King of Pride: King of Sin, Book 2 (Unabridged) by Ana Huang Review

Consumed - Audiobook

Apple Book Audiobook Price - $21.99

Narrated by - David Lee Huynh & Emery Erickson

Release Date - June 15th, 2023

Length - 11 hours & 18 minutes 

Genre - Erotica 

Romance, Contemporary Romance, Adult, Fantasy

Rating - 3.5 

Back of Book Blurb (from Goodreads)

She's his opposite in every way...and the greatest temptation he's ever known.

Reserved, controlled, and proper to a fault, Kai Young has neither the time nor inclination for chaos—and Isabella, with her purple hair and inappropriate jokes, is chaos personified.

With a crucial CEO vote looming and a media empire at stake, the billionaire heir can’t afford the distraction she brings.

Isabella is everything he shouldn’t want, but with every look and every touch, he’s tempted to break all his rules…and claim her as his own.

***

Bold, impulsive, and full of life, Isabella Valencia has never met a party she doesn’t like or a man she couldn’t charm...except for Kai Young.

It shouldn’t matter. He’s not her type—the man translates classics into Latin for fun, and his membership at the exclusive club where she bartends means he’s strictly off limits.

But she can’t deny that, beneath his cool exterior, is a man who could make her melt with just a touch.

No matter how hard they try, they can’t resist giving into their forbidden desires.

Even if it costs them everything.

King of Pride is a steamy opposite attract, forbidden billionaire romance. It's book two in the Kings of Sin series but can be read as a standalone.

Contains explicit content and profanity. Recommended for mature readers only.

King of Pride was okay, sadly. I really enjoy Ana Huang’s books, but this one did not satisfy me as much as her other works have. In fact, so far, I am enjoying the Twisted series more than the King of Sin series.

This book felt just okay because, outside of Isabella’s existential crises, I found little of interest to cling to. I thoroughly enjoyed the main characters’ relationship, particularly how they express their love for one another through gift-giving and words of affirmation. However, aside from Isabella’s drama with her brother and Kai stressing about keeping the family business in the family, not much really happens in the book.

Something I often praised Ms. Huang for in her earlier works was her ability to marry both plot and romance, but the plot in this book is lacking. Instead of having the "plot twist" handed to us on a silver platter, I wish we had delved deeper into that aspect of the novel. There was a huge opportunity for King of Pride to be a kind of "summary novel," where all or most of the characters we’ve met so far interact to uncover what’s blocking Kai’s future position as CEO. (Mini spoiler alert: they all pop up in this book anyway.) So, I feel like that opportunity was missed.

Ana Huang does a good job of capturing what it means to be a man of pride, but since this is a King of Sin series, I wanted the character to fully embody his assigned sin. Instead, we’re getting a light dusting of his appointed sin—a sprinkle of sin,  rather than an embodiment of sin.

I would have liked a story that followed the idea of Kai’s pride preventing him from accepting help in understanding why he’s being blocked from the CEO position, thinking the reason is just a matter of improving his personal skills, but after realizing that the reasons are beyond his control, he begrudgingly accepts help from his friends. This would allow him to learn that seeking and accepting help is sometimes necessary, helping him recover from his prideful ways.

But maybe a hard sin to semi-recover story isn’t the point of this book; perhaps it’s just a simple love story featuring a man with some pride instead.

I often found myself wanting more from this book, and I sometimes cringed at the sexual lines Kai said. They felt out of place at times, like an inexperienced man trying to sound sexy based on what he’s heard in porn or online. But that idea that he’s inexperienced and is trying to sound sexy based on a porn he’s watched or what he thinks will turn a woman on is in character for him, so I suppose it’s a win? But I have a feeling that wasn’t the author’s intent—she likely meant for Kai’s words to be genuine and sexy.

However, I must admit that this book did make me tear up. Not necessarily because the writing pulled me to, but because my ex’s name was Kai, and I found myself relating to their love and relationship a lot.

Overall, I give this book a big fat

3.5

If you want a simple, fun, spicy read, this book is for you. Otherwise, I do not recommend this book.