Kingdom of Readers

We’re gonna keep this review as non-explicit as the book is explicit 🤭.

This is a dark romance with about a million and one warning labels, but honestly, it leans more toward the charming and humorous side of dark rather than the terrifyingly messed-up side.

Yes, there are some seriously f-ed up moments, but they don’t carry as much weight because of the way the story is written.

It’s hard to describe, but it almost feels lighthearted in its humor—except, let me be clear, this is NOT lighthearted. This indeed is a full-fledged dark stalker romance with a ton of smut.

That said, one of my favorite things about this book is how it had me giggling the whole way through. I would legit laugh out loud —the character banter was that good.

I originally stumbled across this book on TikTok (of course) and heard a short snippet of the MMC’s POV. The male narrator was phenomenal & the snippet was hilarious. After feeling like I just had to dive into the rest, it did not disappoint.

Now, the female narrator was great too, don’t get me wrong, but the male narrator? He takes everything to another level. If you get the chance to read this book, do yourself a favor and listen to it. Seriously.

As for character development, the dynamic between the FMC and MMC was really well done since the book revolves around them, but I do wish we got more of Ali’s life.

We got glimpses of her mom, but they were so brief—like, I can only recall one or two distinct scenes where she really talked about her.

On the other hand, I feel like we saw plenty of Josh’s world—his best friend had a whole subplot, and his dad played a major role, which really led us to learning a lot about Josh’s character overall. But with Ali? I just don’t think we got that.

We did meet some of her extended family toward the end, which added a nice touch, but I just wanted more.

Aside from the missing extended character development, there was so much I loved about this story—the conveniently placed roommate, the suspense, and just the sheer entertainment of it all. It was gosh near perfect in that aspect.

Final thoughts? If you love romance, enjoy rom-coms but want to dip your toes into something darker, this is a fantastic gateway. But be warned, this book is not for the modest at heart. 😏

Some of my favorite lines:

“I really hoped he wasn’t planning to murder me, because I’d feel real dumb when it happened.”

“Like, the kind of hot you didn’t see walking around in the wild with the rest of us plebeians … and when he smiled and those dimples appeared, it triggered ovulation. You couldn’t convince me otherwise—not after I stood there staring at him while my ovaries donned their war paint and started metaphorically chucking eggs at the man.”

“My mother had been a hellion … I once watched her face down an attempted mugger by reaching into her purse and yelling, ‘I see your knife and raise you a gun, motherf**er.‘”*