Ana HuangContemporary Romance · Romance·b. 1991
Twisted Love
Synopsis
Ava Chen is a warm, free-spirited photographer haunted by nightmares of a childhood she cannot fully remember. Alex Volkov is her older brother's best friend: ruthless, success-obsessed, and emotionally walled off by a tragic past that fuels his hunger for revenge.
When Alex becomes Ava's de facto protector, the cold distance he keeps gives way to a possessive, all-consuming pull that neither is supposed to act on. Their grumpy-sunshine, brother's-best-friend dynamic plays out against the darker currents of Alex's history and the secrets surrounding Ava's own.
The first book in the Twisted series, it introduces a tightly connected friend group whose members headline the books that follow, and it establishes the morally grey anti-hero that made Ana Huang a BookTok phenomenon.
How it reads
- Writing4.0
- Impact3.0
- Characters3.0
- Plot4.0
- Atmosphere4.0
Prose complexity 1/10
Spice level
4.0 avg spice
- Twisted love is the first book in the four book — twisted series by Ana Huang. I read the fourth book before the others, which was spoiled, because it had all the spoilers, so it is recommended that you read the books in order. Ana huang is a new to me author, i’ve read twisted lies, king of greed and twisted love is my next book of hers which i finished today. I loved this lighthearted romance book with a plot. There’ll be spoilers ahead. Story : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Plot : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Writing style : Ana’s writing is smooth, easy to read, beautifully written, descriptive, and fits the story. I love her writing now. MMC : Alex “my ava” volkov. (Man is just chefs kiss 🫠🥵) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ FMC : Ava chen / volkov — ⭐⭐⭐⭐ side characters : bridget and Rhys stood out to me, they have something, and their book is next, which makes everything interesting. Also the name is so captivating, Rhys larsen, mhmm. Josh is a good, protective brother, and i loved stella and Christian too. Story setting : college. Summary : Josh is leaving as a medical volunteer in Central America, so he needed someone to take care of ava — his sister, and of course, he tells alex to do that, the broddy, mr no emotions, stoic face agrees to it, because he’s a little bit attracted to her and also because josh is good at persuading him. Alex and ava spend time together which brings them closer, and she falls for him, only to be betrayed by him, and then he grovels, asks for her forgiveness, makes up for his mess and we have a happily ever after. (I did not include a very important part of the book, because it would just spoil literally everything). Dedicated to by the author : this book was dedicated to Ana’s mom, how beautiful it must be to have a supportive mother. Miss Ana, i’m proud of your work too. Pacing : fast. I read this book too quickly, i didn’t even know when I had read 24 chapters. Tropes : ✅ brother’s best friend. ✅ Acquaintances to lovers. (Since they knew each other, but didn’t speak much) ✅ Touch her and die. ✅ Possessive MMC. ✅ Obsessive MMC. ✅ Smutty. ✅ Side character’s shenanigans. ✅ Clever plotting. Type of romance : contemporary. What i loved : i loved alex since the starting, he took my heart, there is something about emotionally constipated, tortured men, they make me giggle and want to wrap them in love simultaneously. Ava was a sweetheart, literally. Alex’s nickname for her. I had read so much about this book through the Internet, that when Alex first called her sunshine hit me so good, I swooned, because I knew what he gave her that nickname. Ava really was his light in the darkness. Alex may have been blinded by revenge, and thought that he’d destroy beautiful things, but he was not a destroyer, he was beautiful, reserved, and calculated, and oh richhh as f•••. Man drives a black aston Martin, and has a house that could make everyone run so fast. Even after resigning from his CEO position, he still had enough money, enough to grovel, and ask for ava’s forgiveness. I love Alex volkov. Ava was a sweetheart, talkative, literal sunshine, bubby, i loved her, she was brave, facing her fears, moving forward in life, wanting to break alex’s cold heart and making him see that beautiful things existed and he did not destroyed them always like he believed. Jules was a good friend, and so were stella and bridget. Favourite parts/ highlights : - You want to f•••, we f•••. You want to date, we date. You want to call me your boyfriend, I’ll call you my girlfriend. But for now, let me take care of that needy little pussy of yours, hmm?” Periods sucked, but they were a useful weapon for shutting down questions from men. “Tell me who or what I need to kill,” I growled. “What happened at your father’s house?” (Alex’s possessiveness and protectiveness makes him so hott) I love this mannnn. He’s so beautiful with his reserved nature. Considering i love yoongiiiiiii of BTS. Is a part of a series : yes. Series name : twisted. Series order number : 1 of 4. Plot or character driven : plot. Loveable characters : yes. Strong character development : yes. Flaws of characters a main focus : yes. Interconnected/ or standalone : interconnected standalone. Recs similar to this book : if you love a broody, silent hero, who doesn’t speak much, but love it with a little more darkness, then god of pain, book two in the legacy of gods series by rina kent may take your interest. Final thoughts : Alex and ava have my heart. The blue cover of the discreet version symbolizes alex’s heart, cold, ice like, and ava being the one who melts him, his light in this dark, cold world. I loved another Ana Huang book, and i can’t wait to read more of her books. She’s quickly becoming one of my favourite authors.
- Une étoile car c'était impossible de mettre moins. Alors comment dire... Ça fait un an que j'ai lu ce livre et je ne m'en suis toujours pas remise. Pas dans le bon sens du terme. Passons rapidement sur l'histoire qui était complètement irréaliste, la romance qui n'en était pas une (je suis désolée mais je refuse CATÉGORIQUEMENT de considérer ça comme une histoire d'amour.) et sur le langage complètement grossier qui est employé majoritairement par le protagoniste masculin (Oui Alex Volkov mais je vais en reparler)... Déjà commençons par les bases : Ava est hyper sexualisée par Alex, on dirait qu'il ne la considère que comme un objet sexuel et franchement on a pas besoin que ce genre de représentation soit autant mise en avant, je veux dire, c'est complètement possible d'écrire le désir sans que ça tourne en une objectification total de la personne en face. Il a littéralement AUCUN respect pour les femmes et encore moins pour Ava. Les scènes X étaient omniprésentes, jamais dans le respect, et jamais faites de façon saines. C'était toujours dans la violence. Je pense que ce genre de livre banalise énormément les comportements toxiques et les relations toxiques en générale, et je pense que c'est très dangeureux étant donné que le livre à été marketé sur tiktok (ou il y a énormément de jeune lecteur.ices). On sait tous.tes qu'énorment de jeunes ado l'ont lu et je trouve ça super grave en vrai. De plus, j'ai detesté les dynamiques qu'il y avait entre les différents personnages, que ce soit la possessivité maladive d'Alex (qui est un ÉNORME cliché à lui tout seul, je veux dire, il est super riche, super beau et c'est un super c••••••, mais attention il a un passé SOMBRE TRÈS SOMBRE donc ça excuse tout I guess?), l'inquiétude maladive de Josh envers sa soeur qui est totalement injustifiée, je veux dire elle a 22 ans! C'est une adulte à la base. C'est vrai qu'elle ne se comporte pas DU TOUT comme t-elle mais il a aucune raison valable de se comporter ainsi, Je trouve aussi que Jules, Bridget et Stella ne sont pas de super amies car soyons honnête, si demain ma meilleure amie commence a avoir des vues sur un mec comme ALEX je vous jure que moi vivante jamais je la pousserait vers lui. Elles se rendent même pas compte de la toxicité du gars ou quoi ??? Le livre était complètement toxique. L'histoire était tirée par les cheveux, et je pense que je vais tuer la prochaine personne que j'entends dire : "Alex Volkov, mon combat" "Alex Volkov mon bookboyfriend" OU PIRE "Je veux un mec comme Alex Volkov" Si c'est ÇA vos critères je comprends pourquoi le monde va mal. Les mecs comme lui faut les FUIR, pas seulement à pied mais en VTT c'est pas possible autrement. (J'ai réussi à faire un avis sans spoil je suis fière de moi!) Enfin brefffff, bonne journée à vous ❤
- What a silly book! Apparently the hero is an alpha Alpha male. It was laid on so thick, it just became silly. Too much eye rolling from me. Too over the top for me. He was the best at everything! So silly I couldn't get into it. Him being ALPHA, her being sweet, the plot twists, the betrayal. Felt like a soap opera. Girl, you can do better!! This dude needs to chill. Not interested in the following books.
- <div>MY MAN MY MAN MY MANNN. Ana got a fan in me with this one, loved every moment of this really, although didn't have to bring out the microphone, no baby put it down, have to ignore that whole section cause absolutely not </div>
- I liked it especially the middle chapters It is suspenseful and has a murder mystery But the ending was kind of rushed Hoping for the better in the next book tho
- I enjoyed reading. It definitely have some questionable scenes ... But over all it was good. I'll read the rest of the series for sure.
- <div>Insta love!!! Nope, not for me</div>
- משעמם, הכוכב זה בשביל הטוויסט, אבל משעמם
- 3.5 ⭐️
- Dnf
- Dnf