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Empty Kingdom #1

Coldhearted King

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I never planned to give my V-card to a gorgeous stranger I met at a bar.

But for once I didn't let myself overthink things. In the few hours we spent together, he managed to push me outside my comfort zone.

And I loved every second.

I never expected to see him again. Let alone sitting at the head of the boardroom table during my architectural firm's pitch to design his new hotel chain.

Turns out the man I spent one steamy night of passion with is Cole King, billionaire COO of the King Group. And unlike our previous encounter, when it comes to business, he’s as cold as ice.

Now I’m working for him, and it’s… challenging.

He’s arrogant, demanding, and seems to delight in pushing my buttons. But with every “one-on-one” meeting he insists we have, the memory of that night simmers between us.

I should never have agreed when he proposed a no-strings-attached arrangement, but I wanted to experience more of what he could give me.

I didn’t mean to trade my heart in return.

Now it’s too late.

Because no matter the warmth his touch brings, Cole is as icy in love as he is in business.

And I’m the one who’s going to get burned.

416 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 29, 2023

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L.M. Dalgleish

9 books584 followers

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5 stars
4,596 (43%)
4 stars
3,774 (35%)
3 stars
1,767 (16%)
2 stars
339 (3%)
1 star
109 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 541 reviews
Profile Image for Paula.
655 reviews16 followers
Read
July 1, 2023
Profile Image for Rachel ✧.
131 reviews5 followers
June 29, 2023
3.5 ⭐️ I WANT TATE’S BOOK AND I WANT IT NOW!!!!!
Profile Image for Messy.
124 reviews5 followers
Read
October 16, 2023
I’m so tired of reading about these billionaire manwh**es who f**ks everything with a hole, and then meets a FC that they becomes obsessed with only to ruin them in the end and for the FC to forgive them so easily when they come crawling back to them! It ruins the entire story!

So no, no and noooo! This was so disappointing! I felt like there was a good story there, only to be disappointed!

In the beginning of the book the MMCs brother told him that he should put a ring on his bootycalls finger. That basically set the tone for the entire book, and I already figured out that MMC and the bootycall would have to get married cause the bootycalls father was an investor to the brothers company, and he would pull out if he didn’t. And thats exactly what happened which ruined everything to me!

But against my better judgment I kept reading…

I feel like that FMC deserved so much better from this man. He was exactly as shitty as her Ex, considering her Ex cheated on her and the MMC chose another woman over her to save a company… WTF!

Can someone explain to me how books like this gets so high ratings? Cause this literally sucked!
41 reviews1 follower
March 3, 2024
Why do women always go back to the disrespectful men in these books? It’s getting really boring for me now. You can’t have a HEA when the MMC gets engaged to another woman while they’re still together. And publicly! It’s not like there isn’t any humiliation to get over! Weird
July 19, 2023
I'm here thanks to the booktok, as always.
I really don't know what to say, it wasn't a bad book, just one of the hundreds I've read so far, nothing special or different about it.
Profile Image for Bookstagrambrielle  (Brie).
292 reviews20 followers
November 7, 2023
This book took me by surprise. I was offered an early copy that I turned down because I'm not a fan of a virgin heroine. Now it's been months since the release and for reasons I can't explain, I decided it would be the book I read today and I'm kicking myself for not reading it sooner.

Everything I don't like about a heroine who is a virgin is the opposite of this heroine. She wasn't holding onto her v-card for a crazy reason, she isn't wishy washy, she isn't naive and she isn't submissive except for in the bedroom. She's smart and witty. She's determined and knows who she is. She grew up in a loving home with her single mother. They didn't have much but they had each other. Cole is her opposite in every way. He grew up in a wealthy but cold family, having the best of everything. He doesn't understand love because he has never experienced it, not even in his own family. He strives to gain more wealth, more control and more power. So when he has an unexpected draw towards Delilah, he doesn't understand it, he just knows he wants more of her. The more time he spends with her, the more he has these feelings that he doesn't know how to process. His growth in this story was impressive and it was so hard to hold those bad decisions he made against him. Delilah doesn't push him, even though she has fallen for him. She waits him out, hoping he feels the same way.

I really enjoyed everything about this story from the main characters to the side characters. I found the pace to be perfect, never feeling like I wanted to skim over any of it. I'm excited to find out which brother gets his story next.
Profile Image for kirsten .
153 reviews3 followers
October 20, 2023
sappy and cliche, but still cute. might go throw out my wine bottles due to things i’ll never be able to unread though
Profile Image for ♡Julalicious Book Paradise♡.
1,028 reviews70 followers
September 19, 2023
So… I will admit that I was on TikTok and saw the author promote her latest book and I caved and bought it. I was scared because I know sometimes a book sounds good on TikTok and you buy it and you are let down.

But for this one, I enjoyed my reading.

I liked the banter between Delilah and Cole and I liked their chemistry. It was far from perfect and most likely wouldn’t last in real life, but it’s a book and this author knew how to keep me reading more.

Do I think Delilah deserved better? Most probably, but I do like that she was independent and that it didn’t change drastically because of Cole. Did she give in when she shouldn’t have? Most probably too, but love make you do the crazy and rationality tends to take the backseat.

Cole seriously needed a dose of reality check more than once, but unlike some other brother, I felt like he was indeed trying to be better for Delilah. He also had a problem standing up to his brothers sometimes and more often those times ruined his somewhat relationship with Delilah.

So yeah, I did enjoy my reading. I read it in a day and I’m looking forward to the next book because I need to know what the other brothers will be up to. I feel like Tate’s book could be quite entertaining and I need Roman to really step up in his because this first book didn’t make me like him one bit.
Profile Image for Raine.
41 reviews
Read
September 25, 2023
I read this because I’m suffering from insomnia
Profile Image for Kavya .
239 reviews2 followers
August 5, 2023
Wow

I have never and I mean never been more annoyed reading a book. This book is so bad that I am literally angry writing this review, the h is so stupid, the author wrote her character pathetically. Please, there is so much more to a woman than a man, I liked that the author wrote her character about how much she had achieved at such a young age but then it went downhill, like the h didn't even hold a grudge!? And the H wasn't being held prisoner or being forced to make the choice he did right!? He agreed by himself. And after everything that happened to the h's mom, the reactions were bad and the forgiving was so damm easy. Hated this book, there are so many things I hated but if I start on them, I may not stop.
443 reviews8 followers
June 20, 2023
It been a while since I've read a billionaire romance, because quite frankly, I got bored of them. However, Cole and Delilahs story may have reignited my interest.

Having read and loved L M Dalgleishs rockstars, I was very much looking forward to reading Coldhearted King and it honestly did not disappoint.

The story is well thought out and written and all the characters are so easy to become entangled with I wanted to spend more time with them.

A brilliant book and I can't wait for more of the Empty Kingdon Series.

Highly recommend.
Profile Image for elle.
45 reviews4 followers
July 18, 2023
this book has one of the worst doormat FMCs i have ever read. i’m deeply confused by all of the reviews calling her smart and strong. the MMC treated her like shit with OWD and caused her to end their involvement MULTIPLE TIMES (i suppose he technically ended it the second time by getting engaged to his former fuck buddy despite the FMC begging him not to leave her) and she still folded and took him back almost immediately every time. the MMC using the FMC’s mom to manipulate the FMC into taking him back was also gross as hell. disappointing til the end (literally).
Profile Image for Aleid.
156 reviews5 followers
September 19, 2023
2.5 | How can they be so smart and so dumb at the same time…?
Profile Image for Jordina.
81 reviews3 followers
March 10, 2024
There is honestly nothing about this book that I didn't love other than the fact that it ended. And it was the CUTEST ending and the only {spoiler} I've ever enjoyed reading. The book was well paced and SPICY. I loved both characters SO much and their thought processes just felt so realistic and on point. I would love to have been able to read more of them!

Read in one sitting. That worth it!
Profile Image for my CHAOTIC BOOK CLOSET .
885 reviews989 followers
March 17, 2024
I absolutely love when I discover a new author! I make it a point to consistently read new authors and this is the reason why. Everything about this book is what I look for in my romance reads.
Cold, distant, powerful alpha hero. Strong, intelligent, and independent heroine.
A spicy slow burn love story where you can feel them falling in love. Cole tries to deny these new feelings. When he catches his guard coming down, he starts questioning himself and backs off. But our heroine isn’t meek and she steps back too. She’s not going to chase this man no matter how gorgeous and rich he is or how much he makes her heart flutter and stomach fill with butterflies.
This book gives those sexy, erotic, slow burn vibes BUT it’s good and spicy in all the right places.
Just finished Coldhearted King and instantly jumping into Reckless King.

“Well, here’s to having fun with a hot, hung billionaire.”
February 12, 2024
Please tell you’re going to write books for the brothers as well because I loved this one so much !! I want more 🤩🤩
Profile Image for Gigi.
93 reviews
March 17, 2024
honestly i think i turned my brain off so much reading this i don’t even know what happened
Profile Image for Vishous.
548 reviews572 followers
September 12, 2023
Mild 3*

Tired of being promised a cheating trope in dozens of reviews then finishing unsatisfied.
209 reviews2 followers
July 12, 2023
Okay so this one really surprised me. I genuinely liked the MFC and the MMC even though he was an asshole In the beginning. There was real character growth and the spice was 👌🏽. I also enjoyed the side characters, especially the younger brother Tate. Overall, really enjoyable read from start to finish and one that I can see myself re-read. of course it does have the typical third act breakup where the MMC fucks up but there was some really good grovelling.
Profile Image for allyh.
37 reviews
August 7, 2023
This book is everything you would expect of a 300-ish page billionaire romance book. It wasn't a half bad read, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I finished it in a day, but it was more bland than it was amazing. The first thing that bugged me was the constant fade to black scenes. Not only did this make the book super choppy, but there were alse huge chunks of time between scenes and this was not conveyed properly at all, so I found myself confused on what point in the story I was at. The writing was basic, and the smut scenes had me laughing at the descriptions more than feeling hot and heavy. The plot for this story is there, but very minimally, and I'm sure if I did the math it would be 85% smut 15% plot for this book (let's be honest who actually cares about the strategic corporate life of a billionaire?). I also HATED the complication at the 75% mark of the story and the "redemption arc". What a joke. The men in this book are trash and our girl Delilah deserved better. Anyway, it was a good enough read/palette cleanser between the novels I've been reading lately.
Profile Image for coffeeinlibraries.
373 reviews34 followers
August 11, 2023
3⭐️ 2🌶️

I liked this for the most part. I haven’t read a billionaire workplace romance in a while and forgot how they usually have the major drama part within the last 10% of the book.

Both characters were good, kinda typical though and didn’t really stand out too much. Cole didn’t believe in love, saw how his parents were but didn’t want to better himself in that aspect so he stuck to sleeping around and focusing on his life’s work, which is fine honestly.

Delilah was our incredibly smart and work driven lead female, wanting a better life for her mother. She was far too naive for the smarts she had though, like not believing Cole & Jessica had slept together previously.

This wasn’t awful and it kept my attention while I was reading it. I’m actually intrigued in which brother will be next.
Profile Image for Crystal.
27 reviews
November 1, 2023
Spicy, spicy! Although full of intense, let's just say it, smut, the characters and story were good and and intriguing. Delilah and Cole come from 2 completely different worlds but figure out how to make it work.
Profile Image for Amber.
244 reviews
August 24, 2023
Cold hearted King

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

I liked this book. I liked the characters and how they developed in this book
Displaying 1 - 30 of 541 reviews

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