Reviews with content warning for Child death - Twisted Love

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Twisted Love by Ana Huang

227 reviews

leigh_bee's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.75

The love interest Alex has a lot of toxic/red flag traits that make him difficult to root for. If I had a friend or family member dating someone with these traits I would recommend a restraining order. Plot was intriguing, but somewhat overly connected.

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amandatory13's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I liked some components of the story line but this read like a 16 year old’s first Wattpad fanfiction. Some of it didn’t even make sense. My uncle has too of the line cameras but luckily I have my top of the line jammer…..huh??? Lame. It felt like she was trying to fit every trope into one book. And I hated the ending. That’s stalking babe.

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bbaydoo's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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redstringraven's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

1.0

at about 73% of the way through the book, i WOULD have rated this 1.5 stars. but, oh my god? that last quarter dragged. it was so sincerely boring, that i couldn't justify keeping that half star. and that was this book's honest to god biggest crime to me: i was so bored.

i'm aware this falls into the category of "dark romance", ergo expecting certain characters to be ''''good'''' (morally) is a bit of a moot point, but they weren't even ''''good'''' from an engaging point. all of them were flat, shallow, predictable and dull; a big part of why the last quarter of the book was as boring as it was WAS due to the fact i had no investment in the characters as people. once the "plot" had concluded, i remember looking at the timestamp and thinking "how the hell are there three whole hours left?".

the prose being decent enough was the one thing that keeps this book from a lower rating, mostly due to the fact another book's prose i read last month was insufferable by comparison. there were flashback sequences, but--partially due to using an audio medium--i really struggled to keep track of if we were still in-flashback or in the present again; the author would swap past-tense and present-tense. i'm told that, in print, these flashbacks are at least in italics, so at least there's that. but there was a "major reveal" that happened during one of these flashbacks, and i had to listen to it twice to make sure i understood what it was trying to get across.

SPOILERS BELOW

things i liked:

i HIGHLY doubt that the father (michael) being revealed as not only the bad guy but also to have been gaslighting ava all her life was meant to be funny. but, oh my god, this was accidentally the most entertaining part of the entire book. i met him TWO chapters ago. my man tries to gaslight ava two more times, realizes he's lost, and then .5 seconds later he's a mustache twirling, stinky bastard man and we've triggered his monologue. it was so unserious, so funny, and just... delightfully bad.
hearing the narrator say the word "epilogue"

thanks, i hate it:

all the characters. genuinely didn't like a single one of them. i hated alex most of all, though. he's every dark broody "wanna-be-batman-but-misses-the-point-of-batman", man-child of a character with infinite money, no personality, and thinks he has control over ava even before they're remotely a thing because she's The Special™. i know SOME of that is a product of the "dark romance genre", but surely it can be more interesting than this. also, he straight up starts stalking her in the last quarter of the book, even threatens her, and like...? i genuinely DON'T understand how them getting back together is satisfying, rationalized, or ... idk. lmao, i hate him so much.
the fact ava never learned how to swim before alex was kind of infuriating. i understand the experience was traumatic, but one would think the first step to overcoming that or avoiding being in that position again would be to learn how to swim. several times she argues she doesn't need protecting or whatever, but then she doesn't really take much action to ensure this is true.
this is definitely a gripe that's more on me, seeing as the "dead dove" argument could be made, but my god, the sex scenes squicked me out. so unpleasant. grimace inducing. recoiling from my headphones. i'm in agony.
i said this book was character driven (despite the characters themselves being puddle-shallow) because, like... the plot is not only barely there, it's inconsequential. it's revealed that ava's dad was the one who tried to kill her, and like a chapter and a half later he's in jail and we never really deal with him again. then another two chapters later, it's revealed that alex's uncle was the one who ordered the hit on his family, and two or three chapters later alex kills his uncle and that entire thing is wrapped up. this leads to the last quarter "i never really loved you" melodrama and me swapping between snoring out of boredom and gagging over how sick of these characters i am and wondering how this book can still be three more hours long.

this is all i can really be bothered to say, i guess. if the characters were REMOTELY interesting, maybe the last quarter of the book could have been bearable despite the dull and predictable melodrama. if there was more attention to the """"""plot"""""" that takes front-stage for maybe a total of 6 chapters, it would have felt ...like SOMETHING, instead of a contrived reason to break up the couple 3/4ths of the way through. boring book. irritating characters. at least that one reveal was kind of entertaining. briefly distracted me from watching paint dry.

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ruska_777's review against another edition

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dark 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

2.25

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zoedonn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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shreya_north's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional

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? It's complicated

2.5

So...I originally saw this book on Booktok and Bookstagram (because I'm not on Booktok that much anymore) and I figured I'd give it a go. I'm a ~sucker~ for the grumpy/sunshine, touch-her-and-die trope! I had also read Christian and Stella's story while on vacation in Australia, so I figured I'd give Ava and Alex's story a go too because if there's anything you need to know about me, I can't read only part of a series 😅

Anyway, it so happened that I got the book as a gift from a physical therapist, which was even better! I read the book in one day..

...and I have thoughts.

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♡ CHARACTERS

Ava - Ava is a sweet, sunshine girl who has no recollection of her past. She's an aspiring photographer who lives next-door to her overprotective brother Josh. Overall, I found her to be a charming FMC and I loved how supportive she was. However, I felt like her character fluctuated without any pushing. Sometimes she'd be quiet and subdued, but other times she'd be inexplicably brash and confident. Especially around Alex, he does little to push her buttons, so I don't really understand where the confidence comes from. There's no internal dialogue, not that much anyway, to support Ava's actions. She's a bit of a Mary-Sue, I think, because everything plays into her hands. The plot with her and her past trauma was confusing as well. I think it was pushed just for plot's sake and resolved too quickly, and it especially didn't make sense how her father was the one to try and drown her? He didn't display any psychotic tendencies. I did like, however, the foreshadowing with the ring.

Alex - Alex is your typical brooding billionaire who likes girls, revenge, and being cold for cold's sake. He's...somehow perfect? Has a 160 IQ, perfect body, and does Krav Maga. He was raised by his uncle after his parent's and sister were killed and wants revenge against the people who took away his family. Alex is an okay character, but his sudden feelings toward Ava were confusing, especially because he was so determined in the beginning to ignore her and act like nothing happened between them. Then, all of a sudden, he's wanting to sleep with her? It was kind of weird. I liked his scenes more, though, because Alex's character had more dynamics. There were more things happening that would push his character change than there were with Ava. Still, his possessiveness and sudden need for Ava came too suddenly.

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♡ PLOT

The plot was...there wasn't much of a plot. A lot of the chapters were filler, and I couldn't tell if it was a plot-driven or character driven book because of how little happened. I'm assuming it's character driven, most specifically by Alex, which is ironic since he "supposedly" doesn't care about Ava. A lot of Ava's chapters were just her doing every day activities which was kind of boring to read through.

══════════════════

🔹the reveal - ava: The reveal with Ava's real backstory was confusing. I didn't really understand because it's repeatedly mentioned that Ava doesn't remember her past, and yet she also remembers just enough for her to realize who her real killer (attempted killer?) was. That whole part felt too rushed and abrupt, because we don't get a lot about Ava's backstory or any reason to believe that it was her mother or father. It could have been Josh if we're blaming all the family members!

🔹the reveal - alex: Alex's backstory and reveal was more interesting, especially since his uncle was repeatedly mentioned throughout the story, but the info dump at the end was too much and I hardly understood how their ties even crossed. He was using Ava's dad? Since when? And he was using Josh? Again, the lack of internal thoughts alluded to none of this. And why would he lie about using Ava if he was already planning to turn against his uncle?

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♡ WHAT I ENJOYED

♡ The Tropes: I love a good grumpy/sunshine, and even though, to an extent, it wasn't completely a grumpy/sunshine because Alex caved so quickly, I did enjoy his brooding personality and morally gray aspect of his life!

♡ Ava's Friends: I LOVED Bridget, and I'm excited to see what happens with her and Rhys. I already read Stella's book, and I think Christian was a better-executed version of Alex, though both their possessive types didn't really appeal to me.

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♡ WHAT I THINK COULD BE WORKED ON

⭕ Telling not Showing: There was a lot of telling instead of showing in this book, which is probably why everything felt so random. I think there was more telling on Ava's part, because I connected easier with Alex than with Ava. Especially during the intimacy scenes, it's easier to connect to the actual intimacy between the characters (as gentle or as rough it may be) by going through emotions instead of what limbs are tangling with what.

⭕ Lack of Internal Dialogue: I think, another reason it was difficult to see Ava and Alex's reasoning behind their actions was because of the lack of internal dialogue. I would have liked to see more of Ava's memories or her thoughts about her family and Alex. With Alex, I think knowing more about his relationship with Josh and his uncle would have helped with the whole idea that he didn't want to pursue Ava.

⭕ Lack of Chemistry: Ava and Alex had spice, but I didn't get a lot of romantic connection between them, particularly on Alex's side. It felt more like lust rather than anything, and the comparison of Ava to other girls is getting a bit old. Similarly, Alex's possessiveness came out of nowhere, and I'd be pissed if he deleted all my hard work because he didn't like some guy I was taking photos with. His protectiveness was overshadowed by the lust factor, and I got more of a protective vibe from Rhys than Alex.

⭕ The Flow: To me, the flow felt bouncy, especially at the end. I wish I'd gotten more of Alex groveling, because I LOVE a good groveling. Also, Ava's apprenticeship came out of nowhere, and the pacing of their romance was a bit over the place.

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♡ OVERALL

This is my first time doing this kind of formatted review, and I actually think by doing it like this, I was able to write all of my thoughts with more coherence than using my old paragraphed ways that (ironically) bounced from place to place. Overall, I still prefer Christian and Stella's story because it flowed better and had better development, but my favorite MMC so far is Alex (except for the part when he deleted her work).

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sbee22924's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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bethlouiseex's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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katie0528's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

I'm a fan of Anna Huang's other books, especially her Kings of Sin series, but this was really dark for my taste. Ava's brother Josh asks his best friend Alex to look out for her while he's abroad for a year. The two fall in love, but little do Ava and Josh know that Alex is plotting his revenge against the people who murdered his family, and his emotions are getting in the way of his vengence. But at the same time, the mere thought of Ava being with another man is enough to tilt Alex toward violence. I don't mind a morally gray love interest, but Alex leans a little too hard into violent stalker territory for my taste.

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