Book Review and Giveaway for Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan

QUEEN MOVE
by KENNEDY RYAN

The boy who always felt like mine is now the man I can't have…

Dig a little and you'll find photos of me in the bathtub with Ezra Stern.
Get your mind out of the gutter. We were six months old.
Pry and one of us might confess we saved our first kiss for each other.
The most clumsy, wet, sloppy . . . spectacular thirty seconds of my adolescence.
Get into our business and you'll see two families, closer than blood, torn apart in an instant.
Twenty years later, my "awkward duckling" best friend from childhood,
the boy no one noticed, is a man no one can ignore.

Finer. Fiercer. Smarter.
Taken.

Tell me it's wrong.
Tell me the boy who always felt like mine is now the man I can’t have.
When we find each other again, everything stands in our way--secrets, lies, promises.
But we didn't come this far to give up now.
And I know just the move to make if I want to make him mine.

ADD TO GOODREADS

REVIEW: 4 STARS
"I don't think it will be easy. I just know it will be worth it."

I read the All The Kings Men Duet earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so when Kennedy Ryan announced that she would be giving Kimba her own story, I about passed out from excitement! Kimba was a force to be reckoned with in that duet, so I just knew Ryan was going to give an emotional and empowered read that was going to leave me breathless. Ezra was THE BEST and Kimba shined. Together they had a love worth reading and I'm so glad she gave me their story! To note: this is a standalone spinoff, and there is nothing you will spoil by reading this before the duet. 

I do know that when I sit down with one of Kennedy's books, I am in for a lesson. She's going to educate me not on something trivial, but something that is plaguing a culture, a belief, a way of life. She brings light to a situation that doesn't get enough attention, and she works it into an amazing love story that I can settle into. She has an impassioned voice designed to effect change. It's full of knowledge and pride, an intensity required to deliver this type of story. I love settling into one of her books. And I mean settling in - as in, she has a lot of depth and truth to her words, and it always goes beyond the surface level with her. There is more to learn, to read between the lines, to delve into, and that's what I enjoy most about her books.

These characters though? The strength Kimba possessed was admirable - definitely a good mix of stubborn and street smarts added in there. It was at times championable, and at others, heartbreaking, but wise. I read this entire book with an eerie sense of confidence that she would do what was right for her, because I knew the minute that Ezra looked at me with those eyes, touched me with those hands, I'd have been a goner and given in. She's a lot stronger than I could ever be. I loved her tenacity!

But, shockingly enough - the same can be said about Ezra. His strength and responsibility shined through. Doing the right thing and standing up for yourself aren't always one in the same, and he showed his determination throughout, but it especially shined at the end. I cannot tell you how many times the "visual" of him was running through my mind while reading this story. He was delicious. Absolutely, hands down, sexy and swoony. Every bit of who he was and what he stood for worked in the big picture of his makeup.

"I see the armor you have to put on to make it in your world. I just want you to know here, with me, you can take the armor off."

There is something about being able to be true to who you are in the company of the one that possesses your soul. I love that Ezra was her safe space and she felt that security with him. Watching them navigate some pretty tough situations, ones that I know for a solid fact that I would not make it through in one piece, was tough - no lie. Some parts brought me to my knees, others made me feel like I was on top of the world, flying high.

When Ryan tells her stories in vivid detail, she makes me feel the emotion and the tug on my heartstrings. It's the intimacy in the way Ezra holds her face and rubs her lips with his thumbs. It's the way the goosebumps rise as he drags his finger down her arms or up her spine. You SEE it all happening while Kimba FEELS it all happening, and that is one of the most amazing things about her writing. SO good. So descriptive. It always works for me.

"Sometimes what we think is a fluke is really fate."

When I get down to the little nitpicky, nitty-gritty things I didn't like - it's all whatever. It's a basis for some great discussion and it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book - at all. The ex. The drama. The hypocrisy. It all lends more emotion to an already tense situation, but it heightens that discussion, which is my favorite part.

Kennedy Ryan is not only passionate in her storytelling, she's very giving with the emotions and the depth of her characters. Their development and the background of a love story I get to enjoy are huge highlights with her stories. I was deep in my feels with this one. It's not just the emotions of a second chance, it's the truth behind the pull your soul has with the one who speaks to it. The one that holds your heart’s fate in their hands. She just dances with her words, and I love the journey each and every time.

I am so glad she gave me Ezra and Kimba's love story.

"Now. Forever. Always. Never end."
~BEE

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~MEET KENNEDY RYAN~

I'm a wife, a mom, a writer, an advocate for families living with autism. That's me in a nutshell. Crack the nut, and you'll find a Southern girl gone Southern California who loves pizza and Diet Coke, and wishes she got to watch a lot more television. You can usually catch me up too late, on social media too much, or FINALLY putting a dent in my ever-growing To Be Read list!

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