The Kingmaker

Maxim Cade stands to inherit a billion-dollar oil empire, along with the money and influence that come with it. He walks away from all of it to build a business of his own.

Then he meets Lennix Hunter, an Indigenous activist who is putting everything on the line to protect her people's land. His family took that land and profited from it. The pull between them is immediate, and Maxim is keeping a truth from her.

This is a contemporary romance with a slow build between two people from opposing worlds. The history between their families sits at the centre of the relationship and keeps threatening to pull them apart. The story sets justice against comfort, love against safety, and purpose against privilege, and the tone is emotionally intense.

The Kingmaker is the first of two books in the All the King's Men duet by Kennedy Ryan, and the story continues in The Rebel King. It was first self-published and re-released by Bloom Books in 2023.