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A review by maddi_tonks
King of Greed by Ana Huang
4.0
I was rather skeptical coming into this book, as I’m not a huge fan of the whole ‘second chance’ trope. I almost didn’t continue at chapter 3, simply because it hit me way too personally, but I pushed through.
The contrast of Alessandra and Dominic’s present-day relationship to their past-day relationship through Ále’s POV brought me to tears. The stark difference between what they used to be compared to what they had become at the beginning of the book was heart-wrenchingly devastating, and an all too familiar feeling I could (and hate to) relate to.
I did like the flashbacks to their Thayer days, and while it was… nice… getting both of their perspectives of the same interaction, it was the exact same conversations that I’d already read in previous chapters. It seemed like it was repeated to bring up the total word count/make the book longer (like with starting each chapter on the left hand page side even if it could have been started on the right hand side).
I honestly didn’t know if I wanted the story to end with them staying split up or getting back together. Ále 1000% deserved better, and Dom 100% deserved to face the consequences of his lack of attentiveness to his wife during the last half of their 10 years of marriage, and I really believe Ále deserved to find someone who would love her forever without having to lose her to realise he was being an ass. But Ana made it work.
4/5 stars because while I wanted to give it 3 because I related too much to Ále’s experience and rehashing that sucked, it was a very cleverly-crafted piece that brought me to tears, had me disliking the storyline (because I was Ále), but also had me wanting to know how it ended.
Edit: I was just driving and randomly thought about the Dom and Roman storyline. It just seemed quite random and thrown in there. That whole brotherhood in itself could have fleshed out the book more. There definitely could have been more in-depth backstory between the two and their history in the foster house. It felt like it was just thrown in there for a more interesting plot, and while it was more interesting having that subplot, it could have been touched on much better than it was
The contrast of Alessandra and Dominic’s present-day relationship to their past-day relationship through Ále’s POV brought me to tears. The stark difference between what they used to be compared to what they had become at the beginning of the book was heart-wrenchingly devastating, and an all too familiar feeling I could (and hate to) relate to.
I did like the flashbacks to their Thayer days, and while it was… nice… getting both of their perspectives of the same interaction, it was the exact same conversations that I’d already read in previous chapters. It seemed like it was repeated to bring up the total word count/make the book longer (like with starting each chapter on the left hand page side even if it could have been started on the right hand side).
I honestly didn’t know if I wanted the story to end with them staying split up or getting back together. Ále 1000% deserved better, and Dom 100% deserved to face the consequences of his lack of attentiveness to his wife during the last half of their 10 years of marriage, and I really believe Ále deserved to find someone who would love her forever without having to lose her to realise he was being an ass. But Ana made it work.
4/5 stars because while I wanted to give it 3 because I related too much to Ále’s experience and rehashing that sucked, it was a very cleverly-crafted piece that brought me to tears, had me disliking the storyline (because I was Ále), but also had me wanting to know how it ended.
Edit: I was just driving and randomly thought about the Dom and Roman storyline. It just seemed quite random and thrown in there. That whole brotherhood in itself could have fleshed out the book more. There definitely could have been more in-depth backstory between the two and their history in the foster house. It felt like it was just thrown in there for a more interesting plot, and while it was more interesting having that subplot, it could have been touched on much better than it was