The Kingmaker: All the King's Men Duet, Book 1 (Unabridged‪)‬

The Kingmaker is a rerelease for Kennedy Ryan, but this was my first time reading it. It is a powerful story about Maxim Cade and Lennox Moon Hunter. Maxim is an ambitious, driven young man who rebels against his oil tycoon father with his goals of saving the planet with clean energy and green manufacturing and technologies. Lennox is a young woman who is straddling two cultures, that of her white father and her Apache mother. The two meet initially when Lennox is only seventeen and Maxim runs into a protest against one of his father’s oil pipelines to prevent Lennox from the bite of a Doberman. Despite the pull they feel toward each other the timing is not right, but they will have more chances in the future.

I was immediately drawn into this story about two very intense, driven individuals who are so perfectly suited for each other. Their emotional connection and chemistry is palpable and so very hot. The barriers of distance, disparate backgrounds, and fear strive to keep this couple apart as they find success in their chosen career paths. One cannot help wanting them to find each other and their happily ever after. Both Maxim and Lennox are well developed, multidimensional characters. The reader is able to see their positive qualities as well as their flaws. I am incredibly impressed with the amount of research this author must have done to write so knowledgeably about the issues faced by Native American women and the reality of American history seen through a Native American lens, the process of the political campaigning, and the issue of climate change and what can be done to address the way we use resources to be more earth friendly. This book ends in a devastating cliffhanger just when everything seems to be right. It has left me on the edge of my seat anxiously waiting for the sequel to end this limbo. I strongly recommend this book to readers of romance novels, especially those who love to read books about BIPOC characters. I personally adored it. I am voluntarily submitting this independent review after reading an advanced complementary copy thanks to Netgalley and Bloom Books.

I did not expect to find another 10 star this year, but Kennedy Ryan did it for me! Wow! Elizabeth @ Carolina Chic’s Read

Kennedy Ryan nailed this story... it’s full of passion, want, compassion, and perfection.

Lennix goes al long way to find her happiness, but what did it for me the most was how thorough the background of a strong Apache woman that Kennedy portrays in Lennix. We don’t get just this woman’s struggle but the struggle of her people.

Maximum gets her, he understands her struggle. He wants a different life that the one he was raised in. He wants the world to be better. This makes him the perfect man for Lennix. On a deep level they get each other and want the same things.

Their road is a long angsty ride and this cliffhanger has left my jaw wide open! Wow! 10 amazing shocking stars! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️