The Kingmaker by Kennedy Ryan

Award-winning author Kennedy Ryan delivers a powerful, deeply emotional romance in The Kingmaker, book one in the All the King's Men duet. With unforgettable characters and a love story rooted in activism, family legacy, and moral complexity, this is a romance that challenges and captivates.

From the back cover:

Raised to rule, bred to lead, and weaned on a diet of ruthless ambition.

In a world of haves and have-nots, Maxim Cade’s family and their oil empire have it all…and he wants nothing to do with it. At odds with his mogul father, he’s determined to build his own empire, even if it means traveling far from home, painted as the black sheep.

Lennix Hunter is the exception to every one of Maxim’s rules. At a protest for the oil pipeline that threatens to mar her ancestral land forever, they meet in a flurry of stars and sparks, and that one moment changes everything. But Maxim’s family is the one stealing from hers, and his father is the man she hates most. He has to lie in order to have her once, and despite the truth, he’ll do anything to keep her.

Even though Lennix tries to hate Maxim, too, their hearts are pointed in the same direction. The inexorable pull between them, across miles and years, will not be denied.

And neither will Maxim.

What you'll love about it:

Tropes & Themes: Second-chance romance, he falls first, political themes and activist heroine, Indigenous representation, moral and emotional depth 
Spice Level: 3/5

Product Information:

Format: Paperback
Page Count: 352 pages
Series: All the King's Men
Series Order: First