Book Review: King's by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

King’s
The King Trilogy #1
Author: Mimi Jean
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Mystery | Dark
Released: May 4th 2014
Review Source: Netgalley

“I am the man who can find anything or anyone. For a price. And my price is you.”

When Mia Turner’s brother goes missing in Mexico, while on an archaeological dig, she believes that life couldn’t get much worse. But when she’s blocked at every turn from finding answers, by both local and U.S. authorities, she must turn to a man she swears is the devil.

Others might be fooled by his private jet, fine tailored suits, and disarming smile, but Mia knows something dark, sinister, and unnatural lurks behind those penetrating, pale-gray eyes. And the more she learns, the more she realizes she may never be free again.

King's did not turn out to be the book I expected.  And at first I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. On one hand, it had an unexpected twist which separated itself from a genre cliché, but on the other hand, did it fit into the story? Now I know you guys aren’t sure exactly what I’m babbling on about and I won’t spoil it, but I neither liked nor disliked this point in the story. But I’m confused to whether or not it's meant to be paranormal, fantasy, or normal with spiritual/superhuman humans? It wasn't actually made clear enough for me, and kind of gave the impression that the story wasn't put together all that great. But that's just my opinion. I'm not a fan of novels being contemporary/mystery but just touching in paranormal, it almost seems wrong. I'm an all in or all out gal. I'd rather it be fully paranormally invested or completely "normal".

Okay, now onto the better stuff. I loved how the kidnapping situation progressed.  The mystery of it all—Justin being missing, kidnapped, what really happened, the potential aspect of betrayal and deception—it all added up to be great suspense and an awesome plot point.  Mystery in novels are becoming my ”thing” so King's just fed my addiction, and it’s the only thing I’m really excited for regarding book 2, King For a Day. It was the mystery which really had me interested in finding out what happened next.

Personally I found the relationship between King and Mia very slow paced. It wasn’t until the end that I discovered that King's was the first in a trilogy; however, though I didn’t expect them to be married with 2.5 kids by the end of King's, it would have been nice to see some progression between the pair. It was like there was zero progression until 95% in. Also, another bone to pick at would be Mia. She's one of those heroines who knows she’s in danger, yet still puts herself out in unnecessary danger. She was too reckless. Too childish and hair pulling frustrating that I found it impossible to love her, she was tolerable but not likable.

I love the cover, how it's seductive yet dangerous with the swirls of red and the well dressed guy showing off his power, I even loved the summary, but the novel itself didn't quite do it for me. I will stick around for book two just to see the conclusion with Mia's brother, to see if there's any relationship progression, and I'm even a little curious of King's real name, but we'll see.