Absolutely a work of art!!! This duet has a HUGE piece of my heart! Kennedy Ryan is a true artist!! She is now one of my favorite authors of all time!

This book sucked me on from start to finish. The romance and the story were incredible and I loved every up and down of Lennox’s journey. The storytelling and characters are masterful which is why I rate it 5 stars!

Maxim Cade is a climate enthusiast from an oil empire family. He is willing to disconnect from his whole family to change the world. Lennix Hunter meets Maxim accidentally at a pipeline protest through her ancestral lands. She is determined to keep her history alive and represent marginalized populations. There are a million reasons Maxim and Lennix getting together is a bad idea. Yet somehow they keep finding their way back to each other.

I really liked so much of this story. I loved Maxim and Lennix's career choices and their determination to keep on doing what they love despite the obstacles. It rubbed me the wrong way how Maxim talked like he owned Lennix and had a right to her. Also, the cliffhanger ending! I'm heading off to read The Rebel King right now because I can't wait any longer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the ARC of this book.

Loved the premise and really enjoyed the execution on this one! Liked the representation and the political side of things but Maxim became a bit too much for me towards the end and didn't really love his arrogance but on to the next!

This book was so different than what I normally expect from Kennedy Ryan but I really loved it. It was like exploring a whole new world.

I'm a firm believer Kennedy Ryan can write nothing but magic so I was excited to read this one book since it's probably one of the few of the author that I haven't at that point.

Started quite nice but I'm not sure if it was not the write time for me to read it or if the story goes rather plain in the first half. I'm giving it another try at some point in the future.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the chance of reading the e-arc.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, Bloom Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was addictive. I was drawn in from the start and had to keep reading to see what was happening next. The ending!! Ending on a terrible cliffhanger! Luckily I was gifted the next book in the duology so I could delve right into it.

I really like Kennedy Ryan's writing style. It was fast paced. Great timeline. The storyline was interesting and kept you wanting to read more. I loved the added background stories of Nix and Maxim, the added heritage and the diversity added so much to the story.

There is a lot of sexy moments in this book. Just as a warning for those not into that sort of thing. Or a plus to those that are. There is an age gap between the two as well. Which can be a trigger. To me the insta lust was a bit much for me and why I rated it a 4.

This is my first Kennedy Ryan but definitely not my last!

She had such a beautiful talent for creating and writing stories. It’s a powerful story with honorable representations of indigenous people. The main character Lennix’s cultural background and heritage are a huge part of her identity, shaping her to be the strong powerful female she was.

This beautifully poetic love story spans over a decade, and I definitely recommend.

absolutely loved this book. the Indigenous representation what great! i loved the LOVE! Kennedy Ryan will always be top author when it comes to writing love. I love how the MMC was aware of his privilege and didn’t act oblivious to. i would recommend this book to any and every one.

Please please please tell me there’s another book coming out because the ending had me in a chokehold and I need more!! Lennix and Maxim’s journey was both beautiful and heartbreaking. I loved watching Lennix uncover things about herself that she didn’t realize she was hiding from and at times Maxim’s arrogance was grinding my gears but on the other hand it was the best thing. I’m not into politics but reading about Lennix’s story and how she fights for Native Americans and the little people has me wanting to read more like it. From the beginning I was intrigued by the book but by part 3 I was really hooked and the ending turned it into a 4.5 star read for me! Definitely recommend this fantastic book!!!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of the kingmaker. this started off very interesting of a group on native Americans really involved in saving their lands from a horrible cooperate conglomerate trying to put in a pipeline through their lands and the possibility of damaging a water supply. real world issues. oddly enough the company's owners son has a heart of gold and joins in with the people trying to save their lands creating a fissure with his family. this was interesting to see how that played out but really wasn't a hard guess, it was still a good read.

2.5/5 stars

I am convinced I received a different copy of this book than everyone else, because I really struggled to enjoy this one. This book was just really not for me and it disappoints me because I wanted to like it so badly.

It’s almost the tale of two books for me, because the first 55% of the book was ROUGH for me. If I rated the book on that section alone, it would be a 2, maybe 2.5 stars. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I’m so glad this book worked well for others but it was FILLED with things that I strongly dislike and I nearly DNFd it, but was told by someone that they loved this book so I really wanted to push through and like this one. Once we had the 10 year time jump around 55% it improved slightly for me, but not enough to pull it over 3 stars.

To begin, I really struggled with the characters and connecting to them. I found them to be pretty one dimensional at first and a lot of their personality was based off their given passion. This made them feel flat to me as opposed to someone who was passionate. There wasn’t much to them besides conservation/indigenous rights and while these are both admirable, I wanted more from the characters. She gave me some pick me vibes for a bit too, and I really just found her younger self annoying. I also found his father to be extremely one dimensional in that he was just the big bad oil man.

The dialogue at the beginning was also really awkward and not realistic. It didn’t feel like a conversation that a 17 or 21 year old would have with a parent or peers. It was really hard for me to get into the book and had me rolling my eyes multiple times. There were also issues with pacing and plot development. The beginning dragged forever and then the end jumped around a ton. It was a quick read but didn't feel consistent to me to get into a nice flow.

This book is also instalust. For this to work for me, it needs to be written well. The way it was set up here had me cringing. We have a virgin FMC who is all about her body being this sacred thing, and while she’s not a prude, she jumps into bed with a guy she’s known for 5 minutes? And says she knows him and that he is worth it? EYE ROLL. Not to mention he was lying to her and she really knew nothing about him. But, sure Jan. The instalust continues through the jumps too. I really struggled with the fact that he has some magical dick that makes her standards and beliefs fly out the window.

<spoiler> After he has the near death experience in Antarctica and she finds out who he really is, he comes back to the States and even though she’s mad at him when her *forces himself on her by kissing her when she said no* she then says you know what? Dicks so good I’m gonna fuck him even though he lied to me about being the son of the man I hate most in this world. It’s FINE because his dick is just so good. EYE ROLL </spoiler>

There was also the element of miscommunication/lying. I REALLY didn’t understand how he didn’t get that she was mad he lied and acted like not telling her who he was wasn’t actually lying. Like bro. She’s got a right to be mad when you know how she feels about your father and you pretended to be someone else.

I also struggled with the drama in this book at the beginning. It felt like it was trying to have depth, but was really skimming the surface. It covers important topics like missing Indigenous women and climate change, but it felt like an elementary level of it. I told a friend it felt like a soap opera. Like it wanted to have the depth, but it was hard to take seriously. A lot of this was due to me not being able to connect with the characters, but I really struggled with feeling any depth for the majority of the first half of the book.

After the 10 year time jump it got *better*, but still not great for me. The fact that they’d really only known each other for one week but were still so obsessed with each other? There's also not much of an apology or groveling. If a man fucks up, I want to see him on his knees begging for forgiveness. This man just says he wants her back and they have crazy sexual tension so she caves. There's not much actual development to their relationship 10 years later before they get back together. Just lots of remembering their connection and not experiencing that with anyone else. Again, just hard for me to find realistic and lent a lot to the instalust feels of the book. I did start liking the characters though more as adults, and felt like we finally got some personality, so that helped. The plot I feel like finally took off in the last quarter, so I was finally able to enjoy it when it was nearing the end.

Because I have the second as an ARC and want to know what happens with the plot and the cliffhanger, I am going to read it and I’m REALLY hoping that I like that one more as it is them as adults. However, even the cliffhanger made me go wtf??? Like it just didn't match the rest of the story and felt out of the blue.

I totally understand others liking this book. If you’re a fan of instalove/lust, miscommunication (or lack of communication) and virgin trope, you’ll probably like this more than I did! It just had a lot of tropes I don’t enjoy stacked heavily in the beginning without much to redeem it. I think had the first 55% been consolidated more and the characters had been flushed out more/they had more to their relationship than just a quick instalust tryst I might have liked this one more. Not connecting with the characters made it hard for me to enjoy their story or feel any depth to the plot. I want to keep reading as the second half was slightly better and intrigued me enough to finish and read the next, but I don’t know that I’d recommend this one too broadly as it was hard for me to get through it.

I received a copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As always with a critical review, these are my personal opinions. This is not a negative reflection of the author or other readers who liked it. This book was just not for me, but I hope others are able to read and enjoy!

What a unique and powerful read!! I was completely engrossed from start to finish. Is it a love story? Yes, but it is so much more! It's about family, heritage/culture, diversity, loss, hope and love. I loved the passion and dedication of the main characters. The author does an amazing job honoring the Native-American people and the social injustices they endured. This book does end on a HUGE cliffhanger so be prepared for it! Now I am anxious to read the rest of the story in "The Rebel King". I highly recommend this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am convinced that Kennedy Ryan can do no wrong!

This book, like her others, was fiery and emotional. What I didn't expect was the absolute power behind the story: the family, heritage, culture, grief, hope. Her characters are so well-written with their motivations clear enough to understand what drives them. Ryan does an amazing job honoring the Native-American people and the social injustices they endured.

The cliffhanger is the only thing that bothered me! Of course, this just means I'm eager for the next book!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

Kennedy Ryan does not disappoint. This story had plenty of romance and lots of heart. I felt myself drawn into the story immediately and it stayed there. I couldn't get enough of Lennix's and Maxim's story -- it was just sooo good! I appreciated the attention to the details of Lennix's Native American culture. I also like that she didn't let Maxim off the hook with his privilege. To top it off the end of the story transitioning into something else all together and I was into it! This book was extremely bingeable! I loved it so much that I immediately went to find the second book! 4.5 stars! I will share a review on Instagram soon.

“𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝙸 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍. 𝙸’𝚖 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚎𝚝.”

🎉Happy Pub Day to 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 being rereleased today! 🎉

Lennix and Maxim first meet when she’s leading a protest against his father’s corporation’s attempt to build a pipeline on sacred indigenous land. The protest goes terribly awry where Maxim rushes to rescue her much to his father’s consternation. Maxim has fundamental differences from his father when it comes to the oil industry and the impact on the climate, and so breaks away from the family. Meeting Lennix speaks to that part of him, but nothing can happen because of their age gap at the time. (She’s 17 and he’s a grad student.) They meet two other times, years apart. Maxim still hasn’t told her about his father, and when the truth catches up with him, he has to fight hard to win her back.

This story has multiple layers to it. The impact Lennix and Maxim have made through their respective careers is wild! Both are equally matched in their ambition. There’s high level spice, their chemistry ignited from the offset. Ryan also includes causes that are political flashpoints, and have been in the news. I liked how accessible and informative they were in the storyline.

This is your next read if you want to meet fiercely determined crusaders, to learn of important issues, and love your romance spicy. This story left me hungry for more - more about them, more about the causes they champion, and left off on a cliffhanger!! Who does that? Kennedy Ryan, that’s who.

Thanks to @netgalley & @read_bloom for my ARC in exchange for an honest review. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 is out now, and the 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗹 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 rereleases June 26th, 2023.

Kennedy Ryan never fails to impress! The Kingmaker was riveting. I was hooked right from the beginning. I felt the author developed such a real world, and I could feel the passion that went into this one with the attention to detail. Such a great love story, but even more such a great representation of Native American people and the social injustices they endure. The cliffhanger was huge, and made me excited for the next book.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a an arc of The Kingmaker!

Loved this! I would definitely recommend to friends and family in the future. Lovely addition to the new adult genre. Kept me interested with good plot development and interesting characters.

🌹 The Kingmaker 🌹

(?) what's a book that surprised you?

I was sooo pleasantly surprised by this book - I really went in blind and ended up devouring it!! 😍

Blurb:
"In a world of haves and have-nots, Maxim Cade's family and their oil empire have it all…and he wants nothing to do with it. At odds with his mogul father, he's determined to build his own empire, even if it means traveling far from home, painted as the black sheep.

Lennix Hunter is the exception to every one of Maxim's rules. At a protest for the oil pipeline that threatens to mar her ancestral land forever, they meet in a flurry of stars and sparks, and that one moment changes everything. But Maxim's family is the one stealing from hers, and his father is the man she hates most. He has to lie in order to have her once, and despite the truth, he'll do anything to keep her.

Even though Lennix tries to hate Maxim, too, their hearts are pointed in the same direction. The inexorable pull between them, across miles and years, will not be denied.

And neither will Maxim."

Perfect for fans of:
❤ right person, wrong time
💌 dual pov
❤️‍🔥 second chance romance
🖤 doing anything to win her back
💋 cliffhangers & drama
🤍 plot & character driven romance

special shoutout to @read_bloom & @netgalley for the e-ARC - this one released last week so add it to your tbr ASAP!! 😘

Kennedy Ryan can bring the heat. Wowwww. And man do I love an alpha male paired with an alpha female. Sparks fly to say the least. But that ending? GAH!! I Need the next installment ASAP.