Reading King Of Sloth was like looking into my future and seeing my romance play out before my eyes. The dynamic between the characters and the events that unfolded had me wanting more, more, more.
New York Times best-selling author Ana Huang has built a legacy for herself with her second series, Twisted, that had readers hooked from the first book, Twisted Love. Now, the King of Sin series is intertwined with the Twisted series, but can be stand-alone reads. Both series include friends who fall in love, including tropes like arranged marriage, forbidden romance, second-chance romance, and now, a grumpy-sunshine storyline.
As an avid Huang reader, I waited 189 days until her new book in the series, King Of Sloth, came out April 30. I was counting down the hours until I could get my hands on it.
King of Sloth centers around Sloane Kensington who runs a PR firm and Xavier Castillo, son of a billionaire, and her client. Kensington cannot stand Castillo, a party animal who jeopardizes his reputation and makes her life harder than it already is.
With the two main characters knowing each other for three years prior, the story starts fast, with Kensington having to drag Castillo out of a troubling situation, again. I personally enjoyed the quick beginning because of the banter between Kensington, the grumpy one who has no time for him, and Castillo, the lighthearted playful one.
Huang is known for her rendition of dreamy grumpy love interests. In King of Sloth, Castillo is the sunshine that Kensington can’t tolerate without sunglasses.
Kensington presents as “cold” and an “ice queen” due to her past, which made me feel closer to her as a character. A scene in the book that resonated with me was when her fish died unexpectedly and her “cold” demeanor was thawed for a fish she claimed not to care about. I recently lost my fish too, so I felt myself relating to Kensington heavily throughout the book. I enjoyed reading about why she was so closed off and felt myself relating to her immensely. I found myself not wanting to put this book down.
My sole complaint is that I felt it was not long enough. I have heard reviews where people have said it was too long, but I thought the opposite. The beginning could have been longer in terms of their banter and bickering, but their playfulness had to come to an end due to a tragic event involving Castillo, affecting both of their lives, and I liked how Huang spaced out the events in the book.
I am already waiting the 366 days until her next release in the series, King of Envy. Until then, I’ll be tuning into her next release in the stand-alone, The Striker, out September 2024.
