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A review by libraryofmiscellania
Twisted Hate by Ana Huang
2.0
TLDR: This review is gonna bounce all over the place, so be forewarned. Having read Ana Huang’s Kings of Sin series before her Twisted series, over all I like the Kings of Sin series better. Despite that, I was looking forward to Josh and Jules’ story, and I admit I really liked it…until I reaaallly didn’t.
Listen. I understand these are all supposed to be morally grey characters, and that definition can be different to each reader. Dante went about taking care of business via nefarious means, so did Alex; Rhys and Kai seem to be the less problematic kings of these two series so far (haven’t read Twisted Lies but we already know Christian’s morals aren’t pointed due north lol). So I get that these aren't supposed to be perfect male leads, and that they're gonna screw up in the end so the couple can have some sort of thing to overcome together.
All this being said — I really fucking hate Josh and what he did to Jules, and how it resolved.
— SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT —
So I loved their dynamic of enemies to friends with benefits. Their banter was funny at times, and I could easily picture their relationship in my head. I haven't read a lot of one bed tropes so this was hilarious, and I especially liked when they were trying to hide their situationship from Ava; esp. when she came to get her laptop from Josh and Jules was frozen on the bed until the last minute, then darted into the bathroom. Poor, clueless Ava.
(Suuuuuper side note lol I also get that all these guys are supposed to be grumpypants, with an (un)healthy dash of "touch her and you die", but I wish that kind of extended to the friends as well? Again, don't get me wrong, my willing suspension of disbelief is well and truly suspended but I'd love to see some sort of camaraderie/protectivenes/friendship between the boyfriends and girlfriends with these types of series where all the characters kind of intermingle. That being said, it's definitely better in the Kings of Sin series.)
SO JOSH. I really liked him until the climax of the story when Jules admitted everything to him about stealing the painting and his other stuff. To say he went apeshit would be putting it lightly. Josh literally said "I forgive you", knowing full well that was a lie, and then proceeded to fuck Jules and degrade her while he did it.
He mislead her until the final moment and then at the exact moment when he makes her come, he tells her he lied and basically implies he’d just taken his anger out on her via sex when she thought he’d forgiven her.
What I liked about this series (and kings of sin) is that even though the women are called some otherwise degrading names, is that they enjoy this type of play, and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's empowering for them, and the men take care of them afterwards.
But this time with Josh? Yeah I’m drawing a line there. And then, to have him just say he reacted more than poorly, say sorry to Jules, without owning up to what he did was just gross. And my opinion truly tanked when it was finally JULES who of course, realized that she needed to forgive him because, "I just needed to get out of my own way". Absa-fucking-loutely not.
It was even more disappointing given the fact that Asian male leads in romance media still have a long ways to go in terms of positive portrayals.
I understand in the content warnings on her website that there's a "mildly dubious consent (one scene)" content warning for this book, and if the above scene is what the warning is referring to, imo that's not really enough. I'll still read Twisted Lies, and the rest of the Kings of Sin series, but this Twisted Hate most definitely at the bottom of my rankings so far.
Listen. I understand these are all supposed to be morally grey characters, and that definition can be different to each reader. Dante went about taking care of business via nefarious means, so did Alex; Rhys and Kai seem to be the less problematic kings of these two series so far (haven’t read Twisted Lies but we already know Christian’s morals aren’t pointed due north lol). So I get that these aren't supposed to be perfect male leads, and that they're gonna screw up in the end so the couple can have some sort of thing to overcome together.
All this being said — I really fucking hate Josh and what he did to Jules, and how it resolved.
So I loved their dynamic of enemies to friends with benefits. Their banter was funny at times, and I could easily picture their relationship in my head. I haven't read a lot of one bed tropes so this was hilarious, and I especially liked when they were trying to hide their situationship from Ava; esp. when she came to get her laptop from Josh and Jules was frozen on the bed until the last minute, then darted into the bathroom. Poor, clueless Ava.
(Suuuuuper side note lol I also get that all these guys are supposed to be grumpypants, with an (un)healthy dash of "touch her and you die", but I wish that kind of extended to the friends as well? Again, don't get me wrong, my willing suspension of disbelief is well and truly suspended but I'd love to see some sort of camaraderie/protectivenes/friendship between the boyfriends and girlfriends with these types of series where all the characters kind of intermingle. That being said, it's definitely better in the Kings of Sin series.)
SO JOSH. I really liked him until the climax of the story when Jules admitted everything to him about stealing the painting and his other stuff. To say he went apeshit would be putting it lightly. Josh literally said "I forgive you", knowing full well that was a lie, and then proceeded to fuck Jules and degrade her while he did it.
He mislead her until the final moment and then at the exact moment when he makes her come, he tells her he lied and basically implies he’d just taken his anger out on her via sex when she thought he’d forgiven her.
What I liked about this series (and kings of sin) is that even though the women are called some otherwise degrading names, is that they enjoy this type of play, and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's empowering for them, and the men take care of them afterwards.
But this time with Josh? Yeah I’m drawing a line there. And then, to have him just say he reacted more than poorly, say sorry to Jules, without owning up to what he did was just gross. And my opinion truly tanked when it was finally JULES who of course, realized that she needed to forgive him because, "I just needed to get out of my own way". Absa-fucking-loutely not.
It was even more disappointing given the fact that Asian male leads in romance media still have a long ways to go in terms of positive portrayals.
I understand in the content warnings on her website that there's a "mildly dubious consent (one scene)" content warning for this book, and if the above scene is what the warning is referring to, imo that's not really enough. I'll still read Twisted Lies, and the rest of the Kings of Sin series, but this Twisted Hate most definitely at the bottom of my rankings so far.