seeing book 2 and that dynamic start and hopefully these characters will be back.

This was my first Ana Huang read and I am hooked. Her storytelling, world building, and general ability to develop a character is out of this world. I cant wait for the next book in this series.

This read had so many good tropes (billionaire romance, arranged marriage, enemies to lovers, forced proximity) and the chemistry between the characters was spicy all the way through. I also really enjoyed the Asian representation in this book, as a child of immigrants I found myself relating to Vivian many times.

Thank you Netgalley and Bloom Books for the eARC.

Arrange marriage trope, you will always be famous.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this ebook.

4.5 ⭐️

Read if you enjoy:
- Arranged Marriage
- Grumpy vs Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
- Dual POV
- NYC elite/ High Society
- “Strangers to roommates to adversaries to friends to lovers to exes…the list went on!”

This has become a favorite read by Ana Huang. I have fallen in love with Dante and Vivian and I’m so glad I got a little bit more with the extended epilogue release.

I loved these two characters and their development throughout the book. It took me a bit to get into the plot of the arranged marriage but once it started, I loved it. The banter between these two was so entertaining at times and loved how Vivian stood her ground. Dante’s groveling was so good to read. Loved the chemistry and tension between these two.

"You take the most ordinary or unexpected things and make them extraordinary. You see the silver lining in every situation and the good in everyone, even if they don't deserve it. And I'm selfish enough to hope you'll see how much I don't just want but need you. Today, tomorrow, and all the days that come after that."

Definitely recommend this one! Excited to jump into Kai’s story next (He was a favorite side character who liked to tease Dante and make him jealous)

Vivian Lau is thrown into an unwanted engagement with one of NYC's most eligible bachelors and she can’t quite figure out why handsome billionaire CEO, Dante Russo, would have agreed to an arranged marriage. Unbeknownst to her, Dante has been blackmailed into proposing and he will do anything in his power to destroy the evidence—and destroy the person responsible—before their wedding date.

This is my first Ana Huang book and the expectation was high since everyone seems to love anything she writes. I must say, I do understand the hype. This was dark, emotional, and sexy. And surprisingly relatable? I’m the daughter of immigrants so IYKYK. I liked the conflict and the characters—I thought they were well-rounded, there were things I liked about them and others I did not which is life. I’m excited to see where this series goes.

Read if you enjoy:
💍 Billionaire Romance
💍 Arranged Marriage
💍 Enemies-to-Lovers
💍 Forced Proximity
💍 Spice
💍 Dual POV

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for this ARC!

This book was enjoyable. I read it quickly and the characters are engaging. Is it anything groundbreaking? No. It’s a standard romance but I did enjoy that she attempts to set familial boundaries and break norms.

I knew from the blurb that I was going to love this story and I was right. “King of Wrath” is a steamy, intriguing and chemistry filled enemies to lovers with an arranged marriage romance that I could not stop listening to once I started.

Money is power and power is everything amongst the NYC elite. So when Vivian’s father arranges her marriage to one of the most powerful billionaires, Dante Russo, she’s not surprised. But what she doesn’t know is her father has blackmailed Dante so their families can combine. But Dante is a Russo and they never take or do anything they don’t want to do.

Dante Russo is a jealous, possessive and protective guy and I’m all about it. He’s so serious and standoffish at first but Vivian slowly breaks down that wall and I love seeing a man get taken down to his knees by an equally strong woman. He pretends not to care because of how he was raised but he secretly does. I loved listening to Vivian stand up and hold her own with such a strong man like Dante. She’s smart, caring and finds herself while engaged to Dante, working through her differences she has with her parents. I loved all the underlying chemistry and tension that they had and when it finally ignited, it was sizzling.

I am a sucker for a great arranged marriage romance and when done well I will get so lost in the story that the real world around me disappears.

We met Dante briefly in Twisted Lies and I knew then that I needed to see more from him. In King of Wrath we find Dante Russo our "antihero" and Vivian Lau our heroine enter into an arranged marriage. Both of them clearly not wanting to be involved with one another but both of them being forced into it, Dante due to blackmail and Vivian due to a sense of obligation to her family.

Vivian moves into Dante's house and this is where the dynamic between the two of them really starts to ramp up. At the beginning these two run so cold they could have been strangers but as the story continues the relationship starts to get muddy. You could almost feel the temperature start to rise, the tension between these two heats up these pages and will have you almost squirming in anticipation.

What starts off as an obligation because so much more with these two. And as they get to know one another you start to have hope for these two. The reason I love romance reads is because they always illicit those heart pounding moments. This book had so many of those types of moments, whether it was the butterflies I felt as Dante and Vivian's feeling for one another started to become more then just an arrangement or those moments where things would start to fall off the rails a bit as their initial reasoning for being together would come back to the forefront.

Overall King of Wrath checks off all the boxes. It will have you feeling all sorts of emotions. If you are a fan of Arranged Marriages this one is top notch.

I also have to add in here that as a woman of East asian descent I absolutely love seeing more representation in romance books. So thank you Ana for that.

I absolutely can't wait for the next instalment in this series. In fact I'm salivating for it.

I love arranged marriage romances and this one was no different. I love Ana’s writing because it’s just so easy to get lost in. Watching the characters fighting their attraction to each other was so fun.

It's been a while since I indulged in this sort of high-power, high-stakes billionaire romance and so I wasn't really sure if this was something that would grab and keep my attention. But, oh my goodness, it did.

It took a little bit for me to settle into it, but by the third act I was obsessed. I tuned out the world, laser focused on Dante and Vivian's angsty, fiery love affair and - guh, it was so good!

The grump/sunshine trope is a favorite, and I felt like Ana Huang nailed the dynamic. Vivian's vivacious personality set against Dante's dour? *chef's kiss​* And there is nothing, nothing more satisfying to me in romance than a man brought to his knees by his feelings for a woman. I adored how Dante adored Vivian. And even better, I understood it - because Vivian was written as this strong, capable, independent woman with a heart of gold and a smart sense of humor. The two of them together plucked at every single one of my heartstrings and set my skin abuzz with swooniness. Also, the grovel? Mmmmm. Perfection.

This story was shades of dark without actually venturing into dark territory. Perfect for readers like me, who are not dark romance readers, but may be craving something with a little bit of bite to it. The storyline was interesting, and it was perfectly paced. This was my first book by Ana Huang, but I was glued to the pages, enchanted with the love story, and compelled to know how everything played out - so I know it will not be my last. I loved it! ~ 4.5 Stars