Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Twisted

4⭐️3🌶️
This book is an Aladdin retelling kind of, in that the author uses names and places and some similar plot. This book is a lot darker for the backstory though. Julian was abused as a child and the author gets very descriptive. I would skip this book if that is a trigger for you. I really liked his character and I couldn’t help but root for him even though he was the villain. I just knew he was misunderstood. Yasmin is a spoiled rich only child of Ali, who owns a huge diamond conglomerate. She knows her dad isn’t exactly an above-board guy but she has no clue just how deep it goes, and he wants to keep it that way. He’s a dying man (his cancer is heavily mentioned) and all he wants is for his daughter to marry a man who will take care of her and continue the business. She is offended that he doesn’t offer it to her, but later in the book we kind of see how sheltered she was and that she most likely would not have succeeded. Julian has basically run the business for many years since he worked his way up and he’s offended that HE wasn’t offered to take it over. So he devises a plan to marry Yasmin, take over the business, then kill her. Why would Yasmin agree to marry Julian? She’s in love with Aiden, whose mother works in her father’s mansion. She knows her father would never let her marry him, so she asks for Julian’s help. He sends Aiden to Egypt to look for a long-lost and very valuable lamp, and if he finds it, Ali might just allow him to marry Yasmin. In the meantime Julian plans to marry and seduce Yasmin.

This book is a little less spicy than the others bc it’s a true slow burn. There’s lots of tension in the beginning and middle but they don’t even hookup until like 70% of the way through I think.

I loved Julian and Yasmin’s relationship. They met when she was younger but he didn’t have any interest in her until now (they are 23&36). They are a true enemies to lovers, slow burn, touch her and die, where is my wife type of romance. He literally waits for her to tell him that she loves him bc he doesn’t want to ruin her chances of fixing things with Aiden. And honestly, fuck that guy. They were supposedly best friends for 12+ years and he didn’t even know how she took her coffee. Meanwhile Julian has only been around her a couple of months and he already knows how she takes her coffee, what shampoo she uses, and notices that she never learned to drive and tries to teach her. He gets her the EXACT diamond ring she wants, without even asking🥹.

Julian had a rough childhood and has self esteem issues and problems with letting people in. Because he’s such a paranoid person, it’s hard to know which characters to trust. Yasmin discovers that her father “protecting” her for her whole life really did her a disservice. She can’t even cook or do laundry. They both grow together and find they deserve happiness in each other. The extended epilogue that is available through the author’s website was nice too.

The audiobook was phenomenal and the narrators were perfect for the characters. They each had just a slight accent for some words. This audiobook didn’t have any discrepancies with the ebook this time like with others in the series. Overall I really enjoyed it and read it in one sitting! I would probably opt to reread the audiobook in the future.

Content Warnings

lisa07xie's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I really liked it! A enemys to lovers romance and Yasmin and Julian uff they are so perfect for eachother and it was thrilling to see their story developed and see how they change for the better! I loved the topics this book talked about and I thought it was quite interesting. I knew Aidin was bad from the beginning though I knew he was just gonna use her! Shoutout to Isabella though she is so cute and I love her role I have never heard of getting rid of dead bodys like this so that was fun!

Content Warnings

ecravens's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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

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ka_ke's review against another edition

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dark hopeful fast-paced

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

4.5

It’s not the best in the Never After universe, but it beat Wretched by far.

The story is smooth as it grows, the characters become well rounded and the ending is oh SO satisfying.

I’m all for a classic age-gap, enemies to lovers romance with spicy scenes that will make even the most sexually liberal of us blush.

Content Warnings

l_piller's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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taylorvalerie's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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andeng's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.75

Content Warnings

weelasswithabook's review

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dark emotional tense slow-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? No

4.5

*** ARC received in exchange for an honest review***

CW: abusive childhood, domestic violence, cancer, misogyny, torture, violence (physical, gun, knife) , graphic sexual content, death of a parent, abduction, woman in peril, dismemberment

⭐ Age Gap
⭐ Slow burn
⭐ Enemies to lovers
⭐ Marriage of convenience
⭐ Aladdin inspired

🌶 Degradation/Praise

Yet another installment in the Never After series where the villain gets the HEA, this time inspired by Jasmine and Jafar from Aladdin 👀

I really enjoyed the set up for this one with the whole arranged marriage vibe. Throw in the pure hatred from both MCs and it's a recipe for success. I loved seeing both characters warm up and acknowledge their feelings for one another, while staying true to who they are. For example, Julian was a villian throughout, the only one he shows softness for is Yasmin. Yasmin softens to Julian, while maintaining her independence and determination. Too often there's a huge switch up in the characters, but here we managed to keep the integrity of the characters while allowing the relationship to develop and progress.

The slow burn element really allowed for the tension to build to a boiling point which I appreciated, rather than just jumping into it from the get go. So you get the opportunity to become invested and wait for that spark that just sets everything on fire.

I feel like we got enough backstory for both characters to really get a feel for who they are. I do feel like a little further insight into Yasmins childhood could've been beneficial as we're presented with misogynist undertones with her father not trusting her to take over his company etc, but it didn't detract from her development as a character.

Julian's backstory was very heartbreaking, and I LOVED that we weren't forced into a healing resolution between him and his Mum. Again, the whole "they're still blood so they should love each other " rhetoric is often brought into stories, whereas Emily stuck with the healthier concept of cutting off toxic familial relationships.

The conflict was interesting, I do feel it was resolved pretty abruptly, but again it allowed for further suspense in the period between the conflict, the sort of resolution, an external conflict, and then resolution. So it made sense in the end to have it paced that way.

The chemistry was on point, the characters were great, plot points and pacing were great, and overall I thoroughly enjoyed Twisted. I'll never be able to watch Aladdin the same again. Jafar is now a Daddy and you can't convince me otherwise 😂

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