Review: Twisted Love (Twisted #1)

Twisted Love (Twisted #1)
By Ana Huang

Published By: Piatkus Books
Publication Date: April 21, 2021
Date Read: January 20, 2023
Genre: Adult – Contemporary Romance / Suspense
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 343

From Goodreads:
He has a heart of ice…but for her, he’d burn the world.

Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape.

Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.

But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:

A crack.
A melt.
A fire that could end his world as he knew it.

***

Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.

But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world…including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want.

Her brother’s best friend.
Her neighbor.
Her savior and her downfall.

Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen-but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both…and everything they hold dear.

Twisted Love is a brother’s best friend/opposites attract romance with a hint of suspense. It’s book one in the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.

“Are there awful people in the world? Yes. Do awful things happen? Yes. But wonderful people exist and wonderful things happen too, and if you focus too much on the negative, you miss all the positive.”

Twisted Love is not my usual type of read at all. In 2023 I am trying to branch out and read some books that are outside of my comfort zone, and when a good friend of mine recommended this one, I thought I would give it a go. I am really glad that I did because I really enjoyed it. That’s not to say it was perfect, there were a few things that I had issues with but overall this is a really gripping and entertaining read.

Twisted Love follows a typical antihero in the shape of Alex. He has a tortured past and he is known for having no emotions for anyone. The only thing he can focus on is getting revenge for what happened to his family. Until he starts to keep an eye out for his best friends sister, Ava. A girl with an equally tragic past. I actually really enjoyed both of these characters. It was very much grumpy vs sunshine as well, and I loved the fact that we have both our main characters having tragedy in their past, and them having dealt with it in very different ways. It was the perfect example of how trauma affects everyone differently and I really loved that.

This book is dark and a little bit spicy. I wasn’t crazy about the spicy scenes. I ended up skipping most of them. Not because they were really graphic, I actually think they were wrote really well and not all that cringy, which is quite an achievement in a spicy book. But for me, the fact that the characters call their significant other names like ‘whore’ and ‘slut’ during sex was a major nope for me. But by this point I was so in love with this story of revenge, I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen.

Twisted Love is a suspenseful story of love, revenge and healing. And I really, really enjoyed it! Considering I picked this one up expected not to like it at all… I am so glad that I read it. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series which is about Ava’s friend Bridget (who happens to be a princess) and her bodyguard. It’s a trope I typically adore, so I cannot wait! This was a really good read, so if you’re like me and think it might not be your thing, I still urge you to give it a try. It may surprise you.

“You are the light to my dark. Without you, I’m lost.”

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