Friends and Enemies

I’ll admit: I rolled my eyes at first. *Another* Regency romance? But *Friends and Enemies* disarmed me within chapters. King’s writing has this delicious, almost *dangerous* wit—think Jane Austen if she’d been allowed to write R-rated asides. The plot hinges on a friendship between two women from wildly different stations, and their dynamic is the heart of the book. No insta-love here; the romance simmers in the background while the real tension comes from social maneuvering and the cost of loyalty. I loved how the villain isn’t a mustache-twirling caricature but someone whose motives make horrifying sense. Now, the narration: Zimmerman is *excellent*, but her delivery of the male leads occasionally falters. One love interest’s voice veers too close to ‘gruff hero’ cliché, which undercuts his complexity. That said, her handling of the female characters—especially the sharp-tongued, morally ambiguous Lady Whitford—is phenomenal. The audiobook’s pacing drags slightly in the middle during a subplot about a lost heirloom (a trope that feels tired even in this fresh setting), but the final act’s confrontation is worth the wait. If you’re exhausted by saccharine historical romances but still want the gowns and gossip, this is the antidote. Just don’t expect a tidy happily-ever-after—this book earns its ending.