Rina Kent Books in Order: Legacy of Gods, Royal Elite, Villain, Vipers & Every Duet (2026)
Rina Kent books in order is the most complicated reading list in dark romance: more than a dozen series, several duets that follow one couple across two or three books, and a shared universe where the Kings, Carsons, Volkovs and Sokolovs of her early books turn up again as the parents of Legacy of Gods. 2026 added two new MM books, Hunt the Villain in March and Tempting Venom in June, with Crave the Villain set for March 2027. Below is every Rina Kent series in reading order with a spoiler-free hook, which books are MM, where to start and the dark Fractal Enigma picks for when you need more.
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Rina Kent Books in Order: Where to Start
Start with God of Malice. It opens Legacy of Gods, her biggest series, and it’s the purest dose of Kent: a predatory hero, a heroine who runs, a university full of secret clubs and a chase that never lets up. If you want MM, start with God of Fury or Kiss the Villain. If you want to read the universe chronologically, start with Royal Elite and work forward.
Two things to know first. Kent’s duets and trilogies (Kingdom, Deception, Throne, Thorns, Lies & Truths, Monster) follow one couple across every book and end on cliffhangers, so buy the set. And she writes very dark: stalking, captivity, dubious and non-consent, violence. Her books carry content warnings for a reason. Heat is 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ across the catalog.
Legacy of Gods in Order
Six books, one couple each, set among the children of her earlier couples at an elite university with rival secret clubs. Each book can stand alone, but the cast overlaps heavily.
- God of Malice (July 2022): Glyndon King catches the attention of Killian Carson, a cold, manipulative predator, at the cliff where a friend died. She runs. He doesn’t stop.
- God of Pain (September 2022): mafia princess Annika Volkov falls for Creighton King, a silent, guarded underground fighter. Enemies to lovers as a contest of wills.
- God of Wrath (November 2022): Cecily Knight sneaks into the Heathens’ initiation and is caught by Jeremy Volkov, the club’s leader and heir to the Russian Bratva, who decides she’s his.
- God of Ruin (August 2023): Mia Sokolov wants revenge on Landon King, a genius artist, for hurting her brother. Landon decides she’s the newest piece in his game.
- God of Fury (December 2023, MM): Brandon King, the composed golden boy, is chased through a forest one night and catches the eye of Nikolai Sokolov, a volatile mafia heir who becomes fixated on breaking his control. The series’ MM book and one of her most popular. Our God of Fury reading order guide covers reading it alone, and books like God of Fury has the readalikes.
- God of War (June 2024): Ava Nash has hated Eli King for years. She wakes up in a hospital to find him claiming they’ve been married for two years, and she has no idea how.
The Villain Series in Order (MM)
A dark MM spinoff set in the Legacy of Gods world. Each book stands alone, though Kent recommends reading them in order.
- Kiss the Villain (March 20, 2025): Gareth Carson, law student and heir to the Carson empire, hides a darker side behind his golden-boy image. After one night of debauchery he’s caught by a man he calls a villain, who turns out to be Kayden Lockwood, his new criminal law professor.
- Hunt the Villain (March 24, 2026): Vaughn and Yulian Dimitriev are heirs to rival mafia organizations. Hatred turns into forbidden attraction, a tragedy sends them back to their separate worlds, and they get pulled together again anyway.
- Crave the Villain (March 23, 2027): the third Villain book, a dark MM enemies-to-lovers romance for Cyrus and Eduard/Jethro. Available to preorder; no full synopsis yet.
The Vipers Series in Order
Kent’s dark college hockey series: an elite team tied to a secret society. Two MF books and one MM.
- Beautiful Venom (May 27, 2025): after a brutal attack leaves her sister Violet fighting for her life, Dahlia Thorne goes after the people responsible. Her only lead is the Vipers, and she targets their captain, Kane Davenport, who is far more dangerous than she planned for.
- Sweet Venom (December 2, 2025): Violet witnesses a murder and stays silent. Hockey star Jude Callahan decides she has to pay for that silence, and his obsession doesn’t let her go.
- Tempting Venom (June 30, 2026, MM): self-destructive Preston Armstrong sets out to destroy Marcus Osborn, captain of a rival hockey team, and the rivalry turns into a volatile, addictive attraction.
Royal Elite in Order
Kent’s first big series, a dark bully romance set at Royal Elite School. Every King in Legacy of Gods traces back here. The series is now reissued in the UK by Penguin’s Evermore imprint.
- Cruel King (2019): the prequel, numbered 0.
- Deviant King (2019): Elsa Quinn is the new girl with gaps in her memory and one goal, her dream university. Aiden King, the school’s most powerful student, greets her with “I will destroy you.”
- Steel Princess (2019)
- Twisted Kingdom (2020)
- Black Knight (2020)
- Vicious Prince (2020): Teal Van Doren takes a marriage contract meant for someone else. Ronan Astor vows to ruin her; she plans to ruin him first.
- Ruthless Empire (2020)
- Royal Elite Epilogue (2020)
The Duets and Trilogies in Order
Each of these follows a single couple across every book. Read them as one long novel.
Lies & Truths Duet (2020)
- All the Lies: Reina Ellis wakes up in a hospital with amnesia. Her fiancé, Asher Carson, has three rules for her and wants her to pay for something she can’t remember. There was a fire. A dead girl. She was there.
- All the Truths
Kingdom Duet (2020)
- Rule of a Kingdom (prequel, 0.5)
- Reign of a King: Aurora declares war on Jonathan King, her dead sister’s powerful, ruthless husband, to protect her business. It costs her everything, and he sets his sights on her.
- Rise of a Queen
Deception Trilogy (2021)
- Dark Deception (prequel, 0.5)
- Vow of Deception: homeless Winter Cavanaugh is offered a choice between prison and posing as Lia, the late wife of feared mafia figure Adrian Volkov.
- Tempted by Deception
- Consumed by Deception
Throne Duet (2021)
- Throne of Power: Rai Sokolov, a woman holding her own in the Russian mafia, is forced into an arranged marriage with Kyle Hunter, the bodyguard who left her seven years ago and came back for revenge.
- Throne of Vengeance
Thorns Duet (2021)
- Yellow Thorns (prequel, 0.5)
- Red Thorns: star quarterback Sebastian Weaver makes a bet involving Naomi, the cheerleader who’s had a crush on him, and the bet becomes a disaster that turns dark and kinky.
- Black Thorns
Monster Trilogy (2023)
- Blood of My Monster: Sasha poses as a man in the Russian military to avenge her family’s massacre, and her path runs straight into Captain Kirill Morozov. “I’m out for revenge. He’s out to rule the world.”
- Lies of My Monster
- Heart of My Monster
The Empire Series and the Early Books
The Empire series (2021 to 2022) is four interconnected standalones in reading order: Empire of Desire, Empire of Sin, Empire of Hate and Empire of Lust. Empire of Desire is the one to start with: Gwyneth Shaw once kissed her father’s best friend, Nathaniel Weaver, eighteen years older, and he rejected her. Years later they’re forced into marriage.
Before Royal Elite, Kent published the Team Zero romantic suspense series (2019, starting with Lured) and The Rhodes (2019, Remorse and Ruin). They’re the least connected to the main universe and the easiest to skip.
All Rina Kent Series in Publication Order
- Team Zero and The Rhodes (2019)
- Royal Elite (2019 to 2020)
- Lies & Truths Duet (2020)
- Kingdom Duet (2020)
- Throne Duet (2021)
- Deception Trilogy (2021)
- Thorns Duet (2021)
- Empire series (2021 to 2022)
- Legacy of Gods (2022 to 2024)
- Monster Trilogy (2023)
- Kiss the Villain and Beautiful Venom (2025)
- Sweet Venom (2025)
- Hunt the Villain and Tempting Venom (2026)
- Crave the Villain (2027)
If you want the Legacy of Gods family tree to land, read Royal Elite, Lies & Truths, Throne and Deception before it. The surnames are the giveaway: Aiden King in Deviant King, Creighton, Eli and Landon King later; Asher Carson in All the Lies, Killian and Gareth Carson in Legacy of Gods and Kiss the Villain; Adrian Volkov in Vow of Deception, Annika and Jeremy Volkov in God of Pain and God of Wrath; Rai Sokolov in Throne of Power, Nikolai and Mia Sokolov in God of Fury and God of Ruin.
What’s Next for Rina Kent
Crave the Villain, the third Villain book, is listed for March 23, 2027, and is a dark MM romance. With Tempting Venom out in June 2026, the Vipers series stands at three books. We couldn’t find any announced film or TV adaptation of a Rina Kent series as of October 2026.
See Hunt the Villain on Amazon →
Read Next: Hotter Picks From Fractal Enigma
Kent readers want rival heirs, Bratva money, men who are dangerous to everyone except one person and a hockey team with a body count. These Fractal Enigma reads keep the darkness and the obsession, with a guaranteed happy ending and every scene on the page. Three are MM, one is MF. More on our dark MM romance list.
The Rival’s Ring — Rafe Calder
Rival heirs Finn O’Rourke and Maximo Alvarez put on rings to stop a war between their families. Six years ago they spent one night together in a boathouse that neither of them will name. Hunt the Villain’s rival mafia heirs, with a fake engagement and a second chance on top.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Fake Engagement, Rival Mafia Heirs, Enemies to Lovers, Marriage of Convenience, Second Chance, Possessive Heroes, Morally Grey × Morally Grey
Start reading The Rival’s Ring →
Pucking Around in Sin City — Chase Power
Wyatt “Wrecker” Callahan is the NHL’s most dangerous enforcer, traded to the Las Vegas Vipers as his last chance. The Bratva heir who owns the team puts him on a behavioral management agreement. Vipers-style hockey violence and a Bratva heir in the owner’s box, in one MM book.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Mafia Romance, Brat/Tamer, Power Exchange, Size Difference, Secret Relationship, He Falls First
Start reading Pucking Around in Sin City →
The Assassin’s Alibi — Rafe Calder
Mob lawyer Ezra Shaw fixes problems for the Marlow family and doesn’t ask questions. Then someone puts him in the same bar as a hitman, one night turns into a frame job, and the two of them have to stay alive together. Kiss the Villain’s law-school danger, grown up and on the run.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Hitman × Mob Lawyer, One-Night Stand to Lovers, Framed Together, Only One Bed, Enemies to Lovers, Touch Him and Die
Start reading The Assassin’s Alibi →
The Witness He Kept — Isla Wilde
Forensic accountant Sloane Mercer finds twelve identical payments of $275,000 buried in an audit. The fixer hired to erase her keeps her instead. A dark MF protector romance for readers who love Kent’s morally grey men with one exception.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Protector Romance, Morally Grey Hero, Fixer × Witness, Safehouse, Touch Her and Die, Control/Surrender
Start reading The Witness He Kept →
FAQ: Rina Kent Reading Order
Do you need to read Rina Kent’s books in order?
Within a duet or trilogy, yes, because they’re one story split across books. Legacy of Gods, Villain, Vipers and Empire can each be read as standalones, but reading the parents’ series first adds a lot of context.
Which Rina Kent book should I read first?
God of Malice for MF, God of Fury or Kiss the Villain for MM, Beautiful Venom if you want dark hockey.
Which Rina Kent books are MM?
God of Fury (Legacy of Gods 5), the entire Villain series (Kiss the Villain, Hunt the Villain, Crave the Villain) and Tempting Venom (Vipers 3).
How spicy and how dark are Rina Kent’s books?
Both at the top of the scale: 5 chilis and very dark, with stalking, captivity and consent issues on the page. Read the warnings. Our romance spice levels guide explains how heat and darkness differ. No adaptation of her books has been announced.
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