Book Review — KING and TYRANT by T.M. Frazier

“There is a difference between being bad and being evil.”

• Buy KING (Kindle) 
• Buy KING (Paperback)

What. An. AWESOME. Ride!!!

Holy wow, I totally LOVED this book!! Dark and gritty, sweet and sexy, raw and shocking, and utterly addictive, with an unapologetic, badass Alpha male hero and unexpected twists that I never saw coming!! I couldn’t put it down from the moment I started it reading and now I can’t wait for the next one!

TM Frazier writes some of the best dark romance out there. Her writing is strong and compelling. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and doesn’t hold back. Her characters hover in that mysterious and intriguing grey zone between good and bad and keep you constantly second guessing how you should feel about them. They’re incredibly complex and honestly, that’s what makes them so fascinating. And while her stories are raw and gritty, they always have a side of sweet and are woven with just enough depth and emotion to tug all your heart strings and really make you care. She’s definitely an auto-buy author for me!

“They call me King.”

King. Brantley King. Career criminal. Tattoo artist. Badass alpha. Fresh out of prison. — “This guy didn’t look like he hung with the wrong crowd. This guy was the wrong crowd.” — He grew up in merciless world, living on the edge. And a product of a brutal life, he was dark, dangerous, and totally untamed.

“So he’s not going to kill me?” I asked hopefully.
Didn’t say that… He’s not the most predictable guy, and he’s been away for a few years…”
“Years?… Where was he?”
“State.”
“College?”
“Prison.”
Prison made much more sense than college.

Doe was the complete opposite. Her past was a mystery to her — after waking up in a garbage dump in a heap of her own blood with no memory of who she was or where she came from, the only thing she had left was a reflection in the mirror that even she didn’t recognize. She wasn’t cut for his world. Tiny, frail, but surprisingly bold and fiesty. Everything about him screamed danger to her, but even though he scared the hell out of her, I loved the way she still didn’t take any of his shit…

He expected me to cower.

He expected wrong.

“I don’t give a fuck who you are, asshole.” I seethed. “And you’re not as smart as you seem to think you are. Tell me something, who exactly was it who appointed you judge of all people?”

I thought my words would start an all out war but instead King didn’t look angrier, he only looked mildly amused. “Well you are partially right. Because when it comes to me and mine, I am the judge. I am the jury. And if need be, I am the motherfucking executioner.”

So badass!!!!!!!

They naturally got off to a rocky start. A girl like her had no place in his world and he wasn’t about to start changing things. He had a single minded goal since getting out of prison (a secret you’ll learn as you read) and would do anything he had to to get it. She was a detour he never expected. She brought out a whole other side of him. He wanted to own her, possess her, but slowly but surely, she began to steal his heart.

“King was smart, calculating, and cunning. Worst of all, he had the power to make my knees both tremble in fear and weak with desire. He was someone I had to stay away from, but according to him, that wasn’t about to happen.”

I don’t want to tell you too much more about the story because it’s such a twisty journey (with shocking reveals that I never saw coming) that you should really just experience it for yourselves. Heads up though, there might be a trigger warning for some readers, buuut the good guys do come in and save the day. This author really doesn’t hold back and many of the events are dark and gritty. I keep coming back to those two words because they really are the best descriptors for the feeling of this story. But she writes that style like no one else. Her writing is just so strong and compelling that the pages flew by for me.

“He’d told me that I was his before, that I belonged to him. But before that night, I hadn’t believed him.

It was what his body told me that took me by surprise and shook me to my very core.

He was mine.”

Between the sexy hotness, the shocking reveals and plot twists, and surprisingly hilarious one-liners, this was an unputdownable book with strong underlying messages about the strength of friendship, the bonds of loyalty, love, and family, and also a reminder not to judge people on their outward appearances.

The ending had my heart in my throat — huge reveals, huge twists (yes, plural!) — and now I’m absolutely desperate to read the next book to see how it all ends. Admittedly, it’s very rare for me to read a book with a cliffhanger so I pick and choose the ones I read very carefully. This was definitely one worth reading to me and I’m so glad I’m so glad that I gave it a shot, I loved the whole story start to finish, and I can’t wait for the sequel to see what happens next to these characters! Especially with that last twist. Oh my!!

This is the first book in a 2-book series. The sequel Tyrant will be out in August (pre-order will be available on King‘s release day). I’m personally really glad I read this now though and didn’t wait!

Fans of dark, gritty stories with badass Alpha male heroes are sure to fall in love with King!!

Rating: 4.5 stars. Contemporary Adult dark romance.

• Buy KING (Kindle) 
• Buy KING (Paperback)

And seriously. How hot is that cover????

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*** MINI-REVIEW of TYRANT (SEQUEL) ***

EDIT: I’m writing this part in mid-August (two months after I reviewed KING) at the time of TYRANT’s release. I decided not to review it separately because there’s really nothing I can say about it that isn’t a spoiler or that I haven’t already said in the previous review. What I can say is that TYRANT is very fast-paced and gives all the answers that you’re left wanting at the end of KING. True to the nature of this story, it’s dark, gritty, and action-packed, and concludes their story (complete with an epilogue). Enjoy! 🙂

“They call me King, mother fucker.”

• Buy TYRANT (Kindle)

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*** FULL SERIES ***
Note: this is a 2-book series.

BOOK #1: KING — Buy for Kindle
BOOK #2: TYRANT — Buy for Kindle