A review by fortissimofvck
King of Pride by Ana Huang

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Just finished the book and all I can say is I was not able to put it down. To start off, the cover is gorgeous; peacock feathers to go with the title since peacocks are so prideful, but also the feather scene in the library? PHEW! Jaw. Dropped. That's for sure. (Does anyone want to ruin Jane Austen for me in the same way?) Has got to be my favorite spice scene in the book. And the piano room! Not just the smut, but the parallel of them playing piano, of Isabella telling Kai at the very beginning that his Hammerklavier is missing something and that in the epilogue he's found what [Hammerklavier] was missing -
a heart
.  I also very much enjoyed Kai's character development; he prided himself on never stooping as low as to ask Chris Harper for help, to never go against his morals, but he still did at the end just so he could expose Russel for what he did. And Isabella's dream of becoming a writer coming true was the icing on the cake, especially since it happened after
she and Kai broke up.
And the fact that Kai liked her manuscript so much that he
sent it to the publisher
because he had faith in her tells one everything they need to know about how much he fell for her. And I'm very happy Clarissa turned out to be a good person - I expected her and Isabella's brother to have something going on, but the bathroom scene really warmed my heart. It's always the friends we make in bar bathrooms, isn't it? And I definitely drew more hearts in here than in King of Wrath where they were broken.<3

Some of my favorite quotes/scenes in chronological order <3 :
  1. Her laugh, her scent, her smile. Her talent for piano and the way her eyes light up when she's excited. They were the most dangerous kind of drug, and I feared I was already sliding down the slope of addiction.
  2. It was a small, stupid thing, but the fact that he called [writing] my profession even though I hadn't published anything made my heart squeeze a little.
  3. THE ENTIRE BAR SCENE WITH ISABELLA WANTING TO GO HOME WITH SOMEONE AND VIVIAN AND ALESSANDRA RILING KAI UP TO GO STOP HER hahaha oh I love women
  4. "I couldn't very well have someone walking in on us." "Because photos of the Young heir engaging in carnal activities at a bar would put his CEO candidacy at risk." "No. Because if anyone saw you like that, I'd have to kill them."
  5. Trying to stay away was like asking the ocean to stop kissing the shore. Impossible.
  6. Sex and dating was one thing. Spending the holidays together was another. /.../ Christmas was sacred to us. Who we spent it with mattered. +HIM GIFTING HER A TYPEWRITER AND HER GIFTING HIM DINOSAUR EROTICA THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS AND SO SWEET
  7. My love. Kai had called me love many times, but he's never called me his. One word. Two letters. Sometimes they make a difference.
    <3
  8. (ALMOST A PARALLEL TO THE PREVIOUS ONE) My love. I'm sorry. Two pairs of words. Two settings. Both devastating in entirely different ways.
    </3
  9. However, I'd discovered in the past two weeks that losing the CEO position was not the worst thing that could happen to me. Losing ISabella was, and that had already come to pass.
  10. THE WHOLE SCENE OF KAI FACETIMING HIS MOM AND REALIZING HIS PARENTS WERE BACK TOGETHER/FUCKING AGAIN
  11. I didn't care that we'd left dirty plates and a half-finished game of Scrabble in the living room. After all, we had the rest of our lives to finish it.
    <3
  12. "I couldn't have done it without you." "Yes, you could've. But I'm glad we were able to do it together."