Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Rise of the King by Emilia Finn Narrator: Dane Anderson, Audrey Obeyn
Series: Checkmate #5
Published by Brilliance Audio on February 24, 2026
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Length: 11 hours, 42 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible
Eighteen months ago, my world was tossed upside down amid horrified screams and merciless hellfire. I was thrown into the flames to burn alive, but now I stand on the other side, invincible, untouchable, and un-f*cking-beatable.
Today, the ID in my wallet says John D. Hamilton. It’s the name I go by, the name the beautiful brunette sitting alone in Ginnie’s diner knows me as.
I was an undercover cop, once. A decorated agent who slid from my throne and descended into a world of pain and darkness.
Then came Sophia Solomon, the light in my dark, the miracle who walks past my door and lends a little warmth in the dead of winter.Sophia‘s beauty steals the breath from my lungs. She draws me in just by existing, but she doesn’t know my secrets.
I wasn’t born with the first name John, but then again, I wasn’t born a cocaine addict either, but here we are and both are true.
He was supposed to be dead. She lives in the shadows pulling strings, she will make them all pay
Rise of the King is the fifth book of the Checkmate series. While you could start with this one and be mostly fine as much of the story is self contained, it would add to your enjoyment of the story if you had some experience in this world with these characters. Jay lost his life in one of the prior books. He is thought to be dead by everyone he cares about. Living in a different city under a different name, he has recovered from the gunshot wounds that should have killed him and he has one goal, kill the men who put a contract out on his brother. That is he had one goal, now he may have two after meeting his beautiful neighbor with secrets of her own.
Sophia isn’t looking for a man or any other complications in her life. She is just looking to make them pay and she will use any tool necessary to make that happen. Sophia is brilliant, capable and can be very hard core when needed. Jay now John D Hamilton is just the man she needs to get the job done. They have similar goals and the same enemy. They will need to work together to find the man at the top and make sure he can’t kill Jay’s brother or traffic young girls again.
Jay was a handful. He is crass, arrogant and kinda a jerk sometimes. He pushes all of Sophia’s buttons and then some but I loved how she handled him. A few of the twists I guessed, but the big surprises were very surprising and through me for a bit of a loop. I liked Jay and Sophia as a couple, they both call each other on their bullshit and really see the other person. There was just something about this book that dragged me in and I couldn’t wait to see how it would all play out with both the romance and the suspense.
I will say it got a little cheesy towards the end in a few places. Jay’s semi obsession with his brother was a bit over the top and a little funny. That said it was nice to see family sticking tightly together. Emilia Finn‘s characters are a little gritty and the men are definitely rough around the edges. They are also completely engaging and entertaining even if/when you want to hit them with a shoe.
This has been a good romantic suspense series with a good blend of character centered stories and sexy times that don’t start to overpower the book. Rise of the King ended in a good spot that doesn’t require you to continue on with the series or this book if it is the only one you have read.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None
Dane Anderson and Audrey Obeyn continue to dual narrate the series. I liked Dane‘s timber and his deep extremely masculine voice he chose for Jay. Dane did well with the male voices and I was able to tell all the characters apart. Audrey Obeyn also did a good job with her narration. She doesn’t have a lot of titles under her belt yet, but I think that will change. I liked how the narrators captured both the strength and vulnerabilities of the characters. I listened to the audio at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip:Â HERE
| Rating Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Plot |
 |
| Writing |
|
| Characters |
|
| Dialogue |
|
| Narration (Audio) |
|
| Overall: | |
Friend me at Goodreads.
- 🎧 Shadows of Legend by JDL Rosell @jdlrosell.bsky.social #PeterKenny #BrillianceAudio #KindleUnlimited #LoveAudiobooks @RobinBridgeFour - September 28, 2026
- 🎧 A Divided Duty by Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire.bsky.social @maryrobinettekowal.com @macmillanaudio.bsky.social #LoveAudiobooks @RobinBridgeFour @seananmcguire - September 25, 2026
- 🎧 The Fires of December by Brandon Sanderson @[email protected] #LoveAudiobooks@RobinBridgeFour @BrandSanderson - September 21, 2026
Wonderful review! You make it sound like a must-listen.
For me it was a win! Some people won’t like the MC cuz he is crass and gritty. But I thought that made Sophia’s interactions with him even more fun.
Sounds like it was good with just a few smaller issues. Great review!
I enjoyed it! The issues were small compared to how much I liked the romance.
Emilia Finn….the name sounds familiar.
This is the first series I’ve ever read by here…but seems like she has a couple of them.