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The King (The Original Sinners Book 6) Kindle Edition
Bouncing from bed to bed on the Upper East Side, Kingsley Edge is brilliant, beautiful and utterly debauched. No carnal act or chemical compound can relieve his self-destructive heartache—only Søren, the one person he loves without limit or regret. A man he can never have, but in whose hands Kingsley is reborn to attain even greater heights of sin.
Kingsley’s plan to open the ultimate BDSM club—a dungeon playground for New York’s A-list—becomes his obsession. His expertise in domination can’t subdue the one man who wants to stop him. The enigmatic Reverend Fuller won’t rest until King’s dream is destroyed, and so the battle lines are set; it’s one man’s sacred mission against another’s . . .
Praise for the Original Sinners series
“I loved the Original Sinners series . . . Her prose is quite beautiful, and she can weave a wonderful tight story.” —New York Times– and USA Today–bestseller Jennifer Probst
“Tiffany Reisz’s The Original Sinners series is painful, prideful, brilliant, beautiful, hopeful, and heart-breaking. And that’s just the first hundred pages.” —New York Times–bestselling author Courtney Milan
“Required reading . . . . Stunning . . . . Transcends genres and will leave readers absolutely breathless.” —RT Book Reviews
“I worship at the altar of Tiffany Reisz! Whip smart, sexy as hell—The Original Sinners series knocked me to my knees.” —New York Times–bestselling author Lorelei James
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMIRA
- Publication dateApril 16, 2018
- File size1544 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Tiffany Reisz's The Original Sinners series is painful, prideful, brilliant, beautiful, hopeful, and heart-breaking. And that's just the first hundred pages." -- New York Times bestselling author Courtney Milan
"Required reading.... Stunning.... Transcends genres and will leave readers absolutely breathless." -- RT Book Reviews on The Original Sinners series
"I worship at the altar of Tiffany Reisz! Whip smart, sexy as hell -- The Original Sinners series knocked me to my knees." -- New York Times bestselling author Lorelei James
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
2013
Kingsley Edge was playing God tonight. He hoped the real God, if He did exist, wouldn't mind.
He'd told his driver to let him out a few blocks before his destination. Warm air, a late-April rain and a little English magic had sent a soft white fog twisting and flicking its tail down winding streets, and Kingsley wanted to enjoy it. He wore a long coat and carried a leather weekender bag over his shoulder. It was late, and although the city was still awake, it kept its voice down. The only sounds around him came from the soles of his shoes echoing against the wet and shining pavement and the distant murmur of city traffic.
When he arrived at the door he knocked without hesitation.
After a pause, it opened.
They stared at each other a full five seconds before one of them spoke. Kingsley took it upon himself to break the silence.
"I'm the last person you were expecting to see again, om?" Kingsley asked.
He expected the shock and he expected the silence, but he didn't expect what happened next.
He didn't expect Grace Easton to step onto the porch in her soft gray robe and bare feet and wrap him in her arms.
"If I'd known this is how the Welsh say 'hello,' I would have visited sooner," Kingsley said. Grace pulled back from the embrace and smiled at him, her bright turquoise eyes gleaming.
"You're always welcome here." Grace's words were tender, her accent light and musical. She took his arm and ushered him into the house. "Always."
Always a lovely word. He never used to believe in words like always, like forever, like everything. Now at forty-eight he'd lived long enough he could see both ends of his life. Always. There might be something to it after all.
"Zachary's asleep," Grace said in a whisper as she took his coat, hung it up, and guided him into a cozy living room. "He gets up at five every morning, so he goes to bed at a reasonable hour. I prefer the unreasonable hours myself."
"You're the night owl?"
"It works for us," she said with a smile. "I can get work done after Zachary and Fionn fall asleep. Would you like tea? I can put the kettle on. Or something stronger?"
"I brought my own something stronger," he said.
He unzipped his weekender bag and offered her a bottle of wine. She examined the label.
"Rosanella Syrah," she said. "Never had it before."
"It's from my son's winery. Best Syrah I've ever tasted."
"Not that you're biased or anything," she said with a wink. She went to fetch wineglasses and a corkscrew from the kitchen, and Kingsley looked around. Zachary and Grace Easton lived in a small two-story brick house that made up one of many in a row of neat but narrow accommodations. It was an older neighborhood, a bit shabby but safe and clean from what he could see. Inside the house was the picture of quiet domesticity. Intelligent educated people lived here. And one very special baby.
"Am I interrupting anything?" Kingsley asked when Grace returned with the wineglasses. He took the corkscrew from her and opened the bottle. Grace had a low fire glowing in the fireplace and a table lamp on. Gentle light. Kingsley felt instantly at ease here.
"Nothing that can't wait," she said, and Kingsley saw stacks of papers on the pale green sofa. He took a seat in the armchair opposite her and crossed one leg over his knee. She curled up into a ball, her knees to her chest, her bare feet sticking out from the bottom of the robe. Her long red hair was knotted at the nape of her neck in a loose and elegant bun. In the soft light of the room she radiated a delicate beauty. A vision, freckles and all. How had he not noticed before how lovely she was? Of course, the one and only occasion they'd been in each other's company, he'd been preoccupied, to say the least.
"You're grading papers?" Kingsley asked.
"No, I'm still on maternity leave," she said. Next to her on the table sat a baby monitor. "These are proofs of my book. Nothing exciting. Only poetry." She held up a printed title page that read Rooftop Novenas.
"You're writing again?" Kingsley asked. He remembered from her file she'd had a few poems published in her early twenties.
"I am," she said, smiling shyly. "I don't know what it is As soon as I was pregnant with Fionn I had so much creative energy. Couldn't stop writing. Zachary'd thought I'd lost my mind. He's an editor, though, not a writer. He thinks all writers are a bit mad."
"I might have to agree with him," Kingsley said. "You have my congratulations on the book."
She shuffled her pages, capped her pen. "Thank you, Kingsley. But I don't believe you crossed an ocean simply to talk about my poetry."
"Even if it was inspired by a mutual friend of ours?" Kings-ley said.
"Even so," she admitted without shame. Good. Kingsley might have despised her if she'd had any regrets, any shame for what had happened. Instead, she'd come with an open heart to their world, an open mind, and had returned home carrying a blessing inside her. "It's back to school in a few months, and I'm trying not to think about having to leave Fionn."
"He taught at our high school after he graduated. Did you know that?"
She held her glass steady on the coffee table between them as Kingsley poured the wine.
"He told me he used to teach. Said he liked it. I didn't expect that from him."
Kingsley picked up a framed photograph that sat on the coffee table between thema black-and-white picture of a newborn infant boy sleeping on a white pillow.
"That's one thing you can say for him," Kingsley said, turning the photograph toward Grace. "He's full of surprises."
She blushed beautifully and laughed quietly, and Kingsley couldn't help but join in her laugh.
"Is he why you're here? Are you checking on Fionn for him?"
"No," Kingsley said. "Although he'll never forgive me if I don't look in on him while I'm here." Kingsley ached to see the boy, but he had learned the hard way to never disturb a sleeping baby.
"I'm only asking why you're here out of curiosity. You never need a reason to visit us. I assume everyone is well?" Grace asked. "Juliette? Your daughter? Nora?"
"Juliette and Celeste are perfect as usual," he said. "But Nora, she lost her mother recently. A month ago, I believe."
"I had no idea. Zachary never said a word about it."
"She didn't tell anyone until afterward. She disappeared on us for two weeks."
"Nora." Grace sighed and shook her head. "Well, if she behaved like a normal person, she wouldn't be Nora, would she?"
"No. No, she wouldn't be." Kingsley laughed to himself. "But she and her mother they had a difficult relationship."
"Because of him?"
"Her mother hated him. I don't use the word hate lightly," Kingsley said. "I think it was a peace offering to her mother for Nora to go alone. And she couldn't tell him. Nora ran away to her mother's once before, and he hunted her down like the hound of hell."
"I didn't know that. But I can imagine he's persistent where she's concerned?"
"That is one way to put it." Kingsley took a sip of his wine. "She and her mother, they had unfinished business."
"That's the worst-case scenario then, isn't it? If you're close to your parents, you have no regrets when they pass away. If you have no relationship, you have no grief. If you want to be close, but you can't be."
"She took it very hard," Kingsley said, knowing Nora well enough to say that in good faith.
"I'll call her tomorrow," Grace said. "Maybe she should come stay with us a few days. She loves being around Fionn. And she and Zachary fight so much, she'll forget all her sorrows, I promise."
Kingsley wanted to laugh. Only Grace Easton would call the woman who had sleptmore than oncewith her husband, offer her condolences on the loss of her mother and then invite her to stay in her home with Grace, her husband and their infant son who was fathered by Nora's lover.
Did Grace have any idea what an extraordinarily odd woman she was?
Then again, what room did Kingsley have to talk?
"Apart from that, we're all well. He's well," Kingsley said, saving Grace the embarrassment of asking about him.
"Good," Grace said with a smile. "I never know He's the easiest man in the world to talk to and the most difficult man to read. Rather amazes me that Nora's been with him over twenty years and is as sane as she is. Zachary was my professor when we fell in love, and I thought I'd go insane trying to keep that secret from my friends, my family, the school. To be with a priest for twenty years."
"No one is more amazed than I that they've lasted. The sanity part is up for debate, but you can't question the love. Not anymore. And he hasn't made it easy for her, and she. Well, I don't have to tell you anything about Nora, do I?"
Grace grinned broadly.
"No," she said. "No, you don't." She took a drink of the Syrah, and her eyes widened in delight.
"Your son is quite the vintner. This is marvelous."
"I told you so," Kingsley said, taking a sip of his own wine. The Syrah was good, an excellent vintage, strong and potent. As much as Kingsley loved the taste, he found it hard to drink sometimes. The knot of pride in his throat made it difficult to swallow.
"Zachary was very impressed with Nico when they met. He's what? Twenty-five and he owns and runs his own vineyard?"
"I think about how I was at twenty-five, what I was doing with my life, and I can't believe he came from me."
"I can believe it," Grace said, giving him a luminescent smile.
"I won't keep you up all night showing you pictures of my children," Kingsley said. He had pictures of both Nico and Céleste with him, and he was seconds away from pulling them out. "I'm only here for a few hours before I catch my next flight. But I did come for a reason."
"Should I be concerned?" Grace asked.
"Non, pas du tout," Kingsley said with a wave of his hand. "Forgive me. French wine brings out my French."
"I speak some," she said. "You haven't lost me yet."
"Bon," he said and paused for another drink. "I have something to tell you. A story. And I can't tell you why I'm telling you the story until after the story."
"I see " she said, although Kingsley knew she didn't. "May I ask what the story concerns?"
Kingsley reached into the inner breast pocket of his jacket. From it he pulled a crisp white envelope thick with documents sealed with wax. The wax was imprinted with what appeared to be a number eight inside a circle. Kingsley placed it on the table between his glass of wine and Grace's.
"The story is about that," Kingsley said, nodding toward the envelope. "And I can tell you the long version which is the true version or I can tell you a shorter, sweeter version. I'm happy to tell you either. But you decide."
"The long version, of course," she said. "Tell me everything I should know even if you don't think I want to hear it."
"Everything dangerous word." Kingsley sat back in the chair, and Grace leaned forward. She looked at him with a child's eagerness. "But if you insist. The more you know about us, the better it will be if "
He didn't finish the sentence, didn't have to, because he saw the understanding in Grace's eyes. She knew the end of the sentence he hadn't spoken, and her nod saved him the pain of saying the words that no one yet had dared to utter aloud. If Fionn takes after his father
"The story starts twenty years ago," Kingsley said, conjuring the memories he had tried to bury. But he'd buried them alive and alive they remained. "And it takes place in Manhattan. And although you don't know yet why I'm telling you this, Grace, I promise you, you won't regret hearing me out."
"I don't regret anything," she said.
Kingsley straightened the photograph of her infant son. No, none of them regretted anything. Not even Kingsley.
"It was raining," Kingsley began. "And it was March. I had everything thenmoney, power and all the women and men in my bed anyone could possibly want. And to say I was in a bad mood would be the understatement of the century. I was twenty-eight years old and didn't expect to see thirty. In fact, I hoped I wouldn't see thirty."
"What happened?"
Kingsley took a breath, took a drink and took a moment to pull his words to together. A pity Nora wasn't here. Storytelling was her gift, not his. But only he could tell this story and thus he began.
"Soren happened."
Product details
- ASIN : B07811NW8C
- Publisher : MIRA; Original edition (April 16, 2018)
- Publication date : April 16, 2018
- Language : English
- File size : 1544 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 445 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #183,020 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #87 in LGBTQ+ Erotica (Books)
- #2,035 in Romantic Erotica (Kindle Store)
- #3,623 in BDSM Erotica (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Tiffany Reisz is the USA Today-bestselling author of the Romance Writers of America RITA®-winning Original Sinners series from Harlequin's Mira Books.
Born in Owensboro, Kentucky, Tiffany graduated from Centre College with a B.A. in English. She began her writing career while a student at Wilmore, Kentucky's Asbury Theological Seminary. After leaving seminary to focus on her fiction, she wrote THE SIREN, which has sold more than half a million copies worldwide.
Tiffany also writes mainstream women's suspense fiction, including THE BOURBON THIEF (winner of the RT Book Reviews Seal of Excellence Award) and the RITA®-nominated THE NIGHT MARK.
Her erotic fantasy THE RED—self-published under the banner 8th Circle Press—was named an NPR Best Book of the Year and a Goodreads Best Romance of the Month. It also received a coveted starred review from Library Journal.
Tiffany lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, author Andrew Shaffer, and two cats. The cats are not writers.
www.tiffanyreisz.com
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One of the things I look forward to reading in a Tiffany Reisz book is the intelligent, humorous, witty and beautiful writing. Her books not only leave me engrossed and entertained, but I always find myself laughing out loud to her characters’ antics. The King, more so than any other books in the series (both the Red and White Years) exemplified this. I was often laughing at one thing or another in the book. From the dialogue to the scenarios, you are hard pressed to not be amused by what you are reading. And the thing about it is, the humor isn’t there just for the sake of it. You see the intelligence and emotion behind it. Reisz has a way of expressing things where you understand what is being said without having to drag the narrative into such a serious tone. It makes it so easy to understand what the story is telling you without taking away the fun factor.
What I love about these prequel books, are finding out the story behind some of the characters’ signature characteristics that made them who they are. With The King, I loved reading about where the idea for The 8th Circle came along with King’s wardrobe. Unlike in the previous book, The Saint, where the majority of the story is a retelling of the beginning of Nora’s and Sǿren’s relationship only with more specific details, this book about Kingsley’s journey. His struggle to overcome his demons and find his way in the world, gave the book its heart and soul. It was fascinating to read Kingsley in a different light than what we were used to seeing him in. Through his relationship with both Sǿren and Sam, you saw Kingsley’s vulnerability, strength, loyalty along with his unique brand of sassiness. His struggles and self doubt really humanized him which made him an even more compelling and endearing character.
Nothing about this book really surprised me. As a huge fan of The Original Sinners series, I have a certain level of expectation with every new book that comes out. I have yet to be disappointed. The King was everything that I expected and hoped it would be. This was a heartwarming and light-hearted story about a man’s journey of self-discovery. And since this is Tiffany Reisz we are talking about, expect some BDSM, straight guy trying to seduce a lesbian and religious talk in this journey while all the while laughing your ass off.
Book 5 of this Original Series meets us in England with Kingsley visiting our lovely Grace. He tells her his story of his past and how he came to be the King of the 8th circle. Please don't just jump in and read whatever book you want to first. There is a reason that Tiffany wrote them in a series, so please read them in order. There is a method to her madness and it definitely all makes sense.
What more can I say about Kingsley than he is the perfect Frenchman to have won over so many people. He is ruthless, but also loves strongly too. He is whipsmart and conniving and will always get what he wants with his play on words and by who he knows. He is sexy, funny and quite smart. He is the male counterpart to Nora and I truly adored learning more about him and how he became the King of NY's underground.
"Sharp ones. Sharp mind, too, Very intelligent. Cunning. Quick and clever. Almost fearless."
These may be words used to describe Nora, but it is also Kingsley as well. And heck, Tiffany Reisz too. No wonder he was so easy for me to love him in this book.
Read this darn series already! It's fantastic and Tiffany is a master at witty banter and a well played out story that tells us so much about all the players. Her writing is sharp and the story is well developed at connecting all the characters and their stories, past and present.
Top reviews from other countries
I always had a soft spot for Kingsley. I love his wit, charm and his heart that loves so deeply. There has never been another character written quite like "The King". Yes he is!
If you like erotica and haven't read any of these books, give them a try... you won't be disappointed.
5 stars!!
“He was gone, gone, gone, and that was fine, fine, fine with Kingsley. Except it wasn’t.”
Where to start!! As you can tell I have had a Tiffany Reisz marathon the past three days. I went to start reading The King and was startled to see that I had not read The Saint, how I missed it god only knows…perhaps Soren can enlighten me? It was sitting on my kindle waiting and so therefore the marathon began and I loved every single minute.
Once again Tiffany Reisz started this book the same way as The Saint and if this is the way the White Years is to be told, I can’t wait. This time it is the turn of Grace to have a bedtime story from Kingsley himself. Kingsley turns up to Grace’s London home with a mission in mind, but before he can get to the crunch he needs to tell his story to make her understand and therefore through a flashback, we find out from the King how he came to be the man he was today. I have to say, Grace does still leave a sour taste in my mouth…I still can’t get over the end of The Mistress!!
“I have something to tell you. A story. And I can’t tell you why I’m telling you the story until after the story.”
Kingsley Edge is one third of the trifecta, he is rich, a playboy, French, American, enigmatic, bisexual, kinky as hell but he is trustworthy, reliable and he has a huge heart. I never quite realised the extent of just how huge his heart was. Kingsley is a very multi-layered character and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey that Tiffany Reisz took us on to peel back each and every layer to show us who Kingsley was underneath the suits and boots.
“Welcome to the Kingdom.”
Once again Tiffany Reisz has created a character that is beautiful on the inside and out and the constant bantering over who was the most “beautiful,” had me in stitches. We see another side though to Kingsley, he is haunted by his past too even though the bravado he wears on the outside never exposes this part of him. It is these chinks in his armour that made him all the more endearing and more real and in fact more human. He always came across as this dark, mysterious man with the world at his feet, he was revered and feared and he was rather aloof, but this man was hiding behind his persona and the real Kingsley brought me to tears many, many times.
“F**k me until I forget I’m French.”
The love and devotion that he has for Soren has never been a doubt in my mind but once you see just how deep his love is you cannot help but feel heart break for him. Tiffany Reisz managed to portray this perfectly throughout his story and I found my own heart breaking for him on many occasions. I saw him like a puppy dog waiting patiently for scraps at a dinner table and whatever scraps Soren would throw him, he lapped up. He was starved of affection and it just seemed that the few people that he found the propensity the love, just could not love him back in the way he needed or deserved and that to me was devastating. I just wanted to jump into the book and give him a cuddle, his story really got to me. However, the above does not undermine the relationship that he has with Soren, Soren loved him just as hard and deep, but he knew that it could never work between them; Kingsley would never survive, so to protect the one man the he loves so fiercely, he has to stay away. But there are many tender moments between the two that just cement how much they do actually mean to each other.
“I will never turn my back on you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. As long as it’s in my power, I will be your friend, and I will be here for you whenever you need me.” ~ Soren
This story also shows how “The King” was born and how the Eighth Circle came to be and this part of the book held me captivated. Kingsley’s idea for the club was not born as a money making idea but as a safe haven for his beloved. He wanted to have a place where like-minded people could practice their proclivities without fear of being exposed, harassed or arrested, but more importantly he wanted to build it for Soren.
“I’m going to do something for you someday.” ~ Kingsley
“You do everything for me.” ~ Soren
“I want to build you a castle.” ~ Kingsley
“I’ve had my fill of castles, Kingsley,” Soren said.
“What I need is a dungeon.” ~ Soren
The creation of The Eighth Circle was a fight in itself and Kingsley had many battles to fight in order to get his dream off the ground. It is also during this time that Kingsley found who he could trust and who he couldn’t. This lead to some killer scenes with even more tears and the one of betrayal hurt the most. But the tears are testament to the writing skills of Tiffany Reisz, I know that I am an emotional person, I know that tears do come easily, but I found myself crying where I normally wouldn’t and it was due to the fact that these characters are so deeply embedded into my heart that when they hurt I hurt, when they love, I love, I felt it all.
“Jeg elskar dig.”
All I can say is that I need The Virgin, even though I have been immersed in their stories for three days my appetite has not been sated, in fact it has made me want to read about them even more. I already feel lost and cannot seem to start another book. That is the beauty of Tiffany Reisz’s stories, flawlessly written, totally captivating and engaging you just do not want the story end. The perfect balance of emotion and wit will engage you completely, so much so I am having withdrawals. March cannot come quick enough.
“I want to know what price you put on something I considered priceless” ~ Soren
“Sex isn’t priceless.” – Kingsley
“It was with you.” - Soren