Twisted Love: A Brother's Best Friend Romance

First, I fully acknowledge how unlikely and whacky the basic plot and characters of this book are. Billionaire with a perfect memory who witnessed his family’s murder as a child and vows vengeance has a genius IQ, plus graduated from college early and made his first millions at the age of 18? Also a martial arts expert. And also, has weird kinks like no kissing or face to face sex because...who knows why. He just does.Okay, hard to believe, BUT ALSO, heroine who is a photographic genius who is accepted into the most famous, world renowned photography program PLUS ALSO has a tragic backstory and AMNESIA (opposite of his problem) PLUS ALSO is best friends with a princess of an invented European country.And I won’t even give spoilers, but let’s just say stuff gets very convoluted.Sounds wacky right? It is. It totally is. And I ate it up like a hot fudge sundae with nuts.If any of you are Nalini Singh fans, Alex gives off serious Kaleb Krychek vibes and I am here for it.He has the stoic unemotional mask down pat, while seething with them under the surface. He straight up will murder the world to protect her and make her happy. He’ll even revel in it. Torture is definitely not off the table. She is the only one in the world who ever gets to see his soft side. But BOY can he be soft with her. He is manipulative, jealous and has constant machinations going behind the scenes to control everything and anything he feels necessary, but he also has serious grovel power and is capable of intense loyalty, as in, he not only will completely humble himself for her, he’s willing to just keep doing it as long as it takes. . . In other words, those aren’t roses in his hand my friend, they are a big bouquet of 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩. And I loved it. Restraining order in real life? Sure. My latest book boyfriend obsession in fiction? YES.This book is over the top, and I. Am. Here. For. It.It also had so many lovely romance tropes: brother’s best friend, enemies(ish) to lovers, one bed with one party having a screaming nightmare, he will only ever kiss her and once he falls for her he is straight up DISGUSTED at the thought of other women, and last but certainly not least “touch her and I’ll destroy you”.Come on, people. This craziness is what I read romance for!

I actually discovered Ana Huang through Tik Tok and I got so excited for this book just based on the passages that she would tease us with. I can't express how happy I am that I discovered her because this book was so good and I truly didn't know what to expect.Based on the teasers, I thought that this was going to be a mafia book but it has some of the elements that a Mafia Romance has. Especially from Alex, there was a lot of darkness that he had and it was so adorable to match him with Ava who's a literal sweetheart. I think that they both fir perfectly and it was so freaking cute seeing them bond and especailly when Alex would be protective of her.This is the only book that has done grovelling very well for me, it wasn't perfect but it it hit really close to the spot. I just wanted to see Alex beg more for Ava because she really did go through a lot due to him which could've been preventable if he would ahve just told her stuff. However, the big scenes that happened completely threw me off. I wasn't expecting a lot of the major cahnge scenes to be that but that's what made me love it so much.Overall, this was such a great book to read and I'm so happy that I discovered this book because it really hit all of my favorite tropes. I really think that you should give this a book a read if you haven't already. I'm especially excited for the next book in this series. All of Ava's friends were so exciting to read over and I just know that I'm ready for each of them to have their happily ever after.

Well written. This is the third book I have read by this author and I'm seeing that she is consistent with quality writing. Her characters are well rounded, the editing is perfect, and the stories are well planned out. I like that she has Asian main characters and even brings small amounts of Asian culture to light, as it's rare to come across romance novels like this where the main character is a person of color. Nothing against the many that don't but as a biracial reader it's nice to sometimes come across a character that looks like me, or navigates life from the perspective of being considered the diverse part of diverse.As for the story itself, Ava has a trauma induced form of amnesia and she falls for her older brother's best friend who is working through his own trauma in a more violent way. This is the "older brother best friend" trope but I liked the fact that she was 22 and not a trembling virgin teenager, and I liked the fact that outside of being a bit cold or distant, he was over all decent to her. This is not a bully/forced relationship type deal. It was refreshing.I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Before I started Twisted Love, I didn’t know much about the series. However, I had seen it quite a few times on TikTok & Bookstagram. So, it was fair to say that I did go into the book blind, only knowing that it was a brothers best friend + grumpy/sunshine trope too! Which are both in my top ten of favourite tropes! At first it took me a while to get into the book. I’d say just after the 100 pages mark did I finally start to enjoy it more. Although that probably has nothing to do with the book itself and more to do with me as a reader, as I was experiencing a bit of a book hangover from my previous book.Once I got into it I absolutely loved Ava & Alex and needed more of their story. Ava is such a unique character. She has had such a rough upbringing but she never lets any of it deter her from seeing the good in people. Whereas, Alex also had a traumatic childhood he took a different route when it came to viewing the world. He uses his pain to seek revenge for his family. He’s very much one of those people who hates the world and everyone in it but Ava! And I loved that about their dynamic. She was the light to his dark & the sunshine to his grumpiness!Also, the plot of the book was amazing too! Ana seriously knows how to throw in plot twists. I really did not see that coming about Ava’s dad. The book wasn’t just romance and spice (which we’ll come back to in a minute), it had a story with lots of mystery. Both Ava & Alex were trying to seek out the answers to their childhood and Ana delivered on that part too. Back to the spice, along with everything else the spice didn’t disappoint. The hotel/phone call scene was by far unforgettable and lives in my mind rent free!Finally, I could go on and on about this book but i just think everyone should read the twisted series because its just that good. I really enjoyed it! I may not have read the rest of the books in this series yet but I don’t doubt I’ll be disappointed there either.

This is my first Ana Huang book I have read and it certainly won’t be my last.I was expecting this book to be heavy on the smut and low on the plot but I was pleasantly surprised that it was the other way around. While the spice wasn’t the focal point of the story, when it was there it was 🥵🥵🌶🌶This book had everything I love in a romance book:Grumpy/sunshine tropeAge gapBrothers best friendSuspenseThe author managed to make me love each character separately before they even got together. That is always something special because you know you will love their bond even more then. There’s always something about the grumpy antihero that makes me love them even more, and Alex was no different.“She felt like heaven to my hell, the closest I’d ever get to salvation, and yet I still wanted to drag her into the depths of Hades with me.”This book is defiantly in my fav of the year list, with its plot, suspense, romance, character development and the authors writing.

I don't really understand what this book was meant to be... I liked it but it had a lot of everything. It had too much happening with no character development. Alex is Ava's brothers best friend. josh the brother goes aways for a year. Josh asks Alex to move into his house next door to his sister to keep an eye on her because her ex is bothering her and she's get herself into stupid situations.Alex is the COO of his uncles company. Hes 27 or 28. A bit grumpy and just uses woman. The way he is written, he meant to be this powerful man, I didn't get that. He wants revenge for the killings of her parents and sister. Since he was very young he has had a plan. He wants revenge. There is a plot twist I saw from miles away.Anyway he moves in and Ava's friends basically dare her to try and get some emotions from him. Why start as a game end up with them spending time together. But there's no connect between them in my opinion I didn't feel it at all in this book. The sex wasn't anything really. He calls her slut. The way people went on about alex on IG I didn't get any of that while reading him. I found him to have no personality and I found Ava to be very childish. She was meant to be 22, lived on her own. But she came across like she needed looking after all the time.As the story goes on, the plot is the main focus rather than the couples development. Alex finds out the truth about his parents. Ava find out he lied. Ava and the princess get kidnapped for about 1 minute lol.I think I would of liked this book more if I connected with the characters. Or if it was just grumpy guy who gets with his bestfriends sister. It didn't need everything that was in this book.It was just okay read. I think if you under 20 year old and haven't read much romance you will love this book. For someone who read romance for over 10 years this book was basic and very over hyped.

This is my first read by Ana Huang, and definitely not the last. At first, I wondered how Twisted Love would be different from the other books that follow similar tropes.But Ana brought me out of that weird slump. Her writing style is smooth. After a couple of chapters, I was absorbed into the story, liking Ava for her sunshine like personality and intrigued by Alex and his mysterious past. The story is in dual POVs so we get to know both of them.The plot is evenly paced and quite interesting! A steamy read with a perfect mix of darkness and light, the mystery surrounding both the characters and the suspense weaving its way throughout the story. Although predictable, I certainly didn’t see how everything would play out.There’s Ava’s cheery character and playful moments with her friends. Intermingling with that is Alex’s and Ava’s dark past catching up to them. Alex has some hidden motivation, Ava’s just trying to keep the hope of light in her. There are some villainous characters out to get them. It made for a really interesting read. Ava Chen is a sweet, naive girl, with a past that haunts her. What should have broken her, instead made her a strong person. She refuses to drown in the darkness and she’s this ball of sunshine, striving to believe in the goodness of other people.I loved her genuineness. She didn’t come off as being naïve in a deliberate way. She loves her brother Josh and has an amazing group of friends. They are a close-knit group, and I wish I was a part of that!Alex… well, I started reading this book for him, and damn, he completely took over my mind. From his first entrance, this enigmatic character intrigued me. Best friends with Josh, he’s always looked at Ava as his sister – we know how’s that going to go lol. Eventually, when Josh entrusts Alex to take care of his sister, he moves into Josh’s home, right next to Ava’s.Alex is a sexy, dirty alpha male. He remembers everything that’s happened in his life. (Hyperthymesia – It was a new term for me.) His dark past drives all of his actions (which the author brilliantly laid out in chapters – giving us bits and pieces). I love how possessive and protective he is about Ava. He exudes this cold, emotionless personality to others, but those walls come crashing down with Ava.Ava and Alex have amazing chemistry. They just balance each other out. Throughout the story, you see them growing together as individuals and as a couple. There’s also the darkness in their story that plays in.One of the reasons it jumped quickly into my favorite list is the NA Romance that took me back to those days where I would devour literally any college/brother’s best friend romances.Twisted Love by Ana Huang kept me engaged, made me love the main and the supportive characters. It has a unique touch despite the cliches. I recommend this book if you love New Adult Romance reads.

I love a grumpy sunshine and brothers best friend romance so was super excited to get to twisted love and while I didn't love this at the beginning I ended up really enjoying it by the end. The romance took me a while to get into the whole he's a robot and you need to bring out his emotions wasn't really working for me, but after the half way point I was totally hooked. Alex and Ava were just so loveable together and one of my absolute favourite things in romance is a revenge plot and this has it in spades totally brilliant and it really just kicked the plot up a notch for me. Great characters, great ending and super excited to read more in this series.