Surprisingly I liked this book. The idea of a school for mafia families' offspring is marvelous as well as the setting - a huge castle in an European island, loved the atmosphere with the undercurrent of danger and violence. Somehow even the love triangle trope didn't repel me much. Though the main characters felt a bit juvenile and overdramatic (Anna, I'm looking at you), I found them more entertaining than annoying, so that's a win in my book. As always, illustrations are chef's kiss. Looking forward to read Dean's story.

This book had a few of my favourite things in one book, and that drew me to it:

✅️ Academia setting
✅️ Organised crime families
✅️ Trials/ games

It's mainly based at Kingmakers, a secret university only known about by the crime families of the world, where they send their sons and daughters to learn all sorts of skills and tools they'll need to take their places within the organisations. It's split into 4 divisions, heirs, accountants, spies, and enforcers.
Our main characters are all within the heirs and have a long-standing family fued. I enjoyed this book for all the twists and turns to the story, and nothing comes easy as there are ploys to change even the strongest of relationships. Amongst all the plans, secrets, and sabotage alliances change and new relationships/ friendships formed all whilst battling it out in the annual contest they have, which pits all 4 years of students against each other. With the rivalry coming to a deadly head in the final task, this story keeps you invested and is well worth the read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bloom books for the arc of this, for my honest review, the rest of the series is going straight on my tbr!

I love the Brutal Birthright series so walking in so many years later was such a treat! The dark academia vibes are so strong with this one, it's perfect for autumn! The push pull romance was infuriating and fun all at the same time. Grab a cozy cup of chai, a warm hoodie and curl up with this one!

Sophie Lark never disappoints! What a lovely surprise following the children of the families we followed in her Brutal Prince series. She has my readership! Loved this book so much. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Criminal organization’s heirs go to college is the best way to describe this book.

Drama and friends/cousins to lovers!!! Don’t worry they aren’t really related!!! The book got some spice….but not too much so it’s the whole story. I started this and couldn’t stop…..I love these characters!!!!

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

i really wanted to like this book/series but i could tell that i won’t unfortunately. to me it feels too high school and not as if they’re apart of the mafia. with this certain love story i just could not get behind the fact that they’re cousins. step cousins is fine but actual cousins is a hard no for me.

Kingmakers Year One is the first book of the Kingmakers series of interconnected standalones. I absolutely loved the Brutal Birthright series and I couldn’t wait to read the second generation. But, this book just wasn’t for me. I am not a fan of love triangle or OM/OW drama at all! There were several scenes that bothered me and really didn’t add to the story, it only made me not like these characters. I didn’t feel a connection between Anna and Leo and would have liked more of them getting together and working on their relationship. I was really hoping for more from this book and I’m not sure I’ll continue series.

If you want a book that gives you the Hogwarts feel, but with Mafia kids instead of wizards, you’ve come to the right place.

This book starts off with Leo and Anna, starting their first year at Kingmakers which is a school for mafia kids. But this is not just any ordinary school, they learn all they need to to run an empire as an heir. They are not supposed to have a relationship during their school years and also because they are “chosen family,” but not by blood.

Each school year there are trials that each class has to go through and I loved getting to see the puzzles and who was going to win.

Anna is also figuring out who she is as a woman and trying to figure out who she is going to be with, so there is a love triangle in this book. But there is a HEA!

The reason I did not give this a five stars is because I wish there was a little bit more communication between the main characters about something that happened, and they just kind of brushed it under the rug and never talked about it. And it is also a super long book which I was not expecting that when I started reading it so I felt like some things were just dragging on a little bit.

I am interested to see how the author portrays Dean in the next books in the series because I feel like there is some unfinished business with him.

You will like this book if you like these tropes:
Best friends to lovers, mafia, trials, dark academia, love triangle, taboo relationship

I had to take a day to figure out my thoughts because while I liked the second half of the book, the first half had me struggling.

The first half of this book is more about world building and getting you set up for what Kingmakers is like and what the series as a whole is going to be based on so while I found it interesting, it was a little slow for me. That being said, Sophie Lark could write a grocery list and I'd read it so I stuck it out and it really did pick up in the second half and that's where the main action happens. It was fast paced, it was stressful, it was a ton of a fun.

I was not a huge fan of Leo and Anna being presented as "related" even though they weren't technically related by blood. It just kept throwing me off. I felt like Leo and Anna could have both used a bit more depth but I've also read enough reviews to know that this book was probably the weakest and that the series picks up so I am very excited to continue the journey because I LOVED Brutal Birthright. Excited to see what else Kingmakers has waiting for me.

First half was 3 stars while the second was closer to 3.75

I just could not get into this book. I felt like it took a long time to get to a point where I was invested in the story. I can see how this would be a great teen drama but I just wasn't drawn in. The writing is good and there is a lot of potential with the characters but I'm not sure the overall plot is for me.

The premise seemed extremely compelling, but the plot fell very short to me. There was too much telling and not enough actual scenes between characters. A lot of brooding. I also would have liked more class scenes to understand why they needed to be at this school. It seems like they could have learned this stuff from their parents.

Kingmakers by Sophie Lark is a perfect book for a new adult romance reader.

This book is about the love story between Mikolaj and Sebastian children. If you both of theirs story, you will absolutely curious to know about their families story. However, I'll admit the storyline are less intense.

✅ Childhood friend to lover
✅ School
✅ Dark romance
✅ Action
✅ High sexual tension
✅ Plenty of Spicy scenes

I'll definitely be looking forward to read the next book by Sophie Lark.

Ive been loving this author for a long time..
She's the absolut queen of mafia stories..
There said.. this one isnt the exception
Perfectly crafted, Year one follow the story of Leo Gallo and Anna Wilk.. if you havent read the brutal birthright series by Sophie, you definitely must, so you can have all the context about the story ..
I loved the artwork inside, all the illustrations were magnificent.
.
Read if you like
Dark romance
Childhood friends to lovers
Mafia
Academy vibes
Slow burn


Thanks to Netgalley, Author and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for this arc

Definitely make sure you have read the Brutal Prince series before jumping into this book! My favorite part of this book is definitely the family trees and artwork. Sophie Lark’s illustrations make the books come alive

I'm pretty sure I will devour anything that Sophie Lark puts out into the world and this book is no exception. I loved getting into this series for the first time, not knowing what to expect but knowing that I was going to love every minute of it!

This book was interesting and the plot was good, I wish we got more from our two main characters and less of the third POV of someone who wasn't going to be romantically involved with either of them, but overall the book was fantastic and I can't wait to read more!

Thank you NetGalley of an eARC!

I'm annoyed that I'm annoyed by this book. Usually Sophie Lark has me by the neck with her works, but this one just didn't hit anything I was interested in. That is no fault of her or the book though. It was well written, the spice was quite nice, the plot had no obvious holes and it definitely will hit the spot for other readers, just unfortunately not me.

I absolutely loved The Brutal Prince by Sophie Lark, so when I saw this one on NetGalley, I knew I had to get it. Little did I know that one, it is about the children of the characters in the brutal birthright series. And two, that it was actually a pre-released book under a new name.

While I usually love a good Mafia romance, this one didn’t really hit for me. I had to spend the first five chapters continually going back to the multiple family trees illustrated in the beginning of the book in order to figure out who was who. Once they got to school, I loved the whole school part! But I needed more romance and it just didn’t come until the book was almost over. I really wanted to love this once so I could keep going with the series, but I’ll probably stop here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blooms Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for an ARC of this book.

This is the first book in Sophie Lark’s Kingmakers series, which is the next generation of her Brutal Birthright mafia series. In Year One, we follow Leo and Anna - childhood best friends (practically non-blood cousins) at their first year at Kingmakers Academy - the school for all mafia children wanting to follow in their parents' footsteps. While we follow the developing romance of both our main characters, the plot is thick with suspense and action. It’s very atmospheric, and Sophie has done an excellent job in dropping the reader into the world. I also tend to love next-generation series and seeing our fave couples’ offspring.

While I did love this read, I found it to be quite long and some parts were a little drawn out for my liking.

Solid 4.5 stars for this one! I know this technically falls into contemporary dark romance, but I really got a fantastical vibe from it. I think it's the slight farfetchedness of a school only for mafia families. The challenges and the 2 boy 1 girl trio gave off massive Harry Potter vibes. I couldn't shake it, even the dynamics seemed to work out similarly.

Overall though, I enjoyed the world, the classes, the uniqueness of this book. I love, love, love best friends to lovers. I'm excited to read the next from Sophie Lark!