A quick, addictive romance with a great cast of characters. I hadn't read any of the other stories in this series first, and would definitely like to based on the characters' appearances in this story.

This was such an amazing book! The whole twisted series has so many of my favourite romance tropes In I was literally spoiled for choice!
I really liked the storyline and the book had a great pace for the most part, however felt it did drag at some points. I love how all the characters from the other books are intertwined in the story too! The epilogue was incredible!
Stella isn't my favourite out the ladies, but Christian is definitely one of my top guys. He is the perfect possessive, insane guy who sets all the red flags flying but I would willingly run into his arms regardless. The angst was top tier and the slow burn was so good!
Excellent end to the series!

I was blown away with how much I enjoyed this book. I had high hopes going into it and believe me did it deliver.

Wow this book was amazing it really keeps you interested throughout.

I lived the characters and their development and there was just enough spice to keep me happy

Highly recommend!!

3.5 stars
Thank you to the author (Ana Huang), the publisher (Little, Brown Book Group UK), and NetGallery for an earc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, I want to say that I hadn’t gotten around to reading the third book in the series (Twisted Hate) so I read that before reading this and I dont know if that made this book not as good for me, or if that book was just better (and I think it’s the latter).
This book was okay, however, it just wasn’t giving me the same enjoyment as TH, and just didn’t hit it for me.
The storyline was good and had potential, however it was giving me 50 Shades vibes (the guys even called Christian), and just felt a bit dragged out at some points.
I liked the dual POV (who doesn’t), the spice was good (not as good as TH again), and I did like the small twist at the end with guessing who Stella’s stalker was (it wasn’t who I 100% thought it was just fyi).
Overall it was good, but wasn’t the best in this series for me.

4 twisted stars!

I really enjoyed reading about Christian but I wasn’t a huge fan of Stella. At all.

I was particularly frustrated that she supposedly lands this massive brand deal and then just goes on holiday for a month (while supposedly not using social media/email) but that’s literally her contract so okay. I know books don’t always have to be 100% reality but it got under my skin haha.

I did love this book for what it was, an easy romance read with an awesome book boyfriend. I think Christian might be level with Alex for my ultimate Twisted series book boyfriend!

Overall, this series has been an addictive and sexy book binge and I highly recommend it to romance lovers everywhere!

Stella is an up-and-coming social media star, who needs to fake relationship to boost her followers. Christian is the wealthy upstairs neighbour who is already obsessed with her - and offers himself for her use.

Although the fake dating trope is an old classic, this book fell a little short. The chemistry was off the charts, but outside the bedroom I'm not sure Stella and Christian's relationship was at all believable. Also, this book is about twice as long as it needs to be, and dragged a lot around the beginning and middle. Overall a bit of a disappointment, but would still be a good read if everything was a little more condensed!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you @littlebrownbookgroup_uk for sending me an ARC of Twisted Lies by @authoranahuang to review! It’s out in paperback in the UK as of today! 🥳🎉

Review:
I’d had the Twisted series on my radar for a while and had just treated myself to book 1 (Twisted Love) when I was emailed an eARC of Twisted Lies, the 4th and final book in the series to review. I quickly binged book 1 to get the introduction to the series and switched to Twisted Lies from there.

This can be read as a standalone but you’ll get more enjoyment out of it if you read the books in order as there are a few scenes with the characters from the previous books because the female MC’s are all friends. I have books 2 and 3 waiting for me to go back and read. ☺️

The book itself was a great blend of contemporary romance with darker elements. If you’re thinking about dipping your toe into dark romance for the first time these books would be a good place to start as they’re not full-on dark.

Christian and Stella were excellent main characters with a lot of layers. As someone with anxiety I really enjoyed the exploration of Stella’s social anxiety which showed how it can be easy to seem confident online and even create a successful platform while still being stressed out by in person encounters, especially if not given time to prepare. I also think Stella’s struggle of defining/finding her success was easy to relate to for anyone who’s ever felt a bit lost career-wise while feeling like everyone else has their stuff together.

The romance was both one of the most fantastic and frustrating slow burns I’ve read in a while. They also fake date which is one of my absolute favourite tropes.

There were strong elements of mystery and danger because Christian is a morally grey fellow with sketchy almost friends. He’s also trying to protect Stella from someone from her past so tensions are running high.

Read for:
• fake dating, slow burn ❤️
• a scary MMC who’s only sweet to her
• cute nicknames 🦋
• an influencer FMC finding her passion
• suspense & danger

Rating: 4.5/5🌟
Steam Level: 4/5🔥
#TwistedLies #NetGalley #HappyHeartLifestyle

Twisted Lies was everything I wanted and more!

It’s a whirlwind ride of emotions, one minute you’re laughing and then next you’re fanning your face and swooning.

Christian and Stella’s relationship is one that intrigued me in previous books, and the journey they go on is amazing.

Fake dating trope with a brilliantly morally grey male character - you’re hooked from the very first page.

The drama is brilliant, well paced and keeps you guessing. The stalker storyline was well handled too.

Stella is a strong female protagonist with an independent mind and a feisty streak that is fun to read.

The steamy scenes are PERFECTION. The perfect amount of smut to keep you entertained, whilst also adding to the story.

I absolutely loved it, and can’t wait to read more of Ana Huang’s books.

Tropes: Fake Dating / Grumpy/ Sunshine (in comparison!) Forced Proximity / found family

This is my first Ana Huang book, but after this, Ill definitely be reading her backlist. And especially books 1- 3 in her Twisted Series. (It can definitely be read as a standalone but Id recommend you read in order if you dont want to know anything about the couplea from previous books) I personally didnt mind reading them out of order.
I adored Stella, she comes from a family of high achievers. Though she herself has found success in what she does, as its not been through a conventional route that her family recognises, she feels like a disappointment. I admired Stella for still forging her own path despite her family knocking her confidence, and still managing to be a kind soul. Christian couldnt be more different in terms of personality! He is dark to her light. I liked their dynamic, even though he makes very questionable choices throughout the book. He definitely belongs in a totally different world from Stella's. I also loved the friendship group they both have, (Christian may disagree he has friends though!) And I liked how they rally around Stella and show her the love her family cannot.
This story is primarily driven by the interactions between Stella and Christian but I still found it to have an engaging plot and I liked the mystery element in terms of who was behind the threat against Stella. Christian also had a backstory I didnt see coming so that was fun too uncover!
If you like any of the tropes mentioned at the start and a ( spicy )romance that will have you rooting for the couple from the start then I think you'll love this one!

Firstly I’d like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC 🥰🥰

Twisted Lies isn’t my usual read, it seems to be a story that’s been written around some AMAZING spicy scenes rather than a brilliant story with the spice happening within the storyline… I’m ALL for the spice, I love it, but the storyline in this book was a bit uninspiring for me.

At the beginning of the book I really warmed to Stella and morally grey Christian is SUPER sexy but I was just left feeling a bit confused and a little bored at the end? The set up of the storyline with the stalker and with Christian being all mysterious and so dangerous was so intriguing but it just sort of got so repetitive and I sort of lost interest 😅😅 I did finish it, although I will say the last maybe 4 chapters are confusing and I didn’t understand why they were needed it went on as long as it did?

I will say that the spice was BRILLIANTLY written and I throughly enjoyed it 😏😏 The language wasn’t cheesy or gross but was exciting and titillating!! Very well written spice!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Absolutely loved this book! What a way to end a series I fell in love with quickly and definitely binged. I could not put this book down at all and seeing the characters develop through this book was great. This book is SPICY so not for younger readers and a must pick for those that have read the rest of the series. Would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for reaching out and offering me an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Careful, Stella. I'm not the gentleman you think I am."

I'd like to preface this review by saying this is not a book I would usually pick up myself, but as I was contacted and asked if I'd like to review it, I decided to give it a go.

While I would say the writing quality in the book is fantastic, and the author clearly has a talent for crafting a story well, I found the romance aspect a little odd - at times I found myself wondering why the MMC Christian was so deeply obsessed with FMC Stella, and even though it was dual POV and we were often privy to his thoughts, this was never expanded on.

The steamy scenes were not my taste at all - and this is just a matter of personal opinion. I don't really read dark romance, and this was just slightly on the darker side of what I enjoy. Choking is a hard limit for me, and I really dislike reading it even if it's light.

If you do like your romance on the darker side, and you enjoy "he hates everyone but her", very morally grey MMCs, possessive alpha males and billionaire romances, then I think this book (and I'm guessing the others in the series) would be right up your street.

A series I first heard about from my Sixth Form students, it is completely clear to see why these books have become so popular as a TikTok read. For me, the book was a good read that held my attention but I'm not sure if I'd want to read the other books in the series (However, I also acknowledge I am not the target audience for this, and I have no doubt said target audience will love it!)

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of this book and for Little Brown Book Group for getting in touch to review this book.

I know this series has a huge following but I was left a bit disappointed. Though this can *technically* be read without reading the previous books, I lost a lot of character development and understanding of the relationship dynamics by jumping in at the last book. Additionally, much about the characters were told to the reader rather than being shown - there were only so many times that I could read about how 'bad' Christian was before I was rolling my eyes (which may have been more apparent if I had read the previous books).

However, I absolutely adored Stella's character development! She was a young adult, trying to impress her high flying family and navigate her career. Stella was very lovable and I couldn't help root for her to succeed.

The side story about the stalker was initially interesting but it didn't really go anywhere. And the resolution seemed really odd, as if it had come out of nowhere.

Overall, this is a steamy romance where you should be invested in the main couple rather than the side stories.

💭 ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
My first in the twisted series. I loved it, it’s Fifty Shades of Grey meeting the sweetest romcom you can think off. It’s dark and twisted but incredible sweet. And hot 🥵, the steam was real. Absolutely adored Stella and how Christian brought out the best in her. I wish we could all have friends like Jules, Bridgett and Ava. Made the story whole for me. Highly recommend!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🤓 ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Steam
Fifty Shades of Grey
Short chapters
Fake Dating
Good Character built

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ:
𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵, 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘚𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘶𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦.

𝘚𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵, 𝘴𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦—𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘵, 𝘴𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.

Before I dive into the review I will say there is absolutely a market for these books. I just personally felt like I’d seen it all before, which is not what you want for a 578 page read. However, if you loved all the others, you likely will love this one!

LIKES
☀️ I liked Stella’s career path and the story with her family. It added some level of interest.
☀️ The parts where the whole gang were back together were kinda cute / funny.

DISLIKES
🌙 Having read all four books in this series, I can now confirm that all the men are pretty much recycled versions of one another. The same dirty talk, the same “I’ll kill anyone who touches you” line (no exaggeration - it’s in every one of the books), the same level of toxic. There are only very minor edits in their characterisations.
🌙 Stella frustrated me beyond belief with her naivety. A feather would knock her over she was that much of a pushover. Her forgiving ANYTHING Christian did was just horrifying and far too fast.
🌙 Christian’s random ‘criminal activity’ had no real point and never went anywhere.

Sadly this just wasn't for me.

So I will start by saying I don't think this was a book that suited my usual tastes. I have read some dark romances before but I'm a sap for contemporary all day every day.

This one started off well- you were thrown straight into the story where they meet. Now keep in mind that I haven't read any of the other books in the series (and from what I gather, you don't really need to unless you want to see some glimpses of the characters lives from the previous books) so I don't know this author's style of writing very well.

I was intrigued by Stella. Her trauma from the stalker was pretty well done. It wasn't just mentioned and forgotten about- Ana Huang made sure that she jumped if a presence wasn't announced beforehand and made sure to keep some tension in scenes where she felt like she was being watched. She definitely undergoes some character growth but seems to start relying on Christian too much and gets too used to his help...and money. Her family just sucked overall and I don't think they should have been worthy of forgiveness.

Christian didn't really feel authentic. There was no reason for his violent behaviour/nature and his enjoyment of torture, His reason for his obsession with Stella doesn't seem to be enough for what it manifested into. It was overall quite weird and uncomfortable but he does help her gain her confidence.

Overall I just didn't vibe with this book though. It might be good for a dark romance for others but it felt too cliche and boring to me. I didn't feel compelled to finish the book. There were scenes which felt excessive or unnecessary that I didn't think added to the story either,

2.5 stars if I could really

Ana Huang is one of my go to authors, I will always read her work in a day as I cannot put it down! This did not disappoint and I am completely in love, it is romantic and fast paced. Swoon worthy characters, why oh why do men not exist like this in real life?!

This book is really problematic for me. I've seen the rave reviews, although I've not heard of this author before.
It's well written and its a great story. The character development was well done and the sexual chemistry was sizzling. I couldn't put it down and read it in one day. It's definitely a real page turner and in lots of ways I really enjoyed this steamy love story.

However there were two issues that don't sit comfortably with me, the male hero is basically a psychopath and while I can get on board with a damaged hero, Christian seemed to blow things up and kill people just because they pissed him off. Not only that he enjoyed torturing them. There's damaged hero and there's morally bankrupt hero. For me a romantic hero needs to redeem themselves and learn to be a better person through falling in love.
During these scenes, all I could ask was, what was the editor thinking of!

The other issues is that a key element of the plot was that Stella has a stalker and yet the hero has been stalking her for five years. That just didn't add up. He extracts his revenge on creepy stalker but isn't he just as bad?
And a final point, I think that perhaps a little more foreshadowing of the stalker's identity could have been done.

I'm really sorry there was so much that I loved in this book but a murdering hero just doesn't do it for me.