Empire of Lust

An Enemies with Benefits Romance

By: Rina Kent

Narrated by: Connor Crais, Mackenzie Cartwright

Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

My boss. My hell.

When I slept with a faceless jock as a teen, I didn’t think I would become pregnant. I also didn’t think I would lose that child.

Several years later, I find out that my daughter is alive, and I’m given a second chance.

One problem, though. The faceless jock isn’t so faceless anymore. He has a name everyone fears: Kingsley Shaw. A ruthless bastard. A heartless devil. And most importantly, my daughter’s father. Oh, and he hates me as much as I hate him.

We’re out to destroy one another with all methods available. Including a dangerous game of lust that might lead to our downfall.

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

©2022 Rina Kent (P)2022 Rina Kent

hotter than hot

Holy f'ng fire. Give me Kingsley Shaw everyday. I love that Aspen doesnt take anything lying down but Kinsley. Their chemistry never died and I love that Rina Kent brought thisbstory full circle. Will definitely miss this series.

Gripping and super spicy!!

Empire of Lust by Rina Kent was a spicy, enemies with benefits romance with the perfect touch of suspense. Ever since I listened to Empire of Desire, and was introduced to the mighty Kingsley Shaw, I had to know his story. Getting glimpses of him in Gwyneth and Nate's story made me even more curious about his whole back story with Aspen! Rina did not disappoint and their love story gripped me from the start and had me entranced (and fanning myself) throughout the entire ride.

This audiobook is narrated by Connor Crais and Mackenzie Cartwright. I've heard these two paired together, but not in a darker romance like this which just wowed me even more with their incredible talent. Connor fully embodied Kingsley Shaw emphasizing his dark, arrogant alpha sexy persona in his performance. Mackenzie was fantastic showcasing Aspen's troubled past, vulnerabilities, and her passion for her daughter and Kingsley. The push and pull and sexual tension between these characters made their spicy scenes HOT!

Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook! If you love an enemies with benefits romance with a cocky confident hunky hero, a heroine on a mission to overcome her haunted past, reuniting with her daughter, lots and lots of steamy times (whew), suspense, danger with the mafia, uncovered secrets, a plot twist that will make you gasp, and a HEA that will leave your heart believing that time can heal all wounds, then you will love Kingsley and Aspen's story! I always look forward to more from Rina Kent!

Enemies with Benefits?! Sign me up

MC: Aspen & Kingsley

4.5/5⭐️
3.5/5🌶

Dual POV, enemies with benefits, shared child, mafia, degradation, praise, marking, kidnap, HEA

Aspen and Kingsley met at a masked party when they were teens and had an intense, sex filled night together after which they completely lose contact. Not long after, Aspen finds out she’s pregnant but when the baby is born, she believes she delivered a stillborn. The baby ends up on Kingsley’s doorstep. Fast forward to them working at the same law firm and he hates her because he thinks she abandoned their daughter on his door step all those years ago.
I loved this story! The way the relationship between Aspen and Kingsley changes throughout was amazing. I could feel all their emotions, especially as the pieces of what happened when they were teens came together. Seeing them go from enemies to enemies who screw to lovers to more was a storyline I’ve not seen often and I’m here for it! Loved both narrators also.

Addictive and Savage

Holy smokes on a cracker!!! This audiobook was everything. Kingsley and Aspen’s relationship starts off as full on battle of wills. They can’t stand each other for different reasons. Then, their world gets turned upside down when Aspen finds out the baby she thought died at childbirth is alive and living with her father this whole time. Kingsley is a vengeful person and likes to punish those who in his mind have wrong him. So the tension and passion between Aspen and Kinsgley is scorching hot, add to that Kingsley irrational sense of possessiveness and revenge towards Aspen making their chemistry burn your ears. This was such an addictive and seductive ride. It had it all, passion, undeniable chemistry, sinfully savage alphahole, strong determined heroine, and a few suspenseful moments that kept you intrigued until the end.

This audiobook is narrated by Connor Crais and Mackenzie Cartwright. This was my first Connor Crais narration and he blew me away. He was perfect Kingsley! Connor captured Kingsley’s dominant, possessive, savage side perfectly, mixed in with the hidden sweet romantic side, Kingsley only shows to his daughter and now Aspen. Mackenzie Cartwright was exceptional as Aspen, she was able to bring out Aspens emotions about the past trauma and make you feel what Aspen went through. This duo narration was wonderful and I loved their way telling this story. I have officially joined the Connor Crais train and can’t wait to listen to more from Rina Kent and Connor Crais. This was perfect ending to the Empire series.

Amazing!

Seriously obsessed with this story and the audio version is top-notch! This is one of those I can listen to over and over again!

Love Happy Endings!!!

I'm a sucker for Happy Endings and this story was a great one with lots of great hot sex. The storyline was epic with lots of twists and turns. I definitely recommend this book along with the other 3 in the series.

Great story!

It’s a wild ride! Loved it a lot! I’ve loved Kingsley and Aspen for a while and it was so great seeing them get their happily ever after! Trigger warnings for alcoholism, abuse, mentions of disordered eating. This was a dark book at times and it had high and low moments. Loved it so much.

Favorite book boyfriend yet!

I love Rina’s books and I’ve been especially obsessed with the Royal Elite series - listening & reading them all several times. Empire of Lust might be my new favorite though! Kingsley & Aspen are a great match and the narrators were both excellent!

Amazing Narration

Performance: I love Rina stories in writing or narrated, but I particularly loved this narration since Connor Crais is the perfect Kingsley! The strength, the bravado, the intensity, the smugness all shine through in the performance. And Mackenzie brings the right balance of steel and vulnerability to Aspen, their energy radiates.

Story:

At last, we have the epic pairing Rina has alluded to for three books now. The clash of the titans! Two powerhouse, alpha characters that have been going at it for quite a while, two people with a billion secrets between them and missed opportunities and so much baggage. The formidable Kinglsey and the equally formidable Aspen finally have their chance at romance- and just like this couple’s journey thus far, it is every bit as tumultuous, unexpected, twisted, and intense as these two delicious characters.

What I treasured so much about these characters and this story is just how much of a transformation our feelings for both Aspen and Kingsley are. We’ve seen them through others eyes, sometimes favorably, and other times not, we’ve seen them be obstructive or the villains to one another and to others, but we could always see both of them were inherently complex and complicated characters who have made a lot of mistakes and are deeply flawed. Every since we discovered the secret of Gwen’s parentage and the unexpected connection between these two, I’ve been ready to unravel them completely. And boy does Rina unravel them. In the past, and in the present, both of these characters are exposed completely. And by far they are the most fascinating of the series- the psychological impact of their past, the tension between them, the deep scars they both carry, the push and pull between them. It’s captivating. Completely.

Kingsley is every bit as alpha and controlling as we’ve seen him, but like we learned with Gwen, he has a deeply buried softer side that comes out only for those he loves. I loved that we not only get to see his true heart as it relates to Aspen, but also as it relates to Gwen- see the impact of the actions in her book, and see the ways in which he’s coping with the increasing number of things that feel outside of his control. He’s a powder keg- and he’s a character that could be easy to dislike because of how cruel and heartless he can be, but the fire that Aspen draws out of him is certainly an indication of the depth of feeling left unexplored and unanswered- and Rina answers it in this story. He’ll own you, in every way.

Aspen to me is the real revelation of this series. This is a redemption arc like one you’ve never known. Rina has taken a character that I categorically loathed and transformed her into one of my favorite leading ladies. We get the strong willed, ballbusting tough as cookies Aspen we’ve seen, but we also get some incredible vulnerability from her. She’s a survivor in so many ways. My heart broke for her in so many ways. I never knew how much Rina could make me empathize with Aspen, but I felt for her SO deeply. I wanted her triumph and happiness perhaps more than I’ve wanted it for any other Rina heroine. She’s just so broken in many ways, but she’s manifested it in this incredible expression of strength and independence. I loved watching these two battle, each other and their feelings. The tension was SO dense and rich. And the steam was deeeeeeeeeelicious.

But the real triumph of this story, is the other love story. The one that touched my heart in a totally different way- the one between Gwen and Aspen. I’ve been craving answers, and closure, and hoping for some development that helped them both heal. And we got so many beautiful moments with them- painful and heartbreaking and heart healing, too. Moments that respected both of these characters and their journeys. But these moments are what made me fall in love with Aspen the most- the thoughtful and patient and unconditional way she loves the daughter she’s never really known, the daughter that isn’t sure of her- it’s really touching, and I loved that Rina devoted so much of this story to that part of this couple’s evolution- the much needed healing and redemption they both needed with their child.

One of my favorite’s from Rina- and as usual full of twists and surprises and jaw dropping moments. Excited for what is next, but sad to see this standlone series end!

Empire Series!

Empire of Lust (Empire Book #4) is the best one of the series in my opinion. I really enjoyed listening to Aspen LeBlanc and Kingsley Shaw's lovestory. A second chance romance mixed with enemies-to-lovers that creates a good buildup. Riveting secrets, suspense and fiery passion intricately entwined throughout the pages. The ending was fantastic.


Connor Crais, Mackenzie Cartwright dual narration brought the characters and their story to reality. I love both narrators inflections. Easy listening.