King of Gluttony

Kings of Sin #6

by Ana Huang

She's his greatest rival…and his greatest weakness.

Handsome, talented, and beloved by (almost) everyone, Sebastian Laurent is used to being on top. The heir to a culinary empire, his sharp instincts and effortless charm have made him a legend.

What people don't see are the demons lurking beneath his golden-boy facade. There's only one person who's come close to knowing the real him―Maya Singh, his childhood rival and secret obsession.

She's also the only one who's ever successfully challenged him. He can't stand her, but if that's true…why can't he stop thinking about her?

***

Smart, witty, and competitive to a fault, top marketing executive Maya Singh is used to winning―unless her opponent is Sebastian. It's something that's infuriated and motivated her her entire life.

So when a series of unfortunate events forces her to work with her sworn enemy, she's determined to one-up him and show the world who's the best once and for all.

What she didn't count on? Not hating their time together. To her horror, she might even…like it.

There may be a thin line between love and hate, but that's one line she'll never cross. Not with him. Not ever.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Billionaire Romance, Contemporary, Spicy

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 28, 2026

About the author

Ana Huang is a #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today & #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of contemporary romance.

STALK ANA ONLINE:

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Reader group ↠ https://www.facebook.com/groups/anast...

UPCOMING RELEASE:



FULL LIST OF BOOKS:

GODS OF THE GAME SERIES



KINGS OF SIN SERIES



TWISTED SERIES



IF LOVE SERIES

Reviews

[Ana Huang]

King of Gluttony is now LIVE!!



Sebastian and Maya have been waiting to meet you for literally a year, and the time has finally come: King of Gluttony is now available worldwide in ebook, paperback, and audio.

Happy reading!!

🧡 READ THE BOOK : https://geni.us/kingofgluttony

🧡 LISTEN TO THE AUDIO: http://tinyurl.com/GluttonyAudio

[Maddy ✨ ~The Verse Vixen {AFK brb}]

Asian Spice🤝Meets Parisian Ice—It’s About to Get Real One Heck of a Showdown!

Ohk! the cover is giving “you’re cordially invited to a breakdown in couture.”💌💥

➷WHAT TO EXPECT:

📌 Sebastian Moreau: French billionaire CEO with a side of emotional baggage,superiority complex and a jawline you could cut glass with.
📌Our FMC - Maya Singh: South Asian/Indian baddie from a very rich family. with a sharp tongue and a temper that could scorch the earth. Think: high heels, high standards, and a complete lack of patience for Sebastian’s nonsense.
📌Academic Rivals. Global Tycoons. Petty Icons.: Academic rivals turned grown-up enemies with way too much unresolved sexual tension.– Epic boarding school backstory; He calls themed parties tacky and her Sal—because yes, he beat her by 0.25 GPA points back in Swiss boarding school.
📌 The Chemistry: Explosive. Like, “I hate you, but actually, I can’t stop thinking about you” kind of explosive.
📌Sassy banter: Maya’s got that rich princess energy, and Sebastian’s got that I-know-I’m-hot-but-won’t-admit-it vibe. They’re roasting each other, throwing shade, and somehow, you’re loving every second of it. Slow-burn: The tension is like a pressure cooker, and I’m just sitting here, waiting for the inevitable explosion. This is gonna take forever... but I’m here for it. 😬
📌The Will They? Won’t They?: Absolutely. This is going to be a slow burn so hot it might just set their egos on fire. But when it happens? It’ll be spectacular.

📍Aura:
-South Indian spice meets French finesse
-Bonjour disaster X Namaste chaos.🍾💃
-Sass level: 100: Maya’s a badass princess and Sebastian’s a French billionaire. They’ll roast each other and you with their banter. 😏 All vibes. No sanity.
-And enough family drama to start a Netflix franchise.
- “She’s wearing earrings. And he’s wearing arrogance like cologne.” 💅 -If these two somehow make it to the altar? We’re talking gold, drama, emotional breakdowns—and that’s just the pre-wedding brunch.

Ok this is giving🤭-



🗣️Interaction Highlight from KING OF ENVY-
🚨 Sebastian walks in. French. Rich. Smug.
“Maya"👀
- Instant tension.

📉 “Surprised to see you had time to plan a birthday party this year. Don’t you have a marketing department to run to the ground?”
📈 “We’ve increased our profit margins by thirty percent. What have you done? Opened another soulless restaurant and irritated everyone?”
🎯 “Those ‘soulless’ restaurants have more Michelin stars than your latest product line has five-star reviews.”

He’s grinning. She’s steaming. I’m eating popcorn.🍿

👗 She’s in emerald satin and borrowed diamonds (from herself, of course).
🍸 He calls themed parties tacky and her Sal—because yes, he beat her by 0.25 GPA points back in Swiss boarding school.
💀 Her words: “I should’ve chosen a Murder Mystery theme and used him as the dead body.”

No notes. 10/10 banter. Enemies to lovers? More like:

“Stop breathing near me.”
“Only if you say please.”
-Cue fireworks, sharp glares, and unresolved sexual tension.

Academic rivals to lovere! Check
Big fat Indian wedding? Double Check.
French billionaires with commitment issues?check check check.
Oh no, it's going to be that slow-burn kind of love that leaves you clutching your book, screaming, “JUST KISS ALREADY, YOU TWO IDIOTS!”

Okay but like… I’m so ready.
The tension? Palpable. The insults? Poetry. The unresolved romantic trauma from a boarding school in Switzerland? Delicious🍿
Say au revoir to peace.
Vanakkam to drama.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0SY...

I don’t care if they’re throwing shade or champagne—someone better fall in love soon because I’m seated, popcorn’s popped, and I’ve already mentally RSVPed to their chaotic, big fat Desi-French wedding.

Let’s go. I’m waiting.
Patiently Lying

[Mihaela Ivanova]

Is he hungry for pu$$y?

[yuvi • s.ia · Rating 1 out of 5]

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❀post reading thoughts❀

(-∞)

no hate; only disgust <3
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alexa, play 'tadap tadap ke' by kk
yk this line? "tadap tadap ke is dil se aah nikalti rahi" ? this book made me REALLY feel that line. and not in a good way. obviously.

okay so someone please tell me that my copy was a rough unedited draft cs no way this has been published. did anyone proofread ts?
i almost didn't write a review bc i'm so fucking exhausted. i'm so done with this book. and ana huang. but anyway i still decided to post a review cs i also wanted to get it all off my chest. and tell y'all in painful detail how excruciatingly BAD this book was.
if u want to read books with indian characters, read books by indian authors. i'm so done with non-indian authors barely doing any research while writing typically stereotyped, whitewashed "indian" characters and getting away with it. no way y'all are hyping ts up. given how popular ana is, you would think that she'd at least do some research. but her research seems limited to a few google searches and bollywood movies.
if u want books with yearning and good banter, i have some better recs. feel free to hmu. and please refrain from commenting if u don't agree with me.

it's been 2 days since i read this book and it still pmtfo.
in theory, it promised everything. rivals-to-lovers, yearning, childhood friends, AND indian rep. i was stoked. and chertzo and i'd planned this br MONTHS b4 its release. cs we were both hopeful. well, joke's on us🤡🤡🤡 this one flopped so bad. it's almost funny.
the glaringly massive issue of cultural appropriation aside (more on that later), it wasn't even well written. everything was surface-level at best. and everything was so filler. it was so predictable it's almost laughable. this had no reason to be this long. (and i've read books with better plot and structure on wattpad.)
i've read 3 books by ana huang and dare i say it. all her books read the same. (don't come after me.)
ana gave us crumbs at most. uncooked plot and characters with no personality. all the characters were so bland. there were hints of sebastian's past and his struggles but it seems that they were just there. to check having written a mmc with "traumatic past" off her list or wtv. what was even the point if u were going to brush it off like that.
the mc's are 31 yo's but they act as teenagers lmao. had they been younger, maybe the rivalry aspect would've made sense. but they were THIRTY ONE (going on thirteen)
bffr. act like ur age. smh.
yearning? what yearning? sebastian pretty much confessed everything @ 23% "if I could choose someone to spend my last hours with, I’d choose you." like how fucking blind do u have to be?! that was so in-ur-face-typa- confession lmao😭😭😭😭
no fr. i dare them to communicate properly. they let this weird back-and-forth go on for 14 years? bc of what? miscommunication?
the constant back and forth constantly got on my nerves. these two were so fucking blind lmao. and i was like, haan, tum yeh kar lo pehle 🙂🙂🙂

and that letter scene? it was so forced!? like what was even the point. it was barely even mentioned😭😭😭
and ur telling me that we're supposed to swoon. bc he had everything memorised for 14 years? bitch ur 31. atp js fucking move on ftlog.

funfact#1- why is no one talking abt that one time when seb tried to impersonate some temu version of aaron warner? 😭😭😭
"He’s cute, nice, agreeable—”
“So are puppies, but you probably don’t want to marry one.”
when i first read it, i knew that i'd read it b4. but i couldn't recognize where the quote was from.😭😭😭😭 thanks to chertzo, i just remembered that lil tidbit lmao.
(i love how similar our thoughts while reading are)

okay. i'm going to be very honest. i thought there were some cute moments. i was enjoying it- for the first 10 chapters at least. i was also very hopeful that this book will get me out of my reading slump (spoiler alert-it didn't).
but as the story progressed, it started going downhill.

now onto the most glaringly massive issue that i had with this book- the indian representation (or more accurately, the lack thereof) .
yk i still don't get what the point was to make maya indian. for aesthetics? like, the only thing indian about her is her name. and that's it. and u could've replaced her w a white woman and it wouldn't even affect the plot. representation doesn’t mean checking off boxes. u need to do the legwork and write characters that feel real. and authentic. unfortunately, all ana succeeded to do was write "indian" characters that came across as stereotyped and whitewashed. and we're not even going to talk abt the fact that it seems that ana just looked up 'most common indian names' and pressed ctrlc+ctrlv.
riya, diya, priya, nikhil, arjun, shilpa, maya. most generic ahh names lmao. 😭😭😭 it just shows how little thought was put into writing ts😭
and ofc they're indians. so obviously the only surnames she chose was singh and gupta. like yeah. no other families exist in india.
their family is vegetarian and there was no mention of paneer in their diet, or in the wedding? yeah riiiight.😭
and we're supposed to believe that theirs is a "traditional" family cs her parents want her to get married and threatened arranged marriage (which is not the same as forced marriage, as is the common misconception) but at the same time, the grandma is making casual references to sex? lmfao. i understand meddling grandmas but that was taking it a bit too far. if someone even mentions it to elders in a family, they are sure to get a flying chappal. i'm not even kidding.
her nani wore linen shirts and pants, and not kurta or saari😭
and ur telling me that they are traditional and cultural and they celebrated christmas BUT not one indian festival? diwali? holi? what happened? these festivals are so integral. i also cant get over the fact that she called her grandma 'nani' but didn't call her parents 'mummy' or 'papa' and aunts and uncles 'chacha' or 'chachi' ygwim?
and ohmygod i can't get over how poorly researched this book was. did no indian person proofread ts? how did it even get published? what was that part about voodoo dolls? i can't even call it lack of research. that's just plain ignorance atp. burning sage? it would've made sense had she replaced 'sage' with 'dhoop'. but no. miss ma'am didn't do her homework🙃 bro they are indians NOT NATIVE AMERICANS. bffr now😭🥀

and that isn't even the worst of it. i didn't even mention the torture ana inflicted upon poor dosas. (after reading that, me to this book)-
DOSA WITH EGGS AND STRAWBERRY AND CHOCOLATE CAKE.
it gave me traumatic flashbacks to that one time when i saw someone making idli with gulab jamuns😭😭😭yeah let that sink in. gulab jamun. poured idli batter over it and steamed it😭😭😭😭😭 sigh. what has the world come to?

ana, ml, dosas are not crepes. there's a big difference. ik u tried to rectify ur blunder by later having maya eat dosa with mint chutney but what happened to sambar and coconut and tamarind and tomato chutneys? okay i can even overlook the mint chutney part. but chocolate cake and strawberry? no sane person in their right mind would EVER eat dosa like that. and if they do? Jail. immediate jail. it's criminal. (does anyone know the kurta guy on youtube? someone needs to send him a picture of that page😭)
and ngl, i was pretty conflicted between 1 and 2 stars atp. but then i read that scene. and i was like nah. 1 star fr. cs no one messes w my dosa and gets away w it. (yes i'm that petty sue me)
even tho i wasn't very hopeful, i predicted a big fat indian wedding scene aswl. but i had an inkling that ana would fumble there aswl. only for my suspicions to be proved correct. there are a LOT of rituals and functions and events in a traditional wedding. it's not a one day done and dusted type of event. close friends and family come over WEEKS earlier for all the rituals and events. mehendi ceremony, sangeet, haldi. and her cousin's was a destination wedding (i think so, at least) a family as rich as them? they definitely would've done it on FULL SCALE with grandeur. we missed out omfg😭 ana just threw the most random things out of nowhere lmao. the description of jaipur? lmao straight out of wikipedia🤡🤡🤡

reading this absolute clusterfuck felt like a temu version of one of those shitty new bollywood movies that u have no choice but to slog through bc ur cousins insisted to watch it tgth. funny and painful at the same time. like, it's so clear that she took inspiration from bollywood movies. but ana, my love. if ur copying bollywood movies, the least you could do is ensure that ur doing it correctly.
oh and i almost forgot to mention it.
they did it when she was wearing a lehenga. on a staircase. during her cousin's reception.
i'm still very confused cs i just don't get it.
a) anyone who has worn a lehenga can attest to it. designer lehengas are so heavy and stiff and layered. u can barely walk properly in them. and the skirt is so stiff. plus, the number of pins? imagine pins flying everywhere😭 or maybe pricking her lmfao😭😭😭how did they manage it😭also i'm not even going to mention how expensive designer lehengas are?! lmfaooo😭😭😭
b)how tf did no one see them😭 cs indian weddings are PACKED w relatives and close friends. full of ppl who r going to seek u out EVERY minute. cs apparently, everyone needs to know everything abt others lmfao.
this was so impractical i can't even😭😭😭😭

funfact#2- indian parents don't use the phrase 'arey baap re' while talking to their kids lmao. especially not if they're mad at them. it's a casual informal phrase that u use while talking to friends/siblings.

ftlog, please stop expecting us to be grateful for the bare minimum when it's very clear that the author wanted to profit off her indian audience without putting in any credible legwork🙏

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anywayy
chertzo (her review) was the only one who kept me sane while reading this absolute clusterfuck.😭
and it also helped that i was too busy crying and obsessing over the newly released krishnavataram album (it's soooo good and so underhyped😭😭🥹🩷)
better than crying over how bad this book was🤡🤡🤡

thank youuu bestieee for reading this with me <3
i love our yapping sessions sm they're always so fun.

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⤷tl;dr-
please dont make edits of this book with 'maula mere maula' song. that song is too precious to be associated with this book. it doesnt deserve that😭🥀💔this was so bad it gave me a headache. it's laughable actually. i had SO many problems w this book it's not even funny. no sane person in their right mind would eat dosa like that. EVER. it was painful to read😭😭😭😭

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❀reading progress❀
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---"They’re as empty as everything else in your life."
that was a low blow. bro why so mean

---HATE seb's dad ughhh

--- I shrugged, self-conscious. “I don’t know. Maybe that type of love is a myth, and I’m waiting for something that doesn’t exist. But it’s nice to think that it does.”
“It exists,” Sebastian said with surprising conviction. “Look at Queen Bridget and Prince Rhys of Eldorra. They overturned a centuries-old law to be together. Hell, look at some of our friends. If Vuk willingly attending parties for Ayana isn’t a sign of true love, I don’t know what is.”
the way i physically and mentally cringed ugh.

---they're 31. say what😭😭😭😭they dont talk like 31 yo's

---My mother’s nostrils flared. “Why would you do that? Are baap re, it’s like you’re trying to sabotage your dates!”
fyi, parents generally dont use 'arey baap re' while talking to their kids. especially when they're mad at them😭😭😭
lmfao

--- You know your father and I are very open when it comes to love matches.
lmao typical

---what's with the generic ahh names?😭😭😭maya? priya? riya? shilpa? diya? arjun? nikhil? gupta? SINGH FOOD?! it's full of stereotypes omfg.
ffs stop it bro
she just mentioned her cousin's engaged and her sister is too. i just know that ana is going to include a wedding ceremony and ruin it too.

---ARRANGED MARRIAGE?! SEE?! I CALLED IT. I FUCKING KNEW IT. I KNEW IT UGHHHHH
LIKE BRO
BFFR NOW
😭😭😭😭😭

---“I’d like the dosas with some eggs and strawberries, please. And maybe a bit of cake?”
HELL NO
WTAF
WTF
WTF
ANA
YOU JUST DID NOT-
OMG
WTF
WHY
WHYYYY
EW
im so cutting a star off my rating bc of this one alone. call me petty or wtv idc. no one messes with my dosa and gets away w it
NO HATE (well actually i shouldnt lie. LOTS AND LOTS OF HATE) ONLY DISGUST

---i dare them to communicate

---i REFUSE to associate this book with 'maula mere maula' that song is too precious to be ruined by this book eughhh

---I abandoned the cake for a dosa. I tore off a piece and dipped it in the mint chutney
CAKE?! wtaf😭
and mint chutney?🙃 what happened to poor old coconut and tomato and tamarind chutney? and sambar?!??!😔🥀

---"He’s cute, nice, agreeable—”

“So are puppies, but you probably don’t want to marry one.”
where have i read this before. ik ive read it b4

---yeah so ana got confused. burning sage? bro. they are indians. NOT NATIVE AMERICANS WTF😭

---they're doing it when she's in a lehenga. wtf. designer lehengas are so heavyyy and layered and stiff like bruh😭😭😭😭 and they are also very expensive lmao😭😭😭😭i cant get over that detail. wtf.

---'what letter' scene aswl lmfao. this book is so fucking predictable it's almost laughable😭

---they're dating and ive alr lost interest lmao🥱

---bruh. like. ugh. im genuinely speechless bc this is so bad. like it was already so bad but the "spicy" scenes made it so much worse😭
creamsicle. i'll leave it at that. no wtf

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side note
started- april 28
finished- april 30

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❀pre-read❀
━━━━━
release day yayyy🥹
bestie chertzo and i have been planning this br for AGES omfg. and it's finally hereee.
ana's song choice is immaculate. 'maula mere maula' is one of my favorite songs and it's such a beautiful song. this book better do it justice bro.
altho i speak for both chertzo and me when i say that i'm not very sure abt the indian rep in this book bc let's be honest, most of the times, whenever a non-indian author writes an indian character, the cultural appropriation is WILD and on massive scales . i've seen authors stereotyping everything lmfao😭😭😭 there are so many more surnames other than singh lmao. istfg if any female indian character in this book is "arranged to marry" someone WAY older than her, i'll lose my fucking mind.

[manas (suffering) · Rating 1 out of 5]

➳ chi ☆

భయంకరమైన...

yikes, i am so sorry. this was an absolute and complete flop on my part. as always, this review is gonna be a hate review; take everything with a bucket of salt. i will be going through the whole book and there will be spoilers. the smallest‼️SPOILERS‼️in this review. i will be going into the details of why this didn't work. my opinion is just that—MY opinion. if you love this book, i am VERY happy for you. please do not come into my comments are talk shit because i am not in the mood. this will only be a review of the book, NOT the author/fans of the series. ana seems like a lovely person so read whatever you like. <3

for a book about GLUTTONY...he ain't even eating her like that.

starting off, i have three main reasons as to why this was extremely boring to read.

1. characters/character archetypes
2. indian representation or lack thereof
3. prose/narrative structure

for starters, this is like every single one of her books put in one and it’s starting to get really old. the archetypes of the characters start to feel less and less like people and more like unfinished tropes that were thrust into a story with a stereotypical personality, emulating caricatures of actual people. this book is filled with so much nothingness; it was actually painful to get through. we have the exact same tortured hero, who is morally gray and deeply obsessed with our heroine…ok and what else? is this all we get? every time we expect something different from these books, it always lets me down. this is like taking your pinterest board from when you were younger and just copying the “dark and brooding” attractive man and slapping a couple labels on him.

our heroine, maya, is so devoid of anything she’s actually giving me a run for my money. #useless people unite. i’m tired, grandma. she completely suffers in this story because what is her objective? what is the end goal for her character? why is she even here? what does she want? how is any of this relevant to us as readers? zilch. sebastian isn’t better, either. in fact, i’d argue he’s more annoying. he brings absolutely nothing to this table—hell, there is no table. as always, this man outwardly pretends like he loathes her and can’t stand her, only to find out he’s been down bad and obsessed from the very beginning and there is zero indication why he is unnecessarily playing hard to get. why did they even do this weird back and forth for 15 MOTHERFUCKING YEARS??? bitch. your parents would've been happy from the jump. what is this mumbo jumbo mess for? for a gourmet chef, he got no flavor. fuck off.

this is where the bullshit started for real because why is she indian? why is maya indian? what was the point in making her indian besides filling a status quota...i don't get it. this is where the girls are gonna come for me so if you get easily offended, just pack it up. this is coming strictly from the perspective of a south indian woman, living in the states. the representation in this book was all over the place and in my opinion, we could’ve done without it. ultimately, the only people i’m taking seriously in terms of having this particular conversation are other INDIAN women. i’ve since several white women—who are ana fans—getting angry about the fact that we are not just taking the bare minimum from authors and accepting that as adequate. the choice to make maya an indian was honestly completely unnecessary and was done so in laziness. i do agree that none of this was borderline offensive, but at the same time you can tell that there was not much thought that went into this besides stereotypical aesthetics.

when you are writing from a minority group, the million-dollar question is to always incorporate why that is pertinent to the story and how that is relevant to the overarching theme. in this case, there was literally no reason she needed to be of indian decent. you could have made her a white woman from montana and nothing would’ve changed for the story. people continue to get mad at me for saying things like this, but there is honestly zero relevance or correlation for her culture in this story. indian women are NOT an afterthought. i’m unsure if ana felt pressured to write about indian character because a large demographic of her audience consists of us, but i would rather her just do what she is comfortable with. adding in some wedding festivities that includes surface level cultural throwbacks from potential movie clips that you watch online, is not good representation and is rather just a thin layer for exotic artistry. it’s truly upsetting that this water down extremely ornamental version was the final product that we got, but i am NOT shocked in the slightest. if you really wanna read about indian characters, please read from indian authors!

it’s very topical to note that when these arcs were first being handed out, most of them went to non-indian women. i’ve seen several white men who portrayed themselves as the next booktok heartthrob—receiving PR and an entire gift set for this book. if you really wanted to uplift indian women and indian voices, this would’ve been the perfect opportunity to take the time to honor that and intentionally shine spotlight to us. this book was truly doomed from the start and feels more like a cash grab opportunity since this was one of the few ethnic minorities that she had not covered. i’m just annoyed. everything about this was stereotypical. their company is called singh foods...i am actually fucking crying. their names??? priya, riya, maya, arjun (was waiting for my father's name to show up) nikhil; and he's a surgeon LMFAO...diya? this is giving kim and khloe k going to the ambani wedding and typing up: indian music and clicking the first option. like, can everyone actually be so fucking serious. it's like she searched up top 30 most common indian names, and called it a day.

people want the aesthetics of indian women, our culture, and our practice: without putting in any effort of work. again, everyone's definition of cultural appropriation is different; i am not even calling what ana did here as appropriation. it just feels very languorous. there is no difference to the plot if you made her white. none at all. to the end it was difficult to discern why this mattered. the parts that pissed me off badly was when she was eating dosas with strawberries and eggs and chocolate cake...? girl, what the fuck? dosa is something i can speak on VERY well as it originated in my home state. what are you even talking about? cake? strawberries? EGGS? she has old people—aka grandma and grandpa—living at home and they are wearing pants and cotton shirts just drinking chai all day...where are the saree's? lungi's? why is that all they do? why are they not involved in a single activity? indian grandparents are extremely devoted to their children and their grandchildren so why do they have zero presence in this book?

another huge blunder is when some time passed between september and january and NOT one mention of DIWALI…my white friends celebrate the festival of lights with me. why is this just never mentioned? she’s out here celebrating thanksgiving and christmas and new years but not the biggest indian festival of all time? why is there no pongal? tamil new year? telugu new year? hindi new year? is she from the south? the north? the east? the west? northeast? south east? where is this woman’s family even from? is she a hindu? she can’t be since she’s out here burning SAGE around the house. we don’t do that. she is a jain? is she a sikh? a buddhist? why is neal spelled that way? WHO was the sensitivity reader? did a single indian woman actually read this before it was published because there’s no way anyone would’ve approved this otherwise. as a south indian woman—i can point out bad north, east, and west indian rep so ANYONE could’ve read this to ensure the book was accurate. this is fucking sending me into an orbit because i can't stop laughing at how erroneous all of this is. oh, and as always, the hindi was completely fucking wrong. raise your hand if you're shocked. i’m not even phased anymore. i'm just irritated.

lastly, because if i keep talking about this—i will go into psychosis, but this is a direct reflection of this series getting too bloated. listen, i understand this is a 7-book series but WHY are they all billionaire bastards who are secretly in love with the FMC. why is nothing different? there's only so much repetition you can have before this gets mundane as fuck. another element ana loves to include in this series is to REPEAT every fucking character and their purpose in this book. MISS MA'AM...we read the series. you don't need a new character, a new POV for every book to say the same shit over and over and over again. we ain't even miss anything because it's all the same. the slavic rep was all over the place and you’d think that would be grounds for ana and her team to be more mindful.

1. we get introduced to a billionaire male who has “no heart”
2. FMC bereft of any personality or disposition
3. MMC pretending to hate the FMC only to secretly be in love
4. some weird smut scene in a “memorable” setting for tiktok likes
5. “she’s mine” “she’s always been mine”…
6. some useless third act break up or miscommunication
7. side characters playing batman trying to get them back together
8. glimpse of the future couple which entails him glaring at her while she’s talking to another male
9. some stupid epilogue five years in the future where they are parents and happily married
10. bitch, bye

but for real, the narrators, namely connor crais, ate this fucking book up. his french accent had me going insane. soneela nankini is also excellent and super underrated. i’d love to hear them work together because they had so much chemistry working on this book. props to them for an amazing audio experience! ana is really good at choosing the correct narrators for the part but i would appreciate if she took the time to learn about the culture before jumping the gun and publishing anything and everything. ana, i still love you; please start doing something disparate.

thank you to my favorite, vee! i love you, my forever best-friend. we will write a book together one day! <3

[Shreshtha]

Soooo who are we thinking of for this one?

gonna back Sebastian Laurent esp after his repeated appearances in King of Greed! He has to be!

AND with Veronica Foster? the sugar heiress?

[veerali · Rating 1 out of 5]

a plate of dosa along with eggs, strawberries, and cake is probably the worst food combo ever known to mankind.

[dharma (taylor's version)]

A dictionary defenition:

gluttony
habitual greed or excess in eating.

IM JUST SAYING

2025- I JUST FINISHED KING OF ENVY AND IM SO READY FOR SEBASTIAN AND MAYA

I feel like the gluttonys gonna be about all their overachieving and academic rivalry but who knows

the way they only had half a page of dialogue ur they’re already my favourites 😭😭😭

[joni ౨ৎ - hiatus · Rating 1 out of 5]

i give up


𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ ── pre-read

IT'S RELEASE DAY.

okay so indian rep in this SUCKS.

please go read ava rani for books empowering south asian women by a south asian women (biotech billionaires)



𐙚⋆°｡⋆♡ ── pre-release

release date - april 28, 2026

✧˖°💌 ⋆｡˚꩜ 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀
⤷ childhood rivals to enemies
⤷ desi fmc
⤷ he's obsessed / he falls first
⤷ banter
⤷ forced proximity
⤷ workplace romance


sebastian and maya oh my freaking gosh

so we finally get a south asian fmc by ana - as a fellow indian/south asian girly LOVE this 🤭

AND it's childhood academic rivals to enemies/rivals as adults
what could be better than that. i'm literally counting down the freaking days until we get this.

ana please i need an arc of this/ any snippets of their book

the banter? the disregard? the tension?!!

this might be my fav book of hers... i need it to deliver

[bookluvr (slow) · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 ⭐️ this was spectacular…at being absolutely nothing but a surefire insomnia treatment. once i’m done typing this up, i’m sending my observations to the World Health Organization so that they can spread the good news, and i’m promptly sending my ass to bed. my eyelids are damn near drooping at this point.

i genuinely wanted to be obsessed with sebmaya here because rivals-to-lovers is one of my favourite tropes, but i can’t believe how incredibly BORING this was. a veritable snooze-fest. if this book’s goal was to serve a tedious tale of culinary mishaps with a side of the driest romance imaginable, then…sure. it was a success. alas ☝🏾, that’s not what i really came for.

the first couple chapters were teasing something fun, and minne and i were buzzing a bit…but then the book devolved. exponentially. a slow burn is not synonymous with no development. this was not a slow burn. it’s just that absolutely NOTHING of consequence was happening for a large part of the “build-up”. the second half was just an outright mess, and the overall product? complacency at its peak.

mild spoilers ahead — but nothing crazy.

the first half of this was a literal pain. here’s what i took away from it:

✔️ a forced rivals / enemies dynamic — there were hardly even displays of their rivalry, besides some weak efforts with throwbacks and a shot drinking competition. where were the fun hijinks? you know, i couldn’t help thinking of some of the contemporary greats. couples like alexeigeorgia and cobolloway, and they aren’t even in this universe 😂 but knowing sebmaya’s trope before starting had me so excited and wanting to feeeeel similarly about them, and they just. didn’t. serve.

✔️ me being plagued by some listeria outbreak and the subsequent chasing of a saboteur

✔️ frozen foods collab humdrum i didn’t care about 🫩

✔️ homeboy bouncing between constantly drawling (why was this such a primary personality trait 🤨), and trying to figure out how to cook scallops

✔️ a bootleg episode of survivor just to force a one-bed trope that didn’t even have me UP. and usually, i fall for that every time and love it…but it didn’t even work for me here

✔️ maya’s woeful dating chronicles — imagine reading a romance where we’re spending valuable page time on the fmc going on dates with every single man in that city BUT the mmc, like dpmo 😅

here’s what we were light on, you know, just the important stuff 🙃:

❌ staged and gradual DEVELOPMENT. the perfect thing for this couple would have been a rivals to reluctant allies to friends to eventual lovers arc — that’s the winning pipeline. it tried but didn’t get it quite right because there were too many fumbles in each bucket and we completely skipped friends, so.

❌ banter that wasn’t trite and tired

❌ on-page meaningful conversations to support an alleged and eventual emotional connection

❌ tangible chemistry

❌ palpable tension

❌ giggle-and-kick-your-feet moments — forget butterflies in my stomach, this was more like midges flying over stagnant waters

now, the story attempts to pivot after a questionable first half but the shift didn’t feel organic. the hard flirting, spice and whatnot picks up seemingly out of thin air, and at this point i just didn’t care enough about the characters from the lead-up to really enjoy any of this. even the pining was weak. book tried to sell me on “angst” when what was really going on was avoidance. reading the nutritional facts off the back of a box of coco puffs would have been more riveting than what was going on between these two.

the sex was really anticlimatic too, and i’m not sure if that’s the result of the writing of it being very generic and banal, or if it was my lack of investment in the relationship and the characters (likely both factors combined) — but i just wasn’t dialed in. their first time also had me cringing because (minor spoiler ahead ‼️) ain’t no way my ass is being dragged around in no stairwell?! i know marble was used to describe the scene, but all i could think about was hypothetical concrete burn. chapter 33 was an abomination too. that was three uses of the word juices too many. my tolerance threshold was low today. i couldn’t do it.

even the letter mystery was so drab??? this is what we were doing to create intrigue and relationship conflict / angst? what essentially boils down to a trivial years-long misunderstanding? no.

don’t even get me started on the contrived drama in the rest of the second half. why did this suddenly turn into a high school romance (not even a good one because i love a ya) for characters in their 30s, crossed with a variation of the parent trap and a dash of weak ass corporate espionage? i — ✋🏾 enough.

the pacing in this book (specifically, the passage of time) was really strange as well. weeks would go by in a way that felt odd and unintuitive as to what the mcs were up to and why they hadn’t made an effort to see each other in the time inbetween. mind-boggling stuff.

i gotta speak on the mcs as individuals even though i didn’t want to write a paragraph for each of them, but i have a bone to pick…so here we are…

maya was just…there. i honestly don’t have much to say about her because i don’t think the book gave her much dimension or a compelling arc. so she was a career woman x overachiever, had “beef” with the mmc, loved chocolates and strawberries, and needed to get booed up…and? she ends the book virtually the same as how she started in it, plus the added deadweight of a bland billionaire hanging around her neck. i didn’t dislike her by any means, but i wasn’t invested in her character development (or lack thereof) AT ALL. there’s an attempt to do something for her in the last stretch, but it was too little too late at this point.

sebastian. 🫩 if anyone should have been responsible for saving this, it should have been him IF he had any sort of aura or charisma. a dull boy though, that he was. and if i told him to just add salt to those damn scallops and dead that tiresome plot point? what then? i also couldn’t really take that lil trauma storyline for him seriously. this attempt at “depth” for his character was just not it. anything else would have worked better than this. again, much like maya, his character fell incredibly flat.

another petty qualm i have about him is that i get deeply disappointed when i’m reading a billionaire romance and the billionaire is not billionaire-ing. where was the spoiling? i need to see what them money stacks do. just giving maya chocolates and one date-day where he wasn’t even spending on her? (that one other gift he gave her in the middle of the book was cute, i’ll concede that). but where was the rest? the boy following me around in the 7th grade had more game than this. NEXT.

the “found family” moments with the other couples from the previous books didn’t really do anything either, except my faves vukayana stealing the show whenever they appeared (obviously). they remain unbeat.

the best part of this experience was buddy reading this travesty with my lovely girl minne.🧡🧸 our convos were hilarious and we’ll always have that one gif that describes our frustration to a tee 😂. alas, sebastian didn’t live up to his sexy name as you so hoped before we started. bummer, but we’ll live 🥹.

i’m still going to read the final book when it releases next year to finish this particular series off, but i’m neither sat nor seated. i’m all the way STANDING. i think i’ll be done with AH books after that though. i really only loved 1 out of 6 in this series to date, and i’m not sure her style works consistently and effectively enough for me anymore.

killiantate…i’ll see you march 2027, i suppose🚶🏾‍♀️
(i’m ready to eat crow if it’s a banger though 🤭).

edit: i purposely refrained from commenting on the representation issues i’ve seen mentioned surrounding maya and her connecteds’ characterization(s). let the desi queens’ voices be heard on that front. 🫶🏾

[꧁ ༺Minne༻ ꧂ · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like King of Crumbs.


.･:･･:･:. . ݁🥐. ݁˖ . ݁݁･:･･:. ݁݁🥖..･:･･:･:. .🥐. ݁˖ . ݁݁･:･･:. ݁݁. ݁݁🥖




What a beautiful day it is TO HATE.

And this book couldn’t even give me that.

Before I begin, I’d like to give myself a mental self-five for finishing this. And Imbi, I’m sending you every warm hug and forehead kiss I have left this week for the emotional support. I was sick while reading this, so on top of the physical pain, I had to endure the emotional pain of watching a book with potential repeatedly choose boredom.

NB: Count how many times the words bored, boring or boredom appear in this review and win absolutely nothing.


This gif is for Imbi 💗​​

I needed this reminder:

enemy
 noun UK /ˈen.ə.mi/ US /ˈen.ə.mi/


a person who hates or opposes another person and tries to harm them or stop them from doing something.


This story revolves around Sebastian and Maya’s supposed long-standing rivalry as enemies, and their slow, boring shuffle toward romance.

But to call them enemies feels defamatory to actual enemies. They’re frenemies at best. Competitive friends. Maybe even mildly irritated acquaintances. If you're looking for tension, hatred, sabotage, or two people wanting to ruin each other’s lives, please board the next bus.

Now, I knew going in that this would probably be the case. I know Huang doesn’t really write fiery or unhinged characters, and personally, I don’t mind that. I don’t mind it at all. In fact, boring characters in the grand scheme of things are not a dealbreaker. But boring characters with impostor syndrome, now that’s crazy work. These characters talk big, act fierce, and carry on like legends. The same issue with Alex from Twisted Love.

Sebastian tells us about how badass, fierce and unstoppable Maya is and, frankly, I didn’t see it. Someone please ask me to describe Maya and watch me produce absolutely nothing. There is no flavour to her character, and there’s only so much telling a girl can handle. On the cultural representation in this, I won’t even speak on it because I don’t think it’s my place. I’ll leave that one for the Desi girls to dig into and go ravenous 😘

Meanwhile, Sebastian, King of crumbs



This man has single-handedly disgraced the Sebastian name and every fictional character that came before him. The Sebastian we met briefly in King of Envy had more personality than the one who got his own book. As soon as he smirked, I knew we were doomed. For someone who allegedly yearned for 14 years, you’d think I’d feel at least a modicum of his emotions, feel it like he’s in my veins. And who yearns for 14 years? I’ve said it before, but you can do a lot in 14 years. Get a degree or two. Start a family or your own domestic football team. Heal. Move on. Maybe that’s the real problem here. A whole status quo has been established over those 14 years, and the book has to honour and portray that while somehow transforming it into something less platonic and more electric.

Speaking of yearning, where was it? Where was the ache? No, genuinely, this is me asking for help right now. Show me the way, what did I miss?

This whole book felt like it was on a strict budget, rationing everything out in tiny portions:

✘ chemistry
✘ character development
✘ romantic tension
✘ plot movement
✘ excitement

And with all that’s not going on, it had to make me feel like I was attending a trade seminar on the health code of refrigerated goods? I agree that it was an interesting concept to build a rivalry around their companies, but if I had to read the words frozen foods one more time, I was prepared to perish dramatically. But even that is a non issue because the real problem here was sluggish pacing and lack of development in any realm. I wanted to feel the shifts in the MCs' dynamic, the rising tension, their love for each other. Just anything.

At 60%, I shouldn’t be sneaking glances at my Kindle to check how many pages I have left until the end because I’m bored. I should be putting out small emotional fires.

And let’s not even talk about the first sex scene. Bloody scene had me rubbing my backside something furious like



In all fairness, it wasn’t all bad. There were things I could appreciate.

જ⁀➴ ♡ I’m glad we didn’t get endless flashbacks to their childhood. We learn about their history through shared memories, and for once, telling instead of showing actually helped keep us in the present.

જ⁀➴ ♡ Most things Sebastian says sounds like a confession. And this is early on:

🍓 If I could choose someone to spend my last hours with, I’d choose you. 🍓

And I’m there screaming: GIRL, OPEN YOUR EYES.

And put us out of our misery.



How much clearer could it get? Should’ve asked how much more boring it could get, would’ve been a more straightforward answer 😭

But this leads me to another issue (this should probably not be in this section but potato POTAHTO): this book did not need to be this long. We didn’t need a WHOLE BOOK for this level of tepid tomfoolery. We can tell where the story is going, the chemistry is low on vitamins and I was so hyperaware that I was reading a book. But I got so used to the torture, I was honestly surprised when it ended! The staccato pacing is just wild.

And can we talk about the irony of the title King of Gluttony compared to what was actually served here ​​‼️​ I honestly find it morbidly poetic 😭 This is the only book in the King of Sins series that didn't live up to its name. I mean King of Gluttony, AHEMMM someone should’ve been eating and someone should’ve been eaten



Do you see the vision?

No, on a serious note, that man should’ve been ravenous, feral, insatiable, unhinged, utterly consumed, borderline feral, and absolutely obsessed with everything concerning his woman.

I won’t lie. I didn’t even read the epilogue. I went to confess to Imbi, only to find out she didn’t either. I guess Sebastian, Maya and their little minions went on to live happily ever after and are still dedicated to oppressing the world with their prowess in all things fine dining and frozen foods. Long live their empires.

BORING.

[ivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

i genuinely can't distinguish ana huang characters from each other anymore because they're all the damn same. now, i understand that this is supposed to be a series that ties the seven deadly sins together, but does it have to be this repetitive ?!? every single book in this series has been multibillionaire grumpy 6'5 CEO that has a whiskey in his hand & quirky fun 5'3 FMC .. ana, we are TIRED. at least in the twisted series we got some variety - e.g. doctor, prince, CEO, & tech mogul. this was essentially just the reheated nachos of king of wrath, pride, greed, sloth, and envy.

i did expect this to be much worse, though. yes, this was bad, but was it horrendous? no. one part that i enjoyed was the scene after the wedding. other than that though... 😭 i'm sorry, but i can't do this anymore. everytime i pick up one of her books i'm hoping that she'll deliver the magic that she did with 'twisted hate' but everytime i inevitably get disappointed. 'twisted hate' is one of the seven books that i've given 5 stars in my entire reading journey since 2023, and for her to go this downhill is just sad.

sebastian laurent ഒ man i'm tireddddd 😩 yes, he's hot. yes, he's a billionaire, yes, he's a CEO. yes, he always has a whiskey in his hands. yes, he's 6'3. there is not one single thing that i can point to that would separate him from dante or xavier or kai.

maya singh ഒ wow! of course she's the one person that can grind our mmc's gears, the one person that he's been obsessed with for over 10 years, the one person that can really compete with him, the one person that doesn't make him bored, the one person that deserves his attention, the one person that's "pussy is made just right for him". once again, what is the difference between her or sloane or vivian or isabella? and on the indian representation topic: i have no place to speak on how well it was done since i am not part of the culture, but i will say that to dim such a vibrant culture to this is just depressing. please go check out my indian besties' reviews if you want to know why this was such a drab "representation".

oh, and she used "rage-bait" two times in this book, btw. two, which is two too many!

🤡

ꨄ︎ 2 stars

⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹ ﹒ ⁺ ﹒ ⊹

˒˒💌 pre read ˒˒࿐· started apr 29・xxvi 𖦞.˖
new ana release is always interesting.. this can either be horrendous or amazing! i have a little bit of hope after 'the defender'... but i guess we'll see 🌝.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A MAN WHO YEARNS IS A MAN WHO EARNSSSSS.

[Alya ( 20 comments restriction ) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughts
This is THE infinite fucking stars book ⭐️♾️ (there's a 7th book I know) but GUYS OMG 😭 ANA HAS DONE IT AGAIN!!!!😭 I don't have many books under on the "I won't take criticism on " list but this book .. THIS BOOK This couple were again one of my top favourites - first of all the cover > the details !!! Literally made me wanna cry!! Now onto the couple, the back n forth between them was golden especially Maya, the sassy FMC 💅🏻 but Sebastian???? Oh my heart 🫠 y'all know layered MMCs are a bit of me but it's the way he had his guard up and the whole time and gradually let it down I MEAN HE HELD THAT IN FOR 14 FUCKING YEARS 😭 HE MEMORISED IT ❤️‍🩹-- I don't know if I would second the he falls first trope - I mean sure he's had feelings since childhood hence the secret obsession trope but there's certain scenes that made me wanna scream at my kindle 😭 my stubborn idiots 😭 and on that note needless to say I shipped them so hard ❤️‍🔥 THE WAY HE LISTED THINGS ABOUT HER HAD ME SCREAMING 😭😭😭

Away from them being a couple I loved how we got to see the side of Sebastian that's quite literally the opposite of someone who has it altogether, literally made me fall in love with him even more. I love how Maya was portrayed as headstrong throughout the story alongside being a literal perfectionist herself, they honestly complete each other which made me adore the book as a whole! Genuinely couldn't get enough of them and this story! Can't wait for the next book!

Tropes
🧡 Marketing executive Desi FMC
👨🏻‍🍳 French chef
🧡 Childhood rivals x his secret obsession
💌 Banter and tension 🤌🏻
🧡 Golden boy with baggage
💌 Forced proximity


Plot Summary
Sebastian Laurent has everything; talent, charm, and a place at the top of his family’s culinary empire but beneath his polished image lies a darker side only one person has ever glimpsed: his lifelong rival, Maya Singh; fiercely ambitious and determined, Maya has always pushed herself to beat Sebastian. When circumstances force them to work together, their rivalry only intensifies but so does an unexpected attraction neither of them wants to admit. Caught between competition and chemistry, they’re determined to stay enemies…even as the line between hate and something more begins to blur.

💌:"She was the lightning to my storm, the fire to my darkness. No matter where we were or who we were with, she would always be the most beautiful, interesting person in the room. I could meet a million people across a thousand lifetimes, and that would never change. "

💌: "If I could rewind time and spend the night with anyone in the world, I’d still choose you. Every time.”

My Bookstagram

[kimberly ⋆౨ৎ˚⟡. [semi-hiatus]]

₊˚⊹ ᰔ pre-read:
⤿ it's not even the fact that he's a billionaire that had me barking. it's the fact that this man can cook. i fear i'll be in the pot seasoning myself. and considering i fought some girl at my local b&n for an early copy, this book better send me clean out of orbit.

⌗ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎started: apr. 27th, 2026. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎✦

[annie]

I wonder what he'll be hungry for 👀

[Ri ♡]

he better be using that mouth for a good cause or else i’ll be suing ana huang 😾

She’s his greatest rival…and his greatest weakness.

this is giving me rose calloway & connor cobalt vibes 😮‍💨❤️‍🔥

i’m ready serve myself up on a silver platter to be eaten, devoured and ruined by this man🤸🏽‍♀️ gimme this man right fucking now!!!

some authors need to take notes from ana on writing diverse characters! can't wait for the south asian rich girl x french billionaire ceo 🤭 i just hope she does justice to maya's character.

[vaishnavi ☆ﾟ⁠.⁠* · Rating 1 out of 5]

look… i am of the belief that representation only works if the story is unrecognisable when you take that identity away. i could replace maya with literally ANYONE and the book would still make sense!! what was the point then, of having an indian lead? 😑

https://readbyvaish.substack.com/p/st...

here's my bingo board of predictions i made before i sat down to read it, and yes, i did get a bingo!! i didn't update it after that, cause i stopped caring:



── .✦ pre-read 𖹭.ᐟ
#2: fuck it, on account of all my indian girlies reading this rn, i too, will be hopping on the reading train! let's see how many of my predictions come true 🫣
#1: going to read this solely because it has an indian lead, but her name being "Maya Singh" doesn't give me much hope lol maybe i'll count the number of indian stereotypes included instead.

[nadine &#x1f9c1; · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book cured my insomnia

[rêverie]

bet it's gonna be sebastian laurent and maya singh but also im begging ana huang to let my brown baddie have someone better than another billionaire white guy who probably doesn't allow maternity leave 🙏

[aira · Rating 2 out of 5]

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 1.5/5

edit: the more time that passes between me reading this and now, the more I remember about it and the more I dislike it.

‼️ Note that this review and my opinion are not directed hate to Ana because I would never smack talk an author, so keep that kind of hate away from my review. Also, don't bother with a hate comment in general. I won't let someone bully me into changing my rating or review. I am at my wits' end with the amount of people on here who don't understand that reading a review and commenting is optional. If you seriously want to read a review that's going to gush about a book, it's obviously not going to be the one that gave it a lower rating...like go find a 5-star review. I can't believe that I have to tell literal teenagers & adults to mind their own business, but what a world we live in. 🙄

THERE ARE SPOILERS, read at your own discretion.

Anyways, disclaimer(s) aside...my thoughts are kind of all over the place and it's mostly based on the notes that I made while reading which were also all over the place, so bear with me.

I'm going to be very honest and start off by saying that my skepticism regarding this book was very high. Thus far, I have not read a successful attempt of an Indian character by a non-Indian person (from what I remember, I've read too many books to remember clearly lmao). The most I've seen is butter chicken and naan, colonized yoga, a couple Hindi lines (botched too at that), making characters crazy, and very unrealistic stereotypes.

I mean, there was one book where this Indian girl was screaming like a banshee and she acted so unstable. I will never let that go and I will always criticize the people that thought that was alright.

So, going off that, this was already miles better. Thankfully.

Did I still see stereotypes? Yes, but I expected them going into the story.

Me not liking this book isn't really a matter of not liking the representation, as much as the book being something that we've seen before.

...the characters.

Maya is your typical overachieving, eldest Indian daughter who has an equally intelligent academic rival, Sebastian. Their rivalry spanned from their time in boarding(?) school all the way until now even a long time into their professional careers...lowkey it was giving Ben and Devi.

It's an overdone concept at this point. You always have an Indian woman in rivalry with a non-Indian man and they are usually 9 times out of 10 academic rivals. It's not that exciting anymore. I think Indian people in mainstream media are being typecast as this smart, overachieving person with a lot of hidden trauma, but I like to think we have more diversity than that and the interests are more vast. For example, I've never seen an Indian character doing classical dance, or going to the temple? It's like really pick and choose and I get those things are harder to write about, but that's what would separate a book from just being another botched attempt at an Indian character.

The rivalry between them felt forced and then when the letter stuff got revealed, it felt even more forced.

Was their rivalry still funny in some places? Yes, but it wasn't enough to carry the book through their "enemies-to-lovers" transition. I honestly still don't understand why they were enemies in the first place aside from Sebastian winning over Maya in school a few times. Surely, that can't be the majority of the reason. If you want to claim enemies, I would expect (and like) a lot more...also on that note, a couple flashback chapters could have also added some perspective as to why they are the way they are. It could have given a lot more insight into their so called "rivalry".

As for Maya being Indian, I have mixed opinions. I think this is the best I've seen from a non-Indian author, but it's also still very surface level. The breakfast with the dosa almost made me want to vomit. I'm someone that loves dosa, but whatever she asked for was a little crazy.

I mean, if I had to put it in one sentence: I think the characterization was mid especially considering it chose an overdone topic.

I do also have to talk about how there was a lot of trauma (mostly for Sebastian) that felt unexplored, only there for the ending plot and conclusion (more on that below).

....the plot

So, their parents are best friends (not really shown - well, until the final chapters imo lmao) which means Sebastian and Maya have been around each other for a long time. Maya's family has a frozen food business called Singh Foods(? - yeah, idk something like that) and Sebastian's family does something with like restaurants, I don't remember exactly. Their parents (well, fathers) planned to do a joint venture (? - I think that's what they called it, sorry business terms fly over my head) between their two businesses (surprised they didn't until now) and basically told them that they were going to work with each other on this. As they work together, Maya and Sebastian realize that they don't hate each other.

Somewhere along the way, Maya's mother also gives her an ultimatum to get engaged by the following November, or they'll find a husband for her arranged marriage style.

Factor in a healthy amount of family drama, a road trip (gone wrong), a big indian wedding, attempted (and some successful) enemy sabotage, a few spicy moments, and a meddling indian grandmother which eventually pushes both of them even closer.

Obviously, there are a lot more details, but from what I remember this is a basic idea of the plot.

Was it a bad plot? objectively, no.

Could it have been better? yes, however I'm not the author and I'm just someone giving my two cents, so I'll leave it at that.

Anyways, specific plot points I noted:

0.5 - the names: This is one of the problems that I had regarding the Indian representation. The names were very basic. I mean they were the Singhs (& Guptas for the mom's maiden name) and the indian names used just felt like they were collected from a list of top 10 indian names: Maya, Diya, Neha, Priya, etc.

I lowkey remember doing a search like that once cause I was curious before which is why I know of it, so no hate, it was funny though.

Her calling her grandma 'nani', but then calling her aunt/uncle 'auntie/uncle' didn't make much sense. It's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it kind of just felt like a lack of awareness. Again, it's not that deep and it's not something that would make me lower a rating.

1. The letter.

I don't get the point of it and even the whole reveal at the end when they figure out what happened to it. What purpose was it truly supposed to serve?

I guess it was used to show that Sebastian was a yearner. Sorry, but Kai tops the list when it comes to yearning men for me. The way that man yearned for Isabella was next level. Which is why I have to say that I cannot consider Sebastian to be a yearner.

Given the rest of the plot, this whole thing (conflict) with the letter felt out of place because it was kind of forgotten for a while in the middle and then makes an appearance towards the end. I think if we had this as the pivotal moment and a lot of the other stuff gets cut out, I could see this working, but this was being sidelined by "more important" things.

Even within the context of the plot, it makes no sense. They were supposed to be rivals, where did Sebastian have time to fall in love with her? Was there a moment? Maybe the lack of proper flashbacks added to this confusion for me. Like, if there were some full chapter flashbacks instead of the circling plot, I could maybe understand this so much better.

But, how do you go like 13-14 years without even acknowledging it? He could have indirectly hinted at it or something.

2. The length.

It was too long. I think it should have ended atleast 10 chapters earlier than it did. It took me a lot of effort to get through those last few chapters. There was a lot of repeating events in the start and middle of the book which was contributed to the feeling that it was too long.

Once they started dating, I kind of started to slowly lose interest.

3. Why was Sebastian at the wedding?

Ok, but it was Maya's cousin's wedding. What was he doing there? Yeah, like indian weddings are big and a lot of people get invited...but in the big picture of things, it felt like it was used to show that Maya's family was indian and that big, fat indian weddings are a pivotal part of indian cultures.

I think his presence there was kind of strange, but who am I to contradict it? I guess it gave us more about their feud and it also made them closer so there's that.

The sex scene here was something. I think people underestimate how heavy traditional indian clothing can actually be, the fact that Sebastian was able to get into her panties was just highly unlikely. Now, don't take my word for it, maybe she was wearing something lightweight (again unlikely if it was a family wedding), but this just seemed very out of place and again lack of awareness.

Also, was this whole thing perhaps inspired by one of the biggest indian weddings in the past decade...if you know what I'm talking about?

4. The parental conflict.

We barely saw that both of their parents were best friends (aside from it being told by both of them), so to get this conflict between them in the last few chapters was again out of place. It was kind of funny though, so I couldn't really complain...definitely made those chapters towards the end more enjoyable.

5. The ultimatum

It pissed me off a little bit because I hate how people consider arranged marriages in the category of forced marriage. I was hoping we didn't get nonsense like this mostly because people already have such a biased view on arranged marriage in Indian culture. I like to think our generation is moving away from the whole 'arranged marriage means forced marriage' mostly because a lot more parents in this time period are a little bit more open to their children choosing their spouse and the time of their marriage (I think?)

On one hand, yes, I get that Maya's mom wants to see her children get married and live a happy life (what mother doesn't?), but I think this would have been a great opportunity to show an Indian mom who is open to her child exploring options or even choosing not to get married instead of just throwing out "if you don't get engaged by ______, I'll chose a husband for you."

6. The ending plot felt rushed.

Because we spent so much time going in circles around their relationship in the start and middle, I noticed that a lot of the plot gets thrown together very fast at the end without a proper conclusion. The whole thing with the openings and how it ties to that other restaurant conflict with Sebastian, the little meetup with that other CEO....it concluded too fast especially when a lot of the book and these characters person character arcs revolved around these specific events.

I think that's about everything I noted down while I was reading it.

With that, let me say that it's not a bad book, so don't let my review/rating stop you. I do appreciate how this doesn't have a third-act breakup, but I also wish the book got concluded a little faster.

I did like the cameos of the other characters from this series, especially my core four, iykyk.

I wish we saw more of Ayana especially because we saw the bond between Ayana and Maya growing in King of Envy. We saw a little but more of Vivian and Dante (which I didn't hate because they're in my top 4), but it felt weird because I always had Vivian, Isabella, Dante, and Kai being the like group of four and then I thought the group of four here would be Maya, Sebastian, Ayana, and Vuk especially given that they were the leads in the previous book.

King of Pride still remains my no. 1 in this series, followed by King of Wrath, King of Sloth, King of Envy (in order), and this would probably be tied with King of Greed for fifth place (maybe this would be slightly higher bc Sebastian >>> Dominic - sorry not sorry, I'm probably one of Dominic's biggest haters), so it's not bad.

Anyways, the last book is about Killian and Tate....I can't believe that we'll be done with this series after that. It feels so bittersweet. 🫣

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rtc.

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pre-read: well it's time...🫣

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Sebastian is giving me all the vibes from what I've seen...but I'm low-key on my knees begging for no clichés!!

[naz · Rating 5 out of 5]

“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆’𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆?” “𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒆.”

Ana Huang literally can take any trope and slay it, and this one is no different with 🧡 rivals to lovers 🧡 I can truly say this has been the best rivals to lovers book I have ever read. The rivalry between them is evident from the start, and is not new, which makes it even hotter. Sebastian and Maya are both so fiery and competitive that the tension, chemistry, and yearning made this book even better.

Maya and Sebastian, after years of competing with one another, are tasked with working together to launch a product line for their family’s business. Little did they know that the forced proximity would inevitably open some old wounds, uncover new feelings, and DUH make them fall for each other.

I don’t even know how to describe how good this book was. The tension between them until one of them starts to crack is EVERYTHING 😩🔥 The way their walls start to crack with one another and they begin to be vulnerable is beautiful -- and don't even get me started on the letter reference AHHHH

The characters that Ana Huang created for this book were perfection.

Sebastian ↠ what a MAN 😮‍💨 He can't stand her, but sends her favorite dessert at the restaurant where she has a bad date… excuse me (i'm still at the restaurant) !!!! He knows everything about her, tells her how beautiful she is, and speaks French in her ear—I am a goner 🫠

Maya ↠ I want to hug her so much 🥺 She thinks she is too much for everyone and that loneliness is inevitable. A woman who is independent and outspoken, who doesn’t want her light to be diminished by anyone, but her family is pressuring her to find a partner. The only person she feels comfortable with is her rival nemesis (scream into the void😭)

This book, I KID YOU NOT, is going to keep you on the edge of your seat waiting for the tipping point and once it tips… ohhhh yesss siiirrrrrrrr 🔥 it’s AMAZING. Please DM me if you read it so we can swoon over these characters together 🫶

OH AND THE SPICE I think the quotes speak for themselves, I definitely don't want to spoil but it is delicious and unexpected and I think Sebastian tops easy over the rest of our kings tbh.

Once again, I recommend this series to anyone who loves billionaire romances with morally grey men. You don’t need to read them in order, but I advise that you do so you can meet the characters, since the timeline is continuous.

I'll close this review being punny: King of Gluttony cooked & I feasted and left NO crumbs 🍽️ and neither did Sebastian… he didn’t leave a single thing behind WINK WINK 😉

tropes
🧡 childhood rivals to lovers
🧡 billionaire romance
🧡 work romance
🧡 forced proximity
🧡 he falls first

microtropes
🧡 sends her food
🧡 shower together
🧡 fights for her
🧡 cooks for her

⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆.⋆. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆.

AHHHH THEY ARE RIVALS AND “HATE” EACH OTHER
oh i am so gonna eat this up

[Brianna ᥫ᭡ (semi exam hiatus)]

₊˚ ౿ ✉️ pre-read !!
I lied, I’m no longer excited. 2 days into KOG being released to the public and I’ve seen sooo much disappointment, that I’m going into this with low expectations…
Maybe I’ll still like it? I liked Twisted Hate and everyone seems to hate that so there’s still a chance 🫩

Oh my days the teasers filling my instagram feed are beautiful, definitely expecting this to be an emotional read. I cannot wait for this book to be released (nearly a week left!!) 🥹

[T.S]

hes hungry for that debussy

[amber ⋆౨ৎ˚ [semi-ia]]

okay ate actually 🙂‍↕️ RTC

₊˚ 🥐 ⊹ ⌇ pre-read ࣪ ˖
⤿ started: april 28

another april day, another ana huang book !! i don’t have any expectations for this one tbh, i just hope it will deliver as much as the last book did 🙂‍↕️ ohh, and i’m seeing her next week at a book signing 🤭🌷

[Isha ツ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really appreciate Ana for trying to write Indian mc but doing more research wouldn’t have hurt.

Sometimes when you’ve done poor research about a culture which always has been so underrepresented, stolen from and badly talked about and you try to represent it, it’s a very big responsibility. You should’ve done proper in depth research , it’s very easily freely accessible and not only that she has very big fan base here in India, they’d have happily helped to get the fact straight.

Writing a white washed Indian fmc, who’s burning sage in the house , having dosa with eggs and strawberry (that was very disgusting way to represent south Indian cuisine tbh) , no mention of single Indian festival - like round the year so many festival are celebrated , it’s insane she didn’t mention any , even the Hindi convo had some mistakes and on top of that fmc is having sex while wearing lehenga!? It’s sometimes impossible to even walk in that heavy gigantic things 😭

So yeah she messed up pretty bad , we were all very excited to see Indian mc representation by international author but it’d been better if she hadn’t done it.

[shanayaa]

౨ৎ pre-read:
⤿ started - 30 April , 2026

starting this bad boy, really hoping it’s different from her other books 🤧🤌🏻

[Payal]

okayyy, I have the book now. Can't wait to devour this or be disappointed as usual. Plus, is the book looking short to me only or is it the same for everybody else as well?? Because the last several books by Ana were 500+ pages and I hated them all.

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I just realized that I never made the update regarding the song choice of "Maula Mere Maula" in the book's playlist. When the playlist was revealed, my bestie and I laughed our asses off not because the song choice is bad (our desi soul literally floats out of our body whenever this song plays, and then it has to return to this boring world when it eventually ends) but because I do not have any hope of this book giving justice to this song. Ana's recent books have been a total disaster. So, we laughed at our misfortune because now whenever this song plays, we will think about this book💔 (Ana, please make this book good🙏)

~~~~~~
EXCUSE ME BUT I HEARD THE FMC OF THIS ONE IS INDIAN???? I WOULD KILL FOR AN INDIAN FMC (TOTALLY GONNA IMAGINE MYSELF WHILE SERVING ALL THE DESI-NESS) AND THEY BETTER CALL IT DUPATTA AND NOT SOME SCANDINAVIAN SHIT I AM AFRAID INDIAN REP ISN'T GONNA BE GOOD, IT NEVER HAS BEFORE😭

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This rivals to lovers romance was everythingggggg. Like, are you kidding me!? The banter between Maya and Sebastian had me kicking my feet and giggling from the beginning, especially since you could tell Sebastian was for sure feeling feelings from the beginning. But he looooved to push Maya's buttons, and their banter was so funny. But then they are forced by their parents to work together on a huge project for their companies, so they have to spend more and more time together. Including quite a few scenes where there's no bed...

If you want a book full of tension and yearning, and I mean YEARNINGGGG, you will love this one. They have so much chemistry between them and literal years of pining. I was just so obsessed with these two and they might by my favorite of the series yet next to Vuk and Ayana!

[Grace Quan]

Totally forgot I had this on preorder 🤭 time to dive right in!!