Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Twisted Love by Ana Huang

57 reviews

shellswithabook's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

zoedonn's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death, Drug use, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

starredbyalice's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

That one scene in HOTD 1x06 where Alicent and Cole are talking, and she turns and stares him down because he called Rhaenyra a cunt, but it’s me (Alicent) and Alex Volkov (Cole). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

loopread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

2.75

wtf

Not my cup of tea. Alex is too ‘alpha male’ for my taste. I think I’d catch him listening to podcasts and mansplaining about his business.

The flowers were cute, though, I can’t lie. However, the singing… we don’t talk about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Infidelity, Suicide, and Stalking

the_reading_italian's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

1.75

Here's the thing. This would be such a good book if Alex had any personality outside of 'controlling, selfish, assholish douche.' The plot is there, I like all of the other characters, and the writing is pretty good! I just can't get over what a terrible person Alex is, and that ruined the book for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, and Stalking

Moderate: Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Suicide, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

chelsea_jh's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping

ccherrycosmos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Preparation for the AMOUNT of plot-twists in this book. As an beginner reader, this book was so appalling yet fluttering at the same time. Lots of violence which led to tears, but totally worth to read.

neekoshimmer32's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Was a fun, light-hearted read, despite all the not-so-lighthearted material sometimes. It was a bit cheesy, like a rom-com movie

(Like near the ending chapters, there was a stalking in the rain scene, the run-away airport scene, the long monologue Alex gives on a stage and the casual interruption to another guy asking her out bc she’s *his*)

but I didn’t mind it too much.

I personally loved seeing Ava talk about her cultural background through the foods to the minute interactions. It really felt like she could’ve been a self-insert for the author. I also didn’t expect the struggles Ava goes through

Aka, her panic attacks and fear of water

And I loved that aspect. The blurb hints at this at the back, but I really didn’t predict the details. Also, I wonder how Ava manages to be so optimistic all the time with her tragic background? She must have overcome a lot to get herself there. Also, talking about the little things she liked, from red-velvet cupcakes to her photography, her interests were very well explored. 

Her friend group is talked about a bit, mostly Ava just vents to them about her problems. But Bridget, as the matriarch, or female lead in the next book is mentioned just a smidge a bit more. She’s also a bit more impactful in the overall solving-the-third-act-conflict part.

As for Alex, he also seemed a bit cheesy at the beginning. The typical dark, brooding male, who is a CEO and loves and craves VIOLENCE, (at least as a means of getting whatever he wants bc his pockets are so deep) while somehow keeping said company afloat. I guess he sacrifices the finer things in life -aka his social life- for that. Jokes on me though, because I don’t hate this kind of men (in my books). And despite his last name, I hadn’t predicted his Russian heritage. He uses a few Russian words around the start of the book, though maybe if he’s Russian he could’ve called Ava something sweet in Russian? (I can’t remember if he did). I found ‘sunshine’ wasn’t really my thing.

My personal favorite part of the book is when the couple gets together around the half of the book, and even do normal couples stuff together, (So much so, that Ava’s friends are in on it), and yet aren’t official? At some point Alex says they’re exclusive, but they didn’t seem to call each other boyfriend or girlfriend. Somehow, I enjoyed this better than they’re typical selves before this part. That was also because they seemed to bicker a bit and the not-really enemies-to-lovers thing didn’t really do it for me. After that, they went through the third act where they separated for a bit, and it was all resolved in the last chapter before the epilogue. I’ve read other books where something similar happens, but I wish they ending was less rushed and more neatly tied up.

During this ideal period for me, the two acted more like a real couple and were giddy and in love. I didn’t like the after part as much, probably because of the third act conflict. Consider this a more detailed version of content warnings —> (

Alex enjoyed being in charge of Ava, calling her names in certain situations.

) 

There were lots of cheesy things that I didn’t buy would happen for a single second

For example, Alex being invited to and attending a PICNIC, when the two weren’t getting along

. Alex also seemed a bit controlling, like him getting upset with Ava wearing more revealing clothing. Especially because this was early on when they still didn’t get along, so who is he to say so?

Also, he slept in the same bed as her during this time, which as a girl is not really endearing. It’s fine if the couple are close or feel safe with each other, but doing so without Ava’s okay and when they’re still bickering isn’t really a safe feeling for me.

So overall, this book went from the brother’s best friend trope to bickering, to getting along. Then it became a bit of a mystery (and that part also kept me going), solved Alex’s problems, and then they had to find each other again. It was a whirlwind and any of those separate parts could have been different books. But I enjoyed it as a fun read. I would like to read more about them as a couple in those happier times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

jax10124's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-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

3.75

I liked the MMC more than the FMC but I see why she was written that way. 

It gets dark in the middle and I wasn’t expecting that, but I love that she makes Alex work for it 😏

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Infidelity

phena223's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, and Sexual harassment