A review by amateur_bookworm
King of Greed by Ana Huang

hopeful sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My summary: On the cusp of their ten year wedding anniversary, Dominic and Alessandra Davenport seem to have it all. The ambitious and gorgeous billionaire Dominic is the so-called King of Wall Street. The stunning and smart Alessandra has her wealthy husband, penthouse, and has started a thriving business of her own. Once college sweethearts, Alessandra now, however, feels like Dominic is married more to his work than to her. Tired of feeling neglected and unwanted, Alessandra leaves, but Dominic is devastated and determined to do anything to win her back.

My thoughts: 
I read this book in December 2023. I really enjoyed it and, overall, found it to be really sweet. Then I saw some audio snippets that Ana Huang posted from the audiobook and I just had 
 to listen to it. 

When I read the book, Alessandra's melancholy and Dominic's desperation punched me right in the feels. Ana Huang does a fantastic job of making you empathize with both Alessandra and Dominic throughout the story. My heart broke for both of them. 

Listening to it, though, was quite a different experience and I’m overall pretty fascinated by just how different it was for me. The audiobook made me feel like Alessandra was the selfish one and I felt terribly for Dominic. It came across that he was so hardworking for *their* future and she was just whiny and left him anyway and then rebuffed all his attempts at reconciliation. 

I struggled a bit with the narrators in this one. I think the way Alessandra’s character came across so differently in the audiobook is due to the female narrator’s intonation throughout it. I get that Alessandra’s character is quite melancholy through the entirety of the book, but she was just SO depressed sounding that listening to her was rough—especially since her portion is roughly half of the eight and a half hour audiobook. 

This has the same male narrator, Teddy Hamilton, as Rosie Danan’s The Roommate that I just listened to recently (as well as apparently a TON of other audiobooks). He comes across as, I don’t know, a little too California-surfer sounding to me to be a great fit as Dominic’s character. He’s not my favorite but he is definitely better than average for male narrators, so I did enjoy his narration. 

Also, Chapter 18 = still solid gold. 

Whether the book or audiobook, this is an overall good message for those of us that have to work a lot to remember that your job is your job but it’s important to put your marriage first. 
And even though, like Dominic, you may feel like you're one bad decision at work away from losing it all, it's more important to put family first. 
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