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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
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
simoneakila's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
pace is inconsistent in book, and feels rushed in the middle and too slow at the end
romance and chemistry not fully developed between characters
romance and chemistry not fully developed between characters
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexual content
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
helicuetaro's review against another edition
dark
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism
patiencexoxo's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Ya know… I’m gonna have to come back to this review bc there’s a lot to unpack here.
⭐️⭐️
⭐️⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
parryme02's review against another edition
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
nix_jinx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Stalking
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
gabbystokes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
0.25
I don’t think I am the target audience for this book. Hate Alex and the whole love story. He’s a possessive creep.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Alcohol
mikareads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I’m not usually one to read “smut” books but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It is also considerably better written than books I have read that would also be considered smut. I also liked that the whole book did not revolve around the smut and also had an actual storyline. I would’ve rated it higher if it wasn’t for the fact that the ending kind of sucked. I hate when authors write a really good book and then seemingly get lazy at the end and ruin their own book with a lacking ending.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Violence