The King

Skye Warren wrecked me with the Endgame Series and she did it again with The King, the first book in the Masterpiece Duet.

Damon and Penny's history is equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking. Penny's life is very far from easy, she never had a normal family life and her genius mind, her only hope to achieve more for her future, ends up attracting the wrong kind of attention. And she's only a seven year old. That's when she meets Damon...

Damon is the son of a criminal, his dad, Jonathan Scott, is a ruthless sociopath and Damon's on the run when he meets Penny. Their lives entwine and soon Damon chooses to make an ultimate sacrifice to save “baby genius” from a terrible fate: falling in his dad's hands.

The story fast forwards: Penny's now working at a dinner, trying to keep her dad from gambling but sometimes life comes full circle... And suddenly Penny is in danger of falling in Jonathan Scott's hands again. What exactly are the odds that Damon can save her again?

This may sound odd but I really loved how Penny and Damon met, she's a child and he's a young boy but they met exactly when they needed each other. Their connection as two damaged souls is so heartbreaking. Trust me, it's amazingly perfect. I loved both Damon and Penny, their strengths, their weaknesses and especially how Penny's resilience is truly inspiring.

Even though The King can be read as a standalone, it is a spin-off of the Endgame series so I would highly recommend that you read that series first, it's definitely worth it!

Dark, gritty, powerful, angsty, deeply compelling with complex characters, fantastic writing, a perfect pace and a cliffhanger from hell! Mind blowing! I loved every word of The King and now I just don't how am I going to survive until September for The Queen's release.

All the books in this series are similar so basically the same comments apply. They are always a fantastic representation of the story found within. The author has a theme that continues through both series. So that creates a nice unity. The typography is eye-catching and interesting. That said it loses a star for the author's name being larger than the title.

Hmmm...I am trying to put my thoughts into words on how I felt about this one. I enjoyed it A LOT there is no doubt about that, but I also felt a little bit disappointed with the lack of connection I felt between this couple. Or maybe it was more the lack of intimacy. I'll explain more in a bit.

So, let us start with the good stuff. This author certainly knows how to spin a good tale. The writing was fantastic. The pace was excellent. I never grew bored or felt the need to skim. There was plenty of angst. No OW/OM drama. All wrapped up in a nifty little cliffy that will surely have you dying to get your hands on book two.



So what didn't work for me? And I am not even sure I would say it didn't work so much as I felt something was missing. There is no sex in this book at all. Just a kiss. Now I get that the heroine is only 15, and I don't know if I forgot or it was never mentioned, but I was a bit taken back by how young she was. For some reason, I thought she was older when Johnathon Scott attacked her. I also thought Damon was older (he is only 25). In any case, because of her age, I guess I shouldn't have expected full-on erotica, but it did hinder me feeling a fuller connection between these two. On top of that, I don't feel like I got to know Damon very well. Or at least not much more about him than I already knew from reading the ENDGAME series. Actually, now that I think back on what I just read I realize that these two spend VERY little actual time in each others company with Penny's history taking up the majority of the pages.

But like I said I still found myself sucked into the story and I am hoping that a lot of the things that bothered me about this one will be worked out in the second book (fingers crossed). This still earns a two thumbs up from yours truly.