Take a photo of a barcode or cover
booksalacarte's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
2⭐️4🌶️
Contemporary Romance
22 FMC/26 MMC
Forbidden Romance
Brothers best friend
Grumpy/sunshine
Touch her and die
Millionaire tech guy
Trauma
Twisted Love tries to tackle popular tropes but ultimately falls short. They are rushed and underdeveloped. Instead of showing the progression of the relationship, we’re told about key moments off-page, which makes it hard to feel invested in the characters or their growth.
The characters are unrealistic, especially for college students. Alex is a 23-year-old tech billionaire, and Ava is a seemingly accomplished photographer—both feel more like caricatures than believable people. The friend group also feels overly perfect, with everyone being absurdly successful despite their age.
The pacing is uneven, with important emotional moments skipped over, leaving the story feeling shallow. While it has potential, the lack of depth and the reliance on telling rather than showing made the romance and character development fall flat.
I won’t be continuing with this series.
Contemporary Romance
22 FMC/26 MMC
Forbidden Romance
Brothers best friend
Grumpy/sunshine
Touch her and die
Millionaire tech guy
Trauma
Twisted Love tries to tackle popular tropes but ultimately falls short. They are rushed and underdeveloped. Instead of showing the progression of the relationship, we’re told about key moments off-page, which makes it hard to feel invested in the characters or their growth.
The characters are unrealistic, especially for college students. Alex is a 23-year-old tech billionaire, and Ava is a seemingly accomplished photographer—both feel more like caricatures than believable people. The friend group also feels overly perfect, with everyone being absurdly successful despite their age.
The pacing is uneven, with important emotional moments skipped over, leaving the story feeling shallow. While it has potential, the lack of depth and the reliance on telling rather than showing made the romance and character development fall flat.
I won’t be continuing with this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
majacollberg's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Cursing, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
aliviaa06's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
trapjawjones's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
rachaelheath09's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I really wanted to like this book because of all the recommendations I got, but I was just not into it. I wasn’t a fan of either the male or female lead characters. I thought there was definitely potential in the plot, but it felt like the plot was in 3rd place of importance. 2nd was the romantic relationship. Then in first place was be the smut. I think my biggest qualm was that I’m just not into “alpha-hole” male characters. The relationship felt too unhealthy for me to get invested in. The stalker vibes were not for me. That being said, it was a quick read and if you are into dominant and possessive male leads- then jump right in haha.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
kkells's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
lisamac13's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
3.25
I definitely had a love-hate relationship with this story. While I really enjoyed the story of Ava and Alex’s friends to lovers, the spice was a bit over the top. No man is that verily and the degradation was also too much. I guess in the end, the story premise was good but the execution was sidetracked and just okay. Check your triggers before reading!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
vada_roels's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
redstringraven's review against another edition
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'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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, and Murder
Minor: Child death, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism