Twisted Series - Ana Huang ****

First of all, even i'm surprised that i finally picked up the twisted series, because it is kinda been sometime since I read King Of Wrath by Ana Huang. Ana Huang is a writer famous for her smut scenes and unsurprisingly, the entire twisted series was full of smut, but thank god that the storylines were good, because otherwise i would’ve given up considering I skipped all the smut scenes. My motto for this series was, if i got through Icebreaker, i can get through this!! And was it successful? Absolutely yes because I absolutely loved the books and can definitely see where the hype is coming from!.

There are four books in the series, Twisted Love, Twisted Games, Twisted Hate and Twisted Lies, and they can be read as standalones but it’s preferable to read them in the particular order because that way, it’s possible to get more insight into the characters. This is a series about the love stories of a group of friend that includes Ava, Bridget, Jules and Stella. One thing that definitely motivated me to continue the series is their friendship and their appearances in each and every other's story!!

* TWISTED LOVE ****

This is recommended if you like,

• Brother’s best friend

• Grumpyxsunshine

• Hates everyone else except her

First of the series is about Ava Chen and Alex Volkov, who’s Josh Chen’s (Ava’s brother) best friend. The book introduces most of the main characters except Christian Harper, who’s only just mentioned once, if i’m correct.

This follows how Ava and Alex falls in love with each other, but Ava’s betrayed because Alex turned out to be using her and her brother and they go through a break up, until Alex realizes he can’t let go of Ava and follows her to be her bodyguard while giving up the CEO position of his company to be with her.

There’s not much to tell about the story because it is pretty obvious but, there were so many good quotes!! I will include them below because I created a reel out of them for my bookstagram. One thing I absolutely loved was how Alex was always grumpy and didn’t talk with everyone much, but always has a soft spot for Ava.

I obviously hated the smut and skipped all of them but one thing I definitely didn’t like in the novel was the fact how much Alex’s character resembles Dante Russo from King of Wrath, they almost looked like the same character starting from the personality traits to behaviour!!

Ps. I realised i never wrote a review for King of Wrath for the blog, i will try to write one for it soon!!

I absolutely loved when Alex called Ava, "sunshine"!!! One thing with Ana Huang's male leads is that, the girls were always given nicknames by the guys. In King of Wrath it was "mia cara", in this its "sunshine", in twisted games its "princess", twisted hate its "red" and lastly in twisted lies its ''butterfly".

In this case, "sunshine" perfectly describes Ava's character because she has a feisty bright personality that never forget to saw the beauty of people and the world, even when she has gone through so much such as, her father trying to kill her twice, and losing Alex when the truth came out.

*TWISTED GAMES *****

This is for you if you like,

• Age gap

• forbidden romance

• Princessxbodyguard

• grumpyxsunshine

First and foremost i have to mention the book dedication “To all the girls who wished for a Prince Charming, give me a scarred knight” This quote, this specific quote is just insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely love reading about royalty and although I don't necessarily enjoy age gap romance, in this I didnt actually feel like Rhys Larsen was exactly ten years older than Bridget!! This book contains the story of Bridget, crown princess of Eldorra and Rhys Larsen, her bodyguard.

I loved Bridget’s character and she was definitely not what i expected when i read about her in Twisted Love. She had a good character development and i liked how she understood that she can’t run away, when Nikolai abdicated the throne, and she did her best in becoming a queen, not for the sake of name, but an honest one who actually cared about people’s problems. She’s stubborn, but also kind and a powerful character, who knew what she wanted and knew what she had to do.

Rhys Larsen definitely proved that sometimes a scarred knight is better than a Prince Charming, and he might be my favourite male lead in the entire series because he had a fucked up past, but he did his very best to protect Bridget and when he to know that she’s gonna become a queen, he planned a trip to Costa Rica to make her bucket list come true. I absolutely loved the fact that he fought for Bridget when she almost gave up on them, and he understood her more than anyone else in her life. He was there for her when she was going through hard times and never left alone. He’s the perfect example that no matter who you are, sometimes all you need is a person who understands you and won’t give up on you, right beside you. And when he called Bridget “princess”, i was literally screaming because although she is in fact a real princess, the way he stick to the nickname made it heart fluttering.

There were again so many good quotes, but one quote that really got to me was the ending, “I wasn’t a storybook princess, and Rhys wasn’t Prince Charming. I didn’t want us to be. Because while what we had wasn’t a traditional fairy tale by any means, it was ours. And it was forever.” And i absolutely loved that we got their wedding scene in the epilogue!! It was just so precious and heartfelt, and it was like when i was watching the wedding scene in the crazy rich asians movie!!!

Again i didn’t read the spicy scenes and skipped them all and that in no way made me hate the novel. I will address one of the common things i found in every book at the end!!

*TWISTED HATE ***.75

This is for you if you like,

• Sister’s bestfriend

• Enemies to lovers

• Enemies with benefits

Again the book dedication is a must to include: “To everyone who’s ever felt like they weren’t enough”

This is the story of Jules Ambrose and Josh Chen, the typical enemies who always bicker whenever they see each other. I don’t have much to say about the couple, because out of the entire series, Twisted Hate is the most famous and ideally the spiciest out of the four. I had lots of skipping to do in this one, and it took some time for me to get interested in the story, which is always the case with slow burns. For me Josh and Jules are like the two sides of the same coin. Their personalities are so alike that it was almost as if they were soulmates. They are both stubborn and refuse to give up first, always there for their friends and even if they can't stand each other, they agreed to do whatever that would make Ava happy.

I definitely liked when they both knew, that their no strings attached, “no falling in love”, friends to benefits relationship has taken a different turn because they were attracted to each other not just physically. I won’t spoil any of the major events, but i liked how Josh went after Jules when he realised he screwed up.

And when Josh started calling Jules "red", i realised the colour definitely matches Jules personality and not because her hair is red. Red symbolizes someone who radiates energy and they are exciting to be around and it also symbolizes a person who's determined and not afraid to take risks!! That is exactly who Jules Ambrose is and out of all the girls, she's the most outgoing, enjoyable one to be around!! She's never afraid to voice herself and she always even enjoys making Alex go crazy!!

They might not be my favourite couple, but i definitely definitely love Josh because he planned a book date, a book scavenger hunt for their first date because he knew how much Jules loves classic bookstores and how much she loves reading!!! Their kiss after the date was an absolute bliss to read!!! And i liked the fact that even when they officially started dating, they didn't stop their banter and still argued whenever they got the chance.

BUT, as much as I love i didn't like him because of somethings he said to Jules, that clearly meant he liked having sex with her more and only wanted that. I know it's a enemies/friends to benefit plot, but even when Josh realized he was attracted to her out of their relationship, some of the things he said made me dislike him. The majority of the rating i gave comes from the latter part which i discuss next!

But for me the highlight in the novel, was not about them. Firstly it was when they both told Ava, that they were dating and i lost it when Ava told Alex to bring the knife, obviously to cut the cake Josh brought to bribe his sister, but it was hilarious to see Jules and Josh losing it!!

The other, the part that i smiled a lot was, when Alex asked permission from Josh, to marry Ava because Josh is the only family Ava had, and it was just heart-warming to see both of them becoming best friends again, and Alex saying sentimental things because except to Ava, it was my first time reading Alex opening up! And when he also asked Josh to become his best man? I literally lost it and i was smiling nonstop!!

The other part was when the girls met together, Bridget on call, to know how Jules fell for her nemesis. I felt like it was so long that i saw the girls together, and for me it was definitely a moment that i would absolute love in the entire series. The main reason i continued the twisted series is partially because of the guys, but mainly it was because of Ava, Bridget, Jules and Stella’s friendship topped with Josh and Alex’s bromance!!

And i couldn’t believe when Dante Russo made an appearance twice in the book!!!!!!!!!!!

I think out of all the four books this is gonna be my least favorite book!!!

* TWISTED LIES

I will add my review for this book when i finally read this one. Still not motivated to read this.

OVERALL MY THOUGHTS ON THE SERIES

i don't have have specific issues with the books considering i absolutely love them, but there are several pointers that i would like to make.

So for now ive read five of Ana Huang's books, including this series and King Of Wrath, but unfortunately all the male leads are the same. Obsessive, overprotective, the same hot, sexy, six pack abs and what not. For me, it was like reading different versions of the same guy because they sound and behave almost exactly the same and i desperately wished for some variety but it never came.

Second, some of the dialogues are repetitive in all the books, although different wording might've been used. The part where the male leads show concern for the first time is always stated as not real concern "....what would've passed for concern had it been anyone else", is included in all the four books of the series.

The next part where all the guys said they would kill another guy who dared to touch the female leads, was in all the four novels as shown above, and this made me feel like i was reading about the same guy!!! I did not like the fact that all the male leads possessed the same qualities and characteristics and the fact that they acted almost the same. It would've been nice to read about a guy who's not hot, sexy and what not but definitely a good green flag like Atlas Corrigan, because in all the books the guy is powerful, obsessive and etc!!! Variety is something that i definitely want. Even with the smut scenes, the way they talked filth is unfortunately JUST. THE. SAME!! Even if i don't read the scenes, when i skim through it is just pretty obvious, and i kind of looked forward to Josh because he was given a bright personality out of the others, but he proved to be just the same. The only thing was unlike the other three, Josh talked more.

BUT, overall, the series is just amazing and i absolutely loved all four. I definitely see from where the hype is coming from and i'm glad i read them because it was such a joyful ride. I definitely recommend the series to those who haven't read it yet and i can't wait for King of Pride to be released, even when i know for sure ML will just be a similar character to all the other Ana Huang's male characters!!

I'm sad the series finished because that means no more stories about Ava, Alex, Bridget, Rhys, Jules, Josh, Stella and Christian and i absolutely loved the epilogue in the Twisted lies. A perfect way to end an absolute heart-warming set of stories.

And what better to end the review, with a quote that i loved in Twisted Hate;

"My chest glowed with warmth.

It felt like old times, when we would order pizza and talk into the early hours of the morning in our dorm room. We weren’t eighteen anymore, but we were still us. Even if one of us lived on a different continent now, and we didn’t see each other as much as we used to at school, our friendship was a steady rock.

It was comforting to know that no matter how much some things changed, others will always stay the same."