I absolutely LOVED Nix And Docs story in book 1, BUIUUUUT I think I love this one even more! This was the perfect continuation for their relationship and to their careers! The spice was perfect, the plot was perfect, it was gutwrenching and amazing through&through

After that ending in The Kingmaker, I needed to continue with The Rebel King as soon as I could! And luckily I got to see more of Maxim and Lennix together in a relationship. After everything they went through in the first book reading about them actually I’m a committed relationship was refreshing. However they still had their issues and lots more suspense and unpredictability surrounding them. So much more happened in this book that kept me on my toes and I never knew what was going to happen next. Like this first book, this one also discusses political and societal issues (they’re on the campaign trail now so it felt like it was more prevalent in this one), and Kennedy Ryan continue to write about them in a caring and understandable way.

Overall, this is a good book and duology and I do recommend!

Read if you like…
•hate to love
•suspenseful romance
•🌶️🌶️

The Rebel King was beautiful! OMG this duet just kills me. The passion and the emotions are so raw in the Rebel King. I felt like I was constantly holding my breath and telling myself to calm down from it all. Rebel King picks up right where The Kingmaker left off and its like an emotional roller-coaster. I was not expecting that "event" to happen in the middle (crys). I've been so close to tears too many times through this book. There are some traumatic events in Rebel King which our two MC have to work through, so emotional recovery was a key theme. With the recovery was hot passionate sex....and lots of it!
I just love Maxim and Lennix.
Things to note in this sequel:
- more politics and presidency campaigning
- Spice is tripled
- Alpha male syndrome doubled (but with reason)
So so good! One of the best romance duet I've ever read.
Thanks so much to @netgalley and @read_bloom for an eArc of this sequel. I was desperate to read this after that ending in The Kingmaker, and not surprisingly I devoured this the day i got the request accepted. I can not wait for the physical release to own a copy for my collection. All romance readers need to read this duet!

Kennedy Ryan is an auto purchase novelist for me, and The Rebel King did not disappoint. This book starts from the cliffhanger of the previous book in this series.

This story was rich; the love felt genuine, and I loved how Lennox saw something bigger for Maxim than he might have seen for himself. I also loved how big Lennox's dreams were for herself. You dont often see, in romance novels, strong political women who can still be vulnerable in love. It was refreshing.

This book took me on an emotional journey. This book was perfect, the way it was written and the message delivered. I cannot stop recommending that everyone pick up this series.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publishers, for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just reviewed The Rebel King by Kennedy Ryan. #NetGalley
https://www.netgalley.com/book/285654/review/858599

Thank you NetGalley and Bloom Books for this arc.

Once again, I am absolutely blown away by Kennedy Ryan. Though I haven’t read many of her books, she has now entered into my top 10 favorite authors.

This story is full of passion (obviously), but there is so much MORE to it. It is meaningful. It is beautiful. It just makes you FEEL something.

I cannot recommend this series enough. It is by far one of my favorite reads of the year.

Ryan knows how to execute the romance formula to a T! She concludes the series with everything we want - drama, romance (billion dollar romance at that), spice, and a couple we are rooting for. It’s everything you want and more. Loved it!

This was a powerful, rich story. Lennix was a campaign manager for Owen Cade. She was also seeing his brother, Maxim. They have known each other for some years, but only started seriously dating 5 months before this book started. It was a well guarded secret. The story starts out with the news that Lennix has been kidnapped along with Wallace, who is a scientist. The mad man who took them, shot one man in front of her and said they had 48 hrs to get him $10 million plus the formula for the drug he was after. They were rescued, but the kidnappers brother was killed. Then another tragedy happened and it shook them all. Maxim was convinced to run for President, but Lennix told him they had to be a secret. The story was very well laid out and I loved every word of it

I got this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

4.5/5 First and foremost the author’s note was beautiful. Not only does Kennedy Ryan write beautiful novels with important messages but the accuracy is impeccable. The Rebel King is the second book in the All the King’s Men series that will be re-issued with a gorgeous new cover on June 27th.

This book was a great follow up to The Kingmaker. This book took me on an emotional journey & I loved every bit of it. At one point it truly hit me hard. I would go from laughing to feeling bubbly to anger to sadness. This book was perfection, the way it was written and the way a message was delivered. I cannot stop recommending for everyone to pick up this series. By far top 5 of this year. Due to the fact that The Rebel King is the second book in a series. I chose to keep this review concise with little detail to avoid spoilers for those who are interested but haven’t read either book yet.

Thank you to Kennedy Ryan, NetGalley & Sourcebooks Bloom Books for giving me the opportunity to honestly read and review this book.

The next instalment of Lennix and Maxims love story which picks up after the cliffhanger at the end of the first book. Maxim truly loves Lennix and is determined to save her.
There are lots of twists and turns, highs and lows, but a thoroughly good read.

2/5 stars

thank you netgalley for the arc!

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the frustration with The Rebel King is that it was, in my humble opinion, despite how self-possessed and gifted a writer Kennedy Ryan is, this whole enterprise was entirely superfluous and even crafted itself into an indictment of the first book. How you ask? By rapidly devolving into a Shonda Rhimes Scandal-esque show with really really oversensationalized stupid drama that hurtled itself entirely out of left field from the onset of events. The kidnapping plot was an eye-roll and a half which did little to dissemble the fact that it was drama for drama's sake - and for what? For a sequel which no-one, least of all Maxim and Lennix asked for? The first book, minus the hastily cobbled cliff-hanger where said kidnapping plot point finds its regrettable genesis, resolved itself nicely; our two main characters were finally where they needed to be, all was well until the evermore prosaic BUT butted its way in. What is it with the authorial ego that spurs this need to make lightning strike twice? We should have been at a full stop, the end, happily ever after, end of, et. al. But noooo, let's insinuate this last minute slipshod complication so we can drag everything out into a sequel where it's either a TED talk in the sociopolitical climate or how to become a president 101 in the world of Shonda Rhimes where it's more sex and drama than actual political manoeuvring. The grand narrative climax is even more insulting than the melodramatic Taken storyline and it will be equal to when the nurse tells you you're getting a flu shot and you won't even feel it except in this case you really don't feel it happen at all. There's so much erroneously overblown tension you'd think the least that could be done about it would be to then have a commensurately over the top climax to salvage this mess but no. No, let's just leave everyone confused about what the point of it all was. If this was an existentialist novel I'd be well impressed as it left me questioning a whole lot of everything to do with my existence when I finished this. I wish my review constituted less grousing and more lauding, alas, I endeavour to be ever truthful with my unasked for opinions.
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characters:
♛ : Lennix
just from briefly skimming through reviews, I've noticed a consensus as to Lennix being a bit of a dick this book and while I'm by and large hesitant to ever write off POC female characters for being "outspoken" - she was a mite heavy-handed this time around. I truly appreciated her resounding exegesis of the American government and the climate of patriotism, however there is always a time and place and it's rarely a good look to unleash your frustration with The American onto your arguably too forgiving significant other. Lest you develop a bit of a sanctimonious cast about your character... Lennix is an interesting character in that while she may not be deemed likeable, she has a deeply ambitious almost Lady Macbethian bearing to her; both women are the figurative Kingmakers. Its this innate political savvy and ceaseless ambition (although in the case of Lennix it is a quixotic but well-intentioned drive to better the world) which truly adds lustre to her character.

♛ : Maxim
having done a total 180 from the Maxim we're first introduced to at the dawn of everything, this Maxim, frequently likened to a wolf, is still very sexy so I'll give this eyebrow-cocking worthy slip a get out of jail free card. Equally as trail-blazing as Lennix, Maxim is a bit of a paradox in that he is what Oscar Wilde coined, the model millionaire. He's capitalistic and makes no bones about his materialistic ways, and yet he's ever conscious of the earth and those less privileged than he. This patchwork of loveable contradictions make him a far less chafing character than Lennix, irrespective of her noble intentions. In terms of chemistry, the two of them make up this Macbethian pairing, if Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were far less self-serving and actually good people who wanted to do right by others that is - but their fireworks are there, so to speak. So, as much as you may or may not enjoy this book, the romance is well executed when it's actually being duly given attention and it's clear Ryan knows her stuff.
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conclusion:
on the sentence level, this is a well-written book and I do applaud Ryan's biting commentary on the regressiveness of patriotism and the state of this here Our World, it's just that this was a very unnecessary publication which retroactively sours one's kinship with the first book. Unfortunately, writing gratuitous sequels is very much en vogue right now amongst authors so who can blame Ryan for doing the "it" thing?

I am in a state of shock I don’t know what I expected from this book, but it wasn’t what I just read. It crushed me at times. I really felt like I was on a roller-coaster one min I’m upset the next so happy. Kennedy Ryan is a genius! This second book did not disappoint at all. Maxim and Lennix’s romance is a force to be recon with. They do not compare to any other book couple. Their love makes sense and its refreshing at how mature they are.

Maxim demanded Lennix give up her mind and body, but she had other plans. Too bad he ended up being a thief that stole her heart. Now he’s back and though Lennix swore to hate him, she wants him by her side. When they are forced to face the unthinkable, their foundation is tested. Will they be able to set their differences aside and accomplish what they need to? Or will they lose it all?

I really wanted to love this book, and while I didn’t hate it, I found it just okay. It had many things going for it, and it was a nice conclusion, but I could never get over how possessive Maxim was. Yes, it got better throughout the book, but it just turned me off so much in the beginning I didn’t really care. This book did a good job of picking up from the cliffhanger that book one left us with and it gave us a nice conclusion. There are many topics covered in this book, but at its heart it is a romance. At parts this book was heartbreaking, but it was also uplifting. To say this is an emotional read is an understatement! I do know that many people are going to fall in love with this one, and I do wish I could have. I love this author and her writing style and can’t wait to read what she writes next!

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Bloom Books, @read_bloom, and Netgalley, @netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, first of all thank goodness that The Rebel King is already out because if I had to wait until this book was released after reading The Kingmaker I think I would have lost my mind 😅.

I loved The Kingmaker because it was the romantic journey between Lennix and Maxim. The Rebel King is a more suspenseful romance and yet I loved every single thing about this book as well. The love between Lennix and Maxim was always front and center no matter what was going on. I love these two so much and loved this duet! Highly highly recommend reading The Kingmaker + The Rebel King. Expect to read about topics such as racism, politics, PTSD, grief. And while I think these topics are really difficult to write about in a romance, Kennedy Ryan's writing is spectacular and she did a tremendous job intertwining all of those topics within this romance.

CW: kidnapping, PTSD, death of a loved one

I am torn with this book when it comes to rating it.

The reason is that I didn't get the character depth or relationship development I thought we would get. The political landscape was interesting, but almost too much for the premise about that.

We only got Lennix and Maxim when they were having sex but they didn't really talk? And when they did it was almost always a power struggle. I don't know what I expected, but I think I expected the same love and connection as the first book. While this book they just can't go without climbing each other...we get it.

The plot twist was an interesting one, not my favorite. And the ending was underwhelming. I guess it was cute but not what expected.

For that reason I think it's a 3 or 3.5 star.

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

GAH!!! BRILLIANT!! SPECTACULAR!! PHENOMENAL!! I am completely blown away by how incredible, unique, powerful, inspiring, emotional and important this book and really entire doxology is while delivering the most beautiful love story ever! It is filled with action, suspense, passion, romance, grief, endurance, forgiveness, love, hope and just the right amount of spice. I was completely immersed from start to finish and felt all the emotions! This is a story that will stay with me forever and that I could read over and over again. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

After reading "The Kingmaker" and it ending on a HUGE cliffhanger I could not wait to read this conclusion of Lennix and Maxim's journey. The Rebel King picks up at the horrific cliffhanger from the first book. Lennix is strong, brave and does not wavier in her convictions. She is the girl who chases stars✨✨!! Maxim will do anything for Lennix and he proves that time and time again. He is a passionate, possessive and a protective man that put her needs above his own. Maxim is so swoon worthy🥰🥰!! Their love is the kind you only get once in a lifetime that endures forever.

Kennedy Ryan is the queen of contemporary romance and I will read anything she writes! I wish I could give this a gazillion stars!!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Rebel King was just as amazing as The Kingmaker. The story continues where it left off with Nix and her best friend managing the Presidential Campaign for Maxim’s older brother Owen. Everything is going amazingly well with the exception that Nix has yet to give Maxim another chance. This story follows the ups and downs of their relationship while enduring some unbelievable trying times that test both their love for each and where that love for one another will be enough to stand the rest of time. I cried my eyes out at one point in this story so be prepared!

Thank you to Kennedy Ryan, Sourcebooks and NetGalley for this arc.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great novel! I deeply enjoyed it and look forward to more from Kennedy Ryan. I loved the suspenseful romance in this novel and am now a big fan of Kennedy Ryan!

Rating: 5
Laughing: 3

I said this in my stories and i’ll say it again, I am BLOWN away by the range of Kennedy Ryan’s writing. There are some authors, you read their books and they kind of feel familiar. You pick up on their style of writing and it’s not a bad thing, but it kind of feels the same. This is my third book by Kennedy and when I tell you each book blows me away, I MEAN IT. I don’t feel strongly about politics, but while I was reading this and The Kingmaker, I was invested. These two books sucked me in, and I just kept feeling amazed by the story.

I picked up The Rebel King immediately after finishing The Kingmaker (because how could you not?) and I just gobbled it up. I kind of thought I knew what was going to happen - but jokes on me, I didn’t. This book was suspenseful, a true page turner and I just couldn't tell if I was reading a romance or a thriller lol. When I finished the book, I truly felt sad that there wouldn’t be another book about Maxim and Lennix. I loved them as individuals, I love the relationship building and flashbacks throughout both books, and I thought it was overall just a beautiful story.

It’s informative and eye opening. Kennedy did her research - and it shines a light on American Indians, and their experience in America. Her author’s note, and this book is powerful, and honestly, just epic.

Chapter 22 was one of my favorite chapters. When I finished reading it, I just felt WOW’d.
I’m looking forward to reading Kimba’s story in Queen’s Move, but I’ll definitely miss Maxim and Nixe.

I definitely enjoyed this book. I don’t tend to love politics in my romance books, but Ms. Kennedy did a great job of highlighting important current issues and weaving them together, seamlessly in this romance novel. I can’t wait to read book three.. 😊

A banger! What else did I expect? Kennedy Ryan does it again with this one. I was on the edge of my seat at the end of the King Maker.

Maxim is in a rear form in this book. Pure Alpha, and I am here for it. His girl is in danger, and he will not allow anything to happen to her, no matter what

This man does what needs to be done! I mean, I was for real scared for Lennix while she was in captivity.

This book certainly took me on a rollercoaster of emotions with the death, reconciliations, fights and sex. Hot damn! I devoured this, and I couldn't get enough of it.

It is highly recommended. The whole series is highly recommended.