King of Greed by Ana Huang - A Book Review
Synopsis:
He had her, he lost her…and he’ll do anything to win her back.
Powerful, brilliant, and ambitious, Dominic Davenport clawed his way up from nothing to become the King of Wall Street.
He has everything—a beautiful home, a beautiful wife, and more money than he could spend in a lifetime. But no matter how much he accumulates, he’s never satisfied.
In his endless quest for more, he drives away the only person who saw him as enough.
It isn’t until she’s gone that he realises there may be more to life than riches and glory…but by then, it may be too late.
***
Kind, intelligent, and thoughtful, Alessandra Davenport has played the role of trophy wife for years.
She stood by her husband while he built an empire, but now that they’ve reached the top, she realises he’s no longer the man she fell for.
When it becomes clear that she’ll always come second to his work, she finally takes charge of her life and puts herself first—even if it means leaving the only man she’s ever loved.
But what she didn’t count on was his refusal to let her go…or for him to fight for their marriage, no matter what it takes.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- Marriage in Trouble
- Billionaire
- Second Chance
King of Greed is a book I’ve wanted to read since last year, but for some unknown reason, I never got round to it. So when I began planning my A-Z Reading Challenge Choices, I knew it had to be my choice for the letter K.
When I heard that Ana was creating a new series that focused around billionaires, I knew it would be right up my street.
I really enjoyed King of Wrath (KOW), the first book of the series and even rated it 5⭐️’s. There’s no book review because that was before the blog. I felt like the second book, King of Pride (3.5 ⭐️’s) was a bit of a disappointment. I had high hopes for it, following KOW, but it didn’t reach them.
So suffice to say, there was a lot of pressure being held on King of Greed!
King of Greed follows married couple Alexandra and Dominic, who met during college when Dominic needed a tutor to pass his business class. From their initial meeting, their pair have been inseparable, with Alexandra standing beside Dominic whilst he built his empire.
Glimpses of the married couple were drip fed through previous books, where despite their marriage, Dominic and Alexandra’s marriage appeared to be one sided and on the rocks, alluding to the issues they face in King of Greed, where Dominic neglects his wife, seeing her no more than a trophy to wear at gala’s.
King of Greed closely follows Alessandra, a successful flower shop owner, who is becoming more and more saddened by her husbands lack of commitment to their marriage, where he regularly misses important milestones in their marriage and date nights.
When their 10 year wedding anniversary arrives, Alessandra pleads to Dominic to remember the date and to not prioritise work over their celebration. Only Alessandra is left devastated when Dominic fails to show for their anniversary. This becomes the last straw for Alessandra, where she finally decides to leave Dominic.
Dominic arrives to their apartment late, but hopeful that they can still do their anniversary plans, only he is met with an empty house with Alessandra’s wedding ring left behind. After finding the ring, Dominic becomes panicked about the location of his wife, before realising his mistake.
After having the evening to soak in her emotions, Alessandra decides to contact Dominic to inform him of her decision to go through divorce. Dominic is reluctant to allow the divorce to happen and vows to do anything he can to win back his wife.
In the meantime, Alessandra moves out of the apartment they share and begins focusing on starting up a physical shop for her online business, where she has a friendly interaction with the landlord, who strikes her a good deal. The pair end up going on a date, which is interrupted by Dominic, bringing awareness to his presence. The date ends awkwardly, as Alessandra is out of practice in the dating world.
Alessandra decides to get away to Brazil with her brother to escape the city life that is suffocating her.
Despite his heavy work commitments, Dominic travels to Brazil in his attempt to rekindle his relationship with Alessandra, who is angered by his arrival, that prevents her from moving on.
Dominic begins joining Alessandra and her brother for evening meals, before her brother returns home leaving them alone in Brazil together. Dominic begins booking into activities that Alessandra is participating in, in an attempt to spend time with her.
When Alessandra is contacted regarding a flood in her shop, she’s forced to return home and face reality, with the help of Dominic who allows her to use his private plane. When returning home, Dominic discovers the success of her small business, which he’d been too busy to notice – making him feel remorseful and regretful of his absence in her life.
Alessandra realises that despite Dominic’s attempts to be fully present in their marriage, she needs to cut ties in order to move on. Alessandra seeks to finalise the divorce with Dominic, which he is reluctant to do so until Alessandra reveals how she felt neglected in their marriage and how it ended up causing her constant pain with the broken promises Dominic made. Eventually, Dominic decides to let Alessandra go by signing the divorce papers. Only he’s determined not to let her go fully and therefore sets a plan on how he can get her back.
The pair begin to navigate their separate lives, but the attraction between Dominic and Alessandra is not lost, leading to the pair to continue sleeping with one another.
As the opening date of Alessandra’s store vastly approaches, she begins working on the opening of her shop, while Dominic is met with the unexpected arrival of his estranged brother Roman, who he has no relationship with following his refusal to give Roman an alibi.
Upon finalising their divorce, Dominic promised to allow Alessandra move forward with her life and to not interfere with any men Alessandra becomes involved with. Alessandra begins dating a man also involved in the business world, leading them to attend galas that Dominic is also present at. Dominic witnesses her arrival with the man, which breaks him even more. After conversing with Dante and Kai, they suggest that the only way to win Alessandra back is by leaving his company to show his commitment. When Dominic goes to the bathroom he overhears Alessandra’s date talking to another man, where he is expressing his excitement and plan to record Alessandra whilst they’re being intimate. This enrages Dominic who beats Alessandra’s date up, threatening him to stay away. When Alessandra finds out about the fight, she is enraged at yet another broken promise from Dominic, only until Dominic reveals why it happened. This leads Alessandra to be grateful, resulting in the pair to be intimate.
Alessandra decides to give Dominic a second chance, taking their relationship slow and from the beginning. Dominic tries his hardest to show his commitment to her, whilst also being suspicious of his brother’s motives.
After Alessandra’s shop is flooded, Dom and her landlord work together to help Alessandra fix the shop before its opening, only the pair don’t get along but hide it from Alessandra.
The day of Alessandra’s store opening arrives, which also becomes a busy day for Dom, due to another business becoming bankrupt, which he has been waiting to take over. Dominic is able to successfully buy the company, just in time to arrive at Alessandra’s party. As Dominic is leaving to attend Alessandra’s party, he is met with a gun in front of his face by his brother Roman. Roman’s reappearance is revealed, as he’s gotten himself into trouble and has been forced to make Dominic back out of the deal or he’ll be killed, despite Romans anonymous threats. Ultimately, Dominic decides to back out of the deal, but not before issuing a press statement, resulting in him to be late to Alessandra’s opening.
Alessandra is devastated at his failed commitment and broken promise, despite Dante and Kai’s pleads that he’s on his way. Dominic arrives at the party hours late and after everyone had left. Alessandra begins to tell Dominic that she’s done, but Dominic explains what happened, which she’s apprehensive of, until he shows her the press statement.
The story ends with the pair rejoining their relationship, where Dominic buys them a new home for them to move into and make new memories, before ending with Dominic proposing to Alessandra.
The epilogue ends where they are married have had their first child.
Before I started reading King of Greed, I had high hopes for it. I absolutely loved King of Wrath, so my disappointment of King of Pride made me want to go back to enjoying the series.
I enjoyed this book and it ended up becoming my second favourite of the series – King of Wrath being my favourite.
I don’t tend to gravitate towards the second chance trope often because I feel like if the characters are meant to be, then they shouldn’t need a second chance. Despite this, I loved reading about Alessandra and Dominic reconnecting. I felt like their marriage issues dragged out a bit too long and it felt repetitive almost. I also felt the same for Dominic’s pursuing, I just felt like he didn’t make a huge sacrifice as I was anticipating. I fully thought he would give up his company, as it was suggested by Dante in the book.
What I do love about Ana’s writing and in a book series as a whole, are the surprise appearances from characters from previous books or even series! This book featured appearances from characters from previous books in the series, which is to be expected, but it featured an appearance from Josh and Jules from Twisted Hate – completely unexpected! The way Ana featured Josh and Jules in this book was so natural, they weren’t made to be a big deal, they slotted into the background as the general public. I love how we get to see the progress of previous characters’ lives and relationships; how they’re moving forward because sometimes we don’t get to see that at the end of their book.
I was not expecting to read a book by Ana that would have my heart racing so much with worry. It truly felt like I was reading a thriller, the way my heart was going. When Dominic was met with the gun in his face from his brother Roman and the trigger was pulled, I was in absolute shock. The chapter ended on a cliffhanger and I physically couldn’t move to turn the page. I had to sit for a few minutes to process how the story could progress. I felt so many emotions for what the outcome of the book could be. I was quite literally sitting in bed with my jaw dropped – I was so worried to read on. It’s not an experience I’ve had whilst reading books by Ana, but I really liked it. It well and truly caught me by surprise.
I’d be interested to know whether we would get a series following Roman because I’d love to know what he’s been up to since he disappeared. I feel like that could be a mafia style series. Honestly, who knows whether it could be a future series because Ana likes to make so many connections between characters and book series. I also feel like he was mentioned for a reason and that Ana doesn’t bring a character in for the sake of it.
After reading a book in a series, I’m always excited to know whose story will be next, especially when each book contains so many hints. I think it’s pretty clear from reading the book (and by the fact it’s public knowledge) that Sloane will be the next book.
Overall, I enjoyed revisiting the Kings of Sins world and can’t wait to read the next.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Georgia
♥
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