The Kingmaker

He walked away from a billion-dollar empire. She's fighting to reclaim what his family helped destroy.

Falling in love was never part of the plan.

Discover the sweeping, slow-burn All the King's Men duet from New York Times bestseller and RITA Award Winner Kennedy Ryan, where two fierce hearts clash in a battle of power, legacy, and longing.

Maxim Cade has money, influence, and power in the oil industry―but he turns his back on it all. When he meets Lennix Hunter, an Indigenous activist risking everything for her land, their worlds collide with breathtaking intensity.

Torn between passion and loyalty, Lennix and Maxim find themselves bound by a forbidden connection neither time nor distance can sever. With lyrical prose and emotional ferocity, The Kingmaker explores what it means to choose justice over comfort, love over safety, and purpose over privilege.

If you crave forbidden love, unforgettable heroines, and romance that leaves a mark, Kennedy Ryan delivers a story reviewers call "dazzling," "unflinching," "powerful," and "a soaring masterpiece."

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kennedy Ryan writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. An EBONY Power 100 Honoree, Kennedy and her writings have been featured in NPR, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Glamour, Cosmo, TIME, and many others. Kennedy is an executive producer for her Skyland series, which is currently in development for television at Peacock. The co-founder of LiFT 4 Autism, an annual charitable book auction, Kennedy has a passion for raising Autism awareness. She is a wife to her “lifetime lover” and mother to an extraordinary son.