Empire of Desire

An Age Gap Father's Best Friend Romance

By: Rina Kent

Narrated by: Aiden Snow, Callie Dalton, Connor Crais

My forbidden husband.

I kissed my father’s best friend, and it kind of didn’t go well.

Not only because he’s 18 years older than me - but he also didn’t like it. Not one bit.

In my defense, I didn’t mean to fall for him. It just happened.

Nathaniel Weaver is the most attractive man I’ve ever seen with enough charisma to blind the sun.

He’s bigger than the world, owns half of it, and conquered the other half.

He was forbidden. Wrong.

So I totally got over him. Or so I told myself.

Until we’re forced to get married.

Now I’m trapped.

But maybe he’s trapped too.

Because we’re both reaching for that forbidden fruit dangling between us.

Empire of Desire is a complete stand-alone. No other books should be listened to prior to this.

©2021 Rina Kent (P)2021 Rina Kent

A must listen!

“Here’s the thing, age gaps aren’t so much my thing but if you left the years aside and focus on the story it’s easy to continue it. I read the book before listening to the audio and ended up enjoying more the story as an audio. First, Aiden did an outstanding job! His voice was simply gorgeous. Connor did an amazing job too. I don’t know if it was just me but his voice sounded different? Kind of hard to explain but also an incredible voice! Callie well, I think she did an incredible work because at some point I couldn’t stand her voice lol. Not in a bad way but like I said when it comes to age gape and one like tis so many years well of course the girl is well a girl. She was childish and frustrating at some parts that had me rolling up my eyes in annoyance so yeah Callie portrayed Gwen perfectly!”

Loved!!!

Absolutely loved this book! This story was amazing and definitely worth a credit. The storyline was great and the characters were very well developed. The narrators brought the story to life.

Female narrator has a lisp

It’s not that noticeable but it does distract. I felt like the story went fast when her dad found out about Nate. A lot of it was a stretch to believe- like the author told you to just go with it so the story could go on.. who is just fine after waking from a coma- no one but apparently her dad. I felt like a lot of it was glossed over almost as if there were only a certain number of pages the author could write for this book and she realized she had to rush

Good narration for a good story.

⭐⭐⭐💫 Vanilla Stars

It's been a hot minute since I've last read one of Rina Kent's books and I've forgotten how hot they are!

Usually, age gap is not my first choice for tropes, but every now and then, I'm able to find one that can hold my attention, without triggering my dad issues 😂😂😂.

These characters are definitely present in some previous books by this author, that I haven't read, but aside from more information from their backstory and random mentions, I could read it as a standalone.

Nate is ruthless, rough, cold, handsome and broken. The full package for a toxic relationship with his best friend's little daughter! I liked that he was cold with her, and all business at the beginning... It would be unlikely that they felt in bed as soon as her dad was out of picture.

Gweneth in the other hand, was not an easy pill to swallow. She was annoying, immature, annoying, overprotected, annoying, boring... have I said annoying? Yep...
She's twenty years old when she's enrolled into a "marriage on paper" with Nate, but she's still locked in her fifteens, taking her vanilla milkshake for breakfast "every-single-day", and living with her dad, even if she's already in college.

Nate dealt with her as if she was a child, ordering her to answer to every rhetorical question, and serving her vanilla milkshakes every time that she pouts.
It was actually realistic to their previous interactions, considering that he was Uncle Nate before.

But i loved how he also was caring, even when he didn't want to get attached, and the s3x between them were really hot!

I wish we had more depth of their characters and their past, on why Nate was so broken, or about everything around Gweneth other than her vanilla obsession.

Their happy ending came after lots of punches and death threats, but it was sweet.

I'm honestly more curious about Kingsley and Aspen right now, cause that duo are the epitome of fire meet gasoline!

🎧 About the Audiobook Narration 🎧

Narrated by Aiden Snow, Callie Dalton and Connor Crais.

Aiden Snow was Nate's narrator and he was really good to hold my attention and Nate's coldness.
Callie Dalton made justice to Gweneth, bem as annoying as her, with a high pitched teenager voice.
Connor Crais made just a few chapters from Kingsley's POV,  but he looked like he was really bored.

Overall the narration helped with the book.

Gwen

Nate has known Gwen her whole life. He never expected her to have feelings for him and pursue them on her 18th birthday. When she does, he stays away, however, unexpected circumstances have now pushed them together. He'll keep fighting his feelings and she'll keep pushing for more.
I liked this book a lot. Their dynamic is good and this book kept me engaged.