The Bully

Kingmakers

By: Sophie Lark

Narrated by: Gregory Salinas, Lilly Drake, Antonio Turner

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 Best Seller Romantic Suspense

#14 in the Kindle Store

I know her secret….

Cat is in so much trouble. She did something bad, and I saw.

I’ll keep her secret...for a price.

Poor, sweet, timid Cat should never have come to Kingmakers. It’s a place for monsters and killers. People like me.

She wandered into the lion’s den and now she’s mine.

Mine to play with. Mine to torment. Mine to break....

The Lark Notes:

My very first inspiration for Kingmakers was Dean Yenin. I wanted to write a true antihero who would need to undergo a very serious change in his character to complete his redemption arc. Dean will make you feel all the things, sometimes against your will. You’ll love him and hate him and love him again, and never get him out of your head.—Sophie

The Bully is a stand-alone novel. It's the third installment in the epic dark mafia Kingmakers series—a bully romance, full of dark, twisted enemies-to-lovers conflict. Listener beware, this one is intense.

©2021 Sophie Lark (P)2024 Sophie Lark

Dean🤤

Being the third book in the Kingmakers series I was surprised that the storyline got even more interesting! This is my favorite one so far! After reading the first two books I was surprised that Dean become my favorite male so far! The narrators did an amazing job… Dean‘s voice was especially a pleasure. I’m excited to start The Spy :) Thank you Sophie!

excellent!!!

worth the credit.

This was my favorite so far because of Dean's growth through out the book.

Narrators were excellent! it was a dual narration but it did not take away from the book.

I highly recommend the whole series!

The Bully

The Bully is the third book in the Kingmakers series. This book is told from dual points of view from Cat and Dean.

Cat has a secret, and Dean knows what it is. Therefore she must do whatever he says. Dean decides she's going to be his slave for a month. However, as he's telling her what to do feelings start to develop. What happens between the two when the month is up? Will Dean want to be with Cat? Or will he toss her to the side?

What happens when Cat's secret is threatened to get out? What happens when Cat finds out a secret about someone in Dean's past? How will he handle it?

Will Cat and Dean get the happy ending? Or will things pull them apart for good?

The Bully

This is the third book in the Kingmakers series. I was desperate for this book after reading The Rebel. I couldn’t wait to hear Dean and Cat’s story. I knew that there would be high tension and even more steam. I love their connection so much! This book is HOTTT!! I know have no clue who The Spy is at all. I can’t wait! Lilly Drake, Gregory Salinas, and Antonio Turner did an absolutely phenomenal job narrating this book.

One of the best audiobooks ever!!

I loved, loved, loved this audiobook. It’s one of the best I have ever listened too. The narrators did a fantastic job. I loved both voices. This is a beautifully written story full of anger, passion and love. I don’t want to spoil this amazing book just know that I felt every emotion while listening to this story. Dean and Cat have amazing passion that oozes across the pages. This is the best book Sophie Lark has ever written! Start this series now!!!!

Who knew Dean could be redeemed and loved???

Holy sh!t!!!! I knew Sophie Lark was a great writer but I was skeptical that Dean could not only be redeemed, but loved!!
Cat is possibly the only one who could've wormed her way into his cold heart and make it beat for her!

Narration by the seggsy Gregory Salinas and the insanely talented Lilly Drake, with cameo by Antonio Turner who is new to me!

I have to put this out there for anyone hesitant to try new narrators: Sophie Lark has never let me down with her choices to voice her characters. it's almost as if she's picked the narrators for each character before she writes the book.
Any time I have the chance to ALC her books I jump on it.

This book will convince you to love and cheer on Dean and root for not only his and Cat's HEA but for his own HEA!

I loved how this book ended and there's some intrigue that will leave you wanted the next book. The Spy!!

Loved Cat & Dean

Wow! So this was the first book in this series that I listened to... I think I need to go back and start with The Heir! Even though there were things mentioned from previous books, it was still pretty easy to pick it all up. Dean and Cat are total 🔥🔥🔥. I really enjoyed the suspense that was involved with some of the things that happened..... and Dean totally made me swoon a time or 2. And I really enjoyed the story!

The narration was a bit slow for me. It is the first time that I have had to speed up the book. But still I would recommend this book and I am eager to get to the others in the series!


Story 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Spice 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Swoon 😍😍😍
Angst 💔💔💔💔
Narration 👏👏👏

Dean 😍

Love all of the men in both series, but there was just something about Dean 😍 and the ending wow brought tears to my eyes but in a good way 😁

My favorite book of the series but this audible was not it……

I had the fortune of reading this book prior to listening to it. Bc of that fact, I was able to fall in love with Dean and completely stan this couple. I love to listen to books I consider faves to experience them in different ways, to see them come to life. This has only backfired on me 2-3 times, this was one of those times. If you listen to this book before reading it and find you don’t like it, try it out in book format before making a final decision.

The female narrator was phenomenal, I’m not sure if I’ve listened to her before but I know I will remember her for the future. The male narrator for Dean? He was dangerously close to ruining the character for me. I’m not sure if he was trying to make himself sound more smexy or force a deeper tone or what BUT my best description of him was an overly-dramatized Disney villain. It was painful listening to him, I had a semi-perm cringe on my face throughout his chapters. Many times I had to push through bc I knew the story itself was amazing and that Dean had so much growth in this book. But this is maybe the first time in my audible history that I actually preferred the females version of the male lead over the male cast to narrate for him. I’m going to listen to something else of his to see if it was a one off or not, bc the overall tone of his voice when he wasn’t overdoing it was kinda soothing.

Do I recommend the audible? I hate to say it bc the female narration was *chef’s kiss* but no I do not. The book though? Pick that up and read this story instead.

The spice lies more on the D/s side of things, there is definite growth for both characters and despite how you may feel about Dean in previous books I promise he more than redeems himself in this one.

The Narrators Were Excellent!

When I finish reading a book, I don’t want to start reading it again right away. I usually wait a few years, but with this book, I wanted to start it all over so I could relive the experience.

I have been on Team Dean since the very first book of the series. For one thing, I have a fascination with Russians, but there was just something about him that I was attracted to despite him being ruthless. In the second chapter of The Heir you learn his backstory and it breaks your heart. I understand his need for cleanliness and his OCD. You also understand his anger. This is a person who is starved for love and did not know how to reciprocate it. He felt unwanted and unworthy of it.

Then there is Cat. I just loved her. I loved the moment she realized she didn’t have to be a pushover. I loved her willingness to be owned by Dean as a slave for a month. She took it like a trouper. The chemistry between them is palpable and it was easy to get excited when they finally realized that they loved each other. Dean’s awkwardness around her after he realized he cared about Cat was adorable.

This book was steamy, passionate, heart-breaking, and beautiful. Snow was a perfect mentor because he saw something in Dean that no other teacher could or would see in him. That’s a true teacher. I won’t go into details but the relationship that they build is just special. It’s almost as if Dean finally had the father that he wished Adrian would have been to him.

The character development in both characters as they grew to realize that they loved each other to the point of willing to give up their life was not only admirable, but also when they realized they were worthy of it was just an exhilarating breakthrough. You finally knew these two wounded, but delightful characters were going to get their happily-ever-after.

It’s not only the relationship that Dean built with Cat, but it was also the fact that he realized the people he hated were not so bad after all. Just like Snow, she saw the good in him, which made his “enemies” see it too.

This is a story of forgiveness and unconditional love. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful. Sophie not only writes an incredible story, but she brings us into this world of imagination. I picture everything. I picture of the Bell Tower. I picture the dorms. I picture the games. I could picture them sitting at lunch at the table together, and I wanted to be at that lunch table with them. She not only gives us a history lesson about all the different mafia groups, but you also learn a lot of new vocabulary when reading her books. I often have to look up words in the dictionary, which is the reason why it takes me longer to read her books than any other authors. 🤣

While I am not so into the kind of physical relationship the two of them had together, or the F bombs, I still loved this book. Sophie warned us that it was going to be wild. It was not only wild, it leaves you wanting to be kind to those you meet, especially the ones who act like they don’t care. You realize that bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping that the other person dies. Forgiveness is the key.

Sophie, you outdid yourself again!