Reviews with content warning for Murder - Twisted Love

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Twisted Love by Ana Huang

662 reviews

i_ashby's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Twisted Love is a fun, quick read for anyone who loves a dark romance.
The book has the grumpy/sunshine trope and a morally grey MMC (though I think he is far beyond morally grey which made it hard for me to root for him to be with Ava (FMC) at times, since she is so lovable and bright). The plot was outlandish at times, but it was fun to read. I loved the dual POV to get insight into Alex's (MMC) true thoughts, and there were scenes that made me laugh out loud, whilst other scenes gave me all the feels.
A fun read for anyone into dark romance and typical romance tropes. Anyone looking for an innocent romance, this is most likely NOT for you. The book contains a lot of sexual content not suitable for younger readers, as well as scenes containing violence and murder.

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amandaevans's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

this book is genuinely concerning lol - for those of you out there that have read it and LOVED it like gave it 5 stars, are you ok? like actually, are you ok?

overall the plot was interesting and I liked the supporting characters (Ava’s friends Bridget and Stella seem interesting to me, Jules or otherwise oddly referred to as Jessica Rabbit in the book — eh, she kinda fell flat for me). HOWEVER, Ava (female main character) seems far to sunshiny and rainbows following her every move for the literal world shattering trauma she has experienced. Like girl… let’s maybe take a second to go to THERAPY and feel our feelings instead of never having a problem with anyone or anything that should be a problem. Otherwise she had the potential to be a great main character, troubled home life, artsy, confident, kind, etc. But it felt like the author was trying way to hard to make her this happy-go-lucky character for the experiences Ava has had. Like miss girl literally had no memories of her childhood before age nine and is just okay with that? Seems a little odd.

Don’t even get me started on Alex. Our male main character is a walking red flag. He should legally be required to carry one because holy ****. And I’m CONCERNED because we are supposed to like this man? PASS. Everything about him gave me the ICK a hundred times over, and the spicy scenes that should’ve been interesting and well.. entertaining, made me giggle and made me actually uncomfortable. Like this man who Ava is supposed to be in love with should actually be committed. And I can get behind a dark romance with spicy scenes if they contribute to the story line but this guys only personality trait is that he is dark and brooding and incredibly violent? The sex scenes all felt very random and unnecessary and I still don’t really know how Ava and Alex ended up together in the first place.

I think this book had the potential to be great but yikes… if you genuinely love this book and this male main character, do everyone a favor and 1) go to therapy, and 2) value and love yourself and do not let a man walk all over you like this. Thank you, I love u bye

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Look, I knew what I wanted when I picked this book up. This is epic, soap opera, levels of drama. And I was *living* for it. I was thoroughly entertained. There was page-turning revenge and years-long cons and lies and (though it took longer than I had expected to get there, based on reviews/lists featuring this book) some very spicy scenes. It was so, deeply, unhealthy, as relationships go. And yet, like I said, I knew that going in and sometimes reading about an over-protective/possessive ass that I wouldn't touch with a 39.5-foot pole (grinch-style, you know?) IRL, is exactly the kind of escapist shit I want to read. So, in summary, this novel was unbelievably *stupid* good for my current reading mood. I shall be reading the next in the series post-haste.

Very small side note: not my fav third act breakup (like, honestly, I never like those - UGH least fav romance trope - so take this commentary with that grain of salt), but I *particularly* didn't like this one. Too much/long “time passing” to get back together - it just feels like, he should have caved sooner…but at least the friends/fam are holding the grudge still.

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ellydearmond's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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kesbooks's review against another edition

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Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.75

Ava Chen is the epitome of sunshine while Alex Volkov is the epitome of anything but. However, after her brother enlists the help of Alex to keep an eye on his sister while he’s away for a year, Ava finds broody yet gorgeous Alex as her new neighbor. The two of them are struggling with their own inner demons and dark pasts. Ava can’t remember any of her childhood after a traumatic event. Alex remembers everything about his life. As they start to get to know each other, the more the lines between best friend’s brother/brother’s best friend, blur.

This book is hard to rate. I didn’t hate it. It was an easy read, and I was never bored. Even though it was predictable, I found the mystery behind Alex and Ava’s parent's death interesting to read about.

I don’t see the chemistry between Alex and Ava. Alex is just awful. I normally don’t mind the “touch her and you die” trope. However, I found Alex’s possessiveness concerning. By the end of the book, I wanted Ava to move on and have her chapter with Alex be a lesson learned. The relationship kind of reminded me of the YA romances I read as a teen but with spice. To Ana Huang's credit, she does warn the reader that if you want a sweet hero, this book isn’t for you.

Overall, I can see the appeal, but I just wasn’t a huge fan. I still would like to read the next book since I’ve heard the first book is the weakest in the series. Plus, I loved Bridget so I think that one will be fun.

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bookedandbusy's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I loved this book! I liked that it had thriller elements while mainly focusing on the romance. It had really good plot twists and really great lead ups to the plot twists.

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emily98griffin's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

He’s her brother’s best friend and he has been left in charge of her safety for the year while her brother is out of the country. She is sweet as sunshine and he is a grumpy ass. When these opposites attract, it gets super spicy and some deadly family secrets come to light.

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witcheep's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This book is so not a good fit for my reading tastes. I was constantly appalled by how Alex seems to get away with anything

and always get his way — by any means necessary, including but not limited to gaslighting, murder, and stalking

. The possessiveness Alex shows is on another level as well. All that is scary, not sexy. 🚩🚩🚩

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idk_indigo's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I literally just hate Alex, he sucks and is hella scary. The book also felt like it was trying to be too many things at once... brother's mafia-adjacent billionaire best friend meets the sunshine-y college-aged art student who hates him, she begs him to open up but he ~~won't~~ can't, he helps her reveal the mystery of a traumatic near-death experience, also he's into rough sex but wait she's into it too, he

kills multiple people

ya know.... standard stuff. It lowkey started to feel a bit like poorly written fanfic, and I'm almost surprised that Ava wasn't sold at some point. There's also a princess, for some reason.

That being said, I feel like the outrageous is sort of standard in this type of romance. I don't read dark romance much, but I feel like, while a bit too overdrawn from the list of Dark Romance Tropes, there wasn't anything too out there. However, it is not my thing; I think the over-the-top just starts to feel lazy... random unhinged plot twists don't make up for bad writing and a poorly developed plot.

Alex just also sucks, he's scary and menacing. Like, going from

very cruelly announcing that he never loved Ava and was only using her to avenge the murder of his entire family

stalking her to London, then following her everywhere until she agrees to look his way (like, seriously, does this dude have absolutely no hobbies? Friends? Movies to watch? Food to eat? Dumps to dump? Get a grip dude, take a note from Ms. Sabrina Carpenter & stop relating to desperation)

not to mention he

kills her father

like girl I-

I also just hate the "he hates everyone but her" trope because what's to stop Alex from doing that shit to her? What happens if she needs a break from the over "protection" and the bordering-on-psychopathic possessiveness and then he like

kills her too

? Be so fr because why is that attractive at all, he threatened to murder someone because he brushed her waist, like what next? Is he going to give their waiter a black eye because he smiled at her? Will headlines read Local Walmart Cashier Found in Parking Lot With 4 Bruised Ribs because she needed help with a return?

Also, and understandably my least favorite part of this book, was the fact that the female narrator sucked. She wasn't terrible, but I do think she would be better suited as a car saleswoman, or maybe the needy, middle-aged side character in a Nickelodeon family sitcom who needs better boundaries with her neighbor's kids. I do not think she was the right person for the gig.

It was enjoyable. The sex was not as slay as it could've been. But I can see why this is hyped up.

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