4.5
-
3,117 ratings
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.
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ISBN-10
1952457033
ISBN-13
978-1952457036
Print length
353 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Blue Box Press
Publication date
May 25, 2020
Dimensions
6 x 0.89 x 9 inches
Item weight
1.14 pounds
I don’t just want you when you’re strong. I want you when you’re vulnerable, when you’re lost, when you’re not sure. I see the armor you have to put on to make it in your world. I just want you to know here, with me, you can take the armor off.
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Be strong, very strong. His fingers tighten on mine and he doesn’t drop his gaze or slide a hand in his pocket, or any of the other Ezra things he does when he’s unsure. And we will strengthen each other.
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You know what my daddy calls it when one person has a head start that the other person doesn’t even know about? What? America.
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ASIN :
B086R7S4GX
File size :
1106 KB
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Supported
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Enabled
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"GRADE A! Kennedy Ryan is one of the most profoundly, thoughtful, powerful writers out there today, and Queen Move is no exception." -- Entertainment Weekly
"Queen Move is the joyous, heartfelt romance we need right now." - Lexi Blake, New York Times bestselling author
"Clever, touching, rip-your-heart-out romance. For lovers of smart, thought-provoking books with brave heroines, swoon-worthy heroes, and mouthwatering-prose. This book is not to be missed" - LJ Shen, #1 Amazon Bestselling & USA Today Bestselling Author
"Every time Kennedy Ryan sits down to write a book, she is hunting big game from page one." --Sarah MacLean, New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author
"A rich tapestry of love, lust, and the nature of life itself. This thoroughly modern soulmate story blew me away." - - Talia Hibbert, USA Today Bestselling Author
"Kennedy Ryan does it again! Combining sweet nostalgia with the important issues she never shies away from, Queen Move is nothing less than wonderful. I couldn't put it down and never wanted it to end!" - Alexa Martin, Author of Intercepted
"Kennedy Ryan weaves together a book that's heartfelt, sexy as hell, and absolutely flawless. I cannot recommend Queen Move highly enough." - Katee Robert, New York Times Bestselling Author
"A fervent celebration of perseverance and self-determination, this is the tale of a woman forging her own trailblazing path in life, and doing it on her own terms. It's complicated, it's messy, it's bittersweet, it's beautiful, it's unflinchingly real, but a story about love is rarely black and white, and every single second of it is just as it should be. A triumph!"-- Natasha is a Book Junkie
"It's totally appropriate that Kennedy Ryan, who is romance royalty, would write a book titled Queen Move. This book isn't just a beautiful reunion romance about second chances, sacrifice and the healing power of love. It's also powerful. Hard-hitting. Realistic. Deeply emotional. Passionate. Sexy as hell. Awe-inspiring. Gorgeous. And hopeful. It reigns as one of my favorite books of 2020!"-- Naima Simone, USA Today Bestselling Author
"Queen Move is the most heartfelt journey I have taken in a long time. Kennedy's words are some of the most distinctive and thought-provoking in the romance genre." -- Jewel E. Ann, USA Today Bestselling Author
"There are books you love and books you can't put down at 3am. QUEEN MOVE was like falling in love and savoring the best chocolate chip cookie in the world simultaneously--reading the last page left me smiling and wanting more." -- Denise Williams, Author of How to Fail at Flirting
"Queen Move has all the makings of an instant classic-- modern, but timeless. It's escapist, but grounded. And the romance? It is delicious, the grown and sexy kind that I crave. Kennedy Ryan doesn't write stories. She builds multi-sensory worlds that imprint themselves on your heart, mind, and your conscience." -- Dylan Allen, USA Today Bestselling Author
"Kennedy holds up Kimba and Ezra's story to us like a diamond, every facet a beautiful part of a romance for the ages." -- Adriana Herrera, Author of the Dreamers Series
"Kennedy Ryan is the queen of emotionally poignant love stories. No one writes about social issues with such subtlety and depth while also providing a uniquely gorgeous romance. Queen Move is a top book of 2020!" -- Giana Darling, USA Today Bestselling Author
"Exceptional! Queen Move breaks the mold . . .The only word that accurately describes a Kennedy Ryan story is utterly powerful." -- Jenika Snow, New York Times Bestselling Author
"Queen Move is yet another Kennedy Ryan triumph." --Jenny Nordbak, Wicked Wallflowers Podcast
"Kimba and Ezra make you feel like even when life gets in the way, true, real love will find a way." - Musings of the Modern Belle
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Prologue
Kimba
Two Years Before Present
Is there anything sadder than a daddy’s girl at her father’s funeral?
My mother’s quiet sniffs a few seats down give me the answer.
A grieving widow.
“He was a good man,” someone in the long line of mourners offering condolences whispers to her.
Mama’s head bobs with a tearful nod. In this day and age, she still wears a pillbox hat and veil. It’s black and chic like Mama, channeling tragic Jackie Kennedy or Coretta Scott King. My father was not just a good man. He was a great man, and everyone should know he leaves behind a widow, grieving deeply, but ever-fly. I squeeze the funeral program between my fingers, glaring at the printed words.
Joseph Allen leaves behind a wife, Janetta, three children, Kayla, Keith and Kimba, and six grandchildren.
He leaves behind.
Daddy’s gone, and I don’t know how to live in a world my father does not inhabit. The casket is draped with sweet-smelling flowers in the center of the funeral tent. When we leave the cemetery, it…he will be lowered into the ground with unfathomable finality, separated from us by white satin lining, six feet of dirt and eternity.
Kayla, my older sister, sobs softly at the end of our family’s row. Her four children watch her carefully, probably unused to seeing their unshakeable mother shaken and reduced to tears. Even I’d forgotten how she looks when she cries—like she’s mad at the wetness streaking her cheeks, resentful of any sign of weakness.
It’s not weak to cry, Daddy used to say. It’s human.
“But doesn’t the Bible say even the rocks will cry out?” I’d challenged him when I was young, loving that something from Sunday school took. “So maybe tears aren’t just for humans.”
“You’re getting too smart for your britches, little girl,” he’d said, but the deep affection in his eyes when he kissed me told me he was pleased. He liked that I asked questions and taught me to never accept bullshit at face value.
I miss you, Daddy.
Not even a week since his heart attack, and I already miss him so much.
Humanity blurs my vision, wet and hot and stinging my eyes. I want this to be over. The flowers, the well-dressed mourners, the news cameras stationed at a distance they probably deem respectful. I just want to go to the house where my parents raised us, retreat to Daddy’s study and find the stash of cigars that only he and I knew about.
Don’t tell your mother, he used to whisper conspiratorially. This will be our little secret.
Mama hated the smell of cigars in the house.
“Tru.”
Who would call me by that name? Now, when the only people who use it, my family, are all preoccupied with their own pain? A tall man stands in front of me, his thick, dark brows bunched with sympathy. I don’t know him. I would remember a man like this, who stands strong like an oak tree. A well-tailored suit molds his powerful shoulders. Dark brown, not quite black, hair is cut ruthlessly short, but hints at waves if given the chance to grow. His prominent nose makes itself known above the full, finely sculpted lips below. His eyes are shockingly vivid—so deep a blue they’re almost the color of African violets against skin like bronze bathed in sunlight. No, a man like him you’d never forget. Something niggles at my memory, tugs at my senses. I’d never forget a man who looked like this, a man with eyes like that…but what about a boy?
“Ezra?” I croak, disbelief and uncertainty mingling in the name I haven’t uttered in years.
It can’t be.
But it is.
In place of the awkward boy I knew stands a man exuding self-assurance in the confident set of his shoulders, the proud bearing of his head. If adolescence was the rough draft, this finished product is a masterpiece of symmetry and beautifully sketched lines.
He nods, a tiny smile relieving the sober line of his mouth. “Yeah, it’s me.”
Maybe it’s the emotion, the vulnerability that shatters the guard I always lock in place. Maybe it’s the compassion in his expression. Or maybe it’s finding in the eyes of a stranger the comfort of a long-lost friend. It could be all of these things, or maybe it’s none of them, but I surge to my feet and fling myself into his arms. He doesn’t seem as surprised as I am by this ungoverned physicality, his strength tightening around me right away. He’s much taller than I am, much taller than the last time I saw him, and he dips a little closer to my ear.
“I’m so sorry, Kimba,” he says. “He was one of the finest men I ever met.”
His words and arms warm places left frigid all week, and this moment melts into a million others I thought I’d lost forever. Ezra and me tracing our names into wet concrete with sticks. Riding our bikes through the streets, shouting and laughing at summer dusk, racing the sun. Pumping our legs to propel us so high on swings at night in a deserted park our feet seemed to kick the stars. Ezra Stern was the axis of my childhood.
“Ez.” I pull back far enough to look up at him, scouring his features for the changes twenty years have made. “But you…what are you…how—”
“I moved back to Atlanta a few years ago. I ran into your father and we…” He swallows, releases me to shove one hand into the pocket of his dark slacks. He used to do that when he was unsure. It’s one of the few things remaining of the boy I knew. And those eyes.
“We talked,” he continues. “We kept in touch. He helped me. I hope it’s okay that I’m here.”
He spares a quick glance to my mother at the other end of our row, still elegant and too devastated to really notice those standing in front of her, much less the man standing in front of me.
“It is.” I squeeze his free hand, connecting our gazes. “I’m glad you came.”
Something like relief loosens his tight expression. “Good. I didn’t want to—”
“Dad.”
The voice comes from behind him. I glance around and see a handsome kid with African violet eyes. His skin is a few shades lighter than Ezra’s, his curls less coarse, and there are traces of maybe Asian ancestry in his features, but there’s something of the boy I knew years ago in this one, and my heart contracts.
A son. Ezra has a son.
Of course he does. We’re in our thirties. He’s probably also got a—
“Noah, I asked you to wait with your mom.” Ezra brushes a hand across the boy’s hair.
“I was,” Noah says, his eyes wide and locked on his father’s. “But bà ngoại called. It’s an emergency. Mom says we need to go.”
Ezra and Noah both look beyond the tent and across the cemetery’s carpet of grass. A petite woman paces in a tight circle, a phone pressed to her ear, distress on her face. I see the other parts of Noah in her. A sheath of dark hair hangs to her waist and, even at this distance, she’s obviously a beautiful woman.
Ezra’s wife. Ezra’s son. I haven’t seen this man in more than two decades, but my breath hitches when faced with the life he made apart from me. We were just kids, and of course he made a life without me, just like I made a life without him, but my heart still sinks like an anchor to the ocean floor.
A family. Ezra has a family.
“I saw you on TV,” Noah says, studying me closely.
I frown, for a moment so removed from the reality of life beyond this funeral tent and the cloying scent of flowers that I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“The campaign,” Ezra says, a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “You were doing an interview on CNN.”
“Oh.” I nod and manage a facsimile of a smile for Noah’s benefit. “My job has me talk on television sometimes, but I’ll tell you a secret.”
His eyes glint with childish delight.
I bend to his ear and whisper, “I get really nervous, and it’s not as easy as it looks.”
Noah nods, his face sobering. “I’d be nervous, too, but Daddy said you’re the smartest girl he ever met.”
I zip a glance at Ezra, who looks self-conscious for a moment before meeting my eyes. “Still not smarter than me, though,” he deadpans defiantly. “And don’t you forget it.”
I thought there was no way to laugh, not on the day I buried my father, but a chuckle rattles in my throat. “You’re just mad because I beat you at chess.”
“You beat Daddy at chess?” Noah’s eyes stretch to full moons. “Nobody ever beats him.”
“Once,” Ezra interjects with a heatless glare. “She beat me once.”
“Now the excuses start,” I tell Noah.
Ezra smiles, but his gaze flits back to where his wife stands and the brief flash of humor disappears. “We better go, Noah. Let’s see what your mom needs.”
Noah takes off, dashing from the tent and across the grass to his mother. When he reaches her, she pulls him into the crook of her arm and kisses the top of his head. What a beautiful family. I’m happy for him.
Ezra turns his attention back to me. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am. Pay my respects.”
A dozen words idle on my tongue at the prospect of him disappearing again.
Don’t be a stranger. Let me get your number. We should stay in touch.
He looks down at me, and the words lodged in my throat seem to burn in his eyes, too, fueled by regret. And hope. All the things clamoring in my chest play across his expressive features.
“Kimba, we could—”
“It was good seeing you again,” I cut in with soft politeness, dropping the hand I didn’t realize I still held until now. “Thank you for coming.”
He stares at me for long seconds, and despite my best intentions, I stare back. When I was a little girl, no one was closer to me, no one knew me better than Ezra Stern. It was the kind of closeness you cherished as a child—the kind that between two adults could be nothing short of intimate.
“Goodbye, Ez,” I whisper, blinking at fresh tears.
“Yeah.” He looks out across green grass and headstones to where his family waits, and nods. “Goodbye, Tru.”
Long, swift strides take him to his wife and son. They disappear over the crest of a hill, hand in hand and then out of sight. They were here only a few minutes. I doubt Mama even realized he was here. She’s still trapped in her worst nightmare where the love of her life is gone.
“Goodbye, Daddy,” I say, loud enough for just myself and him to hear, like the little secrets he and I used to keep. The casket in front of me breaks my heart for what I’ve lost.
I glance over the hill and shed a tear for what I never had.
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Kennedy Ryan
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. Kennedy and her writings have been featured in NPR, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Glamour, Cosmo, Ebony, TIME, and many others. The audio edition of her novel Reel received the prestigious Audie® Award, and her Skyland series 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. Dubbed "Queen of Hugs" by her readers, she is a wife to her "lifetime lover," and mother to an extraordinary son.
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Customer reviews
4.5 out of 5
3,117 global ratings
AlohaD
5
A messy romance that is so real, raw and good
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2020
Verified Purchase
When you read a Kennedy Ryan book be prepared to work for it. Be prepared to learn and be schooled on different issues and ethnicities. Be prepared to have a woman that is an independent queen and knows her worth. Be prepared to have a man that knows his place and will sweep you right off your feet. Be prepared for a writer that takes risks and succeeds. When you read Kennedy Ryan, YOU will feel it all and the journey will be worth it in the end.
Queen Move is a real and messy romance that I absolutely loved and devoured. Part One really focuses on the history of our two main characters, Kimba and Ezra. These two characters came from different backgrounds, but they were as much a part of each other as a limb. They grew up next door from each other and their lives were so intertwined by their parents and simply by their ages. They were the best of friends that always supported one another through everything during the awkward childhood years. They had a love for one another that no one could ever explain. So when 20 years pass since they last see each other and they are in seemingly different places in their lives, it's no surprise their childhood connection is still there, strong as ever.
It feels like we were this one thing that was severed in half, and our parts want to be rejoined.
I want to go on and on and tell you about everything in the story. The journey Kimba takes from getting out from under her family's name to being one of the most powerful women in politics. To making hard choices for her as a woman and for her family. She is what you want to write about when you want to write a strong and powerful, yet beautiful woman that isn't perfect. I want to tell you about Ezra and his quiet dominance he had even as a child. How that changed and prepared him for the man he became. These two are people of their word. They don't make rash decisions and they don't just throw themselves into battle without a plan. But plans and rules are made to be broken. And someone surely will get hurt.
"Love is not a tidy thing, Kimba. It can't ever be perfect because none of us are. Someone at some point will make a mess. The test of that love is how you clean it up."
This story is raw perfection. It's well told and the pacing is just right. We get the history of Ezra and Kimba and we see them as they are now and how they are dealing with what life has thrown at them. Is it always pretty? No. Are the choices always black and white? No. But their chemistry scorches the pages. Even when they aren't in the same room, you could feel their thoughts and emotions jump off the page. Their inner monologue really affected me. It buried itself deep in my head and really grasped on. I think I would've been able to feel their connection even if they hadn't even spoken one word to one another. That's how palatable their thoughts were. They are beautiful, raw and inspiring and I absolutely Loved their journey, even during the messes and the tears.
With Queen Move you not only get a well written romance book with strong characters, but you'll get a book that will enlighten and inspire you. The strength and determination of the characters are at the forefront and I couldn't have asked for more. Even the supporting characters were perfectly placed and a good transition into the storyline. Family, love, complications....it's all there and it all makes for a book that will definitely stick with you. Go experience it for yourself. You won't be disappointed.
"We are made of choices and losses and triumphs and, yes, some happenstance. Ezra and I were made for this moment, made for each other exactly as we are now."
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31 people found this helpful
KaeCie09
5
Ezra loves Kimba
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2024
Verified Purchase
A love story.
Ezra and Kimba have loved each other all their lives, literally. Their mothers' met when they were babies.
After a twenty year separation they still have a connection.
Ezra and Kimba learn that they have been waiting for each other. They learn love can be messy but is worth the wait.
Gwen Mcgeorge
5
Another book hangover
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2020
Verified Purchase
Oh my... I feel as if I always write the same thing when I review a Kennedy Ryan book: Character driven with multi-layers, strong storyline, excellent research, strong women, driven men, sexy, lyrical and poetic. Queen Move is no different. I have almost started taking her for granted in that I know I will have a book hangover for days after finishing. I love getting drunk on her words. We met Kimba in All The Kings Men duet and I have anxiously awaited her story. I was not disappointed but I was surprised. This is not just Kimba's story, it is also Ezra's. In true Kennedy Ryan fashion, Kimba was definitely a "queen". She was strong, confident, driven, a sexual being who did not suffer fools. Her story begins after the successful Presidential campaign that she and Lennix had achieved in The Rebel King with a flashback to her childhood. It shows who and where she came from. Ezra was an awkward, quiet boy born to a white Jewish mother and a black father. As so many children with different cultures, ethnicities and religions, Ezra was trying to find where he "fit." He lived his young life with a quiet strength and a moral compass with Kimba as his anchor, as he was also hers. Kimba (Tru) and Ezra (Ez) were born on the same day, in the same month, in the same year. They were woven together with quiet innocence, empathy and silent strength. Two halves of a whole. As is the norm, one moment in time can change everything. That moment in Queen Move was written so eloquently near the end of the book. As usual, Kennedy Ryan addresses modern topics as only she can, with compassion and empathy. After many, many years, Kimba and Ezra meet again at her fathers funeral. This is where the "adult" part of the book begins. It is heartbreaking, enlightening and so very, very real. As we had met Kimba before, we know how determined and dogged she is in her job and her life. She is fierce. I was so invested in Ezra. I loved that the awkward boy had grown into a moral, honorable, educated man who loved so damn hard. Life threw him punches, but he stood strong in his sense of self. He was a good man. Queen Move is more than a romance. It's the evolution and growth of two people who had left pieces of their hearts with each other in childhood. "I'm not overly religious, and I'm not sure what I believe about other lives, other worlds, and other dimensions. I do know if soul mates are real, Kimba is mine. I believe that if people are "created," we were made together. She was there for my scaffolding - there where my flesh was knit over my bones. And if love is not just an emotion, but a type of eternity, an infinity that lives in our hearts, then we have always been in love. It's an ageless thing that isn't about puberty or chronology, or even if we get to live our lives together. But when we are apart, I ache." Beautiful eloquence. Lyrically pure. Kennedy Ryan is a gift we should all treasure.
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6 people found this helpful
Aundi.Living.That.Book.Life 📚
5
Absolute MUST READ!!!!
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2020
Verified Purchase
Kennedy's words are pure magic, they wrap around you like a warm blanket covering you in the complexity and prose that is singularly her, making you fall in love with every word she writes. Queen Move is beyond anything I could have expected, she blew the writing world apart with this beautifully written masterpiece.
“𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙤𝙪𝙩—𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙣.”—𝙉𝙚𝙞𝙡 𝙙𝙚𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚 𝙏𝙮𝙨𝙤𝙣
I’m been dying for Kimba’s story ever since first meeting her in the All The Kings Men Duet. Kennedy always writes her heroines with this ferocity that makes you want to be more. They are strength personified and they always leave me with a sense that we can do and be anything we want! Kimba is without a doubt Queen, Kennedy wrote her with such realism that you feel as if you know her and you want to be apart of her life. She is so smart and determined nothing can stand in her way. But what I loved the most was when you saw her soft side, the parts that she kept hidden away so that she wouldn’t get hurt. It was those moments when I fell irrevocably in love with this character and everything she represents.
𝙃𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.
Ezra is legit PERFECTION. This man with his violet eyes and wicked tongue will have you forgetting your own name. He is without a doubt a flawless match for Kimba. From the time they are children until the meet again, they have always been with each other even if it was just in memory. And it’s that connection that begs to break free when they come face to face again. The passion and intensity between them are palpable, every time they’re together you can feel it. It fills every room they are in growing and burning just waiting to burst free and incinerate everything in their path with the strength of it. I’m honestly surprised by Kindle didn’t burst into flames.
𝙃𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙤𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄’𝙢 𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙨..
This story has you remembering the innocence of firsts, of childhood promises made with reckless abandon and the belief that things will always be this way. I loved watching Kimba and Ezra grow up together and the journey they took to become the people they are today. Kennedy made me believe in soulmates, everyone wants that soul deep all consuming once in a lifetime kind of love. The kind that makes your heart race and your soul ache. The kind that gives you not just butterfly’s but whole tidal waves that turn you inside out. That’s what Kimba and Ezra have, that kind of connection that makes you feel as if you were made just to love this person. Their story brought tears to my eyes and a deep ache to my soul, these two are absolute perfection and I am obsessed with their love!
𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩. 𝘼 𝙨𝙣𝙤𝙬-𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣.
Kennedy is always meticulous with her research and brings forth important issues that are relevant today and that wholeheartedly need to be addressed. I love that every time you get swept away into one of her stories it opens your eyes to prevalent matters in the world. Kennedy’s stories will hit you on a visceral level, you can’t help but have a physical reaction while reading. Her words are so poetic and intricate that you easily get lost to her words, so much so that you won’t want to come back. Kimba and Ezra are FLAWLESS, everything about them is real and natural, consuming the pages and leaving a permanent mark on your soul. Their journey wasn’t easy but it was them, and it was worth every second.
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6 people found this helpful
Carole V. Bell
5
Fire and Magic
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2020
Verified Purchase
In romance, fated mates is a label conferred on couples whose pairing is written in the stars or nature or somewhere in the supernatural. It exists outside of logic and rationality. It’s a pairing that was simply meant to be. They complete each other and no one else will do. Traditionally, fated mates are something that only happens in paranormal romance or fantasy (see Romance 101: Fated Mates by Amanda Diehl on Book Riot). But in Kennedy Ryan’s Queen Move, a story about childhood best friends turned lovers, I believed that true love was this couple's destiny from the start.
Queen Move is contemporary romance, and technically there’s nothing supernatural about it— there’s nary a witch, vamp, or shapeshifter in sight. But the connection between the two main characters is its own kind of magic. Kimba and Ezra were born on the same day. They're neighbors and their mothers are close friends, so it makes sense that they’re be practically inseparable. As babies they bathe together and play together when they’re young and at the ripe old age of six, when Ezra learns about what marriage is, they marry each other in a back yard ceremony.
Their connection is the sweetest thing ever. No one else in the world really exists when these two are together. But that all crashes down and the connection is severed at age 13 when their families are torn apart by a mysterious fight no one will explain. Ezra’s family moves away and they both eventually get on with their lives and lose touch.
Two decades later, Ezra is living in Atlanta when Kimba returns home for a family event, and they reunite. It’s immediately clear that the connection that was severed so abruptly when they were teens never quite went away. But their lives are no longer simple. Ezra has been in a long term, (albeit troubled and on the cusp of separation), relationship for a decade and is raising a wonderful son with his partner. Kimba has an incredible career as a political consultant based in D.C. and a health issue that’s causing her to reevaluate some choices.
It’s a great setup. Ezra and Kimba are fated mates kept apart by circumstances out of their control long ago and now again. Both are public people under a fair amount of scrutiny. They have people relying on them, and their situation is messy. There are about a million ways that scenario could go very wrong, but Kennedy Ryan is the mistress of swoonily romantic, angsty, socially conscious romance with high heat. And Queen Move sets yet another high water mark for that type of romance.
What I love most about Kimba and Ezra is that their connection is multifaceted. There’s the magic— they’re the kids born on the same day who imprinted on each other like cubs before they even knew what love was. Kimba feels that keenly: “I can’t help but think when we were born on the same day, when we were made together our path was set…” And Ezra feels very much the same. And it’s lovely. But there are also concrete tangible reasons that these two people work well together as adults. I never doubted it that they fit and would make each others’ lives better. For one thing, they share values— they’ve both dedicated their lives to fighting for social justice in different ways— and they have an intellection connection and mutual respect.
There’s a lot of angst here, but none of it is about whether their love is true. They are soul mates. That’s a given. And yet, somehow, the stakes and the tension remain high. Ryan is afraid to make hard choices and she gives this couple some real hurdles to overcome. It’s never forced. It just feels real.
Beyond that, what pulls it all together is Kennedy Ryan's writing. She writes gorgeous, sometimes poetic, sentences bursting with passion. Kimba: “Daddy used to say don’t waste time on things that don’t set you on fire inside, and I haven’t. Every campaign, every election, each candidate—I’ve believed in. I believed that putting that person in power advanced one of my convictions.” She bites her bottom lip. “I felt the same about people. I didn’t want to waste time on anyone who didn’t set me on fire inside. And there have been people I liked, people I enjoyed sex with, but no one I wanted to build a life with. That’s why I never committed. No one ever set me on fire inside.” She looks over at me, her eyes telling me before her words do. “Until now. You set me on fire inside, Ezra Stern.”
“You set me on fire inside, Ezra Stern.” It’s a simple sentence but wow it’s just beautiful in that context. And also lovely that Kimba makes the connection between the people and the causes that set her on fire. This is the essence of what makes Ryan’s novels, Queen Move in particular, so special. She weaves the personal and the political together seamlessly and beautifully.
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