Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Twisted Love by Ana Huang

311 reviews

idk_indigo's review against another edition

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

to

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Kidnapping, Gun violence, Stalking, and Suicide

hayley_read_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Stalking, Blood, Child death, Murder, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual content, Violence, and Panic attacks/disorders

bookowl805's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

i read it in just a few days. Alex is a bono and a great book-character (but i won’t hide that i’d probably run away from someone like him).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Hate crime, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Child abuse, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Sexual content, and Gore

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

samhalseth's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Violence

b00kl0v3rastro's review against another edition

emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Self harm, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Gun violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

puchunga's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Child abuse, Stalking, Child death, Death, Blood, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

katielvk's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Suicide, and Blood

honey_pie's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

huge spoiler warning for this review I have a lot to say for some reason but tdlr without spoilers: the first third is fun but then I realised the writing is actually awful and the plot is stupid and Alex is actually insanely toxic and a bit pathetic

anyways

so as I said the first third or so was alright, I got really invested for the first half because I kind of liked the whole enemies to lovers kind of thing even tho they weren't exactly enemies she just didn't like him much and he wasn't interested. but the moment he took interest in her he was just full of red flags like storming into a photoshoot just because she was with another guy and deleting the pics of her like wtf ?? I'm supposed to like this man who's so overprotective she can't have a life of her own if it involves another man (weren't even friends let alone dating at this point btw).

and on top of the countless red flags, there were dumb plot holes like Alex somehow putting Michael in prison only 24hr after they got a confession from him with no court case or ANYTHING. and him discovering stuff about his uncle and literally an hour later the writer saying he had someone researching him "day and night" like it's been literally an hour?? an HOUR?? 

the height of the book was at the 75% mark, I skipped a fair bit after that because it was BORING and then when I did read it the rest was Alex literally following her to London when she wanted nothing to do with him and she had found out he'd been lying to her their whole relationship. and yet he not only hired someone to follow her but shows up and says he is going to be the one following her literally stalking her around London. and he's all pathetic begging for forgiveness and saying he had his heart opened as if he didn't ruin her life, almost gt her killed, STALK HER, prioritise himself at every turn and be insanely overprotective and controlling the whole time. AND SHE FORGIVES HIM

a load of shit imo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Stalking, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

hmansfield916's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

2.5

If you LOVE drama, this is the book for you. If you LOVE men who are huge red flags, this is also the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

mccash's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

The writing seemed choppy and subpar to what I usually read. I had a hard time getting past the feeling of reading someone's poorly thought out diary entries in some parts. The dialogue and spicy scenes were good though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Stalking, and Gaslighting