Intro
Hi All! I hope you all had a good weekend. It snowed for the first time this year ( no New Year’s jokes intended). I had a relaxing day indoors today, so I was able to get some reading done. I was able to finish King of Wrath today, which marks my first book done in 2024. So, without further ado, here is my review of King of Wrath. Also, SPOILERS. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest reading it before finishing this blog.
The book starts off with Vivian working at one of her events. Vivian is the daughter of Francis Lau, the owner of Lau Jewelers. His company recently accumulated a lot of wealth, and he was always trying to find ways to continue making his company profitable. Although her family had a lot of money now, Vivian worked for herself as an event planner and had no plans to stop.
That was until her father told her that she would be getting married to none other than Dante Russo. Dante was a very successful businessman, and he came from a long line of wealth. The name Russo itself was very prestigious. Dante and Vivian’s first meeting shows us that neither one of them is very thrilled about this arrangement.
It’s around this time that we find out that Vivian’s father blackmailed Dante into marrying her because he had compromising photos of Dante’s brother Luca that could get him killed. Of course, Vivian doesn’t know any of this and just assumes this is standard amongst upper-class families since her sister also had an arranged marriage. Vivian tries to make the best out of the situation and Dante does not make it easy on her.
After a little while, they move in together since Dante doesn’t want to raise any suspicion about their engagement. Meanwhile, he and his friend Christian are looking for all the backup photos that Vivian’s dad may have so he can call off the engagement. As they begin to spend more time together, Dante begins feeling more strongly towards Vivian.
Everything starts to change for the two when Dante takes Vivian to Valhalla, a club, for a night out. He begins showing her around, and once they get to the library, things get a little steamy. After this encounter, they start opening up to each other more and eventually start to act like an actual couple, growing on dates and whatnot.
They go away together on a trip to Paris, and everything seems perfect. Except that Vivian drops that her dad’s lucky number is eight, making Dante believe her father has eight copies of the photos of his brother. After they return from Paris, he withdraws from Vivian to try to make their upcoming split easier to manage. He also obtains all the photos and starts to tarnish Vivian’s dad’s reputation. In doing this, he drives a serious wedge between him and Vivian, especially because she still has no idea about the blackmail.
In an attempt to mend their relationship, Vivian brings Dante lunch at work in an attempt to reconnect and overhear a conversation between her dad and Dante. She storms out and begins packing her stuff. After Vivian’s dad leaves, Dante’s secretary informs him that Vivian was there, and he rushes home to talk to her. He gets there and explains everything, but it’s too late for Vivian, and she leaves.
Dante then spends months trying to gain back her trust, and they eventually get back together. Vivian moves back in, and Dante pulls back some of his punches against her dad. All ends up working out with the couple, and they live happily ever after.
Overall Thoughts
Overall, I gave this book four out of five stars. I really enjoyed the characters, and I was pleasantly surprised with how real some of their issues with communication felt. I also LOVED the subtle nods to some of Ana Huang’s other books! The only reason I didn’t rate it higher was I felt Dante was a little one-dimensional. Overall, I’m excited to continue with the rest of the series!
