Review: The Last King by Katee Robert

Title: The Last King 

Series: The Kings #1

Author: Katee Robert

Release date: April 3, 2018

Rating: 4.5 stars

SYNOPSIS

Ultra wealthy and super powerful, the King family is like royalty in Texas. But who will keep the throne? New York Times bestselling author Katee Robert introduces a red-hot new series.

THE MAN SHE HATES TO LOVE
Beckett King just inherited his father's fortune, his company-and all his enemies. If he's going to stay on top, he needs someone he can trust beside him. And though they've been rivals for years, there's no one he trusts more than Samara Mallick.

The rebel. That's how Samara has always thought of Beckett. And he's absolutely living up to his unpredictable ways when he strides into her office and asks for help. She can't help wondering if it's a legit request or just a ploy to get her into bed. Not that she'd mind either one. After all, she likes to live on the edge too.

But soon the threats to the King empire are mounting, and the two find family secrets darker than they ever imagined and dangerous enough to get them both killed.

Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2pyTqEc

B&N: https://bit.ly/2G3ySKa

iBooks: https://apple.co/2pC0xez

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2FVKuDd

About the Author

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee.

Her 2015 title, The Marriage Contract, was a RITA finalist, and RT Book Reviews named it 'a compulsively readable book with just the right amount of suspense and tension." When not writing sexy contemporary and romantic suspense, she spends her time playing imaginary games with her children, driving her husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

Katee is represented by Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency.

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Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Youtube

REVIEW

The Last King by Katee Robert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my fifth book by Katee Robert, and my favorite by far. I'm really glad that I got in on this series from book one, because she has sufficiently teased the next book enough to make me eager to continue on. The plot was set up with some real meat to it, enough to warrant a long overarching storyline in the following installments. Ms. Robert has proven at this point that she can write in any genre. Whether it's mafia, a non-romance thriller, or straight contemporary, she always creates living, breathing, three-dimensional characters that effortlessly hook us.

If you like the enemies to lovers trope, this is the book for you. Samara and Beckett are adversaries in the oil industry they both work in, and there's certainly no love lost between them. Beckett King is the head of his family's dynasty, Morningstar Enterprises. Samara works for Kingdom corp, and reports directly to Beckett's estranged aunt, Lydia King.

From chapter one, when these two were in the same room together, sparks would fly with a vengeance. More often than not, Beckett was the victor in their bidding wars, and that caused considerable aggression and resentment from Samara. She's a fiercely competitive woman, and not especially fond of losing. I didn't really see any animosity coming from Beckett, he just looked at her as someone that he not only shouldn't, but couldn't associate with. Her loyalty to his viper of an aunt told him that getting mixed up with her could prove to be a grievous mistake. That didn't stop his attraction from blazing out of control and tempting him to cross lines that shouldn't be crossed.

Samara is equally attracted, but her will to become a success and further her career is a force to be reckoned with. Her ambition and drive was probably her best and worst feature all at the same time. While I thought it admirable that she wanted to honor her mother's sacrifices and avoid repeating her mistakes...she took things way too far. In fact, this was the one aspect of the story that didn't fully work for me, and it affected my final rating.

Let me start out by saying that I completely understood where she was coming from to put her career first, and her inability to trust Beckett. She had daddy issues a mile wide, and self-esteem issues because of her poor upbringing. Her goal to reach the highest rung in the corporate ladder meant safety and security-so putting her faith in a rich and powerful man like her father would be foolhardy. However, she stubbornly clung to this mindset, even when logically the truth should have slapped her in the face.

    Samara didn’t make choices with her heart. She couldn’t afford to. She might not have achieved the level of ice-queen persona that Lydia cultivated, but what she had was better than nothing. In this industry, a thin skin might as well be an invitation for a knife in the back.

Beckett King was a wonderful hero. I never once questioned his motives or actions in the grand scheme of things. He may have played a little dirty at one point, but his conscience caused some unrest when the situation forced his hand. This is a guy who genuinely cares for those around him, most especially the well being of the employees in his company. After just losing his father, loneliness hits him hard, and he yearns for someone he can trust and depend on. She may not have been that for him in the beginning, but he was determined to find a crack in Samara's armor and get through her defenses. Samara's attempts to keep him at arms length is no match for his dogged persistence.

     He’d blasted through every boundary she’d thrown in place between them, and now she felt like she was wandering in an endless fog without a signpost in sight.

As Beckett insinuated himself into her heart, danger escalated as they worked to uncover the truth behind his father's death, and the mysterious change to his will. There was never really any doubt as to who masterminded things, but there was a question of who would be hurt in the crossfire when weapons were drawn.

I absolutely loved Beckett from beginning to end, but Samara was an acquired taste. She started out with a lot of sharp edges, but eventually softened and achieved the character growth that she needed.
If you're looking for a new series to follow, this could be a good bet for you. I'm excited to continue on with Journey and Frank's book, The Fearless King, which is due to be released next February. Frank is one of those mysterious and powerful characters that you want to know more about. It promises to be an exciting addition to the series.

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