Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Twisted Love by Ana Huang

72 reviews

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

doereadss's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I'm all for the possessiveness, pinning and whatnot. The whole "you can't love me, I'm not a good person. Don't romanticize me, blah blah" all in the name of the specific lifestyle and trauma, but everything seemed so.. rush.

Idk. It just seems like something I'd read on Wattpad as a young teen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

snoopysb00ks's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

queenhufflegruff'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? It's complicated

4.0

I loved my first read from Ana Huang - I wanted a bit more from the ending of the book, but overall really enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual assault

jo_march_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

Girl, no…

I adored these characters

until Alex broke my heart 🥹 

I needed more redemption and resolution

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

christhequeenbee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Vomit

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

Read For:

✓ Drama
✓ Family Secrets

✓ Brother’s Best Friend

✓ Murder (and revenge)

✓ Touch Her and Die Vibes 

˗ˏˋ ★ REVIEW ★ ˎˊ˗

Another hit with this book.  Not usually my type of read but I found myself loving the characters and invested in the plot.  I was not expecting there to be as much drama in this book as there was but the plot twists of murder and family secrets tied into the spice and romance somehow really well.

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Angst Level: 💧💧

POV: Duel, First Person

Release Date: 27, September 2022

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Sexism, and Stalking

leareadssometimes's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Okay so it's a fun quick read, so I see where all the love is coming from. I, too, love an enemies to lovers trope. However, maybe it was the dual perspective for me, but it kinda seemed to come out of nowhere. It was very much "definitely not, but they're hot" to "omg we should be together". It just didn't feel developed enough. The slow burn could've burned a little slower. The immediate vulgarity the first sexual encounter was a bit much for me too, and in general I cringed a bit at the sex scenes and a lot of the dialogue. Especially

after they made up in London, the fact that he immediately starts degrading her in the bedroom (although I understand it's a kink) after so long of being apart was very jarring to me. Would you not want to ease into it? She just forgave you a second ago, maybe don't call her a slut right away.

In general, the possessiveness of Alex over Ava made him a bit unlikeable to me. I do enjoy the "I'm yours and you're mine" in general, but when someone lays a claim immediately when dating and even after having fucked up severly it pisses me off a bit. I did like the characterisation though, but found myself being more drawn to the Rhys-Bridget storyline at the end of the book. It seemed more respectful. Maybe this genre of romance (possessive and degrading in the bedroom) is just not really for me anymore. I more enjoyed the healthy aspects of their relationship

learning to swim, watching a movie

so if those could've been explored more and with some occasional spice I would've enjoyed it more. 

After all that criticism I will probably still read the Rhys&Bridget book because I am intrigued and because I did infact enjoy reading this book, it just cringed me out too much at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Abandonment

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. 

⭐️⭐️

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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

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.