Kennedy Ryan

From Wall Street Journal, USA Today Bestselling and RITA® Award-winning Author Kennedy Ryan, comes a captivating second chance romance like only she can deliver... 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.

Queen Move

rakshu

only god knows how i finished this book. im actually proud of myself

Jules

Wow. Reading this book was an experience. An experience where I've cried and screamed and laughed and I even jump out of my seat when I was reading some parts. I was waiting for this book for so long and did not disappoint. 

One of my best reads this year

Lover of Romance 

I was really hopeful for this one, there have been so many positive reviews. And yes it was a solid story but I really am not sure if I will pick up this author again to be honest. I get why she wants to put politics in her books(I see how she talks about it on social media) but its just not something I am looking for in my books. Its not even lightly put in most times, its pretty obvious she wants it to be a strong element. My real life is packed with it and I just want to get away from it when I immerse myself in a romance. And I really loved the story otherwise and it would have been a five star without the politics.

Anastasia 

Kennedy Ryan is the writer ever modern day author looking to make it in the NA/ ROMANCE genre should look up to 

She is incredible.....the way she writes about the connections between people is unlike anything I ever read when it comes to romance ( this is except the classics in English Lit) ...I'm truly over the moon with kimba's story 

I'm glad she had her happy ending ...this was such a good book to unwind I loved it ...highly recommended

marie

Grace O'Callaghan

Kimba and Ezra were best friends when they were children and even shared their first kiss together. But they were separated for 20 years. Now they are grown up and the attraction is still there, but there are things in their way. Is it 20 years too late to try and be together?

After reading the first two books in All the King’s Men I thought I was going to love this. I’m so disappointed I didn’t like it.

Kimba was my favourite thing about the book. She’s a determined career woman that doesn’t get romantically involved with anyone. But circumstances in her life have her reconsidering her priorities. 

I didn’t like Ezra’s character so much. I just found him to lack personality as well as making some poor choices.

Together Kimba and Ezra certainly had chemistry, but we’re not compatible at all in my opinion. The situation they were in was just too complicated to me that I couldn’t see how they would make it work.

Something I liked was that early menopause was discussed. I’ve never seen that in a book so that was refreshing.

My biggest gripe with this book is the plot. For most of the book it was a fairly typical romance when all of a sudden all these plot twists start happening. Obviously I don’t want to spoil it but there are scandals and things that make it hard for Ezra and Kimba to be together. The plot was just so wild I couldn’t really take it seriously. It was also a rush to wrap everything up by the end.

All in all, a fine enough romance until the plot decides to come in and ruin it.

Andrea Cárcamo

I'm between 3 and 3.5 stars. I really liked the writing and both narrators on the audiobook were amazing, but it had a few tropes that I hate that made the reading experience less enjoyable for me. Even though this one wasn't for me, I'm looking forward to read more books by Kennedy Ryan.

b.andherbooks

Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan was powerful, heart wrenching, and what I've come to crave from this amazing writer. Kimba is an astonishing heroine. I was not expecting pregnancy to be such a major focus of the story based on the blurb alone.

But readers, I ate this story up, every emotional and devastating part. Seeing how Kimba and Ezra grew up together, witnessing their parents' stories and watching the unraveling of the mystery surrounding why their parents' friendship imploded, and seeing how Kimba and Ezra handled their attraction as Ezra's relationship with partner ended was captivating. Questions of faith, identity, and what it means to be parent where also examined in thought provoking ways. I don't want to say too much more about the plot as it is best enjoyed as it unfolds. I've noted some CWs below.

As always I was left inspired and a bit hungover after reading, but if you loved Ryan's last duology you won't want to miss this one. Queen Move can be read as a standalone.


Thank you to the author for the free review copy.


CWs: pregnancy (all aspects, both in the past, discussed, and happening to main characters, cheating (in the past, assumed), I can't think of others right now but let me know if I've missed something major.

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


What can I say about Queen Move — and Kennedy Ryan's books — that hasn't already been said a million times already? I know every time I pick up one of her books, I'm about to go on a journey. It will be an adventure. But, not the type of adventure you might imagine when you think about reading. You won't find dragons or mighty quests in these pages. Instead, the journey is emotional and often raw and filled with learning and introspection. She has a way of cutting me open and putting me back together better than I was in the first place and her stories always stick with me. 

Queen Move was everything I needed in my life. Kimba and Ezra's story was *chefs kiss*. After loving what we saw of Kimba in the All the Kings Men Duet, I was thrilled to learn Kennedy was writing her story. I couldn't wait to learn more about this amazing woman. When I read the blurb and realized this book featured a second chance romance, I was even more excited. That trope is Kim catnip. It always has been. But especially when it's written as beautifully as it was here. 

Kimba and Ezra had me all up in my feelings, swooning all over the place during this book. They couldn't have been more perfectly matched. They were the real deal. Were things perfect? Absolutely not. Were there bumps and bruises along the way? Oh, you better believe it. Queen Move wasn't without some angst and a whole slew of emotions. And yes, tears. It was a masterpiece. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review consideration. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Favorite Quotes:

We are on the cusp of next, but tonight, we have right now, and it's better than everything I've ever had and must be as good as anything to come. 

"They diminish us enough without you making yourself small. You descend from queens."

I'm not sure which is more dangerous. Ezra taken or Ezra for the taking. 

"You could never be a lot of people, Ez. There's everyone else, and then there's you." 

It's the kind of perfect kiss that has nothing to do with technique or experience. Nothing even to do with ardor, though that's evident in the way we clutch, we cling. It's perfect because it's her and it's me and it's about time and it's overdue. And we kiss like there's no tomorrow because there have already been too many yesterdays, too many years we were apart.

The years fall away like a torn veil separating him from me, then from now. It hasn't been years. There has only been one long day for us on which the sun has never set. We were never lost, and this place has always been waiting for our wandering hearts, for our prodigal souls to finally, together rest. 

"I didn't even know how much I missed you until I got you back."

Chantale

WOW!! This book!! I swooned and I cried. I was trying to read slowly but this book just got me so hooked that I couldn't put it down.

I swear I just devour every book that Kennedy Ryan writes because they have all been so good.

I do highly recommend it. 

I give this one 5 out of 5.

Elise Riley

Childhood best friends. First loves. Single dad. Forbidden love. Boss bitch campaign manager. What doesn't this book have?

Kimba Allen, first introduced in All the King's Men Duet, is now running political campaigns without her notorious partner Lennix Hunter. She returns to her hometown Atlanta after 20 years where she runs into her childhood best friend and first kiss, Ezra Stern. The connection is instant but, of course, this wouldn't be a Kennedy Ryan romance if there weren’t obstacles standing in their way. Family secrets and solemn promises bar Kimba and Ezra's path forward.

My heart sings for this book and its main characters. First of all claps for the melanin so beautifully illustrated. Reading about blackness and natural hair in this book felt so easy; as if mainstream romance has always included POC characters so boldly and not as tokens sitting in the corner. And let us not forget about Ezra. As a biracial person myself, Ryan perfectly captured the tortuous duality of existing in White and Black America at once.

One of the things I love about Ryan's books is how real they feel. Kimba deals with a speech impediment and health issues. Kimba's mother, Janetta, struggles with grief, and loneliness. Ezra navigates religion and racism. I could go and on because each character is fully realized with their own arcs and not there to simply fill in the background.

Needless to say, this is A MUST READ. Kimba and Ezra offer deeply passionate love and intentional intimacy for each other and for the people in their lives. The HEA is so worth the book hangover you'll inevitably get finishing this book.

Blog post: https://rileyreadsthings.com/2020/06/...

The boy who always felt like mine is 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.

Mbali

HELLO THIS BOOK IS PERFECT. Omg. I love this book so much, somewhere at the top of my favourite books list. This is black love told so purely and so honestly. It will hurt your heart but warm it at the same time. I love this. 

Coralie | she/her

3,5/5
Ezra is perfect. Here it is, I said it. I love him with all my heart! Kimba was great too but exasperated me a little bit at some point. 
Lot of strong, powerful and beautiful BIPoC (Black, Indigenous and Person of Colour) in this book, and I loved how Kimba is always fighting for her people. This was a great book!

Jo H

May 2020 group/buddy read with the Turning Pages At Midnight group. At least that was the plan, but I'm new to this BR thing so just whizzed through and only got to check in with them once I'd finished... 😅.

Kennedy Ryan is a Queen who writes EPIC romances for and about Queens. She also writes (in the three books of hers I've read so far) for ME and my personal preferences, a rare find, as I tend to love many things that are unpopular in romancelandia and are therefore much harder to find, at least, harder to find that are done well. And I'm someone who has no problem with not loving everything I read as it makes me appreciate the awesome ones I do that much more.

I love more than anything that she incorporates commentaries on politics and cultural and social issues; real life and the struggles that affect everyone, even those with immense wealth and privilege. Things that happen in life in general; to us as individuals, to groups of people with a shared identity(ies), things we feel and suffer and live through. Because of this, she can also make me appreciate and root for members of the 1% club and those people who are highly privileged or powerful members of their communities, or society at large. Kennedy writes characters that are just raw and so relatable, and makes me care even though they often have so much more than me, in ways others authors just are unable to. And Kimba and Ezra's story in Queen Move is yet another example of this.

And real life drama; because, whilst not in the cringe filled realms of Jerry Springer (or for my UK folks Jeremy Kyle), some drama does happen to many of us at various points in our lives. That includes things that many romance readers dislike or even hate, such as Ezra, in his 20+ years apart from Kimba, having the audacity (🙄 please note the sarcasm here!) to have a child and a 10 year relationship with another woman. (view spoiler)[And that woman becoming pregnant for a second time in what was literally the last few weeks of their what was at that point very weak relationship... before he reconnected with Kimba. (hide spoiler)] 

It's not an ideal situation for any new couple to be in, but it happens so often in the real world, that I like that much more than I do the 'fantasy' version of romance that many others prefer, which actually to me is most often more like an eye-rolling cliches at best or total nightmares at worst...

Maybe when I'm not so raw I will come back with the right words and quotes that express everything that I feel about this story and how it was written. Until then, thank you, Ms Ryan, for your incredible contributions to this genre.

PS Am I the only one that MELTED over 6 year old Ezra and 6 year old Kimba 'getting married'??? In a Jewish inspired 'ceremony' at that?!!! [insert soppy happy tears emoji here].

Lacey

Was it ever a question that I would love this book? It’s childhood friends to lovers. Second chance romance. The perfect combo!! Kimba and Ezra are now one of my favorite couples of 2020. I loved Kimba since she first appeared in the ATKM duet, and Ezra was THE perfect man for her. Queen Move is ridiculously romantic and swoony. It’s made me remember just why I love second chance romances so much. Kennedy Ryan has blown me away once again and I’m already itching to read another book from her!

Queen Move

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