Twisted Love by Ana Huang

Intro

Twisted Love is about a girl named Ava Chen who is free-spirited, ambitious, bubbly, and never lets anything ruin her endless amount of energy and the smile on her face- on the outside. On the inside, she is traumatized from a past she doesn’t remember except for fragments of memories: miraculously surviving her mother’s attempt to drown her, feeling like she could never be good enough for her father, constantly blaming herself for her mother’s overdose, and for as long as she can remember being absolutely terrified of going anywhere near water. She is full of joy and innocence, and nothing could possibly change her happy personality- except for her older brother’s best friend Alex.

Alex Volkov is the exact opposite of Ava: serious, a scary level of intimidating, unfeeling, and carefully manipulative in a way that anyone will automatically listen to him and do what he wants. What he doesn’t tell people is that he watched his family get murdered right in front of his eyes. No one will ever know, because he puts up a wall that makes it impossible to tell his true emotions. Nothing can change that. Definitely not Ava. Also, Alex and Ava despise each other. Even though Alex has known Ava since she was little thanks to him being best friends with Ava’s older brother Josh, they’ve never gotten along. The one thing Ava absolutely cannot stand about Alex: how incredibly GORGEOUS he is. It makes her super irritated since she has every single reason to hate him: he always avoided her when she was little and would try to talk to him, they have never had a non-awkward encounter, and especially since he is Josh’s best friend, which means Ava ABSOLUTELY CANNOT like Alex.

So when Josh gets a work offer to travel the world for an entire year, he wants someone to look after Ava and protect her while he is gone since he has always been the one to look after her. And of course he picks his best friend, the one person Ava would do literally anything to avoid. It’s not just her: Alex has never had a positive interaction with his best friend’s little sister. But he would do anything for Josh, so he agrees to look after Ava for a year. The only problem: he can’t stop thinking about her in ways that you are absolutely NOT supposed to think about the little sister of your best friend. He hates himself for it, and yet he can’t stop. What he doesn’t know: Ava is thinking the exact same thing about him. For a whole year they are living next to each other and they make a deal: they are neighbors, that’s it. Outside of their living arrangement, they never have to see or speak to each other. Alex is only there under Josh’s instructions to make sure Ava doesn’t do anything stupid. When their arrangement starts, something changes. They both hate each other, and yet they can’t stay away from each other. It doesn’t make sense. They are complete opposites. But doesn’t everyone know that opposites attract?

How I came across the book

I bought Twisted Love at a Barnes and Noble because it looked interesting, but it sat untouched on my bookshelf until I chose to bring with me on a spring break trip to try and get out of my too-long reading slump.

Other books by the author/In the series

Twisted Love is the first book in a four book series called the Twisted Series, along with Twisted Games, Twisted Hate, and Twisted Lies. Ana Huang also has a  series called Kings of Sin, which I have currently not read but is on my never-ending TBR.

WARNING!!!!!!!! THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS HAVE INTENSE SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS STOP READING THIS REVIEW!!!!!!!!

The Good

• In the opening part where Ava is waiting in the rain so Josh tells Alex to pick her up and when Ava gets into Alex’s car she is just secretly observing how attractive he is, and the writing that Ana Huang uses to describe Alex’s physical features is so incredibly descriptive that immediately made me want to learn more about their dynamic since Ava is simultaneously describing how much she hates Alex

• the enemies to lovers introduction tension in the first chapter is rly good and it hooked me wanting to read more only 4 pages in so i knew it was gonna be interesting

• i loved the conversation between Josh and Alex about Alex watching over Ava because he clearly doesn’t want to but he’s so drawn to her that he cant say no

• HOW ALEX CALLS AVA SUNSHINE IN A THREATENING WAY AND ALSO IN A COMFORTING WAY AND ALSO IN A SEXY WAY AND THE WAY HE SAYS IT IS ALWAYS SO POWERFUL BC SHE IS JUST FULL OF SUNSHINE

• Even though they hate each other there is sooooo much sexual tension but they both (unfortunately) try to deny it but that just makes them want each other more since they can’t outright have each other

• i thought the cupcake part was rly sweet bc she makes cupcakes for him as a welcoming gift and he acts all like he doesn’t want it but then once she leaves he is obsessed with red velvet BECAUSE IT IS HER FAVORITE FLAVOR

• the fact that their trauma and backstories are shown adds a lot to both their characters and how they bond over that is rly powerful

• DURING ALEX’S BIRTHDAY PARTY WHEN THEY ARE IN THE KITCHEN THEY START MAKING OUT WHILE DOING THE DISHES BC THEY JUST CAN’T TAKE THE TENSION THEY HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET AROUND FOR SO LONG ANYMORE

• When Ava discovers that Alex had been lying to her the whole time throughout their relationship and AND SHE ASKS WAS ANY OF IT REAL I CANT

• WHEN THEY ARE HOOKING UP AND HE GETS A CALL AND SHES LIKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING BUT HE SAYS DON’T MOVE THIS IS AN IMPORTANT CALL BUT IT IS MID-HOOK UP

• WHEN THEY BREAK UP BC OF WHAT ALEX DID BUT HE MISSED HER SO MUCH THAT HE TRAVELS TO LONDON AND WALKS HER HOME FROM HER JOB FOR A WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR TO GET HER FORGIVENESS BACK AND A SECOND CHANCE BC HE WOULD GIVE HER ALL THE TIME SHE NEEDS

• WHEN ALEX DISCOVERS AVA BY HER LAKE HOUSE CRYING BECAUSE SHE IS TOO TRAUMATIZED TO BE NEAR WATER AND HE ASKS WHO DID THIS TO YOU

• BROTHERS BEST FRIEND TROPE PLUS WHO DID THIS TO YOU TROPE

• HOW ALEX BEATS UP AVA’S EX WHEN HE ASSAULTS HER AFTER SHE TELLS HIM TO STOP AND SHE DOESN’T WANT HIM ANYMORE BECAUSE HE CHEATED ON HER AND ALEX THREATENS HIM TO NEVER TALK TO AVA AGAIN

The Bad

• WHEN ALEX REVEALS TO AVA THAT HER FATHER MICHAEL CHEN HAD BEEN THE ONE TO KILL HIS PARENTS BECAUSE THEY WERE BUSINESS RIVALS AND HATED EACH OTHER

• THE PLOT TWIST WHEN IT IS REVEALED THAT THE ONLY REASON JOSH AND ALEX WERE FRIENDS IS BECAUSE ALEX PAID TO BE ASSIGNED JOSH’S COLLEGE ROOMMATE AND GOT HIS SYMPATHY BY SAYING HIS PARENTS WERE DEAD, BUT ONCE HE WAS INVITED TO CHEN FAMILY HOLIDAYS HE WAS ABLE TO GET HIS REVENGE AGAINST MICHAEL CHEN FOR MURDERING HIS PARENTS BY SNOOPING THROUGH HIS FILES WHEN EVERYONE WAS ASLEEP AND WITHDRAWING MONEY WHICH IS WHY MICHAEL’S BUSINESS HAD SUFFERED SO MUCH OVER TIME AND HE WAS ONLY DATING AVA TO FURTHER HIS PLAN AND TO HAVE MORE INSIDE ACCESS AND DESTROY MICHAEL CHEN FROM THE INSIDE, AND THE REASON WHY HE HAD ASKED TO LIVE IN JOSH’S HOUSE IS SO HE COULD HAVE MORE ACCESS TO MICHAEL’S FILES AND LEARN MORE INFORMATION

• THE EVEN BIGGER PLOT TWIST WHEN ALEX FINDS OUT THAT HIS UNCLE WAS THE ONE TO KILL HIS PARENTS NOT MICHAEL ALL BECAUSE ALEX’S MOM HAD REJECTED HIS UNCLE AND CHOSE HIS DAD INSTEAD

• THE FLASHBACK OF WHEN MICHAEL TRIES TO SUFFOCATE AVA IN HER NIGHTMARES

• THE REVEAL THAT AVA’S FATHER TRIED TO DROWN HER NOT HER MOTHER BECAUSE HE WASN’T HER BIOLOGICAL FATHER AND ALWAYS HATED HER

• WHEN JOSH BEATS UP ALEX AFTER FINDING OUT HIS BEST FRIEND LIED TO HIM AND HE BROKE HIS SISTER’S HEART

Who else would like this

Enemies to lovers fans that are obsessed with the brother’s best friend trope, addicted to men who would do anything for their women and who love DESCRIPTIVE smut

Rating: 10/10 The best book I’ve ever read this got me out of my reading slump that I thought no book would get me out of