Cruel King (King Brothers) Paperback – July 31, 2023

Loved this story about Matthias and Ava. Matthias always treated Ava badly and she never understood why. Ava is the daughter of the King family estate manager. Then 2 days , while they are stranded during a blizzard, Ava founds out why Matthias King treats her that way. After they discover their feelings for each other, Ava is ordered by her father to go live with her aunt. After 5 years, Ava returns to the King family estate. Do Matthias and Ava reunite or does Ava lean on Theo, Matthias’ brother? I loved how Matthias tried so hard to be the man Ava needs. The love these two share allow them to grow and mature into the persons they both need.

Matthias is the oldest of the King brothers, being tortured by his future as the heir to the empire he is slowly losing his way. Until one day he is the only one left at home, his other brothers deciding to go with their father into the city but that one night changed the whole track of his life forever. The one person he was told to stay away from walks into his home and he throws caution to the wind and decides to take want he has wanted for years, her his Ava.As they have this incredible day and night they both give into the attraction that has been there for years, but when her father comes back and understands she has spent time with his employer’s older son, Ava’s father takes steps to separate them, but as Ava tells Matthias’s brother to give him a message she leaves. Mattias is heartbroken that she left without saying a word after the amazing time they spent together, so decides, to join the family business but in London away from the memories of his sweet Ava.Five years later, Matthias’s father is dying, and all brothers arrive back to be at his bedside but when he sees the one person who broke him, he becomes angry and throws her out of the house and his life. Although he is heartbroken, he still loves her, but can he show that to her or will the bitter man he has become win over.I have to say I have not read anything by this author before and I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The characters were well developed and complimented each other brilliantly, the angst and forbidden love aspect was a great tug of war between the two of them and with the twist in the middle added to the whole drama of the story.I did find at the beginning it a bit slow but as the story progressed you got to understand the dynamic of all the characters and brothers, although the shock at the end hit hard. I am glad in the end it became a happy ever after and that despite the battles of mistrust and deception.I can wait to delve into the catalogue of this order and read more.

Ava and Mattias have the perfect enemies to friends to lovers story. They always had feelings for each other, but Mattias treated her badly to hide his feelings and make her hate him. This relationship has all the feels. I never expected the ending, but KM Scott is great at giving her books little twists and turns and that's why I love her books. A must book to add to your summer reading. I couldn't put it down.

The King family is a powerhouse, with a widowed father at the helm of a worldwide business and five sons that could fill in his shoes. While you do get an introduction to them all, our MCs are Theo and Matthias. Theo is best friends with our female MC, Ava, but it is purely platonic and sweet. As the oldest, Matthias is expected to step into his position while his brothers are left to find what it is that interests them. With his college career ended successfully, Matthias is given the signs he is expected to join the company soon, but ekes out what he anticipates to be one last day where he gets away with making an excuse not to go to the city with his father - however his brothers jump at the opportunity to get out of the house and disappear in the city and leave Matthias home with Eleanor, the caretaker of the family.Meanwhile, Ava Sutton, the daughter of Mr. King's driver, is given strict instructions by her father to stay home, as there is a major snowstorm predicted. Their home is the carriage house on the King estate. After her father leaves and the snow really does start to fall heavily, Ava hears a loud pop and the power goes out. Keeping an eye on the storm, Ava decides she had better walk up to the King home before it gets any heavier, just to find herself half frozen and sopping wet by the time she gets to the kitchen entry. As Eleanor sees how sopping wet she is, she takes her clothes to dry them and gives Ava a robe and her famous hot chocolate.When Matthias finds Ava in the house, he is terribly mean to her, implying she isn't worthy of his home or any of their attention. Ava finally has enough and lets him have it for being so terrible to her over the years, just to find they have an intense passion for one another, and a couple of days of discovering it before everyone descends back on the house. Ava is swept away to her aunts by her father without a chance to say goodbye, and Theo forgets to pass along the message to his brother the way she tells him to. Without understanding what is leading the other to make the decisions they make or how they end up apart, five years pass before Theo, Ava, and Matthias are able to be together again and with the secrets they keep from one another, nothing goes the way anyone is hoping, except for maybe Theo.Characters and locations are fully fleshed out and beautifully described, emotions run on high throughout most of the story, and there is a lot of feelings to work through from all points of view. I really enjoyed this and would love to see where the rest of the brothers end up!