Big thanks to Sourcebooks: Bloom Books for the early copy of this book. This review is being given honestly and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was my first Ana Huang book and I’m happy to say she has lived up to her reputation. King of Wrath is a romance featuring Dominic and Vivian who are arranged to marry based on a business deal (or so Vivian thought). The setup honestly sounds a lot more angst than it really was. I did like the book but felt like it was okay overall.

Vivian was a fun character and I could really relate to her on the aspect of struggling with your duty to family and also trying to be yourself as my culture is very similar. Dominic was fun and hot to read about and I like that the reason for the marriage came out before the wedding took place but after substantial relationship building had been complete because both characters were able to really feel the impact of Vivian leaving. I will say that the buildup to getting back together was really sweet and I love that Vivian held out for longer than I assumed she would have, it really highlights that she did love Dominic but she needed to make sure they could be good together without everything that hindered them the first time around and that they did need space form each other for her to figure that out.

King of Wrath is book one in the series and though I am excited for the rest of the books I think I am going to pick and choose what I pick up for the rest of the series because some of the prompts don’t interest me as much as others. Would definitely rec this for people looking for Wattpad-esque romance. To clarify, I just mean these types of plots are not normally seen in traditionally published romance.

Ana can do no wrong and this book did not disappoint. I loved the story and the way the book played out. The whole vibe was there and I just couldn’t get enough of this story! Can’t recommend it enough!

I really enjoyed Ana Huang’s writing. You definitely should read the twisted series before reading this one.

I loved this book! I will definitely be recommending to friends. Ana is one of my favorite authors and this series might be a new favorite!

I think I did this to myself.

I was truly expecting something gripping, and perhaps for other readers it may be. It is full of drama and pretty fast paced, but it feels like a ton of cliches and reiterations of stories we have all read, jumbled into one poorly written book.

I will say that while it is not a good book, or my personal taste, I know this book will be popular.

I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting read . I found that I was able to read quickly and enjoyed the pacing and premise of the book. I would recommend to others.

4 Ruby Stars!

The diamond crusted poo hits the gold-plated fan when Dante Russo, most rich/eligible bachelor, gets blackmailed into marrying Vivian Lau, the new money heiress/event planner.

Dante is furious and vows to destroy her and her father (blackmailer), the whole family really.
Vivian is completely unaware and thinks this is just an arranged marriage to the biggest jerk ever, so her social climber parents can gain status.

Vivian was fabulous! She was calling Dante out on his poor behavior from the get-go in the classiest way. Dante had some great character growth and managed to become self-aware and fix his own problems.

The plot was paced well and had some high stakes and curve balls thrown in that were very entertaining. The spice was nice, as always, and the side characters were all very fun and/or intriguing. I am looking forward to the next book in the series! 10 out of 10 would recommend!

Check Out books 1 &2 Now!

A big thanks to the Publisher & NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Billionaire hero, forced proximity/marriage. Dark and broody. Ana Huang delivers a pulse pounding romance with plenty of tension, angst and steam

Well this was definitely an interesting read but I was here for it and I couldn't put it down. Definitely check the trigger warnings before picking up this book. I thought the plot was great. i also thought the characters were well written. they were very complex characters and the author did a great job with the character development. I don't read much romance and when I do its not so much like this. this was a tad bit violent at some parts.

Before reading the story, I did not know what to expect. I fell in love with the characters and the setting in more ways, the non-wanting the second book to come out.

Vivian loves her life in NY and her career is going very well. While working an event she gets double the surprises. Dante shows up, he didn't even RSVP and his appearance will be the talk of the town. The other surprise? Her parents want her over for dinner but it's not going to be a good surprise....

At her parents for dinner, you can tell Vivian is holding herself back some. Dressing proper, acting properly and dealing with her parents nagging about boyfriends and securing their connection to wealth. So... this is now a meet your fiancé dinner!!

Vivian is not only not thrilled by this idea, let alone the shocker of her fiancé being Dante.

Dante is mutual on this feeling. He didn't have plans to marry, let alone under these circumstances. Vivian seems to have some spunk to her that might make things less difficult, but all the same if he can get out of this, he will.

Right from the start this book gives you so much and has you hooked. Watching these two snip at each other, hating the idea of being engaged to actually building a connection to where being married is now a want.

I've just started to get into Ana's books and so far, I can say that she will be on my favorite authors list. Her books have yet to disappoint and give you all the emotions you could want.

King of Wrath has me very excited for the rest of the 'King of Sins' series. I will absolutely be posting about this on all my socials.

I love Ana Huang's writing and stories. She writes such engaging stories and characters using tried and trusted tropes.

I think Vivian Chau deserves the world and that Dante Russo will absolutely be making sure she gets it. I don't love billionaires in real life, but Ana Huang's series of extremely rich fictional men get a pass.

"She was my North Star, the brightest jewel in my sky."

Dante thought he stood a chance against Vivian's charms, but nope. This man is down bad for his (fake) fiance. The groveling was also very exquisite in this one!

Also Christian Harper showing up to be a nuisance and menace at any and every opportunity? I loved it.

I did find the pacing to be a little slow in the first half, and I wish we got to know the two leads a little deeper. I wanted to see a bit more connection between Dante's past and view of relationships shifting as he chooses to accept and love Vivian. Similarly, I wanted more exploration on how Vivian being Asian plays a huge factor for her family as 'new money' rich folks, her status in that society and how it has fundamentally defined her entire character. I think that would have given this book a different edge.

I'll miss these two but I'm sure we'll be seeing them again in the rest of the series so I look forward to that!

Dante Russo is being blackmailed by Francis Lau. Dante's only option is to marry Francis' daughter, Vivian and if he does not, then his younger brother, Luca will die.

Dante and Vivian are forced in arrange marriage, but Vivian does not know about the blackmail. She wants to do anything to make this engagement and one day, the marriage to at least be amicable and not stone cold like it is going now. Dante has never wanted to get married, and his end game is to take down Francis Lau and be rid of this engagement. However, as time moves on, things start to blur from wanting revenge to falling in love.

I read Ana Huang's Twisted Love back in March 2023 and I absolutely loved it and devoured it. I knew from then on that I wanted to read more Ana Huang, which I now own more of the Twisted series, but have not gotten around to them yet. But I saw King of Wrath on NetGalley and instantly knew I needed to request it right away.

King of Wrath was such a great read for me because a lot of books that I've been reading physically make me lose focus really fast, but this book did not. King of Wrath kept me engaged with the plot line and the characters from the beginning of page one.

I enjoyed watching Dante and Vivian grow as a couple, but even individually. Both characters end up growing so much individually throughout the story because of the forced marriage situation and because both characters bring out the best in each other and makes one another want to make changes in their lives.

All I can say about the romance is that it was hot at times, but also sweet at times. I got to admit I love Dante with his grand gestures when it came to wooing Vivian.

King of Wrath does not just focus all on romance (even though it is a pure romance novel) but focuses on societal issues/pressures with those who are from new money and old money. We see how reputations are easily threatened, how powerful and wealthy people can protect certain people. and how a person's image/reputation is perceived. On top of that Vivian's parents are always critical on her actions, her appearance, and everything she does, which makes her be a fake version of herself around them in fear of disappointing them, which does mix with their culture with honoring your elders. With Dante, his parents left him and his brother to be raised by their grandfather who was strict and all business, so that plays a part of how he interacts with others, but also shows the issues with his family.

This book made me laugh, squeal, smile, and get annoyed with certain characters, but I just loved this book so much and it makes me want to keep reading books by Ana Huang. Now, I just need to get my hands on King of Pride ASAP.

You will love King of Wrath if you enjoy these tropes: enemies to friends to lovers, forced proximity, arranged/forced engagement/marriage, billionaires, grumpy x sunshine, revenge.

This book really just took me for a ride. I loved the build up, the character development, and the writing. I would definitely read more from this author!

She was my North Star, the brightest jewel in my sky.
_
Forced arranged marriages with old and new money are my jam. This was so yummy.
Dante was so emotionless and stuck in a bad situation forced to marry Vivian Lau. But none of this was her fault and the slow thawing of his heart by her and her humor and caring was delicious. But he was still cutthroat in business.
Fun new series! Can't wait to read about Kai and Isabella.

Read if you like:
💍 Age gap (8 yrs)
💍 Arranged marriage
💍 One bed
💍 Billionaire

Thank you sourcebookscasa for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

This was such a good and spicy read. Set in New York, it was a perfect CEO romance with allllll the tropes. An age gap (28 and 36) and just so much jealousy and possessiveness and drama. The perfect mix of it all!

A tad on the darker side for me...kind of reminded me of Dark Succession by Katee Robert! I didn't enjoy it as much as I did Ana Huang's Twisted series.

please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
FMC: Vivian- an exclusive party panner who is the daughter of the Lau family- a new-money family in the jewelry business. Yes, her parents are overbearing, emotionally manipulative, and often rude but they crossed the line when they force her into an arranged marriage with the most eligible billionaire bachelor before she’s 30.
MMC: Dante- an elusive billionaire CEO, who is known for his connections and ruthless business, has never been interested in marriage. One mistake leads to another, and Dante is being blackmailed into a forced marriage with Vivian, a jewelry heiress, to keep his brother alive. Dante will do everything in his power to destroy the blackmail evidence and break off this farce of an engagement...all he has to do is not fall in love in the process.
POV: 1st person, dual POV
HEA: yes
spice: several spicy scenes
TWs: blackmail, torture, slight racism, classism, slight OM drama, terrible family dynamics, parental neglect, emotional abuse, child abandonment (past), mental health- anxiety/PTSD
standalone: yes, but set in the same world as the Twisted series with overlapping character mentions and interactions
final thoughts: YES!! This book was so great! The banter was great and they each gave as good as they got. The tension was amazing and I loved the slow burn of both Vivian and Dante pretending they’re not falling in lust and love with each other. The writing style made this a quick and easy read with lots of intrigue and world building.

read this book if you love

🔢 age gap (28/36)
💓 slowburn
🏝️ forced proximity (same living arrangements)
🛏️ one bed
💗 nicknames (Italian)
😬 angst
💵 billionaire
💍 arranged/forced marriage

**I was given an eARC in exchange for an honest review**

I know King of Wrath is already out (indie and trad) but when given an ARC, I do my best to read it, even if I'm late. That being said, a lot of people have already encapsulated my feelings about it.

This was my first billionaire romance, and I went in with an open mind. However, I'm not sure it's for me. Could just be this one book, so I will likely read another to confirm this. I just struggle with the frivolous of the setting for romance. Also, as someone else said, we never actually learn much about what Dante does? Vivian is a party planner, which is key to some of the story, and I fully understand what that entails. But what exactly does Dante do? He goes on business trips and tells his hacker friend to “kill it” (other businesses)? Is that truly all? I understand business can be boring, but something more would've been helpful here. Something more than “meeting with subsidiaries”.

All romance novels have sex. The sex in this was pretty middle of the road. On one side of the scale, I've read sex scenes full of chemistry and great description. On the other side, I've read King of Battle and Blood. King of Wrath felt squarely in-between. I wasn't rolling my eyes and cringing, but I also didn't particularly care. I appreciated that the scenes weren't drawn out, but honestly, they actually felt a bit short? Maybe it was the lack of chemistry between Dante and Vivian. My own personal gripe was the description of Dante’s penis size. Not to repeat the description, but I'm fairly certain that's not anatomically possible (certainly would feel *awful*), which made me roll my eyes hard.

I didn't hate Dante or Vivian. Their relationship was very tell not show, which sucks. Truly, I think a fix there would've improved this substantially. I love when the MMC gets a PoV, but they need to be a distinct character for that to work, and Dante was very flat. Vivian was more well-rounded, in part because of her development throughout the book.

With the plot, there's a third act break-up plus miscommunication. Not my faves, but hey, that's the romance genre. I found it highly unbelievable how quickly Vivian forgave Dante after his screw-up (I personally wouldn't have forgiven him, but maybe that's just me).

So, overall, 3 stars from me. I think it had much more potential and just missed the mark in a lot of aspects. Certainly not a 2, but not a 4. I will likely read King of Pride since I like what I've seen of Kai and Isabella so far. Also, the couple for King of Greed seem promising, so we'll see.

Ana Huang continues providing her usual books to readers. Was this book horribly original? No. Was it entertaining? Yes. Huang's ability to build her characters is where she shines and this continues to be true for Dante and Vivian. While the story might feel familiar, exciting characters definitely make it enjoyable enough for a quick read.