Cruel Kiss / Cruel King (Cruel Series) by KA Linde -review tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 28, 2023
The most eligible bachelor in New York City just asked me to be his fake fiancé.
Gavin King is six and a half feet of delectable billionaire with a devil’s smile that says he knows exactly what he’s going to do to me later. Because he has.
Three years ago, I caught him in the shower and promptly fell into his bed. But neither of us were relationship material. Not to mention I’d just broken up with his best friend.
Now, I’m back in the city and he has a plan:
Go to his cousin’s wedding.
Convince his family that he’s not an eternal bachelor.
Post a huge elaborate break up later.
With those big puppy dog eyes begging me to agree, claiming I’m the only one who can pull it off, I say yes. What could go wrong? Other than pulling it off so successfully that the line between real and fake blurs.
When my family flips the whole script, I can’t see a way out. And I’m starting to wonder if I even want one.
•••••••
REVIEW: CRUEL KING is the seventh instalment in KA Linde’s contemporary, adult CRUEL erotic, romance series focusing on a tight knit group of connected, powerful and well-to-do friends in the Upper East Side of New York City.. This is billionaire businessman Gavin King, and plastic surgeon Whitley Bowen. CRUEL KING can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading the novella /short story CRUEL KISS (review below) in which Gavin and Whitley first get together.
SOME BACKGROUND: Three years earlier, Whitley Bowen had just broken up with her boyfriend Robert minutes before they set out on their Puerto Rican vacation. Whitley wasn’t feeling their relationship, and when Robert backed out of the group vacation, our heroine took a stand announcing she was going alone. Hoping fro a vacation fling, Whitley never expected to find herself with Robert’s best friend Gavin King, the man who has lusted after Whitley from afar. Gavin King wanted something more from Whitley Bowen, but Whitley ran without looking back.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Gavin and Whitley) CRUEL KING fast forwards the series approximately three years. Dr. Whitley Bowen has accepted a position in New York bringing her back to the friends she left behind including the man who had stolen her heart but with the approach of wedding season, Whitley finds herself the pretend girlfriend and fiance of Gavin King, the man she left behind without looking back. Gavin King never forgot about the woman that ran after their weekend in Puerto Rico but needing a plus one for a family wedding pushed Gavin to claim Whitley as his heart and his future. Everything begins to spiral out of control when both families begin preparations for our couple’s eventual nuptials, preparations fast forwarded with the announcement of an ill family member. What ensues is the fake engagement and building relationship between Gavin and Whitley, and the potential fall-out when the families discover everything began as a ruse.
The relationship between Gavin and Whitley begins as a vacation fling that ends with Whitley walking away.Three years will pass before Whitley arrives back in New York, surprising everyone including the man she left behind. Gavin has never forgotten about the woman who stole his heart but Whitley struggles with what happened and why. The $ex scenes are passionate and seductive without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
All of the previous story line couples return as secondary and supporting characters:Camden and Katherine, Anna and Court, Larkin and Sam, and Whitley’s ex Robert and his new girlfriend Harmony. We are introduced to both Gavin’s parents Julianne and Edmond King, and Whitley’s parents Cynthia and Walter Bowen, as well as Whitley’s brother Wyatt, and the return of Penn and Natalie. There is some family drama with Gavin’s cousin Margaret, and Micah and Merritt Locke.
CRUEL KING is a story of secrets and lies, passion and understanding, forgiveness and love. The premise is entertaining and satisfying; the romance is provocative and intense; the characters are numerous and charismatic.
Reading Order and Previous Reviews
One Cruel Night
Cruel Money
Cruel Fortune
Cruel Legacy
Cruel Truth aka The Lying Season
Cruel Desire aka The Hating Season
Cruel Marriage
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
_______
CRUEL KISS
(Cruel World 6.5)
by KA Linde
Genre: adult, contemporary, erotic, romance
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 7, 2023
Gavin King is not boyfriend material.
And neither am I.
That’s how our friendship works. We flirt and tease and joke, but at the end of the day, playing wingman is preferable to risking my heart.
Until I break up with my boyfriend the day that I leave for a two-week Caribbean vacation. And Gavin and I are the only single people on the island.
But remember that boyfriend I dumped?
Yeah, it’s his best friend.
The last thing I want to do is come between friends. And I swore the green eyes, wicked dimple, and chiseled body weren’t enough to convince me. But then I caught him in the shower…and he said he was thinking about me.
Now, I can’t stop picturing what I saw.
Maybe my ex doesn’t ever have to know.
••••
REVIEW: CRUEL KISS is the contemporary adult erotic prequel to KA Linde’s instalment seven CRUEL KING focusing on Gavin King and Whitley Bowen. Some of the events of CRUEL KISS cross over with, and run parallel to some of the events of Cruel Marriage (6)
Told from dual first person perspectives (Gavin and Whitley) CRUEL KISS takes place three years prior to the events of CRUEL KING. Whitley Bowen had just broken up with her boyfriend Robert minutes before set out on their Puerto Rican vacation. Whitley wasn’t feeling their relationship, and when Robert backed out of the group vacation, Whitley took a stand announcing she was going alone. Hoping fro a vacation fling, Whitley never expected to find herself with Robert’s best friend Gavin King, the man who has lusted after Whitley from afar. As Whitley continues to struggle with her attraction to Gavin King, Gavin is hoping to continue their fling upon their return home.
The relationship between Gavin and Whitley is a friends to lovers in the wake of Whitley breaking up with boyfriend Robert. Whitley doesn’t want a rebound relationship but Gavin’s heart is hoping for more. the $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
All of the previous story line couples return as secondary and supporting characters:Camden and Katherine, Anna and Court, Larkin and Sam, and Whitley’s ex Robert.
CRUEL KISS is a fast paced, quick read that sets the tone and back story for CRUEL KING. the premise is entertaining and captivating; the characters are familiar and charismatic.
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Reviewed by Sandy
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K.A. Linde is the USA Today bestselling author of the Avoiding Series, Wrights, and more than thirty other novels. She has a Masters degree in political science from the University of Georgia, was the head campaign worker for the 2012 presidential campaign at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served as the head coach of the Duke University dance team. She loves reading fantasy novels, binge-watching Supernatural, traveling, and dancing in her spare time.
She currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her husband and two super-adorable puppies.
