*2.75 stars* I didn’t like this book as much as everyone seems too. I think it’s overhyped. Alex is an asshole and kind of toxic. I’m still trying to decide if I want to read the other two, but I’ve seen reviews that say they’re a little more bearable, so maybe eventually I’ll read them. I honestly did like Ava’s best friends in this book more than her and Alex. ( )

"...do you know what it means to be taken by me? It means you're mine. Every inch of you belongs to me, and if you ever let another man touch you - He'll end up in pieces, and you'll end up tied to the bed & fucked in every hole until my name is the only one you remember."

Ruthless, handsome, billionaire, possessive, spicy - vengeance romance....
Ava & Alex....their story is one of intense entertainment, as Ava who is kind hearted seems to have a crush on her brothers best friend, trying to endure life's hardship, suffering memory gap of her childhood, handling an annoying ex and found herself being drawn closer & closer to her brothers bestfriend despite his cold robot demeanor. While Alex is ruthless, thought to be uncaring and found himself seeking revenge he found a friendship that lasted years and even found himself growing closer to his bestfriends sister who seems like a ray of sunshine for him. His new found drug & weakness. He'd been played for a fool and lied too by his uncle who knew what happened of his parents demise.

This was truly a beautiful & wonderful read. Totally enjoy the laughs I got, the intense spicy foreplay & romance, and the possessive overprotective billionaire who had it all except love while fighting it away when he finally found it.

Definitely worth the read! ( )

Twisted Love was half what I expected and half not. For about 100 pages in the middle of the book I was completely blown away and I could not put it down! The beginning was okay. The ending was less than satisfactory. I was not pleased with the ending at all. The last 100 pages was very cliche and cheezy and just overall dramatic. But the middle of this book was giving me serious Verity vibes! I mean I was not expecting that at all. The beginning and ending is your typical, generic romance. However, the middle is mystery/thriller.
3.5 star
3.5 spice

Below are my SPOILER thoughts and reactions throughout reading:

36%: Just from reading the back of the book, it sounds a lot like ugly love.
All this is turning out to be better than I expected. Not spicy really. A lot of tension. And oh the "she's mine" 😍 that's what always gets me.

80%: It took longer than I expected for the spice to speed up but all good things come to those who wait!
Talk about plot twists! Her not-father, like wtf. Who is that messed up?
For the love of... this is like Verity kind of messed up! This is so much more than some little romance book. I did not expect this at all. Ivan... what a traitorous greedy little-
Okay. I hate the cliché "I'm pushing her away so I don't hurt her" act. Ugh.

100%: Oh God. She's getting on a plane. He only has one hour to finally tell her he loves her before She's gone forever.
So dramatic and cheezy. He gave up his company. He bought all of her work. And sang for her. Cheezy. Oh wait, he got his job back because he's so amazing and gets everything he wants. And they lived happily ever after. ( )

This book in overall was an okay one given the typical dark forbidden romance between a guy named Alex Volkov and his best friend's sister Ava Chen. If you guys are into sunshine/grumpy trope or the "touch her and I'd kill you" kind of vibe , then I will definitely recommend you all to give this one a read. It won't disappoint you given the major plot twist in the later half.
The author Ana Huang really do know how to attract the readers by creating the ideal fictional characters that satisfies the readers fantasies.
My favorite part of the book is the interaction between the girls and Alex. Alex's and Ava'a constant bantering. The thing I disliked is the content felt monotonous. ( )

Over the past few months, I've seen a rage take over this book. But so many BookTok hits have disappointed me recently, I found it hard to risk yet another. Much to my surprise and elation, this book does live upto the expectations and the hype created around it.

The book is overflowing with strong emotions, enough to make my chest hurt as the book progresses. I'm a crier, literally everything makes me cry. But this book? It didn't make me cry, it made me feel. Something I don't let books do to me often.

Regardless of how both of them have their own demons to face, I feel most pain for Ava. She's the epitome of a ray of sunshine, she's done everything to keep people around her happy, but even in order to protect her, when Alex spat those lies at her in his uncle's house, he could've still tried. He felt scared, I understand. But Ava did deserve better than to wail for months before she could stand up only to be faced by her dilemma. I like the end, but I feel it would've been more justified to me if I had read more of their interactions or at least seen it from Alex's point of view.

Anyhow, if anyone deserved a happy ever after, it was them. It was great that the story ended on a happy note but I really wondered if Alex would start something new, even though the expansion of Archer Group did sound promising. As for Josh, I was actually glad he didn't forget Alex so easily. Eight years of his life, a fib for a best friend, even with the delays to protect him, I would've been mortified if they went back to best buds so easy. I can't wait to read the next book in the series!

Update After Bonus Scene: I LOVE AVA AND ALEX. If there was even an ounce of doubt about my love for them, here's your cue to flush it down the toilet. The scene (tho really hot) is one that shows their love despite Ava believing she'd convinced him in post orgasmic haze. I mean, it's Alex, for god's sake, the guy would do anything for her, literally. But what I didn't like about the Bonus is there was no Alex's POV. I was a little sad but I guess we can easily predict he'd be feeling love for Ava throughout, and that makes me so happier than a fictional story should, but eh. ( )