Empire of Desire follows Gwyneth Shaw, a young woman who’s spent years trying to bury an impossible crush on the one man she could never have: Nathaniel Weaver, her father’s best friend. Billionaire, powerful, emotionally guarded, and eighteen years older than her, Nathaniel has always been everything she wasn’t supposed to want. After one impulsive kiss changes everything, Gwyneth convinces herself she’s finally moved on—until fate forces them into a marriage neither of them ever expected.
Suddenly, the feelings they’ve both spent years suppressing become impossible to ignore. As the line between duty and desire begins to blur, they’re drawn into a slow-burning relationship filled with unresolved longing, emotional baggage, family expectations, and undeniable chemistry. But with a past full of regrets and a future neither of them planned, they’ll have to decide whether love is worth risking everything they’ve built.
This is the first Rina Kent book that isn’t marketed as a dark romance, and… I honestly don’t know how I feel about that. I do appreciate that, even though four books share the Empire of… title, they’re all complete standalones. After reading so many interconnected series lately, that was honestly refreshing.
That said… I think I’m going to take a break from this series. The writing is still addictive, the chemistry is there, and yes, the spice is fantastic. The age-gap tension definitely delivers. But the story itself just wasn’t for me. I kept finding myself only half invested, constantly thinking about DNFing, and if this hadn’t been a Rina Kent book, I probably would have.
I actually met Nathaniel back in Red Thorns, where he came across as the cool, charismatic uncle everyone loves. Here, though? He’s an entirely different man. Extremely dominant, incredibly controlling, and convinced that his word is law. Now, that kind of dynamic can be entertaining within the romance itself, but watching a man constantly try to control every aspect of a woman’s life? That’s just lame as hell to me.
I genuinely expected to fall in love with this series, but surprisingly, I think I’ll be skipping the remaining standalones. They just don’t hit the same way Rina’s darker, more twisted books do for me.
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