Twisted Love (Twisted #1) by Ana Huang

ABOUT THE BOOK

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.

MY REVIEW

I discovered Ana Huang last year with her captivating If Love series (see If Ever We Meet Again and If the Sun Never Sets). Her characters are intriguing and complex with painful backgrounds and even more painful secrets. Twisted Love is much darker than her other series, but not any less engaging. If anything, it is even more compelling with hints of suspense, murder, and happily-ever-after (with quite a bit of well-deserved groveling at the end).

Consider it a lesson for the future. Pretty words and pretty faces don’t equal pretty souls.

What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. That’s rich coming from the king of deception and revenge. The cursed boy genius. Ava is the light to his darkness. But he will destroy her and his best friend with his secrets. What’s left after vengeance? Emptiness…guilt.

Why was it always me? What about me made me so damn unlovable? So gullible?

All she knew about Alex growing up was that he was an unfeeling robot with a high IQ who was her brother Josh’s best friend. Talk about opposites. Josh is the outgoing, friendly type. Alex is the brooding, menacing type. So when her brother asked Alex to “babysit” her while he was out of the country, she had no idea how to talk to him. So, she killed him with kindness. Cookies, movies, jokes. Then she saw the kind, patient man behind the beast who patiently helped her get over her phobia of swimming after her horrific brush with almost drowning as a child. But…..then he broke her. He lied to her. He took her light and left her with darkness.

I always love a great brother’s best friend/beauty and the beast story with dark undertones. As I mentioned before Ms. Huang creates enduring characters filled with vulnerability and strength who will break your heart as well as lift you up. Yes, Alex is a little morally inept as well as emotionally immature, but he knows what he wants and he wants Ava no matter what he has to do to prove his love for her. Let’s say his declaration at Ava’s London art showing is one of my all-time favorite grand gestures from a desperate bad boy to the love of his life. I admire Ava’s strength and tenacity to hang on to her convictions as long as she can to make Alex warrant a reason for her to let him back into her life. 

The story wouldn’t be complete without Ava’s brother, Josh, and her friends, Jules, Bridget, and Stella. I can’t wait to read about Bridget and Rhys, her bodyguard, Josh and Jules (I hope, I hope), and Stella and her Instagram stalker.

I recommend this twisted and sexy interracial romance with an upbeat and lovable heroine and a grumpy, brooding hero with a soft spot only for the heroine and a vengeful streak a mile long.

Thank you to Ms. Huang for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review.

Twisted Series

   1. Twisted Love (2021)
   2. Twisted Games (2021)
   3. Twisted Hate (2022)
   4. Twisted Lies (2022)

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EXCERPT

Something smelled delicious, like spice and heat. I wanted to wrap it around me like a blanket.

I snuggled closer to the source, enjoying the strong, solid warmth beneath my cheek. I didn’t want to wake up, but I’d promised Bridget I would volunteer at a local pet shelter with her this morning, before my afternoon shift at the gallery.  

I allowed myself one more minute of coziness—had my bed always been this big and soft—before I opened my eyes and yawned. 

Weird. My room looked different. No photograph prints papering the walls, no vase of sunflowers by the bed. And did my bed just move by itself?

My eyes latched onto the broad expanse of bare skin beneath me, and my stomach dropped. I looked up, up—straight into a pair of familiar green eyes. Eyes that stared back at me with no hint of the humor from last night. 

He flicked his gaze down. I followed it…and realized, to my abject horror, that I was touching Alex Volkov’s dick. Unintentionally, and he had on sweats, but still.

I. Was. Touching. Alex. Volkov’s. Dick.

And it was hard.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ana Huang is an author of primarily steamy New Adult and contemporary romance. Her books contain diverse characters and emotional, sometimes twisty roads toward HEAs (with plenty of banter and spice sprinkled in). Besides reading and writing, Ana loves traveling, is obsessed with hot chocolate, and has multiple relationships with fictional boyfriends.

Follow Ana on her Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Facebook Group, and Bookbub.