Kingmakers: Year One by Sophie Lark is a thrilling dark academia romance set in a secret university for the offspring of powerful mafia families. The concept of a school dedicated to training future crime lords is captivating, with its dangerous atmosphere and the intense rivalry among students. The story follows Leo and Anna, childhood friends who navigate a love triangle with Dean, a Bratva heir with a vendetta. The characters feel a bit juvenile at times, especially Anna, but their relationships are engaging, and the tension keeps you hooked. The setting—a massive castle on a secluded European island—adds to the dark, mysterious vibe of the story. I enjoyed the mix of organized crime, academia, and high-stakes trials that test the students’ loyalty and survival skills. Overall, it's an entertaining read with plenty of twists and drama. I'm excited to see how the series develops, especially with Dean's upcoming redemption arc.

Sophie Lark does an incredible job of world building in this book! I loved Anna, Dean and Leo and can't wait for the rest of the series!

I really liked this one!
I read it in the new version: “Kingmakers: Year One”
I was looking forward to immersing myself in this Hogwarts-inspired mafia school.
I was excited about the friends-to-lovers element of our main characters and seeing how these students would learn how to fit their ‘mafia life’ into the real world.
This book is the set-up for the entire series. We're given insight into a character that will be explored further in the future and an introduction to other characters whose stories will be told in subsequent books as well.
With all of this said, I was expecting it to be somewhat more ruthless, dark and conniving, and it wasn’t.
This is the type of book I would recommend to someone who is slowly putting their toes into the stormy ocean of what "dark romance" is. It will give you slight dark elements, with the whole "organised crime and powerful men" thing, but you're still reading basically young adults and so they're not taking it as far as it could go. IF.... you are into hardcore dark romance and you fall for that EXTREME villain (that is darker the better), this one is going to be disappointing.
The day-to-day life at the academy was interesting too, and the competitions are a lot of fun to read about. I love all the blossoming friendships, and I'm already invested in every character's story.

Mafia dark romance? Yes please. I actually haven’t read many mafia romances so I really enjoyed dipping my toes into it with this series. The writing is great and I found myself really enjoying reading it.

4 ⭐ 2 🌶 5 🎧

While this reread didn't quite hold up to my memories, I still absolutely loved it. And if I remember correctly, the series gets better and better so I'm really excited to keep going.

I forgot how much I despised Dean. He is quite the antagonist of this story and makes for a fantastic 3rd angle in this love triangle romance. I'm even more excited to get back to year 3 and watch his redemption.

Leo and Ana really are so cute together. These best friends to lovers have some trials and tribulations, but ultimately end up right where they belong. I loved seeing Seb and Ylena's and Niko and Nessa's babies all grown up. They are uniquely their own characters, but have so much of their parents in them too.

The audio was fantastic. Michael Gallagher, Chloe Ryan and Gregory Salinas did wonderful jobs bringing these characters to life.

I am not exaggerating a single bit when I say Kingmakes Year One stopped my heart. I don't think I breathed while reading last few chapters. My heart was already battered and bruised. The adrenaline rush was there. But the way Sophie Lark brought this heartaching and action filled tale to an explosive ending..it's pure genius. Who knew an infamous school of training mafia kids can be so exciting and exhilarating and heartbreaking? Leo and Anna easily own my heart but I am sure Dean is there somewhere...

✔️ friends to lovers/ cousins ( not blood related) to lovers
✔️ dark mafia
✔️ next generation book but you don't need to read the original ones to understand this..but the question is why would you miss a massive series like that
✔️ love triangle in a twisted way
✔️ angsty and suspenseful
✔️ New adult romance
✔️ set in The Kingmakers..a special school for kids of organized crime families all over the world

Leo Gallo is heir to the Chicago Italian mafia and Anna Wilk is heir to the Polish mafia. They are the best friend and their family dynamics make them like cousin. They are not sure how to handle their changing feelings about each other. They are both ready to attend Kingmakers where they will learn all the skills necessary for their future reign. But Leo's biggest enemy will be going there too. His cousin and Russian Bratva's heir Dean Yenin. The whole setting of Kingmakers is such a mood. The isolated island surrounded by dangerous sea. The gothic architecture. The numerous members of different organized families with their own agenda. I got goosebumps in every chapter. The author has such a hypnotic way of picturing things. Here friendships cannot be trusted. But for survival, one has to get the power. And that's through Quartum Bellum..war of the four Years. Dean wants revenge and he won't stop at anything. And he also wants Anna and he will go to any extent to get her. It was an rollercoaster and my heart is still racing as I write this review. The twists , the manipulation, the power plays, the mind games..this book was unputdownable.

But the real reason to call this book a must read is the emotional depth. Anna fell first for Leo and she was torn between her need to keep her best friend and to express her love. Anna is the center of his universe but Leo was confused too. The pressure of the school added to the mess. And then there was Dean. Shrewd, cold, bitter, angry, hurt...but the author built his character's background in such a way that you will feel a part of empathy with your hatred. I hate him for making the evil plays to create the divide between Anna and Leo. I hate him for hurting Anna and Leo. But I cannot deny his pain. Leo is full of sunshine and charm. Everyone loves him. Everyone wants to be him. He carries such intense and overwhelming confidence. And this same Leo was devastated and became a shell of a man when Anna went away from him. Anna is a balance of sweet, sassy and powerful. But her heart was twisted by Dean until she found her way back to Leo. They are soulmate. The division sucked away the joy from their soul. But they wouldn't have realised just how much they need each other without that angsty interval. The author created some magical and powerful emotional moments for them and my heart is still aching. I cannot wait to go back to the Kingmakers because the game has just started.

I reviewed an early copy voluntarily

Best friends Anna and Leo have grown up together, almost as close as family. When Anna decides to go to Kingmakers to learn how to be the heir to her mafia throne, Leo changes his college plans to follow her there. But Leo’s archenemy is also attending Kingmakers and plans to make Anna his own, no matter the consequences.

Rating 3.75/5
Spice: 2.5/5

Tropes:
Slow burn
Next generation
Multi POV

Triggers:
Attempted mûrd3r
Career manipulation
Near drowning

My thoughts:
I love Sophie Lark’s Brutal Birthright series, so when I learning that this series highlights the second generation from that series, I ran to read it. I enjoyed the great slow burn of this best friends to lovers story but would have enjoyed seeing the FMC and MC behave like the virgins they were instead of being instant divine s3xual beings. Overall though, I really enjoyed the book and will definitely be reading book two.

Leo, Anna, + Dean

-next gen series
-dark academia
-love triangle
-friends to lovers
-best friends enemy

this was probably the best love triangle i’ve ever read! the way it read set up that we regularly got all 3 povs was making it really hard to pick one!! but like it had to happen even with all we knew!! a great beginning of this series!

This wasn’t for me, I dnf’d about 20% in and just couldn’t force myself to read anymore. It was cliche and the writing felt really clunky and unnatural. The characters were whiny and frustrating. There was nothing to like here for me.

Surprisingly I liked this book. The idea of a school for mafia families' offspring is marvelous as well as the setting - a huge castle in an European island, loved the atmosphere with the undercurrent of danger and violence. Somehow even the love triangle trope didn't repel me much. Though the main characters felt a bit juvenile and overdramatic (Anna, I'm looking at you), I found them more entertaining than annoying, so that's a win in my book. As always, illustrations are chef's kiss. Looking forward to read Dean's story.

This book had a few of my favourite things in one book, and that drew me to it:

✅️ Academia setting
✅️ Organised crime families
✅️ Trials/ games

It's mainly based at Kingmakers, a secret university only known about by the crime families of the world, where they send their sons and daughters to learn all sorts of skills and tools they'll need to take their places within the organisations. It's split into 4 divisions, heirs, accountants, spies, and enforcers.
Our main characters are all within the heirs and have a long-standing family fued. I enjoyed this book for all the twists and turns to the story, and nothing comes easy as there are ploys to change even the strongest of relationships. Amongst all the plans, secrets, and sabotage alliances change and new relationships/ friendships formed all whilst battling it out in the annual contest they have, which pits all 4 years of students against each other. With the rivalry coming to a deadly head in the final task, this story keeps you invested and is well worth the read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bloom books for the arc of this, for my honest review, the rest of the series is going straight on my tbr!

I love the Brutal Birthright series so walking in so many years later was such a treat! The dark academia vibes are so strong with this one, it's perfect for autumn! The push pull romance was infuriating and fun all at the same time. Grab a cozy cup of chai, a warm hoodie and curl up with this one!

Sophie Lark never disappoints! What a lovely surprise following the children of the families we followed in her Brutal Prince series. She has my readership! Loved this book so much. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Criminal organization’s heirs go to college is the best way to describe this book.

Drama and friends/cousins to lovers!!! Don’t worry they aren’t really related!!! The book got some spice….but not too much so it’s the whole story. I started this and couldn’t stop…..I love these characters!!!!

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

i really wanted to like this book/series but i could tell that i won’t unfortunately. to me it feels too high school and not as if they’re apart of the mafia. with this certain love story i just could not get behind the fact that they’re cousins. step cousins is fine but actual cousins is a hard no for me.

Kingmakers Year One is the first book of the Kingmakers series of interconnected standalones. I absolutely loved the Brutal Birthright series and I couldn’t wait to read the second generation. But, this book just wasn’t for me. I am not a fan of love triangle or OM/OW drama at all! There were several scenes that bothered me and really didn’t add to the story, it only made me not like these characters. I didn’t feel a connection between Anna and Leo and would have liked more of them getting together and working on their relationship. I was really hoping for more from this book and I’m not sure I’ll continue series.

If you want a book that gives you the Hogwarts feel, but with Mafia kids instead of wizards, you’ve come to the right place.

This book starts off with Leo and Anna, starting their first year at Kingmakers which is a school for mafia kids. But this is not just any ordinary school, they learn all they need to to run an empire as an heir. They are not supposed to have a relationship during their school years and also because they are “chosen family,” but not by blood.

Each school year there are trials that each class has to go through and I loved getting to see the puzzles and who was going to win.

Anna is also figuring out who she is as a woman and trying to figure out who she is going to be with, so there is a love triangle in this book. But there is a HEA!

The reason I did not give this a five stars is because I wish there was a little bit more communication between the main characters about something that happened, and they just kind of brushed it under the rug and never talked about it. And it is also a super long book which I was not expecting that when I started reading it so I felt like some things were just dragging on a little bit.

I am interested to see how the author portrays Dean in the next books in the series because I feel like there is some unfinished business with him.

You will like this book if you like these tropes:
Best friends to lovers, mafia, trials, dark academia, love triangle, taboo relationship

I had to take a day to figure out my thoughts because while I liked the second half of the book, the first half had me struggling.

The first half of this book is more about world building and getting you set up for what Kingmakers is like and what the series as a whole is going to be based on so while I found it interesting, it was a little slow for me. That being said, Sophie Lark could write a grocery list and I'd read it so I stuck it out and it really did pick up in the second half and that's where the main action happens. It was fast paced, it was stressful, it was a ton of a fun.

I was not a huge fan of Leo and Anna being presented as "related" even though they weren't technically related by blood. It just kept throwing me off. I felt like Leo and Anna could have both used a bit more depth but I've also read enough reviews to know that this book was probably the weakest and that the series picks up so I am very excited to continue the journey because I LOVED Brutal Birthright. Excited to see what else Kingmakers has waiting for me.

First half was 3 stars while the second was closer to 3.75

I just could not get into this book. I felt like it took a long time to get to a point where I was invested in the story. I can see how this would be a great teen drama but I just wasn't drawn in. The writing is good and there is a lot of potential with the characters but I'm not sure the overall plot is for me.