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59 pages 1 hour read

Ana Huang

King of Sloth

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024

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Background

Author Context: Ana Huang

Originally self-published, Ana Huang is a prolific romance author who quickly gained prominence on “BookTok” on TikTok in 2022 with the release of her Twisted series, which follows four female friends and their dramatic romances with wealthy businessmen. Though Huang dabbles in various subgenres of romance, she is best known for her dark and spicy romances. Key components of most of her works include morally gray male love interests, dangerous or criminal subplots, and explicit sexual content. She also focuses on crafting stories that are dedicated to inclusivity and diversity. As an Asian American, Huang makes it a point to feature Asian American characters throughout her novels, such as Kai Young from King of Wrath and Josh Chen from Twisted Hate.

Huang’s rise to massive popularity began on TikTok when her Twisted series became a viral phenomenon. The immense popularity of her book gained the attention of Bloom Books, an imprint of Sourcebooks, which traditionally republished her Twisted series and has continued to publish her new releases since 2022. Huang’s published works include the If Love quartet—If We Ever Meet Again (2020), If the Sun Never Sets (2020), If Love Had a Price (2020), and If We Were Perfect (2020). She has also penned the Twisted quartet and the Kings of Sin series, which will eventually include a total of seven installments: one for each of the traditional “seven deadly sins.”  Thus far, Ana’s Twisted and Kings of Sin series have proven to be somewhat intertwined, with many love interests making cameos in various cross-series novels. Huang also ventured into the sports romance subgenre with the release of The Striker in 2024.

Series Context: Kings of Sin

Set in the same world as the Twisted series, the Kings of Sin series features brief crossovers with various characters and locations from other novels. While the Twisted series focuses on four female friends and their respective male love interests, Kings of Sin turns the primary focus to a group of seven men who each engage in one of the seven deadly sins: wrath, pride, greed, sloth, envy, gluttony, and lust. Both the Twisted and Kings of Sin series conform to the conventions of the billionaire romance subgenre, with the male protagonists existing in a rarified world of extensive wealth and extreme privilege.

While King of Sloth is not as trope focused as other works of Huang’s, she does subtly evoke the enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract, and workplace romance tropes, which are also seen in popular romance titles such as The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas, and The Devious Husband by Catherina Maura. King of Sloth also contains many cameo appearances of characters who are more prominently featured in other installments and series, and this tactic serves as an understated advertising technique to raise interest in her many other titles. The fifth installment in the series, King of Envy, is scheduled for release in 2025.

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